Old Man Red

[MikeT 744]

After ICBC settled our writeoff today, Sandy T and I went to Glenoak Ford to buy a new Fiesta.

Basic requirements:

5 speed manual

Heated Seats

Cruise Control

Alloy wheels

Heated mirrors

USB

Sandy's preferred colour was the Candy Blue Metallic (I call it Old Lady Blue) but the last one (short of waiting for a factory order - 8-12 weeks) was sold a day ago, so we had to settle for the Ruby Red Metallic (she calls it Old Man Red). Old Man Red shall be the name of the car.

The SE model has A/C, auto locking doors, driver's armrest, trip computer, engine temperature gauge (unlike the 2011 rental), remote key fob.

The options are:

Equipment Group 203A (SYNC voice command, 6 speaker premium sound, USB input, 15" alloy wheels, LED parking lights, cruise control and a few other goodies)

Winter Package (heated seats and mirrors)

Block heater

All told it came in at a tick over 20K with all charges, fees and taxes. The bonus is a set of 4 steelies with winter tires.

We pick up Old Man Red tomorrow afternoon. It's being brought in from Vancouver.

[scwmcan 0]

Congrats on the new car (even if the reasons for getting it are sad). It will be interesting to see how you do with economy etc. looking forward to your periodic posts.

[MikeT 744]

We picked it up this evening, drove off the Glenoak Ford lot at 6:45 or so. Pretty painless buying experience though all the usual options were offered (service plans, paint protection, warranty extensions). No No No. Next?Well the car is fine, we have it home now and I could only get a really crappy photo of it in the dark. More later.

[MikeT 744]

Here is a not-much-better photo of a dewey Old Man Red this morning.

[Francesco 71]

Nice ride!Questions: no 6-speed available? And: they couldn't do a dealer-trade to get you Old Lady Blue?

[MikeT 744]

We could have factory ordered one, but that would take 8-12 weeks to arrive during which my precious white smart would have been getting salty.....that wasn't gonna happen!The 5 speed manual is rare in spec cars. Finding a blue one was....well there were none west of Thunder Bay. The 6 speed is a dual clutch automatic with no manual shift option, and they're best avoided.

[Britsmart 0]

Wow nice choice, love the colour

[MikeT 744]

Here are a couple of better shots, from this morning.

[MikeT 744]

This car has TPMS in the tires, like a 451 but not leak-prone. Now I have 8 wheels and tires with sensors...and I have to reprogram them every time the wheels are changed! Need to buy a special tool for that. Happy happy joy joy. Anyway it should only cost about $60 but it's a step I don't do with the B 200 (which uses ESP to monitor pressure indirectly).

[MikeT 744]

Well I put the winter wheels and tires on this morning and after a 190 km drive, I have to conclude that they were pre-calibrated, because the TPMS warning did not turn on. That's good! I'm still going to get one of the tools.

[MikeT 744]

In case you're not already sick of seeing photos of a Ford here, this is a last photo on the summer wheels, taken just after a wax job and rustproofing. Ladysmith Harbour, Sandy T in the passenger seat.

[Eddie Eddie Eddie 1]

Hmm...Looking good Mike!My TPMS never needs to be recalibrated when I switch over to my winters. I'm doing this from my cell phone so let's see if it'll allow me to attach a pic. Eddie

[MikeT 744]

The photo upload worked well, I like that colour and all your extra "Titanium" bits, but we didn't want to spring more money than we did on this car. I do wish ours had chrome below the windows and around the grille, it would set off well against the paint colour.The funny thing is that the winter tires were never calibrated to the car, but maybe the dealer has a way around that. I'm getting the calibration tool anyway, it's under $40 from the USA. In case I ever have to change a sensor.....

[David_18 13]

In case you're not already sick of seeing photos of a Ford here, this is a last photo on the summer wheels, taken just after a wax job and rustproofing. Ladysmith Harbour, Sandy T in the passenger seat.

Just add some nice wheel and the car will look better !

[smart142 605]

They look like the passion alloys

[MikeT 744]

It's a cheap commuter car for me and the kids, so the fact that it has alloys at all is a bonus! We'll not be spending $ on "upgrades"! They look fine to me, 6 inches wide, lots of rubber on the road (185).Well, we did get some hubcaps for the winter wheels (which necessitated 16 new wheel nuts, yeesh) and some mudflaps. I shall spend no more!We're working on a 5.8 L/100 km tank at the moment. The car has a tad over 1600 km on it.

[MikeT 744]

The final read on the OBC after 540 km (the tank had about 10 L left in it) was 5.8 L/100 km tonight. But the tank was filled to an extent that it's never been before - previously I had stopped fuelling at the first click and I'd blown in fuel at the maximum rate of flow. Tonight I tricked it in at about 300 mL per second and I have finally got a FULL tank! This obviously inflated the fuel consumption for the 5.8 tank (which probably was 5.8 or 5.9 in reality) to 6.7. But the next one should be more representative. Or if I - or my kids - fill it short as before, it will be an impossibly low fuel consumption. Regular fuel. Got to love the price.The "distance to E" readout was over 800 km after tonight's fill and on previous fills it was only 670 km to E. So I probably got 6 or 7 more L in there. I am doubting I'll challenge Eddie for the 1098 km tank distance crown. Mind you, it is winter.....

[fordnut71 1]

congrats on the new car.

[MikeT 744]

Thanks, it is a very nice small car! It reminds me of the first generation Fiestas we got here in the seventies, with the 1.6 engine. They were quick for their day.

[Eddie Eddie Eddie 1]

The "distance to E" readout was over 800 km after tonight's fill and on previous fills it was only 670 km to E. So I probably got 6 or 7 more L in there. I am doubting I'll challenge Eddie for the 1098 km tank distance crown. Mind you, it is winter.....

Hmm...Looks like it's on!However, I thought filling a gasoline vehicle like that would burst the charcoal evap canister. One of the reasons I don't SuperFill my tank. Eddie

[MikeT 744]

I just ran the fuel in slower than usual, no extra clicks or anything. The gauge has stayed on F for more than 10 km now!

[Eddie Eddie Eddie 1]

Hmm...Well if that works, I should almost bust out the electric jack for my next road trip!

[MikeT 744]

Well, maybe just trickle the fuel in. Jenn did it too quickly yesterday and as a result the apparent 5.4 L/100 km was actually a bit more.

[MikeT 744]

Hey Eddie I was telling someone on the Fiesta Faction forum that you said your car gives you up to 20K km between service demands. They were insisting that it's a straight km countdown and doesn't add km for "good behaviour"!

[Eddie Eddie Eddie 1]

Hmm...Gonna have to disagree there Mike!I was around 16K km intervals until I started breaking longer and longer running tanks in the summer. I actually want it to trip the oil change reminder now to get it over with and allow me to plan a good decent weekend drive into Oregon (need to pickup a rare beer), but at the same time my curiosity is begging me to see how far this tank will go. If you haven't gotten it yet, do the undercoat as it helps deaden the outside noise even more. I have the fancy strobing brake lights as I did in my smart and switchback front turn signals. They're white as running lights but blink orange. I yanked a fuse to disable my DRLs within hours of taking delivery. In the next while I plan to buy an extra 3157 harness to piggyback on the current one and wore some resistors to stop the fast blink & dash warning. No relay as it's controlled by the canbus like the smart. The new versions of my switchbacks with brighter LEDs will also be a part of this meaning I'll giveaway my old ones (giving you first right of refusal). Also read up and cut up your headlight wiring to exchange your H11b setup for a regular H11. I'm so glad I did as I now have a lot more choice for bulbs than Osram twistlocks. Eddie