so i was lacking a reliable ride for my new gig

Post #418,347 by boxley 5/28/17 12:52:01 AM 5/28/17 12:53:19 AM Reply	so i was lacking a reliable ride for my new gig It is a 52 mile commute via interstate one way. My rx7 died and was sold a year ago. My 2001 dodge van is used by my daughter to haul around the grandbaby. I didn't want to use the truck as the wife would not have a ride for 12 hours a day. So with no money I went to a ford dealer to see if they had a 3 cylinder fiesta available. Found a 4 banger ford focus 2.0 2017 with a turbo charger that was cheaper than the fiesta in stock. Mat it, check Full volume ac/dc vibrates windows, check Twichy good road feel check 75 miles of cruisin after purchase, fuel needle still on full. Check Ruby red color bonus. "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman Edited by boxley May 28, 2017, 12:53:19 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #418,348 by static 5/28/17 4:52:06 AM 5/28/17 4:52:06 AM Reply	Nice. I'm sure the Focus will serve you well. They have a good reputation. Wade.
Post #418,357 by Ashton 5/28/17 2:06:26 PM 5/28/17 2:06:26 PM Reply	Well, as to the Fiesta/Focus transmissions' notorious failures a topic I'lll fill in when I decide whether a certain 2011 Fiesta shall be in my garage (in not too distant future, given the tea leaves) ... I suggest due diligence that Fooord has ackshully/fully/forever FIXED the auto-shift gearbox on the newest incarnations. [Hey, it's candy-apple red, though; not My first choice..] They really screwed-up that design, and over >5 YEARS of excuses and 'fixes' which didn't last.. (I may end up with an ambulance chaser split on a Buy It Back at original retail kinda ploy.) 'Course if you have a stick/manual? uh ..never mind. They didn't come up with a way to screw up something that simple. Yet.
Post #418,359 by a6l6e6x 5/28/17 2:32:09 PM 5/28/17 2:32:09 PM Reply	Focus may just be a way for... Ford to "fuck us" as the Cajuns might say. :) Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #418,559 by Another Scott 6/14/17 6:04:07 PM 6/14/17 6:04:07 PM Reply	Woot! Enjoy!
Post #419,439 by boxley 8/2/17 7:27:25 PM 8/2/17 7:27:25 PM Reply	so yesterday had a long straight stretch of dry empty 4 lane 110 at 4500 rpm, redline starts at 6500 rpm. Traffic came into sight so had to back off the throttle. Nice tight road feel, no lift anywhere. Need to see if it will go the advertized 140 as stated on the speedo. Maybe next month take it on a road trip. Atmore to montgomery during the week is mostly empty around midday. "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
Post #419,442 by CRConrad 8/3/17 4:08:14 AM 8/3/17 4:08:14 AM Reply	Which car ever does the "advertized" highest number on the speedometer? Those numbers have had a good margin above the actual top speed for so many decades now that it hardly counts as advertising any more, it's just a fact of life. (I think I was eleven or twelve last time I looked in through the window of a car and went "Wow, look, it does 220! [km/h]" because that was the top number on the speedo. Must have been 1975, -6.) Whatcha gonna do if it does less, demand restitution from Ford with a claim of "false advertising"? -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
Post #419,444 by pwhysall 8/3/17 4:17:53 AM 8/3/17 4:17:53 AM Reply	It won't. HTH!
Post #419,446 by Andrew Grygus 8/3/17 10:19:06 AM 8/3/17 10:19:06 AM Reply	Well, many years ago my Uncle Lou . . . . . was on a Southwest business trip and decided to see if his new XK150 Jaguar would really do 150 mph (241 kph). He failed to find out. The car was still accelerating, but he found that HE did 140 max.
Post #419,448 by drook 8/3/17 12:35:02 PM 8/3/17 12:39:25 PM Reply	way back in the late 80s ... My dad had one of these: I borrowed it one day to go to work. The route home included a stretch of brand-new freeway - four lanes, fresh concrete, well-lit, no traffic. It came on boost at 50 in 5th gear and started pulling like a freight train. When I finally looked down to see the speed I couldn't find the needle. It was buried all the way to the right. I suspect they marked the gauge lower than the top speed to avoid the hand-wringing from busybodies. [eta] And now that I've looked up the measured top speed, and pictures of the instrument cluster, I see that I'm mis-remembering just a bit. But that needle was further right than where I was looking. -- Drew Edited by drook Aug. 3, 2017, 12:39:25 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #419,463 by Ashton 8/4/17 6:24:49 PM 8/5/17 12:36:30 AM Reply	Heh.. Ticket (on Vincent) SF-Oakland Bay Bridge, way-back. Cop eyes the big (~7" dia.) speedo, sees "150" ... asks "is that in (KPH) ??" Moi tryin-fer-leniency: "Er no Sir, thats MPH." Don't recall his reply, but he wrote me up light.. He claimed to have been tryin to catch-up (on his antediluvian-Harley du jour) for some time; hell I was just idling along at ~65, no traffic-threading and like that. aka "No Sir, wasn't trying to elude; didn't see you at all.. " [Did not add any inner-juvenile] like, "If I'd meant to elude ... ... ['Course, re this thread: that '150' was Actual ~top-speed. But.. on the Black Lightning model.] == see Rollie Free's record which lasted decades. Still, most L.s likely came only with a tach + other customer specs. Guy I bought the Acura Plutocrat from had a new KZ-11? 13? whatever for 2004, in his garage. Scary is: the fact that NOW any 16 yo +/- could.. walk in and buy a factory-200 mph Beast; I no answers to that conundrum, aside from Parent-->child Prohibition-via-whatever ƒeare-generator works. V r o o o m . . . . Ed: oTpy Edited by Ashton Aug. 5, 2017, 12:36:30 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #419,464 by drook 8/4/17 6:41:29 PM 8/4/17 6:41:29 PM Reply	(Likely apocryphal) Story from the late 80s Distinguished grey-haired gentleman appears in traffic court for a triple-digit speeding ticket. The prosecutor presents as evidence a picture of the bike, which looks like a full-on race bike, before that was the style. Elderly gentleman says, "That's not proof of anything." Prosecutor: "Are you saying this machine can't go 110 mph?" EG: "It can do that with 2 gears to go. But if having the equipment is evidence of guilt you might as well charge me with rape." -- Drew
Post #419,467 by boxley 8/4/17 9:49:08 PM 8/4/17 9:49:08 PM Reply	my personal best was 175 but that on a closed course with no other vehicles "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
Post #419,497 by CRConrad 8/7/17 2:53:43 AM 8/7/17 2:53:43 AM Reply	If we're branching out into personal reminisces of V(max) attained... ...back in 1984, when working for my Dad in Germany that summer and fall, I tried out the max of my 1953 Volvo PV 444 ES on a stretch of no-speed-limit Autobahn. (The car was -- is -- pretty heavily customised, among other things with VDO instruments, so I'm assuming it showed rather accurate numbers.) Got to 160 km/h (=100 mph), but only held it for a very brief moment: 1950's-era chassi technology and skinny old tyres made for horrendously scary side-wind sensitivity; I was juggling the steering wheel like crazy just to stay in my lane, but probably meandered around like the Neander river. Much later, in 2007, I rented a then-current Audi A6 in Sweden and indulged in a bit of speeding on the motorway. The car could probably have done a lot more, but I lifted off at 170; stable as a train. And then in 2012, on vacation in the south of France, quite unintentionally I noticed that I was doing 180 on the Autoroute... In a big top-heavy "compact crossover" (I think would be the American classification) Peugeot 5008. Cars have improved immensely in just six decades. -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
Post #419,502 by pwhysall 8/7/17 4:31:15 AM 8/7/17 4:31:15 AM Reply	Indeed One of the reasons I got pulled over for 130MPH (209KM/H) in my 528i was that it felt like a much more sensible 80-90MPH.
Post #419,504 by drook 8/7/17 7:52:50 AM 8/7/17 7:52:50 AM Reply	That bike I was on felt like it was standing still Except for the fact that it was still accelerating, that is. -- Drew
Post #419,522 by boxley 8/7/17 6:56:37 PM 8/7/17 6:56:37 PM Reply	I would love to rent an audi A8 and take it on the autobahn see if it does top 200mph Montana is the only state you can do that in legally and legally often depends on the troopers state of mind and the weather. "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
Post #419,528 by malraux 8/7/17 9:56:32 PM 8/7/17 9:56:32 PM Reply	I have one It's not hitting any MPH because one of the water pumps is dead. :-) I just need to get off my ass to sell it to someone as a fixer-upper. I suspect the U.S. versions have governors or something though. Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
Post #419,530 by pwhysall 8/7/17 11:35:00 PM 8/7/17 11:35:00 PM Reply	Nope Any car you rent in the EU will be electronically limited to 155MPH.
Post #419,551 by boxley 8/8/17 9:06:42 PM 8/8/17 9:06:42 PM Reply	:-( "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman

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