It's been a couple of weeks but I have done some more work on the site, notably adding the music section (work in progress) and a bit of tidying up, there's still much to do of course but I will get there! In other news, I have recently acquired a new car - trading in my 2018 Skoda Fabia for a simpler (and yes, I admit a much older) 1994 Ford Fiesta. Yes, you read it right. But hear me out, it might not be as crazy an idea as you think. Firstly, the car itself has a meagre 24,000 miles on the clock. Yes, again, you read it right and no, the milometre has not been meddled with, the mileage is backed up by stacks of paperwork detailing it being meticulously serviced every year despite only covering on some occasions hundreds, not thousands of miles, between services! Then of course there is the condition, I don't think I have seen many Fiestas at all in this great a condition. You would for sure be hard pushed to find a mark 3 Fiesta in this condition. Even well-worn examples are becoming scarce with remaining vehicles being either A) scrapped B) broken for spares C) SORN in someone's garage or barn or D) cherished by their owner who simply will not part with it. Secondly, if you have read my previous posts you will see I am a strong advocate in the simple being the less stressful. Something which as I get older I find more and more important than having the latest gizmo's and gadgets - my recent diagnosis of ADHD and imminent inevitable diagnosis of Autism makes a simpler car even more appealing to me. It is common knowledge that cars, whether we like it or not, are becoming more and more tech-heavy as manufacturers are forced to comply with stringent government/EU legislations around safety to the point where the cars themselves simply do not let you drive them anymore without nagging you to the point where you want to crash them on purpose. I have some cases in point; the car that I traded the Fiesta for, a Skoda Fabia from 2018, was - to be fair - a good car, but flawed by some of these horrible new requirements. Within weeks of owning the car, I noticed the car would without warning screech to a halt. Multiple visits to the Skoda dealership I purchased it from and adjustments of the sensor achieved nothing and I had to live with it. Worringly, after doing some research, the automatic brake assist as it is called, is a requirement on all new vehicles. There is an opportunity to disable it, but I would often find it would reactivate itself which was frustrating. I will do a review of the Fabia and my other cars at some point and upload them to this site. Other 'features' that are being made compulsory on all new vehicles include speed limit sign detection - already in testing there have been reports of vehicles slowing down to 10mph on the motorway after the vehicle had 'read' the speed limit sign on roadworks next to the lane. Then there was the irritating as hell loud BEEEEEP when the fuel level reached 60 miles - making me always ensure I had at least 80 miles in the tank at all times, just to avoid that screeching annoyance. Then there is the repair costs. Within under 2 years of owning the vehicle, aside from the sensor issues, and yes I am going to call them issues, because it was far too sensitive to be what I would consider working properly, both the passenger electric window and driver electric window had failed separately meaning trips back to the garage. Yes, it was covered under warranty, but that warranty was soon to run out and I decided to review my options and get rid of the car as soon as possible. I could see no way out of the stress-pit that is modern vehicles, with increasingly intrustive and annoying technology, that it is not always possible to disable, the higher repair costs, the increasingly complicated designs making something as simple as changing a headlight bulb not a 10 minute job as it used to be but an expensive trip to the garage. Put simply, like many things, I hate the direction of travel that things were going and after much hard thinking I decided the only way to get stress-free simple motoring was to go for an older car. Not an old banger, but an old car that had been looked after, with low miles, in good condition, that would hopefully serve me for many years to come.
Then I remembered my fondness for the 90s street furniture that was the mark 3 Ford Fiesta with its bulletproof engines. A bit of a 90s guy myself (you have seen the design of this site) I was sold. I started looking for one and came across a nice green Frascati limited edition on eBay, being the later run-out mark 3 model it included such niceties as power steering and electric windows. The only thing wrong that I coudl see (and put me off bidding high amounts for it) was it was beginning to rust/crust at the front under the bumper. I maximum bid at £650 and found a few days later the car had sold for a meagre £720. Everything happens for a reason though, and eventually I found my very nice example and after a week of owning it so far I love it and the Fabia is fast becoming a distant memory. I'm not going to lie and say it has been plain sailing so far, for starters, when driving it out of the dealership the lack of power steering hit me hard immediately. I have, driven a car without power steering, my very first car a Nissan Micra, also L reg, but this was back in 2005/2006 and I had clearly forgotten how heavy it can be! But it later emerged that the tyres were under-inflated. this is now resolved, and the brakes may be binding, so new brake hoses have purchased and are due to be fitted tomorrow. Other than that the car has been great. High on my list of priorities is a waterproof cover as although it has had Lanoguard under the front I'm not sure about wax oil on the bodywork and do not want it to get rusted. I have decided to call the car Christine as it shares the same birth date as my mother who celebrated her 40th birthday the day the car was first registered - 31st May 1994. I am aware it is also a Stephen King book & film about a car called Christine - let's hope mine isn't quite as evil ;-) I look forward to driving it more and have already been invited to two meet-ups later in the year, including - quite fittingly - a show in Gaydon to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ford Fiesta so it should be quite fun. When I was weighing up the pros and cons of getting the Fiesta, the social aspect was one of them, as a classic car isn't just a tool to get you form A to B, it's a hobby and an extention of your personality! Naturally some people, when told about my decision, thought I was mad. Notably my fiance, but despite her best efforts to sway me, I had to listen to my heart and not my head. Though for the reasons I've already mentioned, it's perhaps a wise decision also. My father - a retired mechanic by trade, in his working prime when these Fiestas were brand new on the forecourts, was surprisingly supportive and he likes the car too. Time will tell if I come to regret my decision to drive a vehicle that despite its condition and low-mileage, is old (there is no getting away from that). But early impressions are great and I don't feel that I will.
