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Old 24th August 2009, 18:49   #46
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Originally Posted by shajufx View Post
Raamki, lovely pictures of HSRP and chrome lined side strips you have got there ! But coming to the mileage calculation, I doubt how much you can depend on the DTE disply and do the math, because many Ford owners have reported the DTE varies at different situations (parked, bumper to bumper, highway etc). Best way to get the accurate figure will be full tank (auto cut off) to full tank at the same Bunk. Ford claims only 10 kmpl officially, so if you are getting anything more than that, thank God ! I am yet to check my figures.
thanks buddy!! agreed, 10-12 is good!! anything over 12, wooohoooo!!

btw, am going to try the full tank-auto cut off recommendation on my next fill!!
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Old 24th August 2009, 18:59   #47
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Originally Posted by raamki View Post
Major difference if you ask me, the angle of visibility is wider that what it would have been on the stock because the new mirror is bigger!!
Thats a good advantage over the stock mirror. Many times I felt that the stock mirror is not covering (side to side) the full view what is available through the rear windscreen. It may differ if you push your driver seat bit more.

Last night I was driving for a short distance and the stock mirror was kept on night mode, but the guy on high-beam behind me was very much irritating, I had to literally tilt it facing the roof after a while to continue a safe drive. I am yet to find out the difference of stock mirror in day & night modes.
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Old 24th August 2009, 20:30   #48
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Originally Posted by shajufx View Post
Thats a good advantage over the stock mirror. Many times I felt that the stock mirror is not covering (side to side) the full view what is available through the rear windscreen. It may differ if you push your driver seat bit more.

Last night I was driving for a short distance and the stock mirror was kept on night mode, but the guy on high-beam behind me was very much irritating, I had to literally tilt it facing the roof after a while to continue a safe drive. I am yet to find out the difference of stock mirror in day & night modes.
Wow! one more new feature it seems. Day & night mode in mirror
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Old 24th August 2009, 21:32   #49
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LOL, its not a new feature, higher variant of most cars have that. Its a tab behind the mirror you can pull or push that will decide day or night mode. Its also anti-glare. I am yet to figure out how much of difference it really makes.
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Old 29th August 2009, 12:01   #50
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Rc Smart Card!

hey folks,

picked up the RC Smart Card from Metro this morning, looks neat i must say!!

the front side has a card reader and the back has the vehicle/owner info printed on it!! apparently, only the folks at RTO offices can read the data off it, so the guy advised we only keep a xerox copy of it in the car!!

attaching pics!!

btw, how are Armorguard sunfilms?? Metro claims it's better than 3M, thoughts anyone?
Attached Thumbnails
Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-rc_edit_front.jpg  

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-rc_edit_back.jpg  

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Old 29th August 2009, 14:06   #51
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Raamki, that RC smart card looks cool !! Good you posted about it. I am waiting over a month and nobody bothered to call me to update about it. I called Metro after seeing your post and they said its ready, I can go and collect it. These people are sometimes really tough to understand. I dont know how long my RC card might be waiting at the dealer. Atleast one call to inform ? No. Btw, did they call you to come and collect ? Just curious !

Sunday they are not open, so I might pick it up only on Monday. We were out right from 9am till I saw your post around 1pm. Otherwise I could have picked it up before returning home.
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Old 29th August 2009, 18:29   #52
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Originally Posted by shajufx View Post
Btw, did they call you to come and collect ? Just curious !
Nope, my dad called them this morning to enquire on the status of the RC and they said it was available and that we could come pick it up!!

After we were back home, there was a courier we received from Metro intimating us about the availability of the RC card!!
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Old 29th August 2009, 19:37   #53
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Garware Sun Film Day!!

I pretty much had finalized on getting the 3M sun control films for the windows/windsheild and happened to call JustDial for 3M dealers/accessory shops in and around New BEL Road and RT Nagar.

A minute after i had hung up with JustDial, I get a call from Shreyas (Meda Enterprises), apparently they are the authotized distributors of Garware Sun Control films in Karnataka. He said they were mainly into fixing films on windows of buildings, hospitals, etc and that they had just begun fixing them on cars for the past year and a half!

The way he marketed his product on the phone was impressive, he sent me the address to their workshop/godown in Rajajinagar. Because the list that JustDial had sent to us had no shops within a 5 km radius of our home, we decided to head down to Meda anyway to check them out!!

So, 20 mins later, we were at their godown, bang in the middle of an industrial layout with manufacturing companies on either sides!

He showed us his car, a red Verna CRDI which had the HP Natural 20 on all the 4 windows and the back! it also sported a ICECOOL Shield on the front windsheild. It looked very good from the outside and considering the 2PM heat, i was mighty pleased sitting inside the Verna and I literally had to drag myself out of it back onto the heat to head back into their godown!

That demo was enough for us to go with the exact same combination for our car!!

HP Natural 20 - 4 door windows and back.
ICECOOL Shield - Front Windshield

The guys who fitted the films on my car were all trained my Garware and also had certificates to show!!

anyway, here are the pictures of how the car looks like after the job!! I would highly recommend their work and people interested in getting Garware for their cars can get in touch with Shreyas by logging onto :: MedaWindowFilm.com ::

Obviously, it feels a lot more comfortable inside the car and with the ICECOOL on the widsheild, my eyes just won't thank me enough!!

I will post the detailed specs of the films a little later, for the price though after a 20% discount off of MRP,
Attached Thumbnails
Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-29082009079.jpg  

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-29082009081.jpg  

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-29082009082.jpg  

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-29082009083.jpg  

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-29082009084.jpg  


Last edited by Dippy : 6th October 2009 at 17:21.
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Old 29th August 2009, 20:44   #54
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raamki@ Your car day by day becoming more beautiful

Did this gay explained why we should go for Garware rather than 3M?

I understand demo impressed you but just need to know before I also finalize on films.
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Old 30th August 2009, 00:48   #55
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Originally Posted by kumar7 View Post
raamki@ Your car day by day becoming more beautiful

Did this guy explained why we should go for Garware rather than 3M?
Thanks buddy!!

Nope!! he never did a comparision!! infact, we never spoke about 3M even!! he advised us to take a look at what he had to offer and we decided to go there as it was less than 5-10km's away from where we stay!!

He showed me a catalog of high-performance films and as i was flipping through it, he asked me if I wanted to take a look at what he had on his car!! The moment i sat inside his Verna, i knew i wanted that Icecool Shield on the front windshield, boy!! trust me, it makes driving so much more pleasurable in the hot sun, not driven it in the night yet but am sure it'll be as good, if not better!!

The HP Natural 20 looked good on the door windows and the rear windshield of the Verna! It looks kind of reflective from certain angles but you can comfortably see through it from a closer distance.

So kumar, to answer your question, that Verna did us in!! at that point, we did not want to waste time trying to draw out comparisions between 3M and what we had just seen!! we simply wanted what was on that car!!
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Old 30th August 2009, 01:18   #56
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Details & Specs of the films:

Icecool Shield: Superior film developed for the front windscreen that has a VLT of 70% and rejects heat upto 50%. Top of the line product from Garware Suncontrol, comes with a 5 year warranty.

Attached is the spec of the HP Natural 20 that my door windows and the rear windshield sport.

My ratings on the installation @ Meda:

Staff courteousness: 10/10
Time taken: 1.5 hours, 9/10
Fixer error - Nil, 9/10
Car interior clean post installation : Yep - 9/10

It's too soon for me to comment on the performance of the product but as far as the installation goes, am a super happy camper!! they could'nt have performed a better job!
Attached Thumbnails
Ford Fiesta 1.6 Duratec ZXI, Platinum : Ownership Experience!-hp20.jpg  


Last edited by raamki : 30th August 2009 at 01:30.
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Old 2nd September 2009, 00:43   #57
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Originally Posted by vnabhi View Post
That's a good question. Ever since I installed a reverse camera, which also uses a mirror mounted on the stock mirror, I found the rear view to be about 40 % dimmer than the stock mirror,when the camera is off. So in nights, the rear view is not all that good, though bright headlights in the rear are no longer worrisome.
@ Vnabhi : Sir, if rear view visibility is about 40% dimmer than the stock mirror, is it advisable to install mirror mounted reverse camera, as we are risking the rear view in the night especially on the highway, I may be wrong in assuming this but my most of traveling is on highway and I am more concerned as I want to install reverse parking sensor when I get the delivery of Fiesta.

@ Raamki : Sir, congrats for Fiesta 1.6 and thanks for beautiful snaps, it helped me ( more than me my wife) to decide the color of car.
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Old 2nd September 2009, 16:52   #58
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raamki View Post

HP Natural 20 - 4 door windows and back.
ICECOOL Shield - Front Windshield
Raamki, Isn't HP Natural 20 illegal in India? Acc to traffic rules, 50% visibility on the sides and 70% on the rear is a must. Natural 20 is just 20% visibility. As per T-BHP gurus, it is not only illegal but also not helpful during monsoon and night driving.
Are you able to see well on the sides and rear at night?
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Old 4th September 2009, 00:30   #59
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anandkumargb View Post
Raamki, Isn't HP Natural 20 illegal in India? Acc to traffic rules, 50% visibility on the sides and 70% on the rear is a must. Natural 20 is just 20% visibility. As per T-BHP gurus, it is not only illegal but also not helpful during monsoon and night driving.
Are you able to see well on the sides and rear at night?
anand, yes! the hp20 films are not RTO approved! However, i was told that the 50-70 visibility law was'nt applicable in Karnataka yet? Not really sure myself!! just liked the way it looked on the other car and blindly went with the same combi!! but tell you what, ive seen darker tints than what the hp20 actually looks like! And one can comfortably see through the tint from a close distance, so i am guessing it shouldnt be a problem!!

well, it performs like a star during sunny days but i really havent got a chance to drive it either during the night or during cloudy/wet weather post the sunfilm installation yet! my dad is currently using the car and he has no complaints whatsoever, considering that it has been raining for the last couple of days in bangy!!

i'll let you know of my thoughts on this subject soon though!
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Old 4th September 2009, 00:37   #60
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Originally Posted by rajeshvin View Post
@ Raamki : Sir, congrats for Fiesta 1.6 and thanks for beautiful snaps, it helped me ( more than me my wife) to decide the color of car.
Glad to be of help, Rajesh! btw, about the rear view reverse sensor system, its best to make a decision after comparing brands because INMO the quality of the mirror itself differs from company to company. In my case (Red Soul), i hardly find any difference!
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