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1.6 Zetec?

2K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  sydneyzetec 
#1 ·
I've seen some 1.6l zetecs listed on this site and others. I imagine its only available outside the U.S. Just wondering how they perform and what their gas mileage is, etc.. Just curious.
 
#3 ·
damn the 1.8 is enough of a gutless thing I can't begin to imagine how bad the 1.6 would be. One of the disadvantages of living in Europe. Power is taxed!!!!!
 
#5 ·
I've got a 2002 1.6SE and it works great. Of course, the 2.0 would be much better but it's not as bad as you might thing. I get an average of 475km to a tank of gas doing city driving. Pretty dead below 2000RPM but comes alive around 3200RPM.
 
#8 ·
well Trini Focus I get about 475km to a tank driving in my 130hp 2.0 Zetec... and I'm HARDLY what you'd call an easy driver. In 12 months I have never ONCE been able to make a tank of fuel without flooring it at least once or twice... and I mean for one or two whole drives, not just literally once or twice.

I honestly think 1.8L Zetec is ultimate size for the car economy-wise. It ain't light (1200kg+) after all and having too small an engine means it has to work extra hard to get the car rolling, as opposed to the 2.0 litre which doesn't need as much effort as say a 1.6. That's how large engined cars can have such good economy on the highway because they are big enough to be sitting only a little above idle and still have the power to keep the car moving.
 
#9 ·
Here in iceland we don't have the 1.8 zetec, but we have a shitload of 1.6s and it's a spiffy little engine.

Loads of torque for only 100hp, there isn't such a huge difference between the 1.6 and the 2.0.

Also, don't forget that there are plenty of 1.6 Ford CVH engines pumping out 200bhp with stage3 turbo ;)
 
#10 ·
In this country, you pay vehicle taxes according to engine size so the 1.6 is very popular. The only problem I have is getting aftermarket engine parts. For example, my intake is to the front and the exhaust is to the rear. As far as I know, it's the other way around for the 1.8 and the 2.0. This means that I cannot use the parts that are available in the US.

Does anyone have any recommendations on intakes, chips and general engine mods for the 1.6?
 
#11 ·
Well, I live in Brazil and we used to have here both 1.8 and 2.0 until last year, but from now on we'll have 1.6 and 2.0. Since I decided to buy a new car in the beggining of this year and couldnt afford the 2.0 I had to stick with the 1.6. The 100hp power is not bad, but it surely would be much better if they kept on the market the 1.8. In my opinion the 1.8 (118hp) is the best option: low price and good power.
We are taxed here by engine size too, I think that's why they decided to change from 1.8 to 1.6.
 
#12 ·
I'm beginning to love the fact that anything smaller than 2.0 litres in Australia just gets laughed at by most people!!! BRING IT ON!!!! I'll happily own my 2.0 litre. Sorry to hear you guys get taxed for those MASSIVE 2.0 litre engines lol... I think it's those crazy Americans and us greedy Aussies with our 5.7 litre V8's, 4 litre V6's that should perhaps be paying the most tax!!! But I'll happily keep the cheapest engines and dirt cheap fuel...
 
#15 ·
i beleive the 1.6 is actually built by yamaha for ford.
 
#16 ·
There is a difference in gas octane in Europe, probably u did not know that. In Europe the cheapest gas has 95 octanes which makes smaller engines run really nice while in USA the most expensive gas (premium) has only 93 octanes. I know that cuz I used to live in Eurpoe 1 year ago. Everybody knows that the higher gas octane the faster car is
 
#17 ·
Bolan said:
There is a difference in gas octane in Europe, probably u did not know that. In Europe the cheapest gas has 95 octanes which makes smaller engines run really nice while in USA the most expensive gas (premium) has only 93 octanes. I know that cuz I used to live in Eurpoe 1 year ago. Everybody knows that the higher gas octane the faster car is
This is totally incorrect. Adding higher octane fuel to your car doesn't boost horsepower.
 
#18 ·
Wow Focaltech 5000 posts Anti-rice superstar!!!!!! Very nice!

As for the fuel issue, yes the higher octane does make your car develop more power, but the ignition timing needs to be advanced so that your car can make use of the fuel. In a US Focus putting 98 RON (Research Octane Number) fuel into it will make almost NO difference to the car than what it's tuned for (something ridiculoue like 82 octane I think it is...) unless you can advance the ignition timing to make the spark fire closer to when the piston it JUST starting it's downwards travel... the higher the octane the higher chance of a successful combustion and better explosion in the cylinder chamber, the earlier the sparkplug can fire with certainty and the more power you gain on the downstroke of the 3rd stroke in the cycle of an engine. If you put crap fuel in there and it fires too early, the piston may not actually be making it's way downwards, it may be on the way up still to it's maximum height and thus it may explode forcing the cyclinder backwards, jolting your engine and causing "knocking"... we all know that isn't good for your car. Cars with knock sensors actually detect a difference in fuel and can retard or advance fuel settings (normally in cars tuned for premium they can retard if a lower grade fuel is put in) to tailor the grade of fuel. When a car is run on lower grade you lose performance no matter what, but any car run on a higher grade than what the manufacturer specifies will generally not make much of a difference apart from burning a little cleaner and hotter.

So getting a chip on tyour car advances the timing of ignition amongst other things, increasing the risk of knocking and engine damage, that's why it's recommended to use the highest grade of fuel possible when installing a chip.

Here in Australia our lowest is 92 RON, the 95 Premium and Shell Optimax is 98RON. I know in Japan they have about 100RON and that stuff is awesome, but the Japanese high-performance cars we get here are generally detuned to meet our 95 Premium Octane fuel, so they lose a little power. Putting 100 RON fuel back in their tank will not get them back to original performance unless you change the engine computer ignition settings to accept it.

Hope that helps!!!!

Cheers,
Matt
 
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