First Drive: 2014 Ford Fiesta 1.0-liter EcoBoost

[pcgeek11]

"Speaking of oil, the timing belt is immersed in the stuff, and that means it runs with less friction, is quieter, and never needs to be serviced."

It isn't a normal timing belt

Never need to be serviced. Yeah Right. Even dry timing belts are quieter than a timing chain. They just require replacement, hopefully before they break. Chains are better IMO.

Oil will eventually dry it out and it will need service regardless of what they claim.

 

[pcgeek11]

What makes you think that's a regular belt? Im sure they thought of that on day one, give ford a bit of credit here.

I work in a tier one automotive supplier. I have worked with all types of belts synthetic, fiber, rubber, and combinations of all. They will all succumb to the oil eventually. It may take a good amount of time, but it will.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Never needs to be serviced I'm sure means in the normal life of the car. Normal life of a car is what 200k miles? Yes they can all go much further than that now but by the time they reach that many miles they are old and worth so little needing a set of tires is enough to get them junked for a lot people.

 

[LTC8K6]

Belt in oil has apparently been on production engines since 2008.

http://www.ngfeurope.com/~/media/NGF Europe/Site Content/News/Automotive Design Europe Feature.ashx

http://www.ngfeurope.com/en-gb/glass-cord/belt-in-oil

http://www.dayco.com/OE/Belt_in_Oil_System.aspx

 

[Chiropteran]

An extra couple thousand pounds does add more than a trivial amount to rolling resistance. It's just far offset by efficiencies it allows to be gained.

Obviously not, as the Fiesta gets better mileage than many hybrids.