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Old Man Red


MikeT

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  • 1 month later...

I have not, but the car is getting services at 8000 km intervals (me at 8000 and dealer at 16,000, etc). Dealer basic services are about $60 if they use regular motor oil (I will insist on synthetic). So services are definitely a lot cheaper than on a smart. The official service interval is 16K km.Fuel consumption is averaging at 6.0 L/100 so far, but we do drive mostly on open road and suburban areas. It might be more like 8 in purely city driving. Fuel is regular too, despite a higher compression ratio than the 451. Ha! I expect the FE to improve once winter is over, on the summer tires.If you are ordering one, consider that the 2014 model has a new nose (more like a pseudo-Aston Martin) and a 1.0 EcoBoost engine will be offered, but that 1.0 L three banger will have a turbo, intercooler, direct injection and all the complications of a smart cdi. They will continue to offer the 1.6 with 120 HP in 2014 too, I like this engine.When we bought ours, there was a deal that if you sign up for financing through Ford Credit, you get $2000 off MSRP, and then if you pay off the loan one day after the first payment comes out, the dealer refunds the interest on the first payment and the financing doc fee....so that's what we did.And they gave a "free" set of steel wheels with tire pressure sensors and BF Goodrich winter tires (decent enough in snow, but not made for really fast cornering!), which were altogether about $1000 at retail. We also haggled for a few hundred off their doc fee.As for options, we think the SE is the best value, for the extra two grand you get CD radio w/ 4 speakers, A/C, armrest, power windows, reading lights for 4 separate seats, remote entry key. On top of that, the Equipment Group 203A is good value at $1000: Sync (full voice controlled audio, bluetooth handsfree etc), premium sound with two more speakers, a USB for MP3/phone, 12V rear power outlet, steering wheel audio controls, alloy wheels, LED parking lights, cruise control.On top of that we got the winter package for $300: mainly, heated front seats and block heater for $100. You could probably skip the block heater.I would not recommend the PowerShift automatic dual clutch gearbox (it and the not-available on the Fiesta My Ford Touch are the two reasons Ford has a declining reliability rating). The 5 speed manual is good. Aside from the ?? over the PS transmission reliability, there is no way to shift it manually despite being a dual clutch system.So that's what we got. After taking delivery we also got hubcaps for the winter wheels, which were cheap, but you need different wheel nuts, believe it or not, to hold them on! Because they're chromed, they're not cheap! We also got factory mudflaps which I mounted myself, the rears being made in Germany.Marcel at Glen Oak Ford is good to deal with.

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  • 2 months later...

The Ford went in for its first dealer service today at 16,000 km. The regular cost of this service is $75 (!!) but I went overboard and specified fully synthetic oil, so the total cost with taxes came in at $30 more than that. Tires were rotated, car washed and vacuumed. I have been changing the oil and filter myself at 8000 km intervals.

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  • 3 months later...

Old Man Red is going to spend this summer in Jasper National Park. Our son Sean T drove him up there last weekend, looking for a job. Well, he got one at Miette Hot Springs, which is great! His GF is also working in the Park, bonus!

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I had a call from a family friend in the Calgary area tonight where our son stayed last Friday night. I had asked him yesterday to look for oil spots on the ground where the Ford had been parked. He confirmed tonight that there were oil spots (small pools) of engine oil in that location. So I know it is an oil leak, not oil combustion.

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Hi MikeAfter reading your post, I was having a good chuckle at your expense. In 1982 we bought a new Toyota Tercel and at the 5,000 mile mark, I was going to change the oil and filter. My wife talked me into taking the car back to the dealer to have it done instead. So that is what I did. When I got home I looked under the car I noticed oil leaking from the drain plug, so I got out a wrench and tightened the plug a bit (the plug was pretty tight). Took the car for a short drive and when I got back looked under the car again and the plug was still leaking although not as much as before. I then got out my socket set and really gave the drain plug a good tightening. Even then it still leaked a tiny bit.So I got out my drain pan and undid the plug and drained the oil. I looked at the plug and there was no gasket on the plug. Also not stuck on the oil pan. So I when down to Canadian Tire and got some gaskets and put one on and solved the leak.A couple of days later I was going past the Toyota dealer I decided to go in and tell them about the missing gasket. The service advisor won't believe me that the gasket had been left off and I needed to bring the car in so he could see for himself. I thought about taking the car back home and draining out the oil and taking the gasket off the drain plug, putting the drain plug back in and refilling the oil and taking the car back to the dealer. Common sense intervened at this point and I never did do that.Needless to say I never went back to that dealer.Thanks for the chuckle.Roy

Edited by yellow bumble bee
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Yeah it was my cinching it with a strap wrench that apparently slightly dented the casing despite my barely feathering it on....which then led to a crack developing. No more of that for me!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 months later...

I did an oil and filter change today and noticed that the transaxle casing is leaking oil. The transmission (manual) is sometimes reluctant to shift into reverse - has been since Day One - so I expect it will get a new gearbox soon (at least that is what I expect).

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