Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi ZXi - 25000kms/19months Review

[unni.ak]

Got up till 90-100kmph. No issues, steering is solid, no wobbling, no vibrations.

[unni.ak]

Done 22723km till date. Had gone on a trip to Alleppey which put in some kilometers to the counter. Even with the balancing and alignment done, there is steering wobble at speeds above 110. Wonder what the issue is now.

The new Bosch wipers that have been put on are great. However, the fog issue (which I had discussed on a different thread) remains. Its only on the drivers side and I've tried heating, cooling, equalising the temperature etc, but to no avail.

[unni.ak]

Last sunday (19th July '09), I went for a short drive. Had this urge to have Andhra Meals in Andhra!! Cousin and self went to Palamaner, about 290kms to and fro, for a veg lunch.

Odo is just above 23k now.

Decisions... Decisions...

[benbsb29]

Ha! Making the most of the diesel economy, eh?!
Between, how long did the journey take?

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Ha! Making the most of the diesel economy, eh?!
Between, how long did the journey take?

Oh yes . Had a sunday afternoon to kill and after a saturday night binge, was not in a mood to do a repeat that early

About 5.5-6hrs with a 30min lunch break and some photo breaks. It was fun.

[unni.ak]

After a Alleppey drive last week, odo stands at 24441kms. Managed to catch the Monsoon at last!! On the drive back to Bangalore, lost my antennae somewhere near Vytilla. :-( Guess it was loose, and have put on some cellophane tape to mask the holes.





Will be going to Kerala again this weekend, to Guruvayoor. So another 1000kms will get added. I'm loving it!!

[krish3]

Diesel prices seems to be very cheap. Driving for the sake of using diesel? I envy you Unni.

I will also try to follow your path in the next few months

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by krish3

Diesel prices seems to be very cheap. Driving for the sake of using diesel? I envy you Unni.

I will also try to follow your path in the next few months

doing my bit to pollute, and to run the world out of its fuel reserves!!! All my drives have a reason:

1. Home-town drives - To see family/relatives.
2. Food drives - Hunger needs to be attended to!! (An Andhra drive was done for this a few weeks back)
3. Pilgrimages - God is great.
4. Holidays - What else to do, so drive!!

With your Getz, I'm sure I'll be doing the following.

[krish3]

Reasons to drive are easy to find. I used to do the same with my bike (except for pilgrimage) .

For home drives, do you do night driving/day only? Just wanted to know how you manager weekend only drives

OT- I'm not sure whether I'll be getting GETZ/Swift/Punto (still trying to get my dad to agree)

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by krish3

For home drives, do you do night driving/day only? Just wanted to know how you manager weekend only drives

I do night drives, and most times take Thursday and Friday as leave when I go home. For weekend only trips, I drive out on Friday night if possible, or early morning Saturday.

Originally Posted by krish3

OT- I'm not sure whether I'll be getting GETZ/Swift/Punto (still trying to get my dad to agree)

I sincerely hope you manage to convince him. Find reasons to sway him!!
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Odo at 25492kms now. It was a fruitful Guruvayoor trip. A few pics that I took during the trip:

[krish3]

Nice pics. You can frame the last one; you can certainly give Prithviraj a run for his money.

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by krish3

Nice pics.

Thanks Krish.

Originally Posted by krish3

You can frame the last one; you can certainly give Prithviraj a run for his money.

Good one. Thanks for the idea to frame it. Let me try and get it printed.

[suman]

Hey Unni, don't know how I missed this thread but I've read it now. Nice pics & very nice LTOR

Time to update the thread title since you're travelling in leaps & bounds

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by suman

Hey Unni, don't know how I missed this thread but I've read it now. Nice pics & very nice LTOR

Time to update the thread title since you're travelling in leaps & bounds

Thanks Sumanji. Yeah, this month seems to be a month of travel for me. And, I'm not complaining!! Will get the thread title updated.

[unni.ak]

Another weekend, another drive. Over the extended weekend (14th to 16th Aug), went for a drive to Wayanad. Odo stands at 26305kms now. Left out a few major places in and around Wayanad, so that I've reason to do a repeat trip some time!! Some pics are attached:


















After a year and 8 months, my car gave trouble. Till date all the maintenance it has taken is the regular 6month's service. On the way to Wayanad, horn stopped working right after a stop was made to visit the Mysore Palace. Drove till Gundulpet without horn (it was tough), and when I stopped for a tea break, found that the 15A fuse for horn had blown. Replaced it with a spare I had and horn was... well honking.

Saturday went around sight seeing, honking all right. Sunday morning we start the return trip and the horn refuses to honk. Check the fuse, it’s blown again. This time I don't have any more 15A replacement fuses with me. Call up help line and get transferred to a Service Engineer who asks me not to replace the fuse and to get the car to an A**. The nearest I've (on my way of travel) is Mysore and I drive with no horn from Kalpetta to Mysore, a distance of ~140kms. It was an experience, which I don't want repeated.

Once I reach the A**, I wait for another 45mins, for a service engineer to turn up. He checks this and that, pulls a fuse out, puts a fuse in, checks battery, does this and that. And... smoke starts coming out of the dashboard!! For a minute, I think my car is going to go up in flames. Quick thinking and he removes the battery connection. Smoke stops. He looks pretty clueless and keeps connecting and disconnecting wires. In the end he says it’s the stereo, since I had got it done outside, and asks me if I've tools to remove the stereo. I had half a mind to ask him if I looked like a walking-talking radio shop, but replied negative and he found some tools from some where inside the workshop. Removed the stereo, and lo, the antennae wire is touching the metal casing. He wraps it in duct tape and tells me to get the whole wiring checked at my usual service center.

Oh, and since it was a sunday and the store was closed, they didn't have 15A fuses available. So, I'm currently running on blown fuses with a thin wire wrapped around the legs to give connection. Have to get some replacement fuses.