2014 Focus ST estate "catastrophic" engine failure

[cradock]

Hello, I've owned a 2014 Focus ST estate since May, its on about 65k miles so not especially leggy and is (was) in generally decent condition.

However, I noticed an evil smell and lots of white smoke from the exhaust recently. Temperature all over the place, and an intermittent loss of power. Upon taking it home and filling up the coolant tank, it leaked straight out (though not onto the drive).

Initially I suspected it was a failed head gasket, but the specialist to whom I took it now tells me it is a "catastrophic failure of the block, probably between pistons 2 and 3". The upshot is a quote of around £6.5k for a new engine! not quite the xmas present I'd hoped for...

I'd always understood that the Ford 2L focus ST engine was pretty strong, so is this a known fault? and is £6.5k a fair ballpark? (Ford themselves were quoting nearer 9k for the new engine), and finally, is it worth replacing or am I better of selling it for scrapage and finding something else?

Any thoughts would be most welcome - I've never owned a Ford before, but sense that there may be a pretty big knowledge base on here so any advice would be awesome.

Thanks in advance

[cradock]

Oh dear! that's not a fun read... thanks for the pointer. so not as bulletproof as I'd thought!