Honda Civic 1.6 IDTEC vs Ford Focus 1.5 TDCI?

[leepox]

Both engines seem to perform the same on paper, however which one is more reliable? ie, No DPF or injector issues for example. I do short 10 minute runs 2-3 times a week and do 100+ mile runs 4 times a month.

Also Honest John shows average MPG for the Honda is at 65mpg whilst the Ford only manages 55mpg

But then people say the Focus drives better

I'm really confused which one to get

[halo34]

I would take out injector/dpf worries - neither is going to be prone to them if your doing longer runs. Just focus on which engine is the one that performs the best. I would also drive them.

The honda unit is meant to be a peach for economy - but with shorter journeys not sure you will get much advantage to that.

[Chrishum]

Buy the car you like driving the most. Neither is a performance car so comfort and being a nice place to sit would matter more to me.

All cars can potentially have expensive faults. But if you do a mix of long and short trips everything should be fine with the DPF.

[leepox]

Thanks for the input guys. Just did more reading and apparently the 1.5 Ford diesel engines have lumpy performance and sometimes bog down. Although this was fixed by Ford with an ECU flash, I'm wondering if an out of warranty Focus that Ford would do the flash for free?

[georgeyboy12345]

Go for the Honda

[Dyl]

I had a 2017 Focus 1.5TDCi for the best part of 2 years, doing 17k miles (c.30 mile round trip every day commuting).

My average MPG over the course of my ownership was around 57mpg, but with only a little bit more patience I could coax 65. Best I managed on a one-off journey was 71mpg but that was too boring to keep up.

For DPF, I think my commute was sufficient that it was able to regen fairly regularly, I certainly never noticed it nor had any trouble.

Regarding reliability, I had failure of the clutch slave cylinder at around 26k miles (repaired under warranty). Not sure how common a problem that is though but the symptom of it is the clutch pedal not returning once depressed.

Apart from the above, it was a good car - comfortable, well equipped (Titanium spec) and cheap to run..

Edited by Dyl on Wednesday 4th August 20:18

[leepox]

Dyl said:

I had a 2017 Focus 1.5TDCi for the best part of 2 years, doing 17k miles (c.30 mile round trip every day commuting).

My average MPG over the course of my ownership was around 57mpg, but with only a little bit more patience I could coax 65. Best I managed on a one-off journey was 71mpg but that was too boring to keep up.

For DPF, I think my commute was sufficient that it was able to regen fairly regularly, I certainly never noticed it nor had any trouble.

Regarding reliability, I had failure of the clutch slave cylinder at around 26k miles (repaired under warranty). Not sure how common a problem that is though but the symptom of it is the clutch pedal not returning once depressed.

Apart from the above, it was a good car - comfortable, well equipped (Titanium spec) and cheap to run..

Edited by Dyl on Wednesday 4th August 20:18

Thanks that's great to hear how economical it is. The Focus seems to have a cheaper going rate on the market for a similar mileage and age as the Honda so it's becoming a big factor.

Edit: I'm wrong. They're neck and neck in price. Ahhhhh!

Edited by leepox on Thursday 5th August 00:03

[anonymous-user]

OP I know it's not something you've asked for views on but if you're only doing around 5000 miles a year, the fuel cost difference between a car doing 65 and 55mpg is about £100. I wouldn't dismiss a petrol (it would be more tolerant of your 10 minute runs) unless you just prefer driving a diesel.

Generally speaking the Honda has the reputation for reliability, and the Focus is relatively cheap to fix if things go wrong.

[leepox]

RaymondVanDerDon said:

OP I know it's not something you've asked for views on but if you're only doing around 5000 miles a year, the fuel cost difference between a car doing 65 and 55mpg is about £100. I wouldn't dismiss a petrol (it would be more tolerant of your 10 minute runs) unless you just prefer driving a diesel.

Generally speaking the Honda has the reputation for reliability, and the Focus is relatively cheap to fix if things go wrong.

I have a petrol at the moment (got the alfa 1.4) but I do a 2000 mile trip to France and back at least once a year now and diesels are just so much better coasting around with in such long journeys and the effortless torque accessible at 2k rpm.

[anonymous-user]

I’ve got a Civic 1.6 i-dtec. Had it for almost 2.5 years and looking to keep it for a good while longer. It’s a great engine. It has 300Nm of peak torque which is 30 more than the Focus you’re looking at, and 50 (!) more than the 1.6 tdi golf of the same era. Honda know how to engineer a decent engine if nothing else The 300Nm comes at 1800rpm so it’s got plenty of shove low down. It’s shifts impressively when loaded up with people and luggage. I went for the i-dtec over the n/a 1.8 petrol for the effortlessness when the car is loaded. It just needs a little squeeze on the throttle to overtake on the motorway without dropping gears. At 65mph it sits at about 1700rpm so it’s perfectly geared for hitting peak torque when you want it. A 2014 Civic holds the world record for fuel economy too...

My mileage is similar to yours OP. I do some short journeys but it gets long runs frequently. Total average mpg for mine is 56mpg, but on motorway runs its 65-70mpg easily. I run all season tyres so I get less than most will. No DPF issues so far for me, coming up to 80000 miles. I’ve had two problems with mine. The air con condenser failed and one of the back seat mechanisms jammed within a year of owning it. No problems now for 18 months.

I’d go Honda again myself, but whichever one you pick you can’t go too far wrong.

[Dyl]

leepox said:

Thanks that's great to hear how economical it is. The Focus seems to have a cheaper going rate on the market for a similar mileage and age as the Honda so it's becoming a big factor.

Edit: I'm wrong. They're neck and neck in price. Ahhhhh!

Edited by leepox on Thursday 5th August 00:03

Bear in mind that my commute is mostly busy motorway where I was averaging 55mph, so YMMV depending on how you drive it. But it certainly wasn't difficult to get good mpg.

leepox said:

RaymondVanDerDon said:

OP I know it's not something you've asked for views on but if you're only doing around 5000 miles a year, the fuel cost difference between a car doing 65 and 55mpg is about £100. I wouldn't dismiss a petrol (it would be more tolerant of your 10 minute runs) unless you just prefer driving a diesel.

Generally speaking the Honda has the reputation for reliability, and the Focus is relatively cheap to fix if things go wrong.

I have a petrol at the moment (got the alfa 1.4) but I do a 2000 mile trip to France and back at least once a year now and diesels are just so much better coasting around with in such long journeys and the effortless torque accessible at 2k rpm.

I'd echo the above on not discounting a petrol - my current car is a Seat Leon 1.4TSI. On the same commute as the Focus, I'm averaging 48-50mpg.

It has similar power to the Focus (125 vs 120bhp) and is down on torque (200Nm vs 270Nm), but the torque has a much wider spread so doesn't feel much different. At 70mph it's running at about 2300rpm I think, certainly not excessive.

The Leon is a more pleasant drive due to the engine being quieter, smoother and lighter, albeit the Focus has better suspension and handling.

[msportpanda]

We have a Civic 1.6 dtec in the family. The car is great, we went for an SR spec vehicle which has heated leathers, upgraded audio (really good!), pan roof, nav, speed limit recognition and all manner of other bits and bobs.

Its a fantastic car, it is almost exclusively used for short journeys during the week and manages a very strong 40mpg on a 5 mile ish commute in london.

Nice to drive actually and far nicer imho than the equivalent 1.6 Golf which is the other car we were looking at when buying. Interior is great, spacious and nicely put together, no creaks or rattles and feels noticeably nicer again than the Golfs I was looking at.

One thing to note is that the main dealer network and Honda UK are abysmal at resolving problems. Use an independant!

[Don Roque]

My wife has had a 1.6 i-DTEC Civic for nearly five years now. It has been faultless in that time. She mostly does short trips with the occasional longer run (her annual mileage was higher when we bought it, that changed). It's a nice drive for what it is. She wants to change it this year because our kids are older now and more space would be handy.