There seem to be a few cars around with faults the manufacturers know about but say little.

All turbocharged Puretech engines built up to April 2017 are currently being recalled across Europe as the timing belt degrades which can lead to loss of braking assistance.

PSA are inspecting the belts & updating the engine ecu software.

Unfortunately even the later specification of timing belt used now doesn't improve the issue - it just moves it along so the failure happens outside the manufacturers warranty period.

PSA are also reducing the belt replacement interval down to 62k miles / 6 years.

The belt issue must be a big problem as Sealey have even produced a tool to check the belt degradation.

There's a revised version of the 1.2 Puretech engine coming in the near future, tellingly its got a timing CHAIN fitted as PSA can't solve the belt issue.

As a 308 Puretech 130 owner I can't wait to get rid of it in the next 12 months before I get stung for an expensive timing belt replacement.

There are a few reports on this sight of engine failure between 20-40miles just out of 3 year warranty and Peugeot not wanting to know.....

Where? I have just searched 'all forums' for 'puretech' and found none pertaining to any failure in the last few years. Indeed, there are hardly any 'puretech threads at all!

Well, I'm a fan of this engine - we have one in our 2019 Pug 2008, the 130hp variant, just like the OPs. I did my homework and was well aware of the BIO problem which was a bad batch of belts which frayed. One the posts on this thread is nonsense - a timing belt has no connection with the braking system. Of all the hundreds of thousands of these engines spinning away happily across the globe there are in fact very few reports of failure, especially after the problem was recognised and dealt with. By all means avoid early versions but I think the OP would be very pleased with a 2018 low mileage puretech, especially if it is mated to the EAT6 gearbox - and especially in the UK now as the exhaust manifold design means the heater works in no time - an essential requirement for this oldie!

<< the Puretec (like the Ecoboost) has been produced in huge numbers, so the chances of inadvertently buying a car with an engine which does fail, is considerably higher than in, for example, the OP's Toyota Auris 1.2t. >>

I don't get this - why ? You are only buying one car, so the chances of it being faulty are the same as the failure rate for that model, probably < 1%. The chance of finding a dud are proportional to the number of examples you can choose from. That, of course, may depend on how many have been sold on because of faults ....

Well first, I'd say up to 1% is bit optimistic, I was thinking more like up to 5%. So if that were the case, a quick look on Autotrader suggests there are 4600 Focus (Focii?) for sale with the 1.0 Ecoboost. If my maths is right, that means there are 230 duffers out there waiting for an unsuspecting punter to hand over their money.

As for the Toyota 1.2t, not sure if there are any cases of the engine failing. But assuming none at all is unlikely, I'd say at the most, 0.5% of cars might fail. There are 205 Auris 1.2t for sale on Autotrader, so even assuming the number of failures was 0.5% (and I suspect it wouldn't be that high), that would mean 1 of those 205 cars could fail.

1 is a much smaller number than 230, therefore your chances of inadvertently buying a duffer is much higher if buying a Focus 1.0 Ecoboost than if you were buying an Auris 1.2t.

Edited by badbusdriver on 31/01/2021 at 10:35