[PratikPatel]

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

I have always lusted for the refreshed fiesta. How is the deal and will it be better to settle for a new figo diesel or this one?

As far as build quality and driving dynamics go, there is really no comparison between the Fiesta and the new Figo. Yes the new Figo due to its light weight and the 100PS diesel is a performer, but driving dynamics of the Fiesta is in different ball park. Also the Fiesta feels much better put togeather. For example, the doors have nice heavy feel to them compared to the Figo. The first thing that will come to your mind when you open the Figo door is 'light', 'cost cutting'. While the initial impression may not be factual, you cannot help but think that there is something missing vis-a-vis the Fiesta.

[klassics45]

Did you ever have a problem with music system after changing the battery? My USB and Bluetooth stopped working now?

Did you experience it before?

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

According to the seller the car was leased by his company and used by his wife (so the less mileage). As he left the company, he wants to sell it as the lease got terminated. I have no idea how this mechanism works. Will have to discuss in detail.

Okay. He might have to pay money to the company, transfer the ownership to his name and then onto you. You might become the third owner in that case.

Our irrational market has a taboo with multiple ownership which is mostly nonsense. Nothing wrong if you are planning to keep the car for long. The Fiesta is a keeper and the 2014 model with low mileage is hard to find. All the best!

Originally Posted by klassics45

Did you ever have a problem with music system after changing the battery? My USB and Bluetooth stopped working now?

Did you experience it before?

You may have to reset the music system. This page might be helpful to reset the HU: SYNC - How to perform a master reset?

Not sure whether it asks for a code. The code I believe can be found from the sticker inside the glove box.

[PratikPatel]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Okay. He might have to pay money to the company, transfer the ownership to his name and then onto you. You might become the third owner in that case.

Our irrational market has a taboo with multiple ownership which is mostly nonsense. Nothing wrong if you are planning to keep the car for long. The Fiesta is a keeper and the 2014 model with low mileage is hard to find.

Agree on the ownership taboo. However, in this case he may just need to pay directly to the company and take the car on his name. The accounting for the amount will be a adjustment between the company and the owner.

[Blow Horn Ok]

Thanks for the inputs. He said that he will call in few days as he would be out of station for two days. I am after it.

[gkoneti]

My Fiesta is also on company lease program for five years. This is to save tax for the employee. Company calculates depreciation of 20% per year and if it is a 2014 model it would be 60% value depreciated. What this means is that if a car originally costed say 10 lakhs to buy, after three years, employee needs to pay just 4 lakhs to own it by transferring the ownership from company to his or her name. If the employee is leaving the company in the middle of the lease period, company can directly transfer the car to the buyer if the employee is not willing to take the car into his name for whatever the reason. But the responsibility of finding the new buyer rests with employee. Do the math with the 60% depreciation and 5.7 lakhs is not a bad amount. The said employee might have little cash left in his hand after paying 40% to the company.

I sold my previous company lease car VW Polo after five years of lease directly to second owner by taking some amount. And no need to pay anything to company as the depreciation has reached to zero percentage after five years.

My two cents on the subject. thanks.

[deetjohn]

A few modest additions.

Philips CrystalVision Ultra H11 for the fog lamps. These are warm whites and I just bought it as the stock bulbs are too yellow and doesn't look that good at night. Fog light is just for show in the Fiesta, I am completely satisfied with the stock low and high beams and that is more than enough for the drives at night. That said, the OEM fog lamp bulbs were Osram H11 and I was pleasantly surprised to see that.



Next was an army of LED lights from Yorkim. They were very reasonable at around $12 for a pack of 10 and got very good reviews. And the unit feels good to hold, looks like a quality make. Used these for the front parking lights and the foot well lights.


Also bought this red LED replacement light for the brake light from powerbulb.co.uk. They were running a 20% discount with free shipping anywhere in the world. It came to under GBP20 and I was feeling quite smug till I got the package and did the installation. The post office wanted me to go and collect the package from there and they also slapped a customs duty of INR 700 on the same. Gulp! So much for their service, the package wasn't in the best of shape and the duty paid was very unreasonable.

And the light doesn't feel very different compared to stock. It goes on and off sharply, a typical LED trait and that's that. If I knew all this, I really wouldn't have bothered with this purchase. All bulbs except for this one was from Amazon.com.


And this is how the park looks in the evening.



Foot well light - on the passenger side.


And at night.




The phone camera got dazzled and it is really not this bright in person. There is only a marginal difference compared to stock.

Also bought this foot pump from Decathlon.



I have been looking for this one for some time now and saw this in the store today and picked it up. They are running a deal and got it for INR 999. The build feels very good and it is rated for 115 PSI. I tried to pump air into the rear tyre and it was easy, I could pump using one hand after the nozzle was secured. And it also shows the pressure as well.

I am not a fan of the electric compressor which works off the charging point in the car and this one came across as a great option for those emergencies. I also picked up a needle for filling air into sports balls by paying 100 bucks. And I came home and realized that there is a needle hidden in the foot pump for the same purpose. That's what happens when you pick things up in a hurry. LOL

[deetjohn]

Went to Kovalam and back last week. Naveen.Raju was the sweeper in our little convoy and he reported black smoke from the Fiesta whenever I shifted down to launch the car for an overtake. I also filled diesel from Reliance, it was only the second time that I had filled fuel from a bunk other than the BP COCO at Irumpanam. That last time was during the Wayanad trip when I filled for INR 500. The car would have done that trip with a single tank but I wanted to play it safe as we were coming back to Ernakulam on the day of Thrissur Pooram.

Coming back to the Kovalam trip, I didn't like the feel from the engine with Reliance diesel, the car wasn't revving freely as it normally does. Not sure if that contributed to the smoke. I guess the F.E. increased as the range was not dropping at all. And I am still running on the same tank. But, no more diesel from Reliance for me. Just waiting for the DTE to hit 100 to fill up from my usual place.

I am also tempted to speak to a tuner to blank off the EGR for better combustion. I have got the Bangalore and Kochi contacts for Code 6 from Rakesh (the Ford SM) and Sankar (yeah, the one who owns that wicket tail happy Innova) respectively, though yet to reach out to both of them. Let's see how it goes!

Now, time for some pics.

The car was really dirty and I wanted to get it cleaned before the trip. It was really hectic at work and other chores so I took it to Kairali quick lane as its near to my office. And that was a mistake, the work was shoddy! So, its back to only DBS or 3M for a wash from now on.





Also got a bespoke LED from Philips for the park light - Philips T10 Ultinon LED. The Yorkim one is exposed and doesn't look that well through the clear lens headlight. Bought the Philips from Amazon and it was costly at INR 1300. But comes with an insane warranty of 12 years and it looks very good with a 360 degree spread.




The lighthouse at Kovalam is a must visit place. Had missed this one when I went last time a few months back. Though its not really children friendly as its scary on top. They really should make it more secure by having better barriers.




Hope you guys see what I was aiming for here.


The sea was really strong and almost covered the whole beach due to the monsoons. But it was really pleasant and we had a whale of a time on the sands with a kite and frisbee.


PS: And don't miss the zoo at the Kerala capital if you are visiting. Its brilliantly maintained and my daughter enjoyed it thoroughly.

[deetjohn]

The driver side wiper blade started skipping while coming down in light rain. It will happen when the rain is really light and there is only a little amount of water to displace from the windshield. The one on the left was going about doing its business alright every time. But the skipping and squeaking of the blade on the right side was getting on my nerves.

The OEM blade on the Fiesta is made by Bosch and it looks good and is also well made. I had them running without a fuss till this monsoon. So, no complaints! But the blades are expensive at about INR 1900 for a set. And will the replacement be as effective as the stock ones? I had this doubt and I went about searching on aliexpress.com. And I found many options in there, that's one advantage of having a car which was sold globally.

So, bought this one - the blade looked alright and had good reviews. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/26-1...06.4.32.xm48XH

It reached after almost a month and I installed it last week. The blades are very easy to remove, just press down on the square button on top, pull to the right and it will come off with slight effort.

The packaging was very poor. The rubber strip on the right side blade was touching the frame of the smaller blade and was bent slightly.


Though it looks very similar to the OEM blade, there are differences. First of all there is no branding anywhere.


And these are blades for the left hand drive Fiesta.


How to make that out? Look at the flat edge of the wiper. That should always be at the top. Maybe to collect water when the blade is moving up as there is more water to displace from the windshield. But so far, I have seen it wipe clean on each sweep up even when there is a lot of water.


But, I am not happy. When the rain is very light, there is light squealing from the blade on the right. And at times it leaves a trail of fine mist on the glass right in the middle - exactly where the rubber strip was bent on arrival, but there is no skipping however.


I think I made a mistake by buying the blades from aliexpress. It performs okay now but I guess it is only going to get worse once exposed to the sun and dust. Let's see how long it goes before I swap them with a set from Bosch.

And I got diesel from my usual place for the current fill and the car is feeling much better. Rakesh has invited me to drive an Aspire which is owned by someone at Kairali and has been tuned. We couldn't meet up in the last two weeks and I need to get it done with soon.

[deetjohn]

Marty boy was the best man at the wedding of a close relative recently!

The prep. Got a premium wash at DBS which includes better products (Koch-Chemie) and tar removal.


The wedding eve



The big day! The florists completely goofed up the ask of the groom' sister and improvisation saved the day!


The photographers had an amazing drone and they shot many overhead videos of the Fiesta with it. It was very powerful, fast and had an amazing balance. I had to drive the car up and down from the house for them to get the shots right while the groom was getting ready. Will share it here if I can get frames of the Fiesta alone.

On the first run, one of the flower fixtures came lose and was dangling. The photographer was on bluetooth and was guiding me. It is a spooky feeling when you know a drone is following the car and you cannot spot the damn thing. I really wished for a panoramic sunroof on the Fiesta. I told them about the rogue fixture but they didn't want me to stop and wanted a continuous shot. The road was also not in the best of shapes and my heart was in my mouth. It held up thankfully and I got out when the filming stopped and fixed the suction cup. Phew! It was fine till the evening after that.

Also got the low battery warning on the MID for the smart key on the wedding day. That day of all days! I changed it after a few days at home and its all good now.

[rajathv8]

Holy moly! That is one lovely looking car under those lights! In the car wash pic it appears that the paint has been scrubbed off the car
The fiesta, even the pre-facelifted version looks gorgeous under all circumstances, even if it is missing a OVRM.
How are the seat covers and lighter shades on the interior holding up?

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by rajathv8

Holy moly! That is one lovely looking car under those lights...How are the seat covers and lighter shades on the interior holding up?

Thank You Rajath! Hope the A-star is keeping you happy and safe!

The interior is holding up okay thanks to the Tuff Stuff foam cleaner and Black & Decker mini Vac. But I need to take it for a thorough interior detailing soon. Never done it all this while. The driver side 3D mat is also showing wear at the usual places. Too bad they don't sell that piece alone.

Took the Fiesta for oil change at 45k on Saturday and also got the cabin filter and left side link rod changed. The right side one was changed during last service and the left side was knocking slightly while going over broken roads. I reached there at 10 AM and was out by 12. Didn't opt for a wash and just got the interior vacuumed. The total bill came to around INR 2900.

Rakesh (SM) was at the floor and guiding his men throughout. I told him about the smoke from exhaust under acceleration and he showed me a brand new Aspire which was smoking just as much. And I think it is now lower on the Fiesta compared to the Kovalam trip. Maybe it was bad quality diesel from Reliance. The engine feels lovely with fresh oil, it is so smooth even during cold starts. Cannot imagine going the whole 10k on same oil, the semi-synth just doesn't last.

[rajathv8]

The A-Star is doing well and is due for service. It has been a fun no-fuss ownership so far.

Rs.2900 seem really reasonable. Does ford allow customers to enter the service area?
I never let the service center wash the car. Off late I realized that the process of grease application is done at the cleaning station and since the car has not been there the door locks and hinges have not been greased for quite a while.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by rajathv8

The A-Star is doing well and is due for service. It has been a fun no-fuss ownership so far.

And a lot of fun along with a great build as well. Too bad our market' craze for interior space killed the car. I still cannot believe what a tremendous package it was, especially the AT.

Originally Posted by rajathv8

Rs.2900 seem really reasonable. Does ford allow customers to enter the service area?
I never let the service center wash the car. Off late I realized that the process of grease application is done at the cleaning station and since the car has not been there the door locks and hinges have not been greased for quite a while.

Yes, very reasonable.

The rule state that customers should always be confined to the lounge, but it is very difficult to keep me away from the Fiesta. And by now, they all know me.

I too skip the wash during service. Good point about greasing, not sure whether it was ever done for the Fiesta.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

How is that horn different from the Hella Black pearl sold in India? Is this Ford specific i.e. the connector is Ford type?

I got one last week for the Corolla and that was universal connector.

I thought of ordering one more for the Ecosport but the connector was different.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Yes, its bespoke for Ford. That yellow sticker has Ford written on it for easy identification.

And check the connector below. It looks the same as the stock horn on the Fiesta. Hope it fits. It was very reasonable at USD 20. So took a chance.

Attachment 1581131

Just remembered this post when I was looking at changing my Ecosport horn.

Ecosport horn connector is not the same as Fiesta. I thought it was the same but I ended up with the wrong connector.

Anyone ordering horn for Ecosport should use this connector:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Spec...311.0.0.eQdtnQ

The Fiesta uses this for Ford:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Spec...e138c1da&tpp=1