2015 Ford Focus 1.5tdci Titanium

[Eyersey1234]

dandam said:

Lucky man, my in laws are near Castletownbere, we got back there this summer after having to miss last year.
I would love to move back (I lived in Cork City for 5 years back when the Celtic tiger was still growling).

Anyway, love the new Focus, and loved the old one too, don’t worry about the scrape, these things happen

Thank you, I'm really impressed with the new one too. I was more annoyed with myself than worried, the touch in paint will see to the marks, though I've never been very good at using touch in paint neatly but hopefully I'll get it looking presentable from a distance

[Eyersey1234]

mercedeslimos said:

Yeah, we get paid daily. Like yesterday, drove for 8 hours straight, day's pay. Tomorrow, 3 hours max driving but based away from the depot so 4 hours commute to get there, same day's pay. Not gonna complain, a nice Setra 416 to use! Engine in that is anything but refined, but my god there's a nice rumble off it

We get paid monthly. Never driven a Setra, our coaches were Volvo but when they ordered 7 coaches for National Express work in 2018 they went for Scanias for some reason, I'm not sure why.

[Eyersey1234]

mercedeslimos said:

Opps what I meant was we get a flat daily rate. So unfortunately this means a 12 hour day or a 4 hour day, the pay is the same. Basically a salary, but if I do 4 days I get paid for 4, do 7 and I'm paid accordingly.

Setra lovely to drive very high tech for the year, all Mercedes basically. Our usual fleet is 90% Van Hool/DAF which can get a bit boring, we have a few ex-London Scania too but double-decker buses. The Scania stuff seems very reliable and has good value, one thing Van Hool is not is cheap. I like the variety, different engines and boxes etc. Some people just want an easy life and that's fine too. Don't mind a loud engine or a manual box, all something different. The tri-axle, 13.2m and 445bhp + 8-speed automated manual is a bit overkill for a school run though

Oh sorry I misunderstood what you had meant. Our NX coaches have Caetano bodywork, which is frankly built to a price and it shows, though the seals on the lockers on the 68 reg ones are very good at keeping water out, as I found when driving through flood water in London a few weeks back.
Oops sorry I'm going off at a tangent again

Edited by Eyersey1234 on Sunday 5th September 23:37

Edited by Eyersey1234 on Sunday 5th September 23:37

[Eyersey1234]

Whilst on taxi duty tonight picking my stepdaughter up after I finished work I had a play around with the radio getting the stations tuned in that I wanted. Never realised there were so many DAB stations though.

[Eyersey1234]

You can pretune 18 different stations in total, I have 12 so far but that should cover all of what I listen to, including Capital for when my OH and/or stepdaughter are in the car.

Stepdaughter also likes the sat nav in it, especially it telling you which street you are on.

Edited by Eyersey1234 on Monday 6th September 00:27

Edited by Eyersey1234 on Monday 6th September 00:32

[Eyersey1234]

mercedeslimos said:

Oh are they the Levante? I suppose one thing to be thankful for is there's no shortage of work in public transport. It's how I can run cars and fiddle with projects.

Yes, we have the Levante 3 now. Agree about that, I've worked through since March 2020 on local bus from lock down 1 to May this year due to the NX network being pulled.

[Eyersey1234]

mercedeslimos said:

And annoyingly they never brought out DAB here. Have it in the Mondeo and can't use it. I tend to use the Bluetooth audio with Spotify as you just put it on a playlist and control it with the radio or wheel.

I didn't know there isn't any DAB in Ireland, I wonder why

Edited by Eyersey1234 on Monday 6th September 06:47

[Eyersey1234]

mercedeslimos said:

I'm on schools now and was last school year (when the schools were open), and for the summer drove an open-top tour bus around Cork (third year in a row doing that now). Plenty of work out there if you're willing I've found. My boss looks after me and I look after them. Decent machines, and I look after them, keep them immaculate and very very rarely say no to any job - don't mind the drink jobs been, somebody has to do it and it might as well be me, though being young helps!

Never driven a Levante, but the running gear is straight Volvo B9R, good reliable mechanicals. Reliability is everything, this is why I daily a Ford. Breakdowns are bad for business and breaking down in the bus is incredibly bad. Likewise breaking down on my hour commute to collect said bus is a nightmare!

Completely agree about reliability. I've always had Ford's as a daily myself, 2 Fiestas then 2 Focuses/Foci/whatever the plural is

[Eyersey1234]

mercedeslimos said:

Mondeo is my first ford, but my mother had a TDDi Focus for years, that thing was tougher than any old boots! Rust in the back chassis legs got it, unfortunately. Had heard about how good the 2.0 HDi unit is, and hasn't been disappointed. 2.0TDI Passat before that, while not unreliable, seemed a lot fussier! Mondeo gets oil and filter every 8k, and that's pretty much it for 2 years.

Yeah sadly rust got a lot of Mk1 Foci. I have heard the 2.0TDCi is a very good engine. Glad to hear the Mondeo is serving you well, my dad has a 2010 Mondeo that he is looking to replace with another Mondeo about the same age as my Focus

[Eyersey1234]

I agree they have really upped their game with rustproofing, the Mk3 Fiesta I inherited off my gran had rust spots appearing in places when it was the same age as this Focus, whereas there is no noticeable rust on the Focus at all.

[Eyersey1234]

Peanut Gallery said:

Another thread de-rail here.. I have the Mk2 S Max, with the 2.0 TDCI engine, 39 would be brill, I might get there on a long, gentle cruise. As soon as a town appears it drops to 37 / 36. (using the computer readout, I have not yet worked it out myself) - My mixed driving gets me 38.0 very steadily.


And Bobberoo, you are just in the wrong part of the country, my Mk2 Focus had enough rust that I was employing the same method of panel attachment that Binky used to have - external air pressure. (literately, the front wings were attached at the top, the bottoms were loose) - Under the S-max over the weekend and I am seeing a fair amount of surface rust, contemplating a trip to Preserve and Protect or other under-seal company.

Good to see you join the thread Peanut Gallery. The main rust on my old Mk2 was at the bottom of the front wings and sills but "They all do it m8." There was also rust on the bonnet from stone chips.

I hope the S Max is running well.

[Eyersey1234]

Not that I have seen, maybe someone should start one. One of my ex colleagues used to have one and seemed to like it.

[Eyersey1234]

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

A Google brought this up which I had forgotten about.

Anyway back to the Focus. I've a couple of days off after today and will give it a wash as it's starting to look grubby outside. Covered 1100 miles in 2 weeks.

[Eyersey1234]

No need to apologise Peanut Gallery, maybe I should ask the mods if I can change the title to Eyerseys Ford Fetish thread

[Eyersey1234]

Jusr been touching in the scratches from the other day, I've never been good at using touch in paint neatly but looks better than it did.

[Eyersey1234]

gman88667733 said:

On darker coloured cars, I think the main thing is to hide it enough to not draw the eye to it. If it's not obviously there, people would have to be looking for it. Looks a fairly good job though!

Thank you. I think also it being low down helps as well, it isn't a part of the car that someone normally looks at closely.

[Eyersey1234]

Finally got round to connecting my phone to Ford Sync.

[Eyersey1234]

dandam said:

Does it work ok ?

No idea I havent tried it yet, I should test it to make sure.

[Eyersey1234]

Mileometer moment tonight

[Eyersey1234]

Bobberoo said:

Aahhhh the return of the mileometer readings!!!

Had a play around earlier, phone connection with the car is fine.