Fiesta vs Polo

Hades

Hades

Hades

Man of Honour
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I am looking for a car for my wife, daughter and of course me. We currently have other cars but I can see a time when this may become our only car for a while. It has to be a manual for my daughter to learn in and my wife won't drive an auto. I would prefer 4 doors as it's likely to be a car we keep long term and it might be our only car at some point. I am looking to spend about 10k to 12k. I am just after a pleasant all round generic car for everyone to use. Most trips will be local with very occasional longer distance trips. Petrol only.

I thought I would ask opinions on here about pros and cons of each, which models and engines to look at, etc. Insurance seems to be about the same on either for my daughter.

Is the Fiesta 1.0T ecoboost better than the 1.1?

Thanks.
 
My experience of recent VW's is that the quality has gone down whereas Fords are at least as good as they previously were. I'd go Fiesta every time out of those two.
 
New or used? That's a sizeable budget for a Fiesta. I don't think the Polo would represent as good value. I swear by the Fiesta 1.0 ecoboost but I know a handful on here have had a bad experience relating to head gaskets but that is fixed now.
 
SkodaMart said:
VW because the head gasket won’t go.
Click to expand...
Here he is, right on cue.

Ford's statement:
According to Ford, the two problems are unrelated issues. The coolant hose on the 1.0 Ecoboost engines of cars built between October 2011 and October 2013 can potentially fail at high temperatures. Ford says that 44,682 cars were affected, and a recall was issued through a Field Service Action (FSA) in March 2015, with "96% of affected cars" have been reworked.
 
dLockers said:
Here he is, right on cue.

Ford's statement:
According to Ford, the two problems are unrelated issues. The coolant hose on the 1.0 Ecoboost engines of cars built between October 2011 and October 2013 can potentially fail at high temperatures. Ford says that 44,682 cars were affected, and a recall was issued through a Field Service Action (FSA) in March 2015, with "96% of affected cars" have been reworked.
Click to expand...

Still wouldn’t want one.
It’s actually more to do with the cooling system not being able to dissipate the heat from the ecoboost engine - the Focus RS is affected too.
Not for me thank you.
We had the coolant hose failure 2014 Focus.
They are pants.
My work mate had and 18 plate Focus from new. He had 3 head gaskets on warranty.
They are garbage.
 
Oh, Ford did not want to know.
We where looking at total loss of an £8000 car - which G/F had had from new with a full Ford service history.
 
Yet I know people who have had 1.0 Ecoboost engined cars for years with no problems. My dad gave his 14 plate 1.0 to my sister a couple of years back and that’s never had any issues.

There will be people with positive and negative experiences of both. Just down to what you end up hearing, reading and believing.
 
Phemo said:
There will be people with positive and negative experiences of both. Just down to what you end up hearing, reading and believing.
Click to expand...

Come back to me when you have experienced the failures, not read or heard about it. G/F had 5 cars from Evans Halshaw too, all main dealer serviced.
 
Nasher said:
As long as the recall was done it should be ok. There is always the ST which seems to be more reliable :p
Click to expand...

The Focus seems to be more affected than the Fiesta, I’m guessing because there’s more mass to move.
If Ford would have been willing to sort this for us I would have been less vocal about it.

Anyhow, nothing more to say.
 
SkodaMart said:
Come back to me when you have experienced the failures, not read or heard about it. G/F had 5 cars from Evans Halshaw too, all main dealer serviced.
Click to expand...

Yeah fair enough. If I was in that position myself I certainly wouldn’t be keen to suggest anyone else potentially getting themselves into it too.
 
The recall didn't affect the Fiesta, only other models with that engine. The Fiesta has a different degas pipe from the start. I don't think I've seen a single 1.0 ecoboost failure from anything other than an external factor, ie the coolant pipe splitting, or the usual heater matrix leaks etc. From my experience if you get a good dealership they'll help you out. Have never seen an ecobooost failure in a Fiesta that I can remember.

I honestly think Ford hit the nail on the head with the Mk7(.5) Fiesta. They're one of the most reliable cars I know of, and they drive extremely well for the type of car that it is. Get one in Titanium (X) and you have plenty of spec toe keep you happy too.
 
I've had Fiestas for years, only thing other than already mentioned is the mileage, I believe it is a large amount of labour hours to change the timing belt (100K they say but not sure I'd go that long). It's belt in oil so not a quick replacement, there are also stories about the belts degrading in old oil causing the oil filter pickup to clog, and as the filter can't be gotten to without a lot of work it tends not to be cleanable, and can cause oil starvation (but poor maintenance can affect most cars to be fair).

There's also rust/corrosion to watch out for on the mk7.5 (mk 7 facelifts) on the turbo cooling pipes. A lot of the time it is your normal surface rust, but I have seen photos where the corrosion gets so bad it has sprung a pinhole water leak.

https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/95740-2013-10l-ecoboost-engine-rust-problem/

I had similar, but just surface rust, but it seems to be a case of salt/spray from winter getting on the hot pipe accelerating rusting. Ford had a service bulletin out in Denmark about this, and I think they used high temp paint/coating to protect/arrest any further corrosion. In later models it seems they either changed the material or coated them.

There was also some reports of corrosion occuring on the rear springs, I had this issue. Think 15k miles on mine, went over a level crossing and bang. Went to the local dealership and they replaced under warranty. Think the corrosion happend at the top or bottom of the spring due to some design issue or something from what I recall.

I like my Fiestas, although I would have a good read through of some of the issues they can have and make sure you have them addressed or checked if buying used.

The Mk8 have a couple of ongoing issues now, mainly the O2 sensors, quite a few have failed. MIne included, but again I have a good local dealership, dropped off at 8am, back by dinner with sensor replaced. Granted that's the minimum they should be doing due to being under warranty.
 
Both seem like decent cars in my opinion from having driven them. Polo had the edge in quality but the fiesta handles better and is better to drive. I'd happily have either if I needed a small car.

One thing I would say is be mindful what engine you go for as some of the entry level non-turbo ones (~60ps) are very underpowered if you need to travel at motorway/country B-road speeds or carry more than a couple of passengers regularly.
 
if your keeping it as main car and long term etc, why not get a medium sized car ?
Focus perhaps ?
boot isnt all that big though so slightly bigger than a Fiesta

how about a mazda 3 ?
 
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