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My Ford Fiesta 1.6: Ownership updates at 17 years & 115000 kms

31st July 2023, 13:11 by Dev Shah

We've been taking it out on quite a few drives of late, especially airport runs.

BHPian GForceEnjoyer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The Fiesta recently crossed a major milestone! It has now completed 115000 kilometres:

We've been taking it out on quite a few drives of late, especially airport runs. Even nearly 17 years post-purchase, it's still a joy to watch the tachometer arc its way past 3500 rpm and all the way to the redline with the engine singing in approval.

Something I've noticed recently is the increasing number of surprised looks that this car attracts from valets, for example; a result of the Fiesta's increasing rarity. It's led to some interesting experiences too! While we were getting a PUC check done, we met the owner of a mint 2005 Maruti Esteem and had a great discussion about the various road trips that we had undertaken in our respective machines.

Here's the Fiesta accompanying some much more modern and much more expensive machinery while still holding its own. Overall, this design has aged fabulously:

For its service, we took the Fiesta to Mody Ford, Bowenpally (since we had been considering switching service centres for a while), having heard good things about them from fellow Ford owners. While the interaction with the front desk staff fell short of expectations (constantly attaching incorrect details onto the invoice and unclear communication in particular), we also had a chat with a senior mechanic who was very knowledgeable, providing some reassurance in the skill of the mechanics.

However, there is presently a massive issue with this service centre, and not even due to any fault of its own. The road right in front of it is being dug up to lay a pipeline as of now, making the last 50 or so metres an absolutely harrowing journey (unless you own an EcoSport or Endeavour, that is).

Other than this, the quality of work done was satisfactory, apart from one glaring miss: the car was returned with the hood not properly closed! Anyways, since the free service plan we had availed a couple of years ago has now expired, we might switch to an independent garage, visiting the authorised service centres only if absolutely necessary. Any suggestions regarding the same are welcome.

Nearly all the prices apart from some consumables are 0 due to the service plan. Note the incorrect colour (it is Paprika Red, not Colorado Red).

I do have a burning question I'd like to ask before ending this post. In light of the E20 petrol rollout, what can we do to ensure that we can continue using the Fiesta for an indefinite period of time in the future? Any fuel additives or fuel system upgrades that can work? Or is the only option to switch to the hugely expensive XP100 petrol (10% ethanol) or the other 100 octane petrol from either BP/HP that is so far still 0% ethanol? What's the scene with private fuel stations like Essar, Nayara and Shell? The right grade of fuel slowly being made unavailable country-wide was something I never thought I'd see; yet, here we are.

While we can continue to rue the bleak-looking future for automobile owners in India, allow me to share a very interesting MID reading as a parting shot. Little things like this do help lighten the mood: