The 1.8 TDCI gives good performance and relaxed motorway cruising - 2300rpm at 70mph. The 1.8 diesel engine does not tend to blow turbos, unlike the 1.6TDCi, but there are other expensive issues which can arise including dual-mass flywheel failure and injector failure. Fuel pumps of some cars tended to fail early on but most of these will have been sorted by now. The car is quite easy to stall as the engine is programmed to cut out if the revs drop too low, to protect the DMF. First gear is also very low and, as with most turbodiesels, there is little power below around 1700rpm. If you are used to driving a petrol car it will take a while to get the knack of keeping the turbo on boost. Average mpg for me was around 48, with around 52-55 on 70mph motorway runs.

The 1.6 petrol seems to be the pick of the petrol engines, with reasonable economy (~40mpg average) and is smooth and quiet but quite high-geared in top (23mph/1000rpm) which means it can feel a bit gutless and need a change down to 4th gear for overtaking. The engine is lighter than the diesel and so the car will handle a little better as it is less nose-heavy. There are fewer things to go wrong with the petrol engine as age and mileage rack up.

The choice depends on your mileage really, but I would suggest the petrol will be less likely to require expensive maintenance in the long term.

2.0 PETROL IS A GOOD UNIT IN THE FOCUS

Yeah this is a very good all round engine in this car.