After the last update where FiestaBoy took his Fiesta on a trip up north to Ipoh and up the hills of Genting, this month's entry will start with his trip across the peninsular to the East Coast of Terengganu.
The trip was made with 4 adult occupants. It was a monotonous 5-hour car ride across some miles and miles of never ending grey, dull looking highways. We stopped by at the Petronas station R&R on the Karak Highway, before exiting to the East Coast Highway. The nasi lemak over here is pretty good.
Pit stop at Karak Highway R&R
The Fiesta's well resolved ride and handling kept the backseat passengers' bum firmly pressed down. The Conti PremiumContact 2 tires were very quiet.
Blind spot reducing aspheric side mirrors on the Fiesta. Not something you commonly find in B-segment cars.
Can't say the same for the previous time the journey was made in my Satria Neo. The journey took us across some pretty rough roads between Jabur Valley and Kuala Terengganu, as well as between Kenyir Lake and Gua Musang. Beware however that some of these stretches are either poorly tarred or untarred, and are ridden with rough stones and the occasional pot holes. I am still impressed by the Fiesta's ability to absorb these road imperfections and yet still offers some pretty decent handling that will please the enthusiast driver.
Garmin GPS leading the way. Note that there are various companies selling Garmin GPS units but be informed that Automotive Synergy is the sole authorized distributor for Garmin GPS in Malaysia, and only units sold by Automotive Synergy are covered with a manufacturer's warranty backed by Garmin.
The stretch leading to Kenyir Lake offers some pretty scenic locations and the Kenyir Lake Resort is recommended for city-life averse individuals. It doesn't offer much other than bird watching, fishing and canoeing, basically the National Geographic types. For some, that is exactly the attraction of Kenyir Lake. For more information, visit www.lakekenyir.com.
Aside from a trip across to the East Coast, my Fiesta had to another hauling duty - this time a 40" LCD TV at the rear seat. My rear view was completely blocked and had to rely on the side mirrors for the short trip.
I also found out a couple of thoughtful features in the Fiesta that alluded me earlier. Did you know that the Fiesta's radio will search for the next strongest channel once you start driving away from an earlier preset frequency? Also, whenever the front wipers are switched on, and when reverse gear is engaged, the rear wipers will turn itself on for a single swipe across the rear windscreen. I maybe a noob in this but this feature was certainly missing from my previous hatchback. I was told that the Proton Exora's body control module also has this feature as standard.
Problems :
Two problems emerged since my last update. Everytime I go over rough roads / speed bumps, a rattling noise can be heard from the heard. The offending source was traced to the rear number plate holder. The clip that is holding the plate in place isn't very secure. I've made a complaint but no solution was provided by Ford's service center. Will see if changing to another number plate holder will solve the problem.
Another advice to owners of Fiesta is to watch out for rust on the rear spoiler screws. They are starting to rust on my car. The screws are not available are a separate loose item from the service center, but comes as a bundled one-piece item together with the rear spoiler. I was also shown a couple of Fiestas that have reported similar problems as well. Presently SDAC do not have any stock for the rear spoiler and the temporary counter measure is to spray WD-40 on it to prevent it from rusting any further. My advice to all Fiesta owners is to apply a coat of WD-40 on the screws as a preemptive measure.
Fuel economy
Latest fuel consumption for highway = 14.5 km/liter
Urban driving = 13.8 km/liter
Overall fuel consumption since day one = 12.2 km/liter
Total mileage : 5,000km
Repairs / Problems to date:
1. Replaced front right window tint film (1,000km)
2. Realigned rear left passenger door for easier closing (1,000km)
3. Rear spoiler screws rusting (5,000km)
4. Rattling noise from rear number plate holder (5,000km)
Repair cost to date: None
Maintenance / servicing cost to date : None
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