help me choose please lads.

[Colbaker]

I am getting rid of my current zafira 1.6 petrol 16v as it is too costly with a high road tax cost and 30mpgs.

I am thinking about either a focus 1.6 TDCI 110bhp diesel or a 1.4 TDCI fiesta, the issue i have with these is the diesel part, my car before my zaf was a pug 307 2.0 110s diesel and I had many issues with the dpf to the point I paid to get it removed completely, also not long after getting it I had to change the high pressue fuel pump, in the end the whole fuel system had metal shavings throughout and I had enough and scrapped it 2003 plate. Apart from that it was a nice drive and was constantly doing 50+mpgs, also only 105 pound a year tax, this has scared me when it comes to diesels but petrols just dont cut it on fuel economy.

I do approx 25 miles a day around town so 30 to 60mph, normally with a car full of passengers, every couple of months we do long distance motorway driving to either the inlaws which live 300 miles away or my parents who live 100 miles away.

What should I do, are my fears about diesel going to come to fruition? Shall I just get a focus petrol and deal with the low mpgs and high Road tax in order to hopefully have less repair costs?

 

[Amos91]

For that mileage I'd stick with petrol. You're getting 30mpg because of driving around town. A diesel isn't going to be a massive improvement on this and in turn more likely to suffer for DMF/DPF issues.

 

[sovietspybob]

Shall I just get a focus petrol and deal with the low mpgs and high Road tax in order to hopefully have less repair costs?

Pretty much, yeah.

You won't save any meaningful money usually in changing cars as it always costs to change even if you want another car of the same value.

 

[Glanza]

I have the fiesta tdci 1.6 and it's been fine I do 30miles a day just with travellng to work then anything on top.

The mpg car display claims I'm getting 57.6 with town driving, £30 diesel will cover me for 2 weeks worth of travelling to and from work with room for extra trips aswell.

Only had a few little things go wrong with it that are just down to daily running and with it being Ford most the parts are cheap.

Road tax is a bank breaking £30 for the year

 

[Matt82]

Full of passengers you say? Focus petrol for you then

 

[mccarf]

Assuming you're travelling with 3-4 passengers then 30mpg really isn't that bad at all!

 

[Colbaker]

Full of passengers you say? Focus petrol for you then

Ok could you tell me why that would be?

Also would a hybrid be the car for me? Prius etc.

My budget is 5 to 7k, not keeping the zaf as its a w reg and I know the piston ring are sticking or the valve seals are gone so going through a load of oil.

 

[mccarf]

Ok could you tell me why that would be?

Also would a hybrid be the car for me? Prius etc.

My budget is 5 to 7k, not keeping the zaf as its a w reg and I know the piston ring are sticking or the valve seals are gone so going through a load of oil.

A prius only has about 75bhp according to autotrader. If you add the fact you're carrying passengers around a lot then you're going to really have to work the car to get anywhere at all. Therefore you'll never achieve a decent MPG anyway

Example from top gear - A BMW M3 vs Toyota Prius economy race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JmxUsGiGp3w#t=213

Personally I'd go for a petrol mondeo if you're gonna be ferrying a lot of passengers around. You'd get a very nice Titanium X example for your money, possibly the TX Sport.

 

[Matt82]

Ok could you tell me why that would be?

Also would a hybrid be the car for me? Prius etc.

My budget is 5 to 7k, not keeping the zaf as its a w reg and I know the piston ring are sticking or the valve seals are gone so going through a load of oil.

Due to the extra space compared to the fiesta. With extra passengers a focus would be more comfortable and safe

As for the piston rings, are you tempted to find out why it's presumably coked up and fix it?

Google the water trick, I've know it to work very well in the past

 

[Colbaker]

Due to the extra space compared to the fiesta. With extra passengers a focus would be more comfortable and safe

As for the piston rings, are you tempted to find out why it's presumably coked up and fix it?

Google the water trick, I've know it to work very well in the past

Not really, not sure the cars worth the hassle, also I have two young kids so no chance getting time to do that , I actually air more on the side of valve seals gone as well.

How about a hybrid hondo civic? 115bhp and hybrid.