I have a question re: that Sierraglow coating...

I know that the car looks FANTASTIC immediately coming out of the detailing centre, and also that they have long warranties (5 years?) .... but how on earth can anyone "claim" against that warranty?

- Does it cover our KL-grade pH1.5 Mol 500 Gebeng-radioactive rainwater being left to dry on the paintwork in sunlight-focusing droplets under our 40-degree sun for 5 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365.25 days a year?

- Does it cover bird bombs? Especially our ultra-potent, curry/asam/tomyam/durian-infused variety that puts Ridley Scott's "Alien" blood to shame? How about if left to dry for a couple of weeks under the above-mentioned sun?

- Does it mean I send the car to the roadside car wash where they use foamed clothes detergent and oven cleaner, scrubbed down carefully with sand-encrusted recycled ceiling insulation (since they have worn off their sandpaper), then blasted with the above-mentioned collected rainwater via a 1000 psi industrial compressor, later wiped dry with scrap cloth which was carefully stored on the sandy soapy dirt road and has more bacteria growing on it than a petri dish?

- how about when I feel suicidal and routinely "cucuk" the 18-wheeler container truck along muddy trunk roads going 150 kph, all the while being sprayed with sand/dirt/muck being flung at near-hypersonic speeds onto my paintwork?


After all of this, the ride will still look showroom quality?


Wah! Like that really worth the RM650++ loh!!! Where can I sign up?

I just checked out Sierraglow's website; not much more details on what their warranty covers either. Except:

- water spots still can occur
- shine still affected by UV/strong prolonged sunlight
- flying stones/debris

AND handwash carefully (ie. roadside carwash OUT).

I'm not knocking Sierraglow per se; I would think any coating that has such long warranties are over-promising... perhaps with optimal care, these coatings would still give a reasonable degree of protection even after a number of years. But there's no way short of coating the car with pure crystalline carbon (a.k.a diamonds) would it be able to withstand the torture we routinely inflict on our cars through circumstance/weather, neglect and/or by accident.

What I find a bit unsatisfactory is that Sierraglow specifically forbids the use of waxes on the top of the coating, or else the warranty will be void. My (limited) understanding is that waxing is always a good thing as it adds an additional layer of protection, which can be removed & replenished from time to time. In this way, some of that abuse will hit the wax instead of the paintwork.

Also, how when halfway through the warranty when the finish is no longer so perfect.... cannot touch-up?

Nah..... I will stick to a sealant that I can refresh perhaps yearly, that allows me to pile on additional protection with wax as I see fit thankyouverymuch....

1) ENJOY YOUR RIDE! Don't baby it (too much); at the same time, keep safe/sane on the roads.

2) Join the Mk3 owner's group on FB to share & learn.

3) If you haven't got the tint done, seriously consider it... our model does not come with any heat-absorbing glass, so in our weather it can become an oven.

4) Good coil mats are needed to protect the dirt-prone carpeting

5) (purely my opinion) If keeping the car looking great is important to you, consider getting the car detailed and protected with a wax/sealant/coating. Ideally wash on your own.

Yikes! I always had a good impression of 3M tints before.... did you bring your ride back to the shop to claim under their warranty?

I am sure the forum (including me!) would be very interested on what happened and how the shop responds to this....pls share.....

Clocked 4535 km in 2 months, 7 days... Average FC is now 10.96L/100KM. I am purely a city driver, with at least 60% of the time in KL traffic (from Hell), with average speeds of 10kmph.

What I find is the FC shoots up when sitting idle/crawling. I get about 9.0L/100KM on clear roads.

... and oh yes... first 2000km I was doing 11+L/100KM.... gets a bit better over time it seems....

I also have a similar gap... from the look of things almost exactly the same width....



Unfortunately, I have also installed a tint, so I'm not sure if it was there before the installation or not. However, from what I can remember, they did not touch this panel; they only removed the rubber lining surrounding the glass.

*sigh!*

What are you looking for?

- great performance AND
- great features AND
- great looks AND
- great fuel consumption AND
- great price?

If you can find a car that delivers ALL this, please share.

You cannot run away from the fact the Focus is a 2 litre, non-hybrid car. For those specs, the fuel economy is very decent. Compared to my previous 1.8L Altis, I use about 10% more fuel. For this 10% increase in fuel costs (set aside the recent hike, which affects us all regardless of what car we drive), I get:

- a substantial improvement in performance
- nearly immeasurable increase in terms of fun-to-drive
- lots of nice features
- head-turning looks
- and at a price that is slightly CHEAPER than the previous Altis.

My wife's Sentra had V-Kool installed by the SA when purchased more than 8 years ago... at that time, honestly didn't even think there was such a thing as different grades/quality so was very naive and just depended on the brand; bottom line... dunno what type was installed.

Overall, the tint was perfectly acceptable; compared to my Altis (without tint, but with standard "heat absorbing" glass), you could notice the difference; nevertheless, in our crazy mid-day heat, the interior would still become an oven. The good part was that within 15 min or so, the aircon could cool the car down to comfortable level... my Altis would take mebbe 5-10 min more. Sorry for the very "gut-feel" feedback, but this whole thing was not a big concern.

About 2-odd years ago the front screen started developing "waves" especially under any sticker (eg. security for condo) that distorted the view. This was at the side area and it was usually covered up so this was not an issue. Then we used a screen-mount for a GPS.... wah! That "sucker" resulted in a permanent disc right in the centre of the windscreen! Over the next 2 years, the whole front started to deteriorate... eventually it looked like driving underwater. Finally when the car was sent for routine servicing the SC people recommended to tear off the front as it got so bad as to interfere with driving.

Side and back remain problem-free until today.

Have been using HO Sech60 front & back on the Fofo for now 2-odd months... no bubbles from Day 1. Slight distortion around the rear screen defroster lines, which has since got much better (but can still see at night). Love the clarity and the high VLT (I can't even tell the tint is there)... heat rejection "feels" better than the V-Kool, but mebbe just in love with the car... no complaints.

Hope this helps.

Some US models look like they come with navigation, but not the models brought here.

I'm more critical of SYNC, not because it does not work (most commands recognised on first try) but because the standard for voice recognition and its POTENTIAL is huge... the problem is SYNC looks totally static in development. When was the last update with new features? Any extra apps we can install?

I guess I long for the development pace equivalent to smartphones for SYNC.

Yikes! SportyHandling.... have I offended you through my poor choice of words?... so sorry.... really not my intention. I was not trying to be condescending, just that this car has exceeded expectations in so many ways, yet SYNC has such potential, but IMHO not maximized.

I have since long left my bluetooth headset at home; the car-phone integration is very neat indeed. Still use the buttons to navigate the phonebook though, as the voice recognition frequently misunderstands my contact's names... not so good for Asian names perhaps.

C40 sides?

hmmm.... my car-lock button functions regardless whether the engine is on or not. Yours doesn't?

The interior is pretty much what you can find on the Ford website, except that the seat colour is light beige. Is there any component/feature/angle you are looking for?

Good camerawork there, SportyHandling!

Well articulated, SportyHandling! Agreed on all points (though have not tried the Preve Turbo as comparison).

No "gruk gruk" for you? I get some at low (car park) speeds and when hitting speedbumps. Sounds like from the driver's side engine compartment. Gotta spare the time to seriously look at the spare coolant tank and see if it is knocking on anything....

viniymay,

Check out SportyHandling's recent summary of his/(her?) experience (although I think the model chosen was a Titanium sedan); it reflects the opinion of a large number of us owners/drivers.

Best if you go and test-drive it....your considerations/priorities may differ from others.

With a RM2K budget you can pretty much afford any premium tinting package, after a reasonably good discount.

Just check out the popular brands.. V-Kool, Huper Optik, 3M, Llumar, etc. ... I would think all of them have detailed specifications of their security films on their websites.

When I did my Huper Optik, I was advised to use the 4mil security film instead of the 8mil...can't remember the rationale though.

The heat control tint contributes virtually no additional security, I'm afraid.

Jeez people! Please la take care.... at the speeds you are talking about, no matter what NCAP rating the car has, any accident will definitely result in nothing more than porridge surviving.

Top speeds are for race tracks only.

... but going from zero to the speed limit in the shortest time possible..... heh heh....

I have never floored the gas yet (probably never) but opening it up about halfway is always a joy.... how on earth can anyone call that engine "noise"...

S-mode seems to move the shift points up a few hundred RPM, resulting in more sporty performance, at a slight cost of FC (similar to your Sylphy example). Some drivers on the forum seem to use it on hilly areas. Also, you can only use SelectShift (those button thingies) to manually shift. I can never get used to the buttons... not intuitive whether to press the UP or DOWN button to overtake, for example.