I recently sold a 55 plate VW Polo triple (non turbo petrol) with 155,000mls and it was bombproof. Ran like clockwork and I drove it hard. Was running sweet when I sold it and still is I believe.
1.0 litre 3 pot turbo engines
- Thread starter Salar
- Start date
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fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Some of the early Ford 1.0 Ecoboost engines suffered, more to do with coolant issues/pump failure, but was fixed quickly. I'm surprised how economical they have become, nearly diesel levels.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
SiL has an Ecosport 1.0 140BHP model, one of the very last ones before they dropped it for the Kuga. It goes like the clappers when your foot is down, when driving normally it is smooth and quite like no diesel could ever be, and gives excellent economy. I actually really like it.
Small engines are less stressed than big ones. A large, heavy piston in an engine spinning at, ssy, 4000 RPM "weighs" hundreds, perhaps thousands of kilos more at the top of its stroke due to inertial forces than a small, light piston ever will, and is therefore actually more likely to lead to a mechanical failure and places more stresses on small ends, big ends and mains. Engines arent like muscles, they can't be stressed or strained - an engine is good until something physically breaks, or it wears beyond its operational tolerances, and a small engine is a lot less likely to suffer the former and no more likely to suffer the latter.
The early Ecoboost problem wasn't directly engine related. A steel coolant pipe outside of the engine was prone to corrode very quickly, and once it had rusted sufficiently all the cooant would drain away. Obviously, without coolant an engine doesnt live long, but it wasn't an engine problem per se and was fixed on later cars. If you buy an older version just clean up the pupe and paint it with hammerite.
Small engines are less stressed than big ones. A large, heavy piston in an engine spinning at, ssy, 4000 RPM "weighs" hundreds, perhaps thousands of kilos more at the top of its stroke due to inertial forces than a small, light piston ever will, and is therefore actually more likely to lead to a mechanical failure and places more stresses on small ends, big ends and mains. Engines arent like muscles, they can't be stressed or strained - an engine is good until something physically breaks, or it wears beyond its operational tolerances, and a small engine is a lot less likely to suffer the former and no more likely to suffer the latter.
The early Ecoboost problem wasn't directly engine related. A steel coolant pipe outside of the engine was prone to corrode very quickly, and once it had rusted sufficiently all the cooant would drain away. Obviously, without coolant an engine doesnt live long, but it wasn't an engine problem per se and was fixed on later cars. If you buy an older version just clean up the pupe and paint it with hammerite.
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Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
Did depend on the firing order, the originals were 180 degrees, then later triples 120 degrees which were much smoother.
But still a handful....
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
I nearly bought a Citigo years ago but the engine was dog-rough. VW in their wisdom did not fit a balance shaft, and a 3-cylinder needs one for acceptable NVH. They have a bad rocking couple.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
DRM
Guru
- Location
- West Yorks
Mrs DRM has a Suzuki Celerio, it’s not the fastest on the motorway but will still keep at 70 mph and does around 65/68 mpg without trying on a run, it’s more at home round town and is actually quite a hoot to drive and turns on a sixpence too, even though it’s the base model it still has a DAB radio/CD/media player, and £0 tax , it’s a cracking little car for the money
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Ford did at least think about the balance issues, and used an unbalanced flywheel as a cheap solution. VW just decided it didn't matter.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
To be fair, the Ford forums are talking out of their arses. I can remeber the small bore Zetec engines being slagged off when they arrived with unsubstantiated concerns that theyd be shagged in 50k miles, but 20 years on and theyre now warmly praised for their high soecifica putput and toughness. Hell, theyre now vrry sought after for transplanting into older Fords and even Westfields and Caterhams.
If Ford themselves are to be believed their 3 pot family is the best selling petrol unit theyve made for the last 3 decades, and while there are individual tales of angst theyre generally quite robust and are as capable of reliable high mileages as anything else. No vast tales of woe like K series head gaskets, Vauxhall S series chocolate camshafts, or Range Rover DPF failues. Again, like the Zetec before it, they'll be warmly remembered and sought for tranplants. Indeed, theyhre already starting to become common as a transplant into Mk1 and 2 Festers, so the very cognoscenti that were moaning are now adopting them as a sought after upgrade.
Definietely stay away from the 900cc Renault/Dacia 3 pot tubby. Not especially powerful, horrible lightswitch power delivery. It just about does the job in the Smart ForTwo, which is relatively light, but in a car of normal mass its an unpleasant powerplant. And to make it worse, they match it to slack gearboxes with equally knife edge clutches.
If Ford themselves are to be believed their 3 pot family is the best selling petrol unit theyve made for the last 3 decades, and while there are individual tales of angst theyre generally quite robust and are as capable of reliable high mileages as anything else. No vast tales of woe like K series head gaskets, Vauxhall S series chocolate camshafts, or Range Rover DPF failues. Again, like the Zetec before it, they'll be warmly remembered and sought for tranplants. Indeed, theyhre already starting to become common as a transplant into Mk1 and 2 Festers, so the very cognoscenti that were moaning are now adopting them as a sought after upgrade.
Definietely stay away from the 900cc Renault/Dacia 3 pot tubby. Not especially powerful, horrible lightswitch power delivery. It just about does the job in the Smart ForTwo, which is relatively light, but in a car of normal mass its an unpleasant powerplant. And to make it worse, they match it to slack gearboxes with equally knife edge clutches.
NorthernDave
Never used Über Member
- Location
- The real Northern Powerhouse
I've got a Citroen C3 Aircross with the 1.2 (110 bhp) engine.
Honestly, you can't tell it's a small 3 cylinder engine, the electronic trickery does it's job seamlessly and it drives like a bigger engined car. It also returns almost as good mpg as the C3 1.6HDi (90 bhp) I had a few years before it
Before the Aircross I had a C1 with the same 1.2 engine but in 82bhp trim and that was also entirely acceptable to drive including on motorways. It was also an absolute hoot to drive on twisty roads with go-cart like handling and ample oomph.
Honestly, you can't tell it's a small 3 cylinder engine, the electronic trickery does it's job seamlessly and it drives like a bigger engined car. It also returns almost as good mpg as the C3 1.6HDi (90 bhp) I had a few years before it
Before the Aircross I had a C1 with the same 1.2 engine but in 82bhp trim and that was also entirely acceptable to drive including on motorways. It was also an absolute hoot to drive on twisty roads with go-cart like handling and ample oomph.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Completely different experience to Lovely Wife's old High Up. 75bhp version. Smooth as silk.
She has just purchased a new Up GTi, 115bhp and it too is silky smooth despite not yet being run in.
Pulls like a train from around 1500 rpm in 5th and around 1700 rpm in 6th.
Cleverly tuned as well as despite pulling from very low down the thing does not run out of puff at the higher reaches of the rev range according to the reviews we have read.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
My son was working on a Polo GTi with 400 bhp this week. Bonkers.
His boss has a GTR which is tuned to 800bhp, but keeps having faults with his gearbox - apparently the engines can be tuned to crazy levels, but the gearboxes give out. Some bearing or other.
His boss has a GTR which is tuned to 800bhp, but keeps having faults with his gearbox - apparently the engines can be tuned to crazy levels, but the gearboxes give out. Some bearing or other.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
It is indeed bonkers.
Cannot understand the point of this ever increasing need for more power etc.
We have a friend with a Bentley Supersport that produces around 750Nm torque or thereabouts and it is way past fast. Just been remapped to over 1000 Nm torque.
Why?
High time we put some restrictions on this mad arms race - and that's from someone who rather likes cars & has owned some lovely ones over the years.
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Is that in actual driving, or EU official numbers? I ask as I had understood that in the real world they were falling a long way short of official numbers.
