[mayankk]

The car has clocked 1.15 L and still going strong. I tried driving a friends fiesta at a meet, similar vintage, and found that the although the ease with which gears slot in is same, the throw in my car is much longer.
After a lot of headachy runs with Raj mechanic, eventually found out that the stock knob sits much lower on the shifter stick than the Momo i have put on. Oh well.

However, the old problem of coughing is back. I used regular petrol for the past 10-12 tanks, and missed out on adding SystemG on 3-4 occasions. The engine coughed very occasionally, and once or twice I was even getting backfires.
So i had scheduled two days at the doc for this.
But, and this was the only change i did, I tanked up on premium again over the last two fill-ups, and the coughing is gone.

I seriously don't understand.
I know there's whole discussions on the efficacy of premium fuels, but EVERYTIME i have shifted off of it, I have faced this issue.

So anyway, after the next checkup and service, we're also going in for the FFE, as well as headlight SUPER upgrade with four Bixenons!!
Let there be light!

[sameerg001]

Wow, so ffe is coming in too. Seriously, after seeing and driving your 1.15l fiesta, I just can't make out her age, she drives like a dream and am surprised to see that, even as of today your car is bloody rattle free. Hats of man

Looking forward to the mods now. Eagerly waiting.

[vnabhi]

1.15 lac kms!! Holy cow, that is quite a lot! You need to update the title of the thread.

Do post a review of the FFE after it is installed. Wish you many more miles of flooring the gas pedal on it.

As regards engine knocking, I got it once in peak winter (Hyd winter, btw), when the car was stationary, with the engine running on a flyover. The shuddering was there only when the car was not moving, but vanished once it started crawling. It was an isolated incident. I've been tanking up from the same bunk and using system G on and off. I have always been using normal fuel. It was only a couple of months back that i filled in 97 octane fuel at a BP bunk, just to check it out. It did yield a smoother engine and better grunt, but a Rs 110 per liter, pinched my pocket. It's back to normal fuel for me now.

With temperatures falling below 20 degrees, I need to see if the dreaded 'engine warning light' comes on this winter.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

1.15 lac kms!! Holy cow, that is quite a lot! You need to update the title of the thread.

Do post a review of the FFE after it is installed. Wish you many more miles of flooring the gas pedal on it.

As regards engine knocking, I got it once in peak winter (Hyd winter, btw), when the car was stationary, with the engine running on a flyover. The shuddering was there only when the car was not moving, but vanished once it started crawling. It was an isolated incident. I've been tanking up from the same bunk and using system G on and off. I have always been using normal fuel. It was only a couple of months back that i filled in 97 octane fuel at a BP bunk, just to check it out. It did yield a smoother engine and better grunt, but a Rs 110 per liter, pinched my pocket. It's back to normal fuel for me now.

With temperatures falling below 20 degrees, I need to see if the dreaded 'engine warning light' comes on this winter.

Thanks, Ill do that.

As for the CEl in winters, It happened often enough with me, till i figured out that the sticking TB was causing it. Last winter, this happened, or maybe the one before it....anyway, and I cleaned it out thoroughly in place with carb cleaner, and it didnt happen again.
Maybe you could try that.

As for the shuddering, and the backfire, I am literally at wit's end with this. Its like she has been brought up on Llama milk, and cow milk is just "oh-so-low society!"

Fuel filter, plugs, leads, decarb, lines everything checked and changed, but still! as soon there are more than a few fillups with regular fuel, this happens.
Oh, and by premium, i didnt mean higher octane fuel but the "power"s and the "xtra premium"s of the world. same 91, just with something-busting additives.

[mayankk]

So, all plans for paint and exhaust have been put on hold.

The car always always drank some oil, and I had made it a point to check all levels every week. This time around, the top up, which ranged from 100-200 ml every 3-4k kms was 1L!!

The engile oil inlet also showed quite a bit of smoke.
Back to Raj mechanic.
As it was, straightaway the diagnosis was piston rings.
This was confirmed by compression tests, failing badly on 2 cylinders. The odo currently stands at 1.15, and since i got her from a dealer, this would be closer to 1.5, if not more. I thought a new lease of life is called for. Full overhaul authorized.
So new pistons, rings, sleeves,and valve parts are going in. Since its not ford, the expense will not be as much, but would still come in around 20 odd. No worries.

Howver, I am doing this as the last major operation on her.
Post this, I would rather look at a new car. However, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing in this segment that I have seen and thought, "yes, worthy.". Nothing.

So, its onwards still for the old girl.

And Ive told Raj that the work must make her feel like new, that i will only make one further visit and that would be to collect her, or ALL references are going to stop.

[ganesc]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Howver, I am doing this as the last major operation on her.
Post this, I would rather look at a new car. However, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing in this segment that I have seen and thought, "yes, worthy.". Nothing.

So, its onwards still for the old girl.

So why exactly repair it now then? As you know Fords have such a bad resale value that you simply won't get a penny back on your spendings.

If it was me, I would rather keep topping it up for another month or so and go for a new car with exchange bonus. By this way, you won't feel guilty that you have cheated a customer I am sure that the talented evaluator will never find out the problem until oil leaks out.

Honda City? Looks nice and diesel form too. Check it out. You can better spend that 20k for a ICE/Tyre upgrade.

Or even a used New fiesta if you don't use the back seat that much.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by ganesc

So why exactly repair it now then? As you know Fords have such a bad resale value that you simply won't get a penny back on your spendings.

If it was me, I would rather keep topping it up for another month or so and go for a new car with exchange bonus. By this way, you won't feel guilty that you have cheated a customer I am sure that the talented evaluator will never find out the problem until oil leaks out.

Honda City? Looks nice and diesel form too. Check it out. You can better spend that 20k for a ICE/Tyre upgrade.

Or even a used New fiesta if you don't use the back seat that much.

Well, a good rebuild will give me practically new performance. And for the amount I picked her up in, resale is of hardly any matter.
20-30 is something that I can spend on her once. Last big expense was 10 when I busted the head, that's it.
And I've driven absolutely everything this segment has. Trust me, nothing still connects as well as a fiesta.
If the 1.6s was still around, no second thoughts. City and the ilk are absolute jokes as far as the twisties go.

[gk_fiesta]

Well, Mayankk, I've been following this thread on & off since I also own a Fiesta. Since I was not a forum member until recently, I could not post anything yet.

From the ownership posts, I understand that you are more of a DIY guy, and does pretty good job in that. Congrats!

Without much of hijack of this thread I would like to summarize my love-story with Fiesta since I don't want to open another thread for that. Hope you don't mind. I have few queries as well to Fiesta owners.

Even I fell in love with Fiesta accidentally. It was in Nov 2010 that my neighbor who handed over his Fiesta keys to me while he was going out for the weekend. That time I was driving Santro Xing which was already 7 years old and was bit bored with driving a hatch, but was not planning to change it since it was in very good condition and has run very less (My average driving does not go beyond 5-6k a year).

When I took it for a spin, I simply fell in love with it. I had driven other sedans too but this was different. The steering feel & feedback, the driving dynamics just blew me over. That weekend I decided I need to upgrade to a sedan and that will be Fiesta.

My Fiesta hunt began thus. I did not want to go for a new Fiesta as my running is not that high which would justify the cost of a new car, and I felt lot of value in getting a used one, and Ford has this history of having low resale which worked to my advantage now !

I knew that I should be patient to land on a good used-car, and it took me one whole year to close on my current car, a black Fiesta 1.4 Exi. The beauty was this car was run just 28k in 5.5 years (I got it in Dec 2011) and was in very good condition.

It is amusing that I am writing this post as I am about to complete 2 years of ownership, and 10K kms post my purchase. Absolutely no complaints so far. I changed the stock tyres about 6 months back to Bridgestone Potenza G III 185/14, and Ford OE alloys (that comes in Fiesta classic) I was running on the stock tyres till then and it was very risky as the old rubber could give away anytime as it was 7 years old already.

My query: Is the Fiesta which was launched in 2005/2006 different from the 2008 version. During my test drives for purchase the vehicles post 2008 had a slightly different driving feel, seating position, slightly bumpy ride, different quality of plastics etc. My guess is that, while launching Ford would have used slightly higher quality materials, and later on changed due to cost factors. But I am not sure how I felt that the driving dynamics is also different. May be it is just my feeling, but neverhtless I feel it is very different. Any opinions on this?

Thanks a lot!

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by gk_fiesta

.

My query: Is the Fiesta which was launched in 2005/2006 different from the 2008 version. During my test drives for purchase the vehicles post 2008 had a slightly different driving feel, seating position, slightly bumpy ride, different quality of plastics etc. My guess is that, while launching Ford would have used slightly higher quality materials, and later on changed due to cost factors. But I am not sure how I felt that the driving dynamics is also different. May be it is just my feeling, but neverhtless I feel it is very different. Any opinions on this?

Thanks a lot!

Well, I've seen lower quality interiors in the classic, but never when comparing fiestas. Were you comparing same variants?

[Karthik1100]

Enjoyed reading your Fiesta thread. Do keep us posted.

Let me too hijack with some pics of my Fiesta!

Feb 2012 model 1.6 Clxi. 19000kms till date with mileage in City 9kmpl and 12.5kmpl on the highways.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Karthik1100

Enjoyed reading your Fiesta thread. Do keep us posted.

Let me too hijack with some pics of my Fiesta!

Feb 2012 model 1.6 Clxi. 19000kms till date with mileage in City 9kmpl and 12.5kmpl on the highways.

Fantastic!
Same shade! Did you get to figure out why it's called platinum??
Also, aren't your mileage figures a bit low?

[Karthik1100]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Fantastic!
Same shade! Did you get to figure out why it's called platinum??
Also, aren't your mileage figures a bit low?

My Fiesta's color is Chill metallic!

Unlike the mileage figures claimed by Ford, the mileage I mentioned is the worst I got. Ideally it's 10kmpl in Bangalore's B to B traffic. And 13.5kmpl on highways at speeds of about 100kmph.

[Ford5]

If you get anything better than that in the city consider yourself lucky. It is quite good considering the on demand tap the 1.6 offers. But the highway figures should easily be around 15 km/l at that speed.

[gk_fiesta]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Well, I've seen lower quality interiors in the classic, but never when comparing fiestas. Were you comparing same variants?

I could definitely see lower quality interiors in Fiesta Classic when I test drove it. What I was mentioning is same variants but the only difference was their year of manufacture. I felt that pre 2008 Fiestas have better build quality and driving dynamics, where as post 2008 it is different.

Originally Posted by Karthik1100

Unlike the mileage figures claimed by Ford, the mileage I mentioned is the worst I got. Ideally it's 10kmpl in Bangalore's B to B traffic. And 13.5kmpl on highways at speeds of about 100kmph.

Even I get around 10kmpl in Bangalore traffic, but highway figures are anywhere between 16-17 kmpl. Did a 500 km drive last week and the figures are latest.

[vnabhi]

My city FE ranges from 11 to 12.5, depending on traffic and AC usage. The worst I got was 10.4, in intense traffic, comparable to Bangalore.

On highways, the highest I got was 16.7 (driving around 100 kmph, without AC). But usually I get around 14 to 15.5 with full AC usage. But when driven hard at speeds over 130 kmph for a long distance (like the Hyd Bangalore highway), the figure fell to 12.5!

As regards the interiors, yes, there is a drop in quality of interiors in the Classic Titanium model when compared to the earlier sxi. I don't like the faux wood lining in the new models. The only advantage the new Titanium is the ICE, as it plays MP3 and is USB compatible, like the Figo.

On driving dynamics, I don't think there will be any difference.