Remember the 3.2 is a penny pinched, knobbled version of the superior 30yr old 3.0l.
That said, I'd much rather have a 30yr old NA V6 than a modern, nasty small engine petrol turbo.
Agreed. Ford's 1.0l triple is particularly nasty.
I can't vouch for its longevity*, but its a decent enough engine in a Fifi, and "OK" in a Focus (whos chassis is so shite, its pointless giving it more than 100bhp).
I think modern ones are 125bhp and are perfectly drivable, and can get close to mph=bhp
. Some Fifis, might be ST Line (not to be confuddled with real ST) come with 140bhp version that is quite nippy really.
Utter shite in a Mundano though
I have only driven modern ones as hire cars. And any hire car goes faster than Imbers worlds fastest 2.6
. I drove a colleague's older 1l Focus several years back, and it was less drivable and had to absolutely be kept on boost. Then he bought a 1l Mundano, oh dear, that was utter shite.
I genuinely rate the modern 1l Fifi far higher than the 1.4T Corsa or Astra. I don't rate the Focus, as the size of those front bushes mean it doesn't matter where you point it, it'll go somewhere random.