Ford Fiesta £7K budget
Ford Fiesta £7K budget
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Discussion

Drive Blind

Original Poster:

5,606 posts

200 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
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Hello,

younger member of the family looking for a new car.
Her first car was a Fiesta which she loved so the new car will be another Fiesta.

My advice was to say away from the 1l ecoboost and get the 1.25l engine. A few searches have thrown up the 1.1 3cylinder NA engine version. A quick google shows this is also a wet belt, so potentially could suffer the same issues as the 1l ecoboost?

Is chosing the 1.25 the best option or am i being overly paranoid?

Car needs to last 3-4 years whilst she's a student. So cheap insurance and running costs.

Gas1883

1,513 posts

71 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
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My daughter has had her 1.0 fiesta vignale for 5 years , other than brittle window switches ( now solved ) , had no issues whatsoever.

Ry.Clarke

654 posts

49 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
quotequote all
Ecoboost is fine, budget £700-£800 for a new belt into your purchase and change the oil every year. There are some bargains around at the moment if you change the belt.

Gas1883

1,513 posts

71 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
quotequote all
Actually I forgot , don’t get one with the polished / chrome looking wheels ( they might be a vignale option only ) , they look lovely when new but 5 years on the back ones look more Matt grey than chrome / polished , no damage to them , the finish has just gone on them .
Ford not intrested.

alfabeat

1,408 posts

135 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
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I love the 1.25 engine. Ours is on 185,000 miles now. Great little reliable lump!

cliffords

3,624 posts

46 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
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If you search spares and repairs vehicles on e ebay there are heaps of failed wet belt engined cars, many of them Ford's. Often as low as 65k miles.

Simon_GH

861 posts

103 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
quotequote all
Ry.Clarke said:
Ecoboost is fine, budget £700-£800 for a new belt into your purchase and change the oil every year. There are some bargains around at the moment if you change the belt.
This is the advice from someone in the know but there is a fair drama about the 1.0 ecoboost. We had a secondhand one for 9 years and it was a little better. Reluctantly traded in for an EV to help an arduous commute,

There are a few 1.0 ecoboost engined cars amongst our friends and family and no one I know has had any trouble.

It’s sensible to follow the service schedule with the correct grade oil but any independent can service one.

ChrisH72

2,801 posts

75 months

Wednesday 2nd April 2025
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I'm amazed to see that £7k really only gets you into a mk7 Fiesta and not a mk8.

The 1.25 is quite sweet to drive and should be reliable and cheap to run. It's not as quick or as flexible as an ecoboost but I think it's the one I'd buy.

I had an ST3 which was excellent but insurance is quite expensive even for an old git like me.

soad

34,344 posts

199 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
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alfabeat said:
I love the 1.25 engine. Ours is on 185,000 miles now. Great little reliable lump!
Is it the same engine as two decades ago? Learned to drive in 2000/2001 models iirc (instructor upgraded cars).

Simon_GH

861 posts

103 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
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I think the 1.25 is a Yamaha unit.

alfabeat

1,408 posts

135 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
quotequote all
soad said:
Is it the same engine as two decades ago? Learned to drive in 2000/2001 models iirc (instructor upgraded cars).
Not sure. Ours is from 2007. I picked it up with 150k on the clock, no history, hardly any oil in it. But it still soldiers on without any drama and I can confidently say that prior to my ownership it wasn't well looked after.

Simon_GH

861 posts

103 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
quotequote all
soad said:
alfabeat said:
I love the 1.25 engine. Ours is on 185,000 miles now. Great little reliable lump!
Is it the same engine as two decades ago? Learned to drive in 2000/2001 models iirc (instructor upgraded cars).
I would imagine it is two decades old but I’m sure injectors, mapping etc has been optimised over time. It was always a reliable lump and many manufacturers steered towards turbocharging for their new petrol engines.

The Gauge

6,382 posts

36 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
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My 18yr old son has just had his grandmas 2013 1.0L Ecoboom Fiesta with just 20k miles handed down to him as a gift, it’s his first car. It’s a great car with some real poke.

Seeing as it was free I’m getting the wet belt changed for him, costing £950 including oil sump clean, and all the parts replaced that need doing whilst the engine is out.

Edited by The Gauge on Thursday 3rd April 16:09

twokcc

1,003 posts

200 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
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Frind has a 1.25 vetec. Taken it from 10k -114k miles in 9 years. very monor faults- dodgy door lock on purchase 1 tps and couple track rod ends. had belt changed once - dont have to worry about it . Comfy ride and very reliable engine just get one thats got decent service history - doesn't have to be Ford, any garage can do it.
Only thing can see stopping it is tin worm -no signs at moment be interested in any comments on MK7 rust resistance.

Ry.Clarke

654 posts

49 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
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The Gauge said:
My 18yr old son has just had his grandmas 2013 1.0L Ecoboom Fiesta with just 20k miles handed down to him as a gift, it’s his first car. It’s a great car with some real poke.

Seeing as it was free I’m getting the wet belt changed for him, costing £950 including oil sump clean, and all the parts replaced that need doing whilst the engine is out.

Edited by The Gauge on Thursday 3rd April 16:09
As a heads up, the engine doesn’t need to come out; unless they’ve specified they want to take it out to make it easier I wouldn’t go in expecting that to have been done.

When mine was done I had a video walkthrough of all the new parts fitted to the car; the condition of the sump and he cleared both ends of the strainer “live”; engine was still in.


Edited by Ry.Clarke on Thursday 3rd April 18:06

The Gauge

6,382 posts

36 months

Thursday 3rd April 2025
quotequote all
Ry.Clarke said:
As a heads up, the engine doesn’t need to come out; unless they’ve specified they want to take it out to make it easier I wouldn’t go in expecting that to have been done.

When mine was done I had a video walkthrough of all the new parts fitted to the car; the condition of the sump and he cleared both ends of the strainer “live”; engine was still in.
Thanks. The strainer you mentioned, is that the block filter located behind the cover and needs a hex bolt removing to access it?





Edited by The Gauge on Thursday 3rd April 21:38

Drive Blind

Original Poster:

5,606 posts

200 months

Saturday 5th April 2025
quotequote all
spoke with jnr last night,

She's got her heart set on the newer shape - mk8? - so that means 3cyl wet belt only. Just need to advise on regular oil changes and save / budget for a belt change.

beer

ChrisH72

2,801 posts

75 months

Saturday 5th April 2025
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If she can up the budget by a grand she should be able to get a chain driven ecoboost rather than the wet belt. They changed at some point in 2019 but I'm not sure exactly when. Buy a 20 plate and it should be chain.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025013186...

ChrisH72

2,801 posts

75 months

Saturday 5th April 2025
quotequote all
Nice titanium quite cheap.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024102355...

Apparently you can tell if its wet belt or chain by the position of the turbo. Turbo at the front is wet belt, at the back is chain.

Drive Blind

Original Poster:

5,606 posts

200 months

Saturday 5th April 2025
quotequote all
ChrisH72 said:
If she can up the budget by a grand
the budget has already been stretched by a grand

it quite funny to watch somebody new to this. They start all sensible with a budget, then they do a bit of searching and view a couple and the budget goes out the window.

She also decided for a time she could get a newer, better car on Gumtree. I vchecked her first attempt at this which revealed the pics from the salvage auction 4 months earlier. Obviously the seller had failed to mention this. No harm done, lesson learned.