Your non-diagnostic vehicle-related problems solved by Steve Rothwell
GENERAL
Q I’m in the market for a new car but after doing a bit of research on modern cars it’s not as simple as I thought. We’ve had Nissan Micra’s for years and they’ve been absolutely brilliant. We had a Mk1 for 18 years with hardly any trouble at all and we’ve had a K12 for 10 years no bother too. I thought it would be as simple as going for a new Micra but what a disappointment on the test drive! The 3-cylinder 1.0-litre engine was very tinny and underpowered and it was absolutely flat on pulling away at junctions, it was a 20-plate with 8000 miles on the clock.
We test drove a 1.0-litre Ford Fiesta EcoBoost which appeared to be OK but after talking to a brilliant mechanic I know he said I should have a read up on them first before laying out any cash. True to his word the earlier ones have a terrible history, in fact they were named an EcoBomb in some posts. Also, he told me to try and keep away from anything with a wet timing belt and true enough after reading up they too can be catastrophic when the rubber breaks down due to the increased ethanol in the fuel.
We test drove a Vauxhall Corsa too which appeared to be OK, but they too have a wet timing belt fitted.
My question is: What manufacturers produce a 4-cylinder petrol engine car around 1200 to 1400cc without a wet timing belt? Hope you can point me in the right direction.
A There are a few vehicles in that range that have a four-cylinder engine. The Hyundai i10 20142020 when fitted with the 1.3 (G4LA) engine is a four-cylinder unit with timing chain driven camshafts, or the slightly larger version i20 also comes with the 1.2 version of the G4LA engine. The later i20 (2020 onwards) has the G4LF engine which is also four-cylinder and has a chain-driven camshaft.
From the same area, the Kia Picanto 2017 onwards has the G4LF 1.3 engine which has four cylinders and the chaindriven camshaft arrangement. The Kia also comes with a 7-year warranty.
The Fiat 500 has a 1.2 engine with a conventional timing belt, and the same engine can be found in the Fiat Panda.
