With Mini I would buy new and dump at the end of warranty.Originally Posted by RJ
With Mini I would buy new and dump at the end of warranty.
Not to mention the name of the brand, which would seem like bad juju for anyone who ever served in the armed forces.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
Yes. The Focus RS is absolutely fantastic and massively underrated. Exclusive of the monetary cost difference, I'd rather have a Focus RS than an R35 GT-R. But I also have a thing for manual transmissions. There are a few points of concern with the EcoBoost engine regarding cylinder head bolts - basically the stock bolts are at the very limit of strength at the stock power level. Doing a proactive set of ARP head studs will frequently save the headgasket and there's a strategy to change those without removing the cylinder head. Once that's done, life is good just stick to pump premium fuel.
Similarly, the Fiesta ST is a fucking blast to drive for such a small car. If you can deal with the Fiesta part of it (seating position, size, features etc) it is a wonderfully fun daily driver sort of car. If I was in the market for that kind of smaller 4-door commuter that was fun as hell to drive while being reasonably good on gas, I'd seriously consider one.
There are a few quirks with them but the FST community have been pretty good at documenting them on forums, FB, etc.
Yes. My wife has a 2009 Cooper S and while it's very fun there's always something a little off.
The biggest things are timing chains that like to destroy themselves and thereby take the valves with them (interference motor). Then the high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) that BMW faced a class-action lawsuit over that just sunset, and costs $800+ from Mini.
Ancillary problems include a thermostat housing that loves to leak and fail and costs $150+ and is a decent mess to get to, PCV problems that require a whole $400 valve cover to replace, a camshaft driven vacuum pump that loves to fail and make weird noise, and if left alone, can seize when it fails which in turn breaks the exhaust camshaft and leads to piston-on-valve fun. Also, there's a bizarre 'tension wheel' piznog that drives the water pump from the serpentine belt instead of the belt itself. And last but not least a criminally optimistic oil change schedule that routinely leads to turbocharger failure - change oil at 5k miles, NOT 10k! The Mobil 1 0w40 is wonderful stuff for engines like that, too.
With all that stuff fixed, though, they're a lot of fun and they've got a fun community and such. The R56's respond to modifications VERY nicely with basic bolt ons and a flashed PCM.
Good call. New plugs are less than $30, so I'm going to swap them today and see what it does. Regarding the thread referenced, I've used Premium fuel since I bought the car. I tried both Regular and Premium and found it accelerated more smoothly with Premium.
Once I get the plugs swapped, I'll report what I found (condition, gap, etc).
Chris
And done. The old plugs didn't look bad, but the gap had grown from the factory spec of .035 to more than .045 (my gap gauge tops out at .045 and that was a very loose fit). I installed new plugs and took it for a spin. Drive-ability was the same, but it idled better. Still not as silky smooth as a Toyota or Honda 4-banger with 70k miles, but not like a diesel as before.
So, Ford's maintenance interval of 100k for plugs is about 35k too long.
Old Plugs (the plug on the far left looks dark because the light wasn't shining on it like the others):
Chris
Ford have stopped making small cars altogether. No more Focus and Fiesta. Well, they import something called "EcoSport" from India. It's a design made for the unusual standards of India, which are extremely restrictive. That's why it must be no longer than 4m long, narrow like a kei-car, and tall. Otherwise, the smaller car they offer is Escape, which is not small at all.
GM still offers Spark and Sonic. They are pretty underwhelming vehicles, although at least they originate from Korea (Sonic was a Daewoo back at the time).
Soul used to be the only car worthy a comparison with Fit. But its success prompted vehicles that are trying to repeat the Juke formula: CH-R (and its Lexus equivalent UX), Kicks (even has bi-color schemes). These are even further away from Fit than Soul is, and not particularly practical.
Told my wife we’d never own a KIA for exactly that reason. She’d been looking at one, but one look at my face while I said that, and she stopped looking at it.
[mmc45414's post quoted above had a picture of the ford Fiesta ST]
It's hard to beat the Fiesta ST for a fun little car. There are still a few 2019 models around on dealer lots and they can be picked up used for cheap. I have yet to read a review that didn't downright praise the driving dynamics and character of the car. I wish Ford would bring the new 2020 version of the Fiesta ST to the States.
Rebadged as the Corolla Hatchback.
I bought a base model 2016 Focus SE hatchback in early '17 as a leftover. The deciding factor for me was the ability to fold the rear seat down and fit a road bike with the front wheel removed into the back. It's got 76k miles on it so far. Overall, I like it and I'll probably keep it until it dies. It handles really well, is comfortable on long drives (to Tucson twice and Colorado Springs once from south LA) and typically gets in the low 30 mpg range in and around town and about 40 mpg on the highway. The engine is decently peppy and handling is good, though I don't push it like I used to. At 6'1", I fit comfortably with the seat all the way back; it'd be too small for someone taller. The sound system is decent and the Sync works well. The downsides are the automatic transmission which shudders occasionally when accelerating - a known issue which has gotten better; it rarely happens anymore - and the OEM Contis, which were LOUD on concrete pavement. This is one of those cars which, disregarding the issues with the automatic transmission, would be much better with a stick. Since I'm an old retired guy, I kept the Contis until they hit the wear markers about a thousand miles ago and replaced them with a decent set of Michelins, which are a big improvement in terms of noise. I run it on regular and it idles smoothly.
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