I used commute 120 miles a day in a 1.6L petrol Focus. It got decent mpg and it was very reliable. I was definitely in the mileage range where a diesel would have been worth it, but the petrol car served me well.

This thread highlights how vitally important it is to research any car thoroughly before purchase, and to have plans pencilled in place to short circuit any potential problems.

Taking the Focus in the OP, once the DPF was getting to the point of needing topping up i'd have had pre arranged plans to have the DPF removed and the ECU reprogrammed to accept it's removal, remappers and others offer this service now**

Similarly the EGR is a known problem with Diesels especially and needs removing and cleaning regularly, or by passing which is a permanent cure.

Doing these two jobs would remove 90% of the potential problems of this car anyway.

The days of Diesel are far from over and those who use them day in day out getting them hot with long runs still have the most cost effective transport there is (mazda 6 excepted), however for stop start users the modern especially DPF equipped Diesel isn't suitable for everyone unless you take certain precautions.

I loved my old Diesels , bullet proof if serviced properly and little to go wrong, but no one would buy one anymore, the TG mob would slate it and the sheep who follow their every word like the gospel would repeat the mantra, and you can't have old school Diesels anymore cos they won't pass the emissions directives of the EU masterstate.

** anyone thinking of removing their DPF should consider what might happen when the forthcoming MOT changes take effect and the tester checks for mods and emissions, i've asked the question about this for a long time now and no one knows the answer, the remapper/tuner has a vested interest but who does know?

Might be a bit like the decat boys at MOT time, refit for test and remove after, not as any of us would condone such a thing..;)

Another thing to bear in mind with a diesel is if it was registered after 1 jul 2008 the MOT emission test is more stringent, though whether that makes much of a difference in the real world I dunno.

I've recently aquired a Focus with the 1.6TDCi and I made sure it had no DPF (the 90bhp model tends not to, the 110 tends to have it, though you need to check). These engines are very sensitive and while they promise great economy, you need to ensure regular oil changes with good fully synthetic low-ash oil, or sludge formationcan be a problem, which can take out the turbo. Next oil change I will probably get the sump dropped for an inspection of the oil pickup, and change the turbo oil-feed pipe which has an integral filter that can clog up causing turbo fail. Knowing all the issues I still went for this engine, they can't all be bad right?!

Thanks to modern emissions and fuel economy issues, diesels have been getting less reliable over the last 10 years, however the DPFs fitted to new cars are often now maintenance free.

well, kinda. The 2008- 1.6TDCi has a £30 a year tax disc and I'm getting 57-61mpg, that's 500+ miles on a £60ish tank, as opposed to 350 miles in my old 1.8 VAG petrol. Savings which will be wiped out if anything expensive goes wrong, of course! Fingers crossed....