Bought new car and very anxious

[ManishaA]

I bought a 2016 Ford fiesta for £8200 and it has 43,000 miles. It’s the 1.0 ecoboost. It’s a very clean car and it didn’t seem to have any issue with I drove it home which was 1.5hour journey on the motorway and city roads. I have been reading up on the 1.0 ecoboost engine and the timing belt being a big no no. I am now overthinking and questioning if I made a bad mistake. The dealer also serviced the car fully and had given it an oil change a few weeks ago too. I am generally a big over-thinker but I feel like this is making me so anxious and taking away me enjoying the new car. How do I stop this. I just want some peace and stop worrying about all this. I generally hate car shopping and don’t know how to stop feeling like this. It’s the first time I’ve also made a big purchase as previously my dad had gifted my cars and I’m only 23. I have asked my dad to take the car to a garage which we trust to have it checked again.

I hate feeling like this.

Aw I think it's natural. Buying a new car is very stressful. I didn't like mine for ages and I'm still not wild about it but it's fine. Getting it checked by a trusted garage is a good plan. It'll be fine.

It's not the car it's the anxiety - do you have any strategies for when your anxiety is high? Are you getting any help with it?

I think it's normal to worry when you've spent a good chunk of money on a car. Sounds like you've done everything right x

Are you saying the mileage is too high and therefore the belt will fail?
What guarantee or warranty did you get?

Has the timing belt been changed, according to recommended time intervals/mileage!

Buying a car is a big thing. I’ve owned loads of fiestas and never regretted it - they’re great cars. Fords are very reliable in my experience.

Look up the Ford EcoBoost Nightmare group on Facebook. I wish I'd seen it before I bought my Ford a few years ago.

Thank you for all your responses. It definitely is my anxiety. I’ve had bad history with large money before where I almost was scammed when I was at uni. When I looked online it says it needs a change every 10 years or 100,000 miles. When I spoke to the dealer he said it hadn’t been changed as it isn’t time yet. However I looked deeper and it says it’s better to do earlier even at 8 years or 80,000 miles. I’m going to have the garage have a look at this on Monday. I just want to be able to enjoy a car and not worry about it breaking down on me and costing me a fortune to fix especially with all the money I spend on it.

Timing belts are a standard change on cars once they meet either a set mileage or age which is set by the manufacturer . It's a normal thing to keep the engine running. Take it to a Ford garage to be checked over. It can be a more pricey than your usual service as it can be tricky to access the belt. If you have a clean, low mileage car then that's the main thing. Once it's changed you can enjoy many more years of happy motoring.

I think the OP just means this specific engine on this particular car?

Apparently, it’s a different type of fan belt or something (I know nothing about cars) and I’ve seen a few YouTube videos of people slagging it off.

I’ve recently passed and got a new fiesta and when I was telling my dad what I’d gone for, he mentioned it.

Thanks for the response. I really appreciate it. I just want to be able to enjoy the car without worrying about it too much. I haven’t been able to sleep properly because of it too. I am quite good with servicing my car regularly like every 6 months and always ensure it’s kept at best. How is your fiesta going

Fingers crossed I’ve had no issues so far although mine is brand new and I have only had it for about 3 months.

I’m assuming we’ve read/seen similar stories.
The main issue I came across seemed to be from cars that haven’t been serviced regularly and with 100’s of thousands of miles on the clock.

When my dad mentioned it, it did put me off for a second but if you literally google any car, it will come up with known faults for that car.

You read so many stories and people have so many different opinions about cars based on their experiences with it, it’s an absolute minefield.

People have been driving fiestas since god only knows when and there’s just so many on the road that if this fan belt problem was that big surely it would be wider known.

I know it’s easy to say, but just try to relax and enjoy your car. Just keep doing what you’re doing and have it serviced regularly.

It's a lovely car, but yes the timing belt is an issue. With that mileage I wouldn't be panicking about it - but I would agree to plan to get it changed earlier than recommended. 80k to change it sounds good to me. We have one from 2015, bought in 2018, and the timing belt went a year later. I think it was at just over 100k mileage - at the time the change wasn't recommended till at least 120k iirc. (I could be remembering wrong though) That meant a new engine so yes, was pricey. (I must remember to note the mileage when the new engine went in so in future we get the belt changed appropriately! but that's a good while off still)

As long as you watch out for that, the things I like about it are:
good fuel efficiency
cheap tax!
it just does a comfortable job of getting us from A to B with whatever stuff we need.

Good luck getting reassurance and a plan for the future in place, and then go and enjoy your new car!

Meh, mine was similar age and no issues. Stop worrying about something that hasnt happened. You'll always hear horror stories.

I've got a fiesta although not the ecoboost engine and had no problems other than repairs for usual wear and tear. Mines done 45000 miles and I'm not planning on getting the timing belt done just yet

We have 2 Ford cars, both with 1.0l ecoboost engines. One is a 2013 Fiesta that we've had for 8 years. I can't fault it at all.

We have it serviced annually at Ford. We had the timing belt changed last year, which is quite an expensive job. I think it was on around 80k mileage. The Fiesta has a wet belt. It's in oil inside the engine I believe, so not easily accessible.

I heard all sorts of bad things about the Ecoboost engine, but honestly haven't had a problem with my Fiesta.

I had a 2015 1.0 eco boost and it was a lovely car, I wouldn't worry about timing belt along as you get the car serviced regularly.

Only sold mine in 2022 due to needing an automatic.

So it doesn't need changing for 34,000 miles? So relax. How many miles do you do a year? If you do 10,000 it doesn't need changing for 3.5 years. It's about £600 inc labour so £600/40 months = £15 a month put away and when it needs doing you'll have the money.
Mine lasted me 250,000 miles, survived being written off by a doppelgänger uninsured flatbed lorry and is still being driven round to this day.
Try to chill.