Second hand and similar to a Ford Fiesta

[crimsonlake]

I have basically only ever owned Ford Fiestas and I am now looking for another second hand car which is reliable and as close to a Ford Fiesta as I can get.
My current fiesta is an ecoBoost which I bought in haste following my car being written off after being rear ended by a drug driver. Since the purchase I have discovered there are issues with the ecoBoost having a 'wet belt' so I have decided to trade this in. My budget is under £10k. Tia

Look up the Car Edition on FB, Cambridge, lots of info on wet belts.

I'd get the belt done, around 1200 is plenty, a ford dealer more, yes sump and strainer has to be cleaned, lots of cow boys about, so make sure whoever you use is reputable.

You will lose on the trade in, then end up spending more to get a similar spec car.

I rate Seat Ibiza's if you do sell your car.

I have a Fiesta and I was sad when they stopped producing them as I would definitely have bought another. I'm getting rid of mine next year and looking around. My DD has got a VW Polo which I really like, and size isn't too much different, so may be tempted by one of those.

Seat ibiza. I had the estate version and it was a fab car.

Seat Ibiza. Owned mine for 6 years and I replaced one spring and a few tyres. Only got rid as I had a baby and the 3 door car was not very practical. I stuck with Seat and now have an Arona, which I’ve had no problems with so far.

I went from a fiesta to a picanto.

Great cars. Seven year warranty too.

Mazda 2 is a lovely fun drive, smart interior and very reliable. We are on to our second Suzuki. Great value and the Swift is very underrated. For £10k you could get something very nice. Japanese is the way to go

Ah yes it is an st line ford firsta!

Thank you all, lots of cars to look up. I will come back and update you what I decide. As I mentioned I know someones son who works in a garage and can replace the belt, whether it is a reputable garage or not I do not know yet?

If you live in the South, I’d recommend Timing Chain Gatwick to replace your belt. I very nearly traded my EcoBoost in but they have an expert there who did it for a great price.

Ford focus!? Xx

I live near Liverpool and upon doing a search it appears there are no garages close to me who specialise in replacing wet belts, the odd one claims to replace them but I need the assurance they would use the correct ford parts.

30 seconds on Google found Fastlane in St Helens who do it using genuine Ford parts.

Toyota Yaris.

Some awful reviews there.....

Mount garage seems a better bet.

Mine was replaced by the Ford dealership, hence the 2k price. I was thankful they were doing it as after changing the belt, it went into limp home mode on the test drive. After trying everything the garage could think of, they had to call Ford technical support for advice. I guess what I'm trying to say is just be wary of where you take it if you do decide to get the belt changed as problems can occur and sometimes independents can only diagnose to a certain point before it has to go to a dealer.

My Ecoboost Fiesta has given us no trouble at all and has been a fantastic car. We've had it for 10 years.

We also have a Focus with the 1.0l Ecoboost engine but that has a timing chain as its a newer car.

The fiesta is one of the most stolen cars because it’s also one of the most popular cars .

All cars have some known fault so I wouldn’t worry about it until it happens, replacing the belt is probs less than what it would cost you to trade in.

Shade17- Yes I have found Fastlande on google but nothing about them using genuine ford parts. I will take another look at their website maybe I missed that. Appears to be one in Melling but would be tricky to get back from there without a car.

The belt breaking up or snapping will write off the car or cost you a replacement engine.

Any wet belt car without a full dealer service record should have the belt replaced before it breaks as a precaution.

Reading this I probably will have mine done at Ford, it has been serviced each year at the Ford garage but the cheaper Ford Essential service rather than full ones because of the low mileage, and other stuff done as needed like brake fluid change, but the correct oil would have been used because of this.

as for other cars like Fiestas, I think Mazdas are supposed to be similar and Toyota Yaris and Honda Jazz seem to have good reputations

If you change cars instead of the belt, consider a dacia sandero for value. They don't have bells and whistles if you want fancy stuff, but are good value and reliable.

Your Fiesta will be fine, provided you have the cam belt changed every 8 to 10 years by a Ford dealership mechanic. This costs around £2k, but the entire engine is stripped back and rebuilt within this process. Do not be tempted to skip this or to get it done cheaper at a local garage, as this is when problems arise.

Err no its not, they do exactly the same as an good indie garage will do, its a ford supplied kit, belt, tensioners, belt cover, sump strainer, gaskets, oil and filter.

The engine is not stripped... why would you do that? and certainly not for 2k.

Ford charge so much due to labour.

A decent indie will be around £1200.

Join a couple of the Facebook groups for Ford problems. There are several garages around England who only do Ford wet belts from £750 and engine rebuilds from £2,500 who use genuine Ford parts ( because they are constantly busy due to people being unaware of the existence wet belts and breaking down). I used a garage recommended near Heathrow 2 years ago (at a fraction of the cost Ford were quoting) and they collected my Ford C-Max from the Ford dealership in a pick up truck to rebuild the engine with a year guarantee and it was running beautifully until someone crashed into it on a roundabout last week and wrote it off.....

ThisBrickBee - Thanks, already on a wet belt Face book group. Hope you are okay following your crash, same thing happened to me and last Ford Fiesta which would have seen me right for another few years was written off.

I have just rung Ford's for a quote for a wet belt replacement and they quoted a staggering £2,650! The search continues.