Mazda 3 vs Ford Focus Diesel

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience of either of the above cars in their respective diesel formats?

I'm considering changing to either the Mazda 3 1.6 Diesel or the Focus 1.8tdci. For the purposes of clarity I'd be looking at a similarly spec'd car so I'm really only interested in opinions on the engines and the benefits/reliability of one over the other.

Any comments?

thanks

Mazda 3 by a mile. Very reliable, efficient and less problematic than the ford diesel. Know people who had both and their tales are chalk and cheese. If in any doubt try www.honestjohn.co.uk/ where you get a great low down on every car. Best of luck.

Focus will be nicer to drive but I'd take the Mazda myself, mainly for reliability.

While built on the same basic platform the two models have very different characteristics, not the least reliability as mentioned above. Mazda's have long proven their reliability across all models. The current 3 is due a major change in [broken link removed] ( early 2009 I believe and not 2010 as in the website ) . The current Focus is a fine car but for that "starts every time first time" feeling, the Mazda would be my choice (we've gone through 3 x 3's 1 x 2 and 1 x MX-5 so that might make us a bit biased )

Both cars are very reliable. Numerous shared components too. 1.6d engine is used by Ford in other models, and is a more modern unit - alloy block DOHC 16v. 1.8 TDCI is an older cast iron unit 8v but it's still good. Loads of torque especially on overboost.

The Focus will be cheaper to service btw.