100kph at 3krpm for 09 WS zetec Fiesta manual

[jeff_o]

hi all, i'll be driving from sydney to melb one of these weekends. yesterday i just did sydney to berry hitting highway speeds of 100-110kph. as I noticed, the engine runs 3000rpm at 100kph (3200rpm at 110kph) at 5th gear. is this normal? are others getting this as well?

If i do the sydney to melb trip, is it ok to run the engine at 3200rpm (110kph) for extended period of time? i find it quite high and noisy. and engine does ping faintly and i'm already running 95octane.

any thoughts?

[trumpy73]

yes it's normal. it's a 4cyl 1.6 engine. it won't blow up.

tip: Actual 110 is more like speedo 117. So gives you some buffer on the multitude of Syd>Mel speed traps.

[GoesLikeAZetec]

Yeah this is the rpm they run at.. We have done long trips and it gets great economy at 110kmh.

[jeff_o]

i have heard that doing long drives on high speed is good on the car/engine as it kinda exercises the engine. is it advisable to do an oil change before/after the long trip? i checked my engine oil, looks ok just a bit dirty. last service was 30k. now car is 38k. next scheduled service is at 45k

[trumpy73]

Depends on what oil they used. Fully Synth, I wouldn't worry. Mineral, again no biggie, but if you have a spare $30 and an hour to spare, why not (before the trip).

Also remember - Service Intervals these days aren't necessarily based on technical requirements. They're most based on the manufacturer's MARKETING strategy. e.g The BS Toyota 'capped service' BUT you have to service your car every 9mths!!! So over the 3yr warranty period they'll squeeze 4 visits out of you instead of the usual 3. Anyway I digress...

[In Focus]

Sounds like a 6th gear would have been handy on the manual version of these.

[jeff_o]

yeah i really wished they put a 6th gear on the manual.

any powershift (WT) or AT (WS) owners out there? what is your rpm at 100kph?

[Twinpiston]

from memory they are around 2200 now!!!

[fiestaz]

my WT at 100km/h is about 2800rppm, (roughly, its been a while since it hit those speeds). Done 110km/h revving at just a touch over 3000rpm from sydney to grafton and back again twice no problem.

[kiwijohn42]

Try a WQ Zetec then, you're looking at 3700rpm at 110km/h.

[Fiesta God]

It's fine. Its a small 4 cylinder. You're nowhere near the redline ...

[Ms_Jam]

I think a number of here found that replacing the oil with Castrol Edge (now Edge Titanium) 5W-30 noticeably quietened the engine.

Not cheap unfortunately, and very hard to find with a big discount. Word got around, maybe.

At 110 you certainly can hear the Fiesta revving, but still have a normal conversation.

[trumpy73]

Twice a year you can get it for around $35-40. Repco and others always have specials.

[ebv8]

the manual does say change oil at 7500km when driving for extended periods on freeways
but mine ticks over nicely at 110kmh in 5th...6th gear would kill it and force more gear changes and just slow things down its already a slow car (fast for the type of car)
i get 6.0l/100km doing 100kmh and if i drive at 110kmh i get 6.4l/100km
only thing bad at speed in a fiesta with having the window down

[fiestaz]

Yeh i wouldnt be too concerned. I get a consistent 5.7l/100kms heading to grafton and back. i have seen as low as 4.9l/100kms on a nice flat freeway at 100kmh.
doing the grafton trip in november again. aiming for better economy. (5.2l/100kms would be nice) Except this time going all the way to the from sydney to the gold coast!

[Twinpiston]

So mine was a guess, what rpm does an auto (powershift) do in a WT/WZ?

Cheers

[jeff_o]

ok i'm in melb now. did the long drive yestday. initially the engine was noisy but after few hundred kms the engine seemed to quiet down which was good. so far it was a great drive.

my rpm is exactly at 3krpm at 100kph and around 3350 at 110kph.

initially i did not reset my L/100 and it was reading 5.5. but after a fill, i reset the L/100 and i was getting 4.5 i believe based on the computer. this was mostly running 110kph.

[vhcbm]

Got 701 km from the Crossroads all the way down the Hume when I had my Fiesta revving happily above 3000rpm. Did a few trips up and down there in it with no issues. She'll be right mate.

[trumpy73]

Originally Posted by trumpy73

Twice a year you can get it for around $35-40. Repco and others always have specials.

Funnily enough, Repco has it on sale now. $44 including a free filter.