Focus 1.8 TDCI 100 or 115

The 100 is slightly better on fuel extra urban, but the same under any other circumstances.

I would always pick the 115 (check sticker under bonnet) as you wont pay any more for it.

Tim..

We have a 2004 (53 plate) 1.8 TDCi 115 Ghia (bought new...I got a 30% discount).

The difference in cost was £500 on the list price between the 100 and

Kev

Sorry - bad form to reply to your own post....

We've done 16K stop start miles doing 2-3 miles here and there, all around town. Average is around 33mpg. On an occasional longer A road run get mid 40s. It does go like the clappers though, but it could really do with a 6th gear if you were doing alot of motorway miles.

I've driven both.

The power increase more than outweighs the minuscule drop in fuel economy, and the extra equipment is worthwhile.

Go for the 115.

The ST170 ZF box (a la Mini Cooper S) is a bolt in job, but you need the Mini Final drive ratio's rather than the ST's if you want to use it with the TDCI.

Tim..

It's the wife's car which is only used for round town school, shops, that sort of thing. I have a 6-spd box on my Mondeo estate which is just fine on the motorway. Problem is I'm still finding myself trying to move up to another (unavailable) gear as it is hard after 20 years to get used to the gear leaver being in a lower position in the highest gear (brain still thinking it's in 4th).

That's shocking given the size of car and relative lack of power.

Yes - must admit the around town consumption is alot less than I expected. I had looked at the "official" numbers when deciding on what engine to get, and even backing these off by 75% on the assumption you can never match the official consumption figures in real life we're still on the low side. For the record combined consumption for this engine is 49.5mpg.

I've had the ECU re-programmed at services and tried the usual Millers diesel addatives, but even with a light foot it is impossible to break

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

"16K stop start miles doing 2-3 miles here and there, all around town"

Poor bloody thing's never got warm in it's life.

But the 'longer A-road run' returning mid 40s seems very poor.

Even the Passat will do that, when I'm pressing on. If I take it easy, it'll return over 50mpg. A motorway run from central London to my house turned in just shy of 55mpg @ 58mph *average*.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yebbut your Passat isn't totally clagged by a life of "popping to the shops, dear"

Well, yes, it is - but your shops are a bit further apart...

A "longer A-road run" to the OP is probably 50 miles once every few months.

In message , Kevin writes

Something is definitely wrong. I've got the 2.0 TDCi Focus and I can get

I knew what the car was going to be used for before I bought it - and the reason I bought a diesel was that I considered that it would stand up to this stop start use better than a petrol. I run the car on good quality, not supermarket fuel and I change the oil every 6 months. Sure I expect the exhaust not to last forever and the clutch the same, but my last Mondeo started life the same way for 6 of the 8 years I had it, and it was PXd on the original exhaust and clutch.....

The other car I drive does 70 miles a day. Happy now?

Good practice, keep it up...

Be sure to give it a good hard run say every month at 60+mph in 4th for 5 or

Tim..

I think if I was to use the focus for my 70 mile daily commute I would expect to see better performance, but I don't pay for the diesel in the other car we have, so it is academic!

Kevin (kevinholohan@hotREMOVE_MEmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Good.

Now either alternate them, so you don't kill either as quickly, or - preferably - sell the Focus and tell your missus to walk. It's not exactly far.

Agreed - something is not right somewhere. We have a 2003 Focus Ghia TDCI 115, and it will return low 50s on a 50:50 mix of urban and motorway, and up to 60mpg on a longer motorway run. I'm not exactly light-footed either.

TBH, something's probably coked up because of the heavy cold-running duty cycle. Have you tried a good old Italian tune-up?