First 600 Kms on Fiesta 1.4 Petrol Firstly I thank everyone on this forum for posts that have helped me & at times also confused me in buying my first car. Trust me guys there no feeling like your own new car especially after driving my dad's Maruti 800 for 6 years.
I froze on the Fiesta simply because of driving pleasure. I drive myself & being passionate about driving & vehicle dynamics, I was looking for a car that satisfied this need within my budget of 7 lakhs. I delayed the booking after the Verna was out but was very unimpressed by Verna's tendency to roll & pitch on roads with camber change. The car also shouts 'dont push me' simply because it doesnt seem to provide confidence to drive fast. This was after test driving her twice.
The 1.6 Fiesta was what I was looking at but it was just beyond my budget. I was impressed with the 1.4 for city driving during the test.
I booked a Jewel Violet on the 15th Dec'06 from Mody Ford with a promise to deliver the car within 10 days. But after a week I got a call from the dealer telling me the car was ready but only a Paprika Red because Ford had no more Violets left. I was fine with this since I had decided this would be my second choice.
I had been given a delivery date of 23rd Dec & was all excited, ready with the banker's cheque from SBI, only to find out while taking delivery that the car had already been alloted to someone else & since they had actually booked for a Red even though they hardly paid a big down payment & booked after me. So empathizing with the way the other party would have felt, I decided to let go this vehicle & wait till Jan'07 for the vehicle. But this was at the new price which was nearly 10000/- more. This was something I wasnt willing to pay.
So I called the owner of this dealer. I explained exactly what had happened. He was very co-operative & apologized for the confusion & was promised that the price rise would be waived via gift cheque. So finally I took delivery of the red vehicle on the 9th Jan.
The odo read 12 Kms & was a bit nervous because it was late evening when the traffic was at its peak. The DTE showed 75kms & so I took her to the BP fuel pump on SP Road & filled her with 19 ltrs.
The first 4 days of the car were really great. I was being very careful in not pushing her beyond 2500 revs & also avoiding bumper-bumper traffic by taking the longer route to work via necklace road. On the 5th or 6th day I suddenly noticed a metallic noise that seemed to coming from under the hood. I had a feeling it was the hood hook which holds the hood in place under open condition was not seated properly. So I checked it out & viola I was sort of right. The plastic bush which holds the hood hook was broken & the hook was freely rotating & clanking against the BIW.
I have decided to get this fixed on my first service.
I also started noticing that the car struggled to accelarate on 2nd when the AC was On. It is more like a turbo lag...initial torque is low but suddenly there is a boost in power beyond 2000 rpm. I still cant seem to figure out why this happens only a few times. Also climbing steep inclinations ( like the one near Taj Krishna) is tough on it during AC. Driving without the AC has none of these signs. I hadnt expected such a drastic change between these conditions. Also the first gear isnt how it was during my test drive. The gear box fails to engage first at times & needs a good shove. I am surpised by this too. Maybe it will sort out after first service when I point it out to them.
The mileage on the first fill was pretty low... only 9.6 with 100% AC. It was better at the second fill at 10.4. Both being at the BP with Speed.
After about 2 weeks I noticed a slight rattle on the driver side window while driving on a rough section of road. I drive on that stretch everyday & this was the first time. This started happening everyday since then till now. This is another thing that I need to get fixed up.
I opened her up a little on my 3rd fill , which was Extra premium at Full Moon, taking her upto 3500 revs at times. The grunt of the vehicle is very nice to hear at this point on. The car does soak up small patches of bad road well but deeper pot holes seem to jar the vehicle at lower speeds than higher ones. This I suspect is due to a hard dampener settings. The mileage was much better at 11.6 on this fill.
Only a couple of days back I went onto my 4th fill, this time at the IBP near the begumpet airport. It was extra premium again.
I havent fitted any accessory for I had decided I will wait till the first service which is on the 8th Feb. I am also thinking of getting a Waxoyl paint protection done during the service.
I shall keep posting as the kilometres log.
Once again thanks to everyone on TBHP. |