Hi all,
Just a quick update on my tonic WQ Zetec
I just got back after taking it for its first run, over the last couple of days, from Bundy down to Rocky. I left with a little over 600kms on the clock, a full tank of fuel... (no sunnies or smokes tho, hehe) and returned with just over 1200 kays, getting roughly 500-550 kays a tank.
Drove down with the girlfriend, sat on around 100kph, stretching out to 130 at times.. Coppers galore of course (big grumpy rant*).
I took it up Mount Archer, outside of Rockhampton (Bundy is
very flat
: ), and left my lovely lady at the shops, hehe. Third gear most of the way up, fun but uh... please sir, may I have another kilowatt? Pulled up at the top, pretended to admire the view... and then back down. These cars, they are so much fun. Took it easy to start with, but you'd have to really make a huge mess of things to get into any real sort of trouble.
Bearing in mind, I'm used to throwing a big ol' Falcon around down hills, or, when I run out of bamboo to stuff under my fingernails, my baby's Echo. Still the Fez felt so damn agile and peppy. What sounded like a little understeer was corrected by either a little more lock, or with a dab at the brakes. Body control is excellent, no wallowing, rolling or any fuss at all with directional-changes. Even got a few sniffs of lift-off oversteer, but it was kinda provoked
:
Very predictable and controllable.
So, now I know my car, I know what to expect in unusual situations. At 8 or 9 10ths it's got nothing at all in the way of vices, just grip galore, and it lets you know exactly what it's gonna do next. Very confidence-inspiring
I'm not trying to be a motoring journo here, and I hope it doesn't come across that I am. This is just what I experienced and felt over the last couple of days, and I'm really quite blown away by the value of this car. I hope this helps anyone of a similar mind, who, like me, ummed and arred over many cars. If you want it all - economy, practicality, reliability, affordabilty, and a totally entertaining drive... I don't reckon you can go wrong!
This is a brilliant car, the Fiesta!
*
Why, oh why, was there a speed-camera set up 10 kays north of Gin Gin, smack bang in the middle of a 4-lane overtaking zone? How often have you been stuck behind some parcel-shelf hat-storer, who is seemingly unable to wind it up past eighty - but! when they see a spot where you might just get past, be buggered if they don't suddenly have somewhere to be! Right bloody now-like, 80-120kph in a big whoosh of osteo-shattering acceleration.
Nothing speeds up slowies like a nice long straight stretch, huh? Why aren't the coppers getting these dopey old bastards off the roads? I sat on 130kph for a few stretches, the car was beautiful, I was awake, aware and safe, and focused on the job at hand. So why are they after me?
To have a speed camera set up across not one, but TWO overtaking lanes would suggest that it's safer for me to sit beside a wobblying bloody big bastard semi @ 105kph for 20 seconds, then to burn past it in 5 @ 130. Makes no f***ing sense, at all, none at all.