buying Mk 6 fiesta for son 1.4 or 1.25 engine?

[ironv8]

only £25 cheaper for the smaller engine even though a few insurance groups different. 74 versus 79bhp so I'm guessing not much noticeable driving experience. Is the little Yamaha designed motor the one to go for ? I'm also reading that the 1.4 needs a timing belt at 10 years/100k. which would be the age of car I'm looking for. You can pick a tidy one up for £1500 on a '55 to '57 plate.
Thanks

[brrapp]

My daughter had the 1.25 one for two years (from 80000miles to 120000miles) It was economical, nippy enough for a teenager and pretty tough. Nothing went wrong in her ownership although it was close to being knackered by 120000 miles and 11 years old.

[njw1]

Having driven both I can honestly say that if I didn't know that one was a 1.25 and the other a 1.4 I wouldn't have been able to tell. Oh, and if you find one that has done 100k and has never had a timing belt then it will need changing IMMEDIATELY! I would be wary of driving it anywhere until it was done. 80k is a much more sensible interval IMO.

Edited by njw1 on Friday 26th May 21:09

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

The 1.25 Zetec is a cracking little engine.
The 1.4 is sluggish in comparison.

[addsvrs]

We bought our lad a 11 plate 1.25 zetec for his first car. He has done 12k in his first year with no dramas. Our other son had the 1.4 (06 i think) and that blew its head gasket and was scrapped. Both are dead slow but the 1.25 is a better engine in my opinion.

[ffzetecs]

Hi, for a while I had a 1.4 and my brother had a 1.25 - the difference between the two (power/mpg) was minimal.

My advice would be to be agnostic on this issue, find the best model (history, condition etc) regardless of whether it's a 1.25 or 1.4

Our experience of these cars was perfect, no major issues, reliable, economical and simple / cheap to service and run