Enduro or V tech?

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Mon 30 Apr 2007 21:43
Enduro or V tech? - telecaster
From a reliability point of view which engine in the Ford Fiesta is preferable...the Enduro E 1.3 or the 1.25 Z tech?
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Tue 1 May 2007 17:17
Enduro or V tech? - DP
Both very reliable engines.

I've got a 1.4 Zetec Fiesta (which is essentially a bored out 1.25) and it's been brilliant mechanically. It's done 95,000 miles, still pulls well, and sounds as sweet as anything. No smoke, rattles or knocks, and the top end is still immaculate. There are only two common faults specific to these engines that I am aware of. One is failure of the coil pack, and the other is a failed or sticking idle control valve. Neither are expensive or difficult to put right. They also need good quality 5W/30 oil, and will suffer badly if the wrong oil is used, or change intervals neglected. Other than that they're brilliant engines, and very frugal. I'm getting 43 mpg out of ours at the moment, against 46 mpg from our diesel Mondeo on the same journey.

The Endura is an old 1960's designed pushrod unit which is very reliable and simple to work on, but needs more maintenance to keep sweet. Tappets need setting every 6,000 miles, and you have to unscrew the spark plugs regularly to stop their tapers corroding into the head. They get quite clattery and rough as they age, but in fairness will rattle on to high mileages, but the Zetec unit is so much nicer to use, and I would argue just as reliable. The only disadvantage on the Zetec really is it has a cam belt to replace, but these are good for 80k or so (Ford recommend 100k) so it's likely you'll only need to do it once at worst.

The Zetec's extra refinement, performance and lower maintenance requirements would (did) swing it for me.

Cheers
DP
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