Things That Go Burble In The Night

Sunday, 25 August 2013 23:35

I picked up my new car a week on Tuesday (13th) and so far I’ve done about 230 miles (370 km) in it and I’ve loving it. It’s a 2005 Ford Fiesta ST, 2.0L with 150 BHP (111 Kw) and very different from my 1996 Nissan Almera, a 1.4L with 87 BHP (64.9 Kw). Some of the differences is because the Ford is a performance car, some because it’s a different make and some just because it’s almost 10 years newer.

The day after I got it I went out with my friends, one of which knew nothing about the car. He agreed to go for a drive as long as he was in the front so we walk round the corner to the car and he’s texting on his phone. As we get closer I unlock the car with the key fob and the indicators flash but it’s not until he’s standing at the passenger’s door that he looks up and asks where’s my car. He was pretty surprised. Whilst on the drive we come up to a tight corner so I slow down, but it was a lot tighter than I expected so I just steered more and flew round the corner. The car that was close behind was now in the distance. If that had been the Nissan we’d of ended up on the other side of the road.

The Ford is taller than the Nissan, the seats are higher and the head lights are better. The first day I got the Fiesta and got the Nissan home I went round my Grandad’s to show him the Fiesta. When I was talking to him about the car I realised that I didn’t know things myself and would need to find out soon. Things like: where is the fuel cap, how do I use the lights / wipers. It was my intention to replace the head unit in the car with something that takes MP3 CDs / iPod / USB until I found out it has a six disc changer.

Last weekend I washed the outside and this weekend I did the inside which was a much harder job. I emptied the boot of everything including the spare wheel and took out the front and rear seats to make it easier to clean them and the interior. The inside was really dirty when I started and now that I’ve finished it’s just regular dirty. There was so much dog hair in the carpets that even though I’ve hoovered them several times there is still some left. I also bought some cleaner to get the dirt / mud from the plastics but they’re still dirty, so I need to come up with a better way to clean them the next time I do the inside.

I go back and forth between driving normally and like a lunatic, the latter of which drinks petrol. I’ve had the car just under two weeks and almost done a whole tank. I need to remember that I do drive it hard and that it has a smaller tank than the Nissan. I still haven’t mastered pulling away in first or getting into reverse without crunching it. After I get paid I plan to give the car a full service.