Ford Focus II (2004 - 2007) - Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG

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Mon 3 Aug 2009 13:27
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Snakey
I'm looking to buy a 2006-ish Focus petrol (had enough of diesel DMFs,EGRs,DPFs etc!) and assumed the 1.6 would be the most economical.

However a few forum searchs show many people are disappointed with their 1.6 economy - never reaching the 40mpg figure. I know these figures are a guideline but has anyone had any experience of the economy of the 1.8/2.0 petrol engine?

My commute is about 15 miles on the motorway, 5 miles of urban and a 20 minute queue so I cover all types of driving! I assume the 2.0 litre would be more economical overall on the motorway, but worse in the urban traffic. For the sake of 3-4mpg I would opt for the 2.0 as they seem to be cheaper (possibly because of the higher tax?)
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Mon 3 Aug 2009 17:26
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Waino
From what I gather from others and, from experience with our 1.6 petrol Focus, economy is seriously reduced by cold starts/short journeys/fast driving. I tend to be fairly light-footed and leave a good gap in front of me - I can easily achieve 44mpg (brimmed) on a run, though the monthly average is more like 37mpg.

My wife's friend has a 1.8 which she says 'goes like the proverbial', but 'is a bit thirsty'. Whilst I haven't personally driven a bigger engined Focus than the 1.6, we are perfectly contented with this one.
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Mon 3 Aug 2009 18:05
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - grahamw
Hi Snakey,

I've owned a 1.6 100bhp Focus II for almost 3 years.
I have acheived 37mpg over the 43,000 miles covered (brim-brim calculations)
The best mpg was 42 whilst touring France, the worst 34 mostly around town.

Hope this helps in your choice.
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Mon 3 Aug 2009 20:11
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - honeybear
Since new and 9500 miles later our 1.6 auto has averaged about 33mpg on a mixture of 7 mile "commutes" and mainly semi urban driving, taking a trip down to Oxford next month so it will be interesting to see what she does on a longer steadier run.
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Mon 3 Aug 2009 21:45
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - The Melting Snowman
The 1.6 ti-VCT 115 Climate is the one to have.
36 - 43mpg.
Ours on 22K now - not one problem.
An excellent car available to the masses.
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Mon 3 Aug 2009 22:29
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Snakey
Thanks for the info. By the sound of it 37mpg is a realistic average, with a 1.8/2.0 probably dropping to 33-35mpg

Quite impressed with 33mpg average for 1.6 auto though!
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Mon 3 Aug 2009 23:48
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - MikeTorque
The 1.6 115 is the best combination for economy and performance. The 2.0 is cheap at the moment due to its higher insurance cost, higher running costs and higher repair costs.
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Tue 4 Aug 2009 13:25
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - oldnotbold
I did a brim to brim check on SWMBO's 1.6 auto on a 400 mile round trip to Liverpool at sensible M-way speeds and it returned 37 mpg.
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Tue 4 Aug 2009 00:26
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Avant
A lot depends on your driving style as well as where you drive. If you're a gentle, leisurely type, the smaller engine will do fine (not too small - a 1.4 would struggle in a Focus). But if you like to get a move on, you're going to be working the 1.6 harder to maintain brisk progress than you would the bigger engines - and therefore using more petrol.

My gut feeling is that for your commute the 1.8 might be a good compromise - unless you find the aforementioned 1.6 115 bhp quite lively enough.

Edited by Avant on 04/08/2009 at 00:28

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Tue 4 Aug 2009 08:52
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - L'escargot
The April 2008 Ford brochure gives "combined" figures of 42.2, 40.3 and 39.8 mpg for the 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 respectively. I've not have any problem reaching the quoted "combined" figure for my current 2.0 MK I, nor for my previous similar model. I'd go for the 2.0 for more effortless performance and better specification.

Edited by L'escargot on 04/08/2009 at 08:53

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Tue 4 Aug 2009 11:39
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Snakey
There doesn't seem to be as many of the 115hp 1.6s as there is of the 'standard' 100hp 1.6s. Round here (Durham) they seem to be all 100hp 1.6s or diesel, with the occasional 2.0 litre.

The appeal of the 100hp engine is that I believe its a chain cam?
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Tue 4 Aug 2009 13:51
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Waino
There doesn't seem to be as many of the 115hp 1.6s as there is of the 'standard' 100hp 1.6s. >>


Can you tell me how to tell the difference, please?
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Tue 4 Aug 2009 13:49
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Waino
I'd go for the 2.0 for more effortless performance and better specification.>>


Each to his own. Some people prefer rusting sump pans! ;-)
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Tue 4 Aug 2009 16:57
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - L'escargot
>> I'd go for the 2.0 for more effortless performance and better specification.>>
Each to his own. Some people prefer rusting sump pans! ;-)


I've got both so I'm satisfied on both counts.
:-D

Edited by L'escargot on 04/08/2009 at 16:57

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Sun 13 Sep 2009 21:15
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - honeybear
Back from the trip to Oxford, the numbers were 1150 miles mainly on the motorway at cruising speed as near to speed limit plus 10% (and a little bit) the mpg coming in at 37.4 which all in all I was quite pleased with, interesting to see that the average speed for the trip was 60 mph. This is the first long trip we have done in the car and it really did go like a dream.
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Sun 13 Sep 2009 22:36
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Old Navy
I'm looking to buy a 2006-ish Focus petrol (had enough of diesel DMFs EGRs DPFs
etc!)

>>
How many of each of these items have failed on you, Snakey, I have had none in 30 years of diesel driving.
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Mon 14 Sep 2009 01:00
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Avant
For most of those 30 years you were blessedly free from all those acronyms - hence the lack of trouble! I'm not sure exactly when these gadgets were foisted onn us, but I think they're all of this century.

I can't help thinking what a good car the diesel Peugeot 205 was - I'm sure it had none of the above. The XUD engine was capable of very high mileages as long as the cambelt was changed when prescribed. Peugeots have never made anything since which was as good as the 205 and 306.
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Tue 3 Apr 2012 23:19
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - Z_interactive

1.6 100hp 5spd manual

average 41 with omv100 fuel - thats something like premium or any best (expensive) fuel available.

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Wed 4 Apr 2012 10:06
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - ChannelZ

I'm sure he's interested, 3 years later....

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Mon 8 May 2017 18:27
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - 500comet

I recently bought a cmax 2litre auto 2006 and its fuel consumption for faily short journeys (some in town some on counytry roads) was not good at around 22-25 mpg though on main roads it was around 33 mpg.

Noticed that the temperature was always very low ( just between 0 and 600 on the gague).

Concluded that thermostat was not working and even as an engineer - now aged 81 decided to get someone else to change it because it is in a horrible place.

Cost £40 for the thermostat and Around 2 hours labour, so total with local garage £150

Temperature now with upright needle in a couple of miles eg around 90 degrees C and fuel consumption on the same sort of runs is about 30mpg

Don't know what it is on long runs but think it was well worth doing even if the better mpg will onlu save me around £200 from my previous car per year.

I find the cMax excellent and better for me than my previous Audi A4 or Toyota Avensis. -More comfortable, smaller and much easoer to manoeuvre and very nippy.

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Tue 9 May 2017 00:10
Focus 1.6,1.8,2.0 MPG - FP

I've been running a petrol 2 litre Focus Mk 2 for several years now - manual, not auto.

I'm a pretty gentle driver these days, but even I was surprised at Easter this year, when SWMBO and I took one of her sons and friend (two strapping lads) with some luggage down to Cornwall and back. Average 43 mpg.

That included some motorway driving at an indicated 60-70 mph, but quite a lot of A-roads to avoid traffic, and some pootling about while we were down there.

Not bad, I thought.

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