While Ecoboost fans will tell you any problems were fixed early on in the engines history, it doesn't take long to find instances of cars as young as 2017 having their engines fail. And talking to my (mechanic) nephew a couple of weeks ago, he said he was aware of an engine failure in a 2019 car. So while I could be tempted into a new car with the 1.0 Ecoboost and the security of a manufacturers warranty, there is no way I'd even contemplate something 8-10 years old.

When there is such a range of alternatives with proven reliability, why on earth would you risk it?.

Edited by badbusdriver on 12/12/2020 at 13:30

Regarded as very soft by the trade, it’s not one I’d buy even a later example. At the age and money you’re talking about I’d stick with the much more robust conventional 1.6 Yamaha petrol instead. There’s no reason to risk an ecoboost over one of these.

My Mrs has a 2014 1.0 ecoboost. Starts on the button, nice to drive, decent power if you give it some beans and decent economy by if you don't.

Never had a single problem with it. Got it in 2016 on 28k miles now it's on 71 k miles Anecdotal but true, they can't all be bad engines and all makes suffer to some extent.

I'm certainly not an automotive engineer, so treat my comments as pub talk.

Leaving aside the other complexities of these and the other small capacity turbos, GDI's became known for the accumulation of some sort of crud, call it coke, carbon, or a varnish-like deposit in the inlet tract and on the inlet valves. I have always assumed that one source of this is recycled crankcase gases containing various mainly unburnt hydrocarbons and other substances found in oil and fuel. Another would be any oil that makes its way down the valve stems. What effect recycled exhaust gas has I have no thoughts on but it probably adds more unburnt hydrocarbons and some heat, which might even be helpful.

Maybe 'super' fuel helps a bit if it burns more completely, leading to less unwanted stuff in the crankcase vapours and the exhaust. Certainly oil and its additives must matter, as it must be the primary source of almost all of the deposits. So make sure they get exactly the right oil; and if you think there is merit in super petrol then use that, throw some salt over your shoulder and hope it has a little bit of benefit on the deposits problem.

FWIW, I believe Ford at least has started using some port injection along with direct injection on some if not all of these engines. Quite how you find out which ones this applies to, I have no idea. They say it improves efficiency but it should largely solve the problem of deposits too.

We have two direct injection petrol cars, a 1.2 TSI Skoda and a 1.5 MX-5 (non-turbo). They get the right oil (I have started supplying it to make sure) and usually super-petrol. Neither does that many miles so I don't fret too much about the ludicrous extra cost of the magic fuel.

Clean injectors won't remove anything from the inlet tract but can do no harm, and should mean better combustion which might reduce build-up, whether by a detectable amount, who knows? I don't think I could bring myself to shove 'cleaners' down the inlet manifold with the engine running.

Edited by Manatee on 15/12/2020 at 10:34