SCOOP! Price+Spec news for SA – Ford Fiesta 1.5TDCi and Ford Focus 1.6TDCi

New diesels for Fiesta and Focus

With so much talk about the Ford EcoBoost petrol turbo engines (with good reason) Ford realised there are those who still want to buy a diesel-engined car, so added some fresh diesel models to its mainstay Fiesta and Focus ranges.

This is good news for people who enjoy the torque and fuel efficiency retrieved from a Ford TDCi engine.

Fiesta 1.5TDCi replaces 1.6TDCi

Although the Fiesta has been available with a 1.6TDCi engine since its launch in 2008, for the January 2013 Fiesta facelift the engine was updated and made more efficient.  For 2016, Ford SA is replacing the 1.6TDCi engine with the 1.5TDCi.

While the outgoing 1560cc 1.6TDCi engine with 70kW/200Nm is claimed to use a super-frugal 3.6 l/100km in the mixed drive cycle, the 1499cc 1.5TDCi has less power/torque of 55/185, and uses… the exact same 3.6 l/100km of diesel.  So it must be cheaper, right?  No, the 1.5 is slower than the 1.6 and uses the same fuel, but costs exactly the same – still, the Fiesta 1.5TDCi Ambiente is, just, the lowest-priced car in its class.

The Fiesta diesel models and prices are:

Ford Fiesta 5-door 1.5TDCi Ambiente	R 238 900
Ford Fiesta 5-door 1.5TDCi Trend	R 245 900

As Ford SA is already cleverly offering the increasingly-popular small-car automatic gearbox option in its Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost (in Ambiente, Trend and Titanium spec) what is missing is a Fiesta diesel auto, as the only sub-R300k diesel hatch auto is the Mazda Mazda2 1.5DE Hazumi auto we reviewed.

Focus 1.6TDCi – return of a Focus with diesel engine

For the Focus facelift of March 2015, Ford dropped the 2.0TDCi as the only diesel-powered Focus model.

As from May 2016, diesel is back in Focus – the 1.6TDCi engine can be had in both Focus sedan and Focus hatch, and both in either Ambiente or Trend equipment level.

The 1.6TDCi may be less powerful than the previous 2.0TDCi, but the price point is now lower.

The Focus diesel models and prices are:

Ford Focus sedan 1.6TDCi Ambiente	R 283 900
Ford Focus hatch 1.6TDCi Ambiente	R 288 900
Ford Focus sedan 1.6TDCi Trend	R 296 900
Ford Focus hatch 1.6TDCi Trend	R 301 900

      
The Ford Focus 1.6TDCi models are the lowest-priced mid-size sedan/hatch new diesel cars on the local market – slightly the lowest for the Focus sedan, and comfortably the cheapest for the hatch.