Help needed please! Not sure if i should buy this car

[Sankey2017]

I've been looking for a new car for a few days now. This morning i took a focus 12 plate for a test drive and was really pleased so was pretty certain i wanted it until i checked the mot reports.

Could someone tell me what these issues mean and if i should steer clear?

1) sills and under body covered on mot (this was an advisory)

Failed in 2017 on these but passed after
2) Bonnet retaining device ineffective secondary seized (8.4.2)
3) Nearside Headlamp aim too low and too far to the left. (1.8)Offside Headlamp aim too low and too far to the left. (1.8)

This is an ex company car at 60k miles on the clock. 1 litter eco boost engine.

[Pericoloso]

1 means there is some sort of sill covers and undertrays covering those areas ,testers put it down to cover themselves as they are not

allowed to remove them to look at whatever is behind them.

2 means the bonnet catch was faulty ,no biggie.

3 means the headlamp aims were wrong ,again not a big deal.

[Butter Face]

Sankey2017 said:

1 litter eco boost engine.

This is the reason you shouldn't buy it.

[Fore Left]

Butter Face said:

Sankey2017 said:

1 litter eco boost engine.

This is the reason you shouldn't buy it.

I hate it when people make statements like this with no explanation.

Care to tell us why?

[Stuart70]

Fore Left said:

I hate it when people make statements like this with no explanation.

Care to tell us why?

Is this not the Ford engine that has a habit of seizing and Ford have not been great at supporting? All apologies to Ford if I have that wrong - fairly sure there was a thread on it relatively recently...

[Sankey2017]

So the eco boost again is something that does concern me because of the turbo. After having 2 cars with failed turbos my aim is to get away from that issue. They were both diesel engines and i do very short urban driving with the odd long journey about 4 maybe 5 times a year.

The other car I'm intrested in is a Honda civic 2 years older and 10k less miles but is a 1.8 petrol so I'm worried it will be costly on fuel.

Any advice is so greatful welcome.

[Sankey2017]

So the eco boost again is something that does concern me because of the turbo. After having 2 cars with failed turbos my aim is to get away from that issue. They were both diesel engines and i do very short urban driving with the odd long journey about 4 maybe 5 times a year.

The other car I'm intrested in is a Honda civic 2 years older and 10k less miles but is a 1.8 petrol so I'm worried it will be costly on fuel.

Any advice is so greatful welcome.

[ZX10R NIN]

Look for the 1.5/1.6T Focus's, the 1.0T is a decent car, if you want another good N/A car is the Mazda3 in Sport/SE-L trim.

[Mexman]

Fore Left said:

Butter Face said:

Sankey2017 said:

1 litter eco boost engine.

This is the reason you shouldn't buy it.

I hate it when people make statements like this with no explanation.

Care to tell us why?

Cooling system problems with plastic hoses fracturing/melting or whatever they do, means that these can be problematic.
Most have been done under recall I believe , but the problems are well documented if you do a simple bit of research.

[bearman68]

Butter Face said:

Sankey2017 said:

1 litter eco boost engine.

This is the reason you shouldn't buy it.

My understanding is the this engine had trouble with a plastic cooling pipe that fractured. The fractured pipe drained the coolant pretty quickly, and the overheating seized the engine. But, while I have no personal experience, I was under the impression they were actually considered OK? (Waits to be corrected). The general consensus seems to be concerned about the longevity of the engine - but I guess frequent oil changes will help this (though that's something the OP seems to be having trouble with if he's lost 2 turbos already).

[Butter Face]

Sorry, I should have explained further.

The 1.0 ecoboost is prone to overheating, heads cracking and general failure. The failures are so prevalent that the warranty company we work with no longer cover them.

I have seen multiple cars that have had new engines under warranty and still fail, I know of one car on it’s foourth engine.

They really are a ticking time bomb IMO.

[Mexman]

We sold a Focus Estate with one of these engines just before Christmas.
A 13 plate done 90k miles.
It has just bounced back to us with a completely seized engine, amazingly, Ford are offering a new crate engine under some form of 'warranty/goodwill'.

[Butter Face]

Mexman said:

We sold a Focus Estate with one of these engines just before Christmas.
A 13 plate done 90k miles.
It has just bounced back to us with a completely seized engine, amazingly, Ford are offering a new crate engine under some form of 'warranty/goodwill'.

It’ll take months to actually get it sorted. I traded one a couple of months back and Ford have it sitting there awaiting an engine, no idea on timescale! It’s mental.

[Mexman]

Butter Face said:

Mexman said:

We sold a Focus Estate with one of these engines just before Christmas.
A 13 plate done 90k miles.
It has just bounced back to us with a completely seized engine, amazingly, Ford are offering a new crate engine under some form of 'warranty/goodwill'.

It’ll take months to actually get it sorted. I traded one a couple of months back and Ford have it sitting there awaiting an engine, no idea on timescale! It’s mental.

I think ours, is one you palmed off on us!!

[Butter Face]

Mexman said:

Butter Face said:

Mexman said:

We sold a Focus Estate with one of these engines just before Christmas.
A 13 plate done 90k miles.
It has just bounced back to us with a completely seized engine, amazingly, Ford are offering a new crate engine under some form of 'warranty/goodwill'.

It’ll take months to actually get it sorted. I traded one a couple of months back and Ford have it sitting there awaiting an engine, no idea on timescale! It’s mental.

I think ours, is one you palmed off on us!!

Nooooooo surely not

[TooLateForAName]

In addition to the 1.0 ecoboost issues, I'd be concerend that two misaligned headlamps and a problem with the bonnet catch implies a front end bump.

[cuprabob]

TooLateForAName said:

In addition to the 1.0 ecoboost issues, I'd be concerend that two misaligned headlamps and a problem with the bonnet catch implies a front end bump.

From the description it's the safety catch that's seized which is quite common if not lubricated regularly. Also poor headlight alignment seems to be quite common these days. Personally I wouldn't worry unless there were other tell tale signs.

[PGN]

Sankey2017 said:

2) Bonnet retaining device ineffective secondary seized (8.4.2)
3) Nearside Headlamp aim too low and too far to the left. (1.8)Offside Headlamp aim too low and too far to the left. (1.8)

This is an ex company car at 60k miles on the clock. 1 litter eco boost engine.

These 2 items may indicate it's had some front end collision damage so I'd check around the whole front to see if there's any sign of repair. Why would both headlights go out of alignment? Of course it could be that the lights were previously set on a different alignment device and the bonnet latch could be completely unrelated but as always - "buyer beware".

[Sankey2017]

I've done a VIN check with ford field service action and this engine hasn't got any messages. Would you guys think i could still have an issue with it?

Thank you all so much for all your advice and options, they are very much appreciated.

[ZX10R NIN]

i'd say go for it as long as everything checks out then go for it.