Ford diesel 1.5 or 1.6

Original Poster

12,357 posts

181 months

Wednesday 17th June 2020

Which is best? Around the 2012-2016 era of foci there seems to be two similar diesel engines.
Any horror stories or ones to avoid over the other one?

littlebasher

3,785 posts

173 months

Wednesday 17th June 2020

1.6, plenty of horror stories about that one on the internet!

1.5, a generation newer, more power, more MPG, less failures.

stevemcs

8,722 posts

95 months

Wednesday 17th June 2020

The 1.6 was better towards the end of its life but still has a few issue - occasionally they fail the emissions test and resetting the ECU usually clears it. The 1.5 was having problems with snapping the cam pulley.

A1VDY

3,575 posts

129 months

Wednesday 17th June 2020

1.6 is a Peugeot engine. It suffers from injector problems, Turbos, crankcase breathing /blocked breather/ worn piston/ rings.
The cambelt interval on these is 10 years or 150k miles. Many won't make it to this mileage.

Original Poster

12,357 posts

181 months

Thursday 18th June 2020

Are there any good modernish diesels that don't have problems?

RazerSauber

2,326 posts

62 months

Thursday 18th June 2020

Any reason you need a diesel? There's many petrol's that are pretty efficient and less prone to failure.

I'd go Japanese. Toyota, Mazda etc. They appear to be the most reliable but all the emissions guff in a modern diesel is just another reason for them to fail.

27,756 posts

127 months

Thursday 18th June 2020

vulture1 said:

Are there any good modernish diesels that don't have problems?

All engines seem to have problems a lot of this is down to the internet some petrol engines still have issues as do some diesels & a lot of them are problem free.

27,756 posts

127 months

Thursday 18th June 2020

OP the 1.5 is the better engine & the one to go for or go for as late a 1.6 as you can find.

Original Poster

12,357 posts

181 months

Friday 19th June 2020

I do 20k a year commute. so mpg is important and a bit of grunt for overtaking as it is all A and B roads.

27,756 posts

127 months

Friday 19th June 2020

I'd actually go for 2.0d you'll see a real world 60mpg on a run & the extra torque & bhp will make that 20k more relaxing, how much are you looking to spend?

bearman68

4,677 posts

134 months

Friday 19th June 2020

1.6 engine is pretty good after 2010. Occasional issues but nothing much. Cam belts will tend to fail before 150k, so stick to about 100 and it'll be fine. Most of the problems with turbos and injectors have been sorted out, and the engine is quiet, smooth, and eco. I have 5 or 6 of these engines in my little fleet, with few issues so far.
I've heard good reports of the 1.5, but have no personal experience of them. I believe the 1.5 is a PSA development engine anyway, and is a refinement on the older 1.4. The 1.4 was a weedy little engine, but didn't have any reliability issues as I'm aware of, (and I have a few of these as well), and I've seen them with loads of miles on, even though they've been beaten to death daily.
But for me I'd take the 1.6. (Never thought I'd say that)

xcesx

134 posts

154 months

Saturday 20th June 2020

I've got a 2016 1.5 TDCI Mondeo. I've had it a year come the end of July and have covered nearly 20k. It's a nice comfortable car but its not very quick (obviously). It's fine sat on the motorway. If you want something with a bit of poke you need the 2.0l engine as pointed out above. Mine is averaging just less than 52mpg since I bought it. On my journey and driving style it's probably about 3-5 mpg better than the 2.0l diesels I've owned.

Original Poster

12,357 posts

181 months

Saturday 20th June 2020

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd actually go for 2.0d you'll see a real world 60mpg on a run & the extra torque & bhp will make that 20k more relaxing, how much are you looking to spend?

About 10k value. Looking for something that will be worth 3-4k in 3 years time so i figure 30k miles max on the clock.
I don't actually mind what brand as i will have a proper fun toy as a counter balance.

27,756 posts

127 months