Best shopping car - Fiesta Ecoboost or...?
Discussion
Looking for a second car to run alongside the family wagon.
Cheap to buy,
Cheap to run,
At least a little fun,
4 seats (5 doors preferable but not 100% necessary.)
A boot suitable for a weekly shop
Is anything better than a 1.0l fiesta ecoboost? £0 tax, 40 ish mpg, £4-5k for an acceptable one. Easy to tune for a little extra torque if desired. (ensuring coolant pipe has been addressed of course.) Decent handling if the reviews hold water.
I'm also attracted by a mk1 focus - obviously more to tax and worse mpg, but can be bought for less than £1k, so over a few years total cost of ownership will be relatively similar, unless a big bill writes it off, but then I just get another.
Ive also looked at the micra DIG-S, which apparently is supercharged and shares a chassis with the Clio, which potentially means means it could be fun ish? (I had a k11 so have a soft spot for them)
Should I shortlist anything else?
Cheap to buy,
Cheap to run,
At least a little fun,
4 seats (5 doors preferable but not 100% necessary.)
A boot suitable for a weekly shop
Is anything better than a 1.0l fiesta ecoboost? £0 tax, 40 ish mpg, £4-5k for an acceptable one. Easy to tune for a little extra torque if desired. (ensuring coolant pipe has been addressed of course.) Decent handling if the reviews hold water.
I'm also attracted by a mk1 focus - obviously more to tax and worse mpg, but can be bought for less than £1k, so over a few years total cost of ownership will be relatively similar, unless a big bill writes it off, but then I just get another.
Ive also looked at the micra DIG-S, which apparently is supercharged and shares a chassis with the Clio, which potentially means means it could be fun ish? (I had a k11 so have a soft spot for them)
Should I shortlist anything else?
Fiesta is a great little car.
The ecoboost gets very bad press but I'd say that the volume they produced would inevitably lead to some horror stories. For every bad one there must be millions of good ones but nobody ever writes about cars that don't go wrong. My sister in law has had an ecoboost fiesta for 5 years with no issues although her mileage is low.
My mate went through this recently. He wanted a fiesta but desperately wanted to avoid the ecoboost. He looked at the 1.2 zetec which he said was actually very good to drive but ultimately not quick enough for what he wanted and only available in lower trim levels. He ended up with a slightly older 1.6 titanium which he's really happy with. Tax isn't bad at 150 a year and the car was cheaper to buy in the first place. Decent equipment level and pokey enough for a runabout.
He also considered an Up! But had read that they are not free from potential problems either.
The ecoboost gets very bad press but I'd say that the volume they produced would inevitably lead to some horror stories. For every bad one there must be millions of good ones but nobody ever writes about cars that don't go wrong. My sister in law has had an ecoboost fiesta for 5 years with no issues although her mileage is low.
My mate went through this recently. He wanted a fiesta but desperately wanted to avoid the ecoboost. He looked at the 1.2 zetec which he said was actually very good to drive but ultimately not quick enough for what he wanted and only available in lower trim levels. He ended up with a slightly older 1.6 titanium which he's really happy with. Tax isn't bad at 150 a year and the car was cheaper to buy in the first place. Decent equipment level and pokey enough for a runabout.
He also considered an Up! But had read that they are not free from potential problems either.
The Fiesta is a cracking option but they do hold their money well look for the Zetec S as you get a better suspension setup as well as the more punchy engine:
140
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012227...
125
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012197...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011276...
On junior hatchbacks I've found five doors are in some cases harder to get in & out of than their 3 door equivalent, mainly because the front seats are slightly in the way.
Other options are:
DS3 DSport Plus 155 loads of kit (Leather Nav etc) a good chassis with a detuned 208 GTI engine but I think the 208's interior layout is better:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010235...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010265...
208 XY 155 as above but imo a better laid out interior:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012167...
Feline 155
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010285...
The car below is the one I think you should buy for a few reasons:
In terms of value for money it's pretty much impossible to beat when you take age/spec/handling & performance into consideration
It'll depreciate a little slower than everything else listed.
It'll handle better than (only a Fiesta ST will be better) everything listed
You'll have a smile on your face everytime you drive it
It has more go than anything listed
You'll get one with similar miles to the cars above & within a year or so age wise too.
The small downsides are:
It'll cost you £130 a year more than the £20 140bhp Fiesta but the spec & 200 ponies will make up for that
Spec wise it's on par with the XY/high spec DS3's
Maintenance wise it'll cost around £100-200 more (when you have to buy brakes & tyres) than the cars above.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011276...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012096...
Further options:
Suzuki Swift
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012127...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012026...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012227...
Mazda2 Sport
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010265...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010084...
140
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012227...
125
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012197...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011276...
On junior hatchbacks I've found five doors are in some cases harder to get in & out of than their 3 door equivalent, mainly because the front seats are slightly in the way.
Other options are:
DS3 DSport Plus 155 loads of kit (Leather Nav etc) a good chassis with a detuned 208 GTI engine but I think the 208's interior layout is better:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010235...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010265...
208 XY 155 as above but imo a better laid out interior:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012167...
Feline 155
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010285...
The car below is the one I think you should buy for a few reasons:
In terms of value for money it's pretty much impossible to beat when you take age/spec/handling & performance into consideration
It'll depreciate a little slower than everything else listed.
It'll handle better than (only a Fiesta ST will be better) everything listed
You'll have a smile on your face everytime you drive it
It has more go than anything listed
You'll get one with similar miles to the cars above & within a year or so age wise too.
The small downsides are:
It'll cost you £130 a year more than the £20 140bhp Fiesta but the spec & 200 ponies will make up for that
Spec wise it's on par with the XY/high spec DS3's
Maintenance wise it'll cost around £100-200 more (when you have to buy brakes & tyres) than the cars above.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011276...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012096...
Further options:
Suzuki Swift
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012127...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012026...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012227...
Mazda2 Sport
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010265...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010084...
Thanks all.
Glad to hear some other good reviews of the Fiesta. I feel like the ecoboom thing is similar to the IMS bearing thing. Its not an insignificant risk, but equally the internet has it's way of over inflating the issue.
I hadn't even considered a Peugeot so thank you for that ZX10R - I'll do some proper research and book a test drive in both - when I'm allowed out again.
Glad to hear some other good reviews of the Fiesta. I feel like the ecoboom thing is similar to the IMS bearing thing. Its not an insignificant risk, but equally the internet has it's way of over inflating the issue.
I hadn't even considered a Peugeot so thank you for that ZX10R - I'll do some proper research and book a test drive in both - when I'm allowed out again.
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