Tom's TDCi Titanium X...

[mr_fish]

What size is the tank on these? 50L? then whatever the neck takes?

[Toms306]

53 litre capacity apparently, not sure if that includes the neck.

I think the fuel guage is a bit pessimistic though, still only got 49 litres in yesterday despite it looking completely empty lol.

[Toms306]

So, been a while since this was updated. Insurance renewal due today... £350 which is more than I was expecting (and more than last year, and the GTi6!?) but can't find it cheaper so meh, it's gotta be paid.

Also done a few more distance drives in it lately, which if I'm honest haven't gone well but that's due to the home situation annoyingly. However, despite spending several hours on cruise at 70mph in one of the flattest places in the UK the mpg still hasn't hit 60 average...genuinely don't understand this, it's the smallest capacity turbo diesel I've owned, sure be getting better mpg than a 1.9 180bhp Golf or a 130bhp 2.0 306...

Have also been looking at remaps for a bit more power and hopefully mpg, but it seems no-one wants to do a DPF friendly map (remotely at a reasonable price anyway) so that's also out.

So next on the list is brakes, they're shite tbh (although stop dead when the EBA kicks in under emergency conditions!?), and have had a judder since I got it, and squeal like hell which is embarrassing round town. Looks as though someones done half a job and replaced just the pads on top of rubbish discs which has just ruined the pads now anyway...why people do half a job of brakes I'll never know! Soooo, next question is what to go for, Pagid pads and discs come out at £90, genuine Ford ones come out at £110. They're only 278mm but the discs are expensive for some reason, guess that's why weren't replaced first time round. But are there any better makes to go for? I want something good for fast road that actually works cold as well, these ones don't work much at all for the first couple of junctions on a cold morning which isn't ideal.

[RetroPug]

Try driving between 55 and 60 on your distance drives. Then you will likely see your MPG climb.

[Seb_Ryan]

Lol my alfa has just managed 53mpg over 90 miles on motorway at middle/outside lane and thats a 2.4 5 cylinder!

[Toms306]

Not interested in taking longer to get places, but it seems to make no real difference anyway, got the same at 60 as 70 on more local fast runs. However the Golf averaged 65mpg+ on a 70mph run even for half an hour...2 hours in this still doesn't hit 60mpg, makes no sense to me lol.

Expected an easy 60mpg average with mixed driving, and at least 65mpg on a distance cruise, which is still way under the manufacturer figures as I knew they'd be off. Gutted I didn't buy the 2.0 tbh, would've had more power, an extra ear, better brakes and I cant see MPG being much worse if at all. Annoying really as the rest of the car fits my needs perfectly, just chose the wrong engine!

[welshpug]

its an old archaic 1.8 Donk with commonrail strapped to it, they'll never be as good as the 2.0 DW engines.

[Toms306]

No it isn't... It's a wanky Peugeot DV6...

[welshpug]

oh, even worse!

that was a Joint venture, so a Joint fuckup

[Toms306]

True haha, its used in pretty much every mainstream car/van these days though so there must be something good about it.

[Poodle]

I don't understand how you're so bad at getting mpg from these, my brother abuses an estate daily as an engineer's vehicle with a literal half a ton of tools in the back and he manages 55+. And when i say abuses, i'm talking proper thrashing it everywhere, speeding up and slowing down fairly regularly for no reason, permanently doing warp speed on the motorway, abuses...

[Toms306]

I don't understand it either... I can't manage to get it below 55mpg tank average no matter how hard I push it even with a load of town driving and traffic light grand prixs....which I always win. However I can't get above 60mpg tank average at all, not seen 60mpg yet since buying it 6 months ago (almost to the day)... Not even sure how that can be possible!

I'm not actively eco-driving, don't have the time or patience for that, but I'd have thought ~150 miles in one go at a constant speed on fairly flat roads should be about as economical as it's gonna get... As said, similar shorter trips in the older, 8v, modded, cheap generic mapped (with a broken camshaft) PD Golf had no trouble averaging 65+. That said, the Golf obviously had a bigger turbo and a 6th gear...

[Seb_Ryan]

Tom just buy another bloody golf! Lol you're in love with them

[procta]

Tom just buy another bloody golf! Lol you're in love with them

I think tom should too, for a second car!

[7057sam]

Tom unless your going on track pagid will be fine.To be honest i've even used normal pads on track and been "ok"

Ferodo ds range are pretty good but expensive

Nice to see your getting about though wats the furthest you've been??

[Toms306]

Tom just buy another bloody golf! Lol you're in love with them

Nah, they're too old now, and still hold too much value.

But the PD engine was easier and cheaper to tune, had plenty of power and a decent band as standard and gave an easy 60+mpg regardless of thrashing it everywhere. Plus it did hours of rush hour town traffic with no risk to the DPF because there wasn't one...

IF the newer ones weren't so ridiculously over-priced and unreliable I would've gone for one of them... But wouldn't everyone that buys a Focus...?

Tom unless your going on track pagid will be fine.To be honest i've even used normal pads on track and been "ok"

Ferodo ds range are pretty good but expensive

Nice to see your getting about though wats the furthest you've been??

Track? I have enough trouble picking up speed on short slip roads... I'm not really looking for an out and out performance upgrade, just thought as the Pagid's were so expensive, if there was better out there for not much more I'd go for them, however I have mostly used Pagid in the past and can't fault them. Afterall I'm aiming to keep the car a while so will get the use from them anyway.

Furthest I've been is Birchanger Services, Stansted, round trip of ~150 miles/3hours on Monday, attempting to go to Ace. Unfortunately it didn't go well though, and really knocked me this week as there's been big problems at home as well. Not really been out since but the two trips I have done both went badly. Hoping to get out for another lengthy drive tomorrow but it's gonna take some serious effort, and I dread to think what I'll do if that one goes badly as well.

[procta]

tom you need a golf in your life for a project car, to chase that mpg!

[RetroPug]

So you're not interested in driving at more efficient speeds, nor do you have the patience to drive more economically, but you want your MPG to rise?

I drive to work at 60mph and due to congestion on motorways and A-roads I don't get there particularly sooner than when I go quicker in the 306. Obviously on clear roads you will get there more quickly. If you don't feel that higher MPG is worth an extra 5-10 minute investment then don't invest that time in it, but then don't be surprised when it doesn't happen. Are you ever really in that much of a rush to get places that you can't leave 10 minutes earlier for a long drive that will take an unpredictable amount of time anyway? Plus, it is less strenuous driving at 60mph.


Manufacturers drive the vehicles as absolutely economically as possible and then do all sorts of other tricks, so you will definitely be way off their figures.

[Toms306]

I'm not comparing to thier figures though, I'm comparing to my previous cars, all of which should've been much less economical and were driven harder for the most part...

Unfortunately yes, due to my own issues an extra 10 minutes does make a huge difference, plus driving slower causes higher anxiety anyway (which increases the chance of panic/ibs) so its just not worth it.

I have no interest in 'on a run' mpg where someone slip streams a lorry for 500 miles at 56.73mph by feathering the throttle with thier little toe... Im looking for a good tank average where I don't have to constantly think about driving more efficently....as I have had with previous cars.

[Poodle]

Pretty sure you've got that the wrong way round, stepping back a bit and driving more economically is more relaxing, its the continually worrying about trying to make up time that's stressful lol. I hope you work it out and keep up these long journeys, sounds like you've been making some serious progress, fair play to you.

[Toms306]

Nah I do find slowness causes anxiety, always have...never understand how old people and learners can drive so slowly, I was told off for speeding 3 times on my first driving lesson. Not really sure why, there are (rare) occasions when I'm not racing to the loo and I still can't stand driving slowly, but I hate causing hassle/holding them up to other people so that might be something to do with it.

Unfortunately that progress has been completely lost this week. Last few weeks have been bad but was still pushing through them. But last week was the worst this year, really bad due to reasons beyond my control. Thought I'd be able to 'tread water' for the week and get back to progress but unfortunately that hasn't happened. After 2 attempts yesterday I didn't even get to town. And the day before I couldn't even manage a mile walk around the village. I'm f*cking gutted tbh, 6 months of hard work, time and fuel (money) completely wasted. Theres only so long you can fake positivity and fight a losing battle I guess.

[Poodle]

Fair enough, still haven't quite got the right mindset for it i guess. Don't give up on it so easy mate, everybody has bad weeks, that's life, you'll get there. And don't think of it as a waste, you achieved a lot.

[Niall]

Tom it is NOT time wasted!!! You may have hit a bit of a low point again but you were doing bloody well the other week and you need to remember that you CAN do that again. It was never going to be a over night thing and never straight forwards. Remember, if you're going 2 steps forwards and 1 back, thats not such a bad thing rather than just trying to rush yourself into things.

[procta]

Nah I do find slowness causes anxiety, always have...never understand how old people and learners can drive so slowly, I was told off for speeding 3 times on my first driving lesson.  Not really sure why, there are (rare) occasions when I'm not racing to the loo and I still can't stand driving slowly, but I hate causing hassle/holding them up to other people so that might be something to do with it.

Unfortunately that progress has been completely lost this week.  Last few weeks have been bad but was still pushing through them.  But last week was the worst this year, really bad due to reasons beyond my control.  Thought I'd be able to 'tread water' for the week and get back to progress but unfortunately that hasn't happened.  After 2 attempts yesterday I didn't even get to town.  And the day before I couldn't even manage a mile walk around the village.  I'm f*cking gutted tbh, 6 months of hard work, time and fuel (money) completely wasted.  Theres only so long you can fake positivity and fight a losing battle I guess.

tom, it hasn't been a waste of time or money, as you have proven to your self that you can get out there.
We do have off weeks, just keep at it! think back to this time last year, and compare that to now, That's progress!

[Toms306]

This week last year I was in exactly the same place as I am now, complaining about exactly the same thing...and the year before that actually... This time next year will more than likely be exactly the same as well. It was bound to happen, though I was hoping the cause would be the car breaking down or myself getting an IBS attack stuck in traffic...things I could work on. It wasn't either of those, it's down to people here in this house yet again, completely out of my control and no way I can change or work with that. I don't know what to think really, I just hope next week I can at least get to Tesco if nothing else. Anyway, this isn't the place to discuss it, my fault I shouldn't have brought it up, but it's a thread for the car so we'll try to keep it on topic.


And on that note, remembered I took a 30-70 in 3rd last week as I've done it with most cars I've owned but not the Focus so far. I ran out of months on the calendar to properly time it though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94y_gsO...e=youtu.be

[Piggy]

If you already think you will be in this same situation without any progress this time next year...then you are never going to make progress buddy.

plan extra time and drive without stress. If you know you'll get there early, theres no need to rush. Stress/anxiety is awful.
Hope you find your chill pill

---

That 30-70 is painful! This still standard map??

[Toms306]

Yeah standard map...none of the mappers will guarantee a DPF safe map so I won't be having one yet.


I don't expect to make real progress, same thing happens every year, we have horrible occasions like xmas that really cripple me, then I put in a lot of time, effort and money to get somewhere but before it happens another of these horrible occasions cripples me and it just continues in waves like that. Reality is I'm trapped in a situation I can't cope with, dreading a future I can't cope with, and with no exit that I can see.... Try finding motivation and positivity from that.

There is also no extra time or leaving earlier. Everything I do is a race to get things done between people leaving and returning...which are both unknowns now! I have max of 3 hours to go out and get back on a weekday if I eat dinner at 11 (which will ruin my guts for going out, but theres no other option as unfortunately humans need food). Though that 3 hours quickly disappears when I've just left after spending half an hour on the loo and my stomach goes 'nope...' and I have to spend another 30 mins in there. Then you've got traffic and slow people to further reduce that time. And on top of that my sister is here more often than not now so it's near impossible to get dinner let alone go out after. Someone has been home every day for the last 8 days now which has just completely ruined me basically, it'll take weeks to get back from that, it's not 2 steps forward and 1 back, this is 2 steps forward and 6 back.

Trying to fight everything all the time just doesn't work unfortunately, and until I have a solid routine and more time to do things there won't be any long term progress.

[Toms306]

Sooo, it's been a while. In all honesty I had a major 'setback' in March and haven't really been well since. Finally doing something about that though. And to that end needed to get the car 'sorted' for the next 6 months at least. MOT, tax and insurance are all paid up until next year so it was just maintenance really. Still getting DPF faults but having it gutted and remapped was just way beyond my budget. So I've done the other stuff and just hope that the DPF faults are either 'glitches' with something.

So it had another pair of Dunlop Sport BluResponse fitted yesterday to replace the tyres with nails in unrepairable places, same all round now, and the tracking done properly as well! They managed to fix the mess ATS made of the tracking, somehow it was completely wrong, last time I use them for tracking then! Front is now set up correctly, rear is only just within tolerance but I decided not to risk having that done partly for the extra cost and partly in case the bolts snapped!

Also done a major service today, after getting the OE parts at a very good price from a contact in the trade. Did have a slight issue of bleeding the fuel system when my manual hand pump failed (seal knackered, probably from syphoning damn veg oil in the past!) so I ended up filling the filter with diesel from a can and after 2 or 3 short cranking bursts it started fortunately...phew.

So it shouldn't need any more money spent over the next 6 months hopefully, and will be covering a lot more miles than before as well which should keep the DPF happy...although it could also see me doing a lot more town miles which could have the opposite effect lol. Kinda regretting the potential faults the DV6 has but have looked into swapping for a 2.0 instead but the running costs would be significantly higher and I'd lose some of the spec that makes mine 'special' to me (HIDs, Leathers, Cruise) so I'll persevere with it for now. When the EcoBoost Fiesta's drop to a sensible price that'll probably be my next car, modern diesels just aren't worth the extra hassle and cost over petrols, especially now they've become a lot more efficient.

[Toms306]

So, pictures...

Service kit -



Tyres and tracking -



And it did the moving well. Surprising what fits in a Focus lol -



Even a whole arm chair (albeit in half lol) -



With room to spare for other stuff -



So it's liking the new parking place, it's solid, flat, spacious and well lit, much better than the slimy mud back at home lol -



Oh and I can see it from the kitchen -



So, needs brakes sorting at some point, may just clean and grease or may chuck another set of pads in, will see what make they are as I'm not convinced the squealing is all down to lack of grease. Also needs another good polish and wax, only looks good from a distance due to quick detailer atm lol. However I also want to clay it first so will probably buy a 'clay mitt' if I've got the funds next month.

[1616six]

Looking good Tom!

Just don't say 'back at home'... It is home! It's 'back at the parents house'