Winter driving

The weather here in Ohio has been positively miserable for the last couple of days. With my work, I'm required to be at work regardless of road conditions. No biggie, I typically don't mind driving in adverse conditions. Fortunately, the Focus seems to handle admirably on snow and ice (with the requisite set of Blizzak snow tires, of course). I can't really say that it handles better than any car I've ever driven in the snow, because quite frankly, its pretty much the only car I've ever driven in the winter. However, the car is just so predictable and controllable on snow covered roads. Obviously, the Focus floats (like most small cars do) and tracks on packed ice and snow, but its never out of control.

The things that make the car less than desirable to drive in the winter are all things of my doing. The biggest thing is the reduced ground clearance from being almost 2.5" lower than a standard Focus. I can hear snow scraping underneath the car as I drive along, and get an occasional thud from hitting a chunk of packed snow. If I were doing another daily driver Focus, I would probably aim for an SVT suspension set up on the car. It would lower the car just slightly, but more importantly, it would help resist some of the slop that the stock suspension allows for the consumer who wants to make sure their texting doesn't get disrupted. The other part that makes the car a little bit difficult to drive in the winter is the larger throttle body that I installed. The aftermarket, in an attempt to make the car respond quicker to throttle inputs did two things; they turned the wedge-shaped plastic throttle plate into a flat brass plate, and they put a softer spring on the plate return. As a result, just a light brush of the accelerator pedal flips the flat plate wide open. However, aside from the expected difficulty of retaining traction on snow/ice with a throttle thats either shut or nearly wide open, the throttle seems to stick on extremely wet, cold days. So I'll be cruising along, behind someone doing, say 25, then my car starts to slow a little bit, so I have to give it a bit of gas to keep moving at a constant speed. I'll step on the gas, and the pedal won't move, so I'll push a little harder and then, bam! we're wide open and about to hit the car in front of us. The trick is to stay a gear or two lower, which requires significant throttle input to stay at that speed.

Anyhow, I post this primarily to extoll the virtues of the Focus. Most people would say, "Seth, you should really get a Jeep since you have to be out so early in the winter". Fie on them! I drove my lowered front wheel drive Focus to work last spring in one of the worst winter storms I can remember. Of course, it happened on a weekend, so I left at 4:30 AM to be at work by 6. US-30 had not been plowed in at least 12 hours, and there was probably 8 inches of snow on all lanes. About every mile, there were State Highway patrol cars sitting along the road with their lights on (which probably meant that the road was closed, but I had to be at work, so I didn't care). There were a number of vehicles spun off into the median (shockingly enough, a few Jeeps). I knew I had to keep my momentum up, so I drove between 30 and 40 MPH the whole way to work. I made it by 5:30 (the next person from my department to show up didn't show up until 6:30). After work, the roads had been plowed..well, all except our allotment. I got stuck, in the cul de sac 20 feet from my garage, on my way home from work. Fortunately, I backed up, revved up, dumped the clutch and pushed through the last little bit of snow and into the garage.

One of my co-workers (who used to drive a Focus) traded in for a big F150 and is always talking about how much better he feels about driving in the winter now that he has something that is "suited to it". I just remember that I spend $250 on snow tires, and saved $20,000 on a new truck.

Doctors Visits

I generally consider myself a fairly healthy person (although I must confess that I do very little to actually maintain that condition), but the one thing that I don't really like to doing is going to see a doctor. I think that part of this dislike stems from my desire be self-reliant. Just as I much prefer to work on my own cars, my own house, my own appliances, I like to think that I'm perfectly capable of maintaining myself without outside assistance.

The other part of it arises out of my fear of criticism. The next sentence or two will probably make me out to be incredibly stubborn and ignorant, but I don't want any of you to tell me that, as to why, you will find out. The one thing that I have never felt comfortable with is criticism, constructive or not. Anytime a person makes a suggestion to me as to how I could do something better, or how I could have avoided a certain situation, I take it very personally. Now, being the introspective, conflict avoider that I am, I don't make light of this when it happens. I generally sit and reflect on what has been said; how I let that person (or someone else) down and how I'm really not as good at things as I tend to make myself out to be. This is probably part of the reason that I tend to be self-reliant; people can't stick their noses into "my business" and see how I handle situations.

Anyhow, I visited the dentist this afternoon (which is how this whole post came about, weird, huh?). I'll admit that I probably a poor dental patient (although I do sit stiller than a cadaver while they clean my teeth...I take pride in that) because I don't floss my teeth on a daily basis. Aside from being reprimanded for that and getting the suggestion that I procure an electric toothbrush, the hygienist took my blood pressure. I know a lot of folks blame their high blood pressure on actually sitting in the dentists chair, my blood pressure is generally 115/68. However, this time, my blood pressure was 140/82. Yikes! That would explain the rough idle in the morning.

I'm going to blame work for the additional stress on my circulatory system. I said that I wasn't going to talk about work on here, but I'm just going to state that ever since I was rather unceremonially dumped into my current position, my general level of overall physical and mental health has declined.

I'm going in next week for a tune-up...

Car Wash

I finally got around to running the Focus through the carwash this afternoon after work. It made me realize the futility of washing a car in an Ohio winter. By the time I got home, my car had salt streaks all over it and was only marginally cleaner than it was this morning. Hopefully this summer I'll be able to do some long overdue work on the hatch. As soon as a little bit of water starts running over the hatch, I end up with a waterfall in the rear hatch. I also need to get underneath the car and start replacing the bushings in the suspension. All of the salt and grime have started eating the rubber and I've noticed some slop in the suspension and steering.

What is all this Fiesta Hype about?

Here it is:

http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/NewFiesta

The Fiesta to me, is the real successor to the throne of the 2000 Focus. The styling is just so outlandish and over the top that there is truly nothing else out that looks similar.

Personally, I'm at a cross-roads. I need to be thinking about a new car to drive to work, since my Focus is, for all intents and purposes, a race car. My preference is to find a car that is no larger than my current Focus is. I just love to be able to know where the boundaries of my car are, and feel as though it is a glove. I've been considering getting a 2009 Focus, just because its pretty much a known quantity to me; I'm comfortable and familiar with the way the car handles and the general feel of the steering and shifting.

However, my social and ecological conscience is really making me lean towards a subcompact (b-segment) car. Just 3 years ago, the segment was non-existant in North America. The only thing that even came close was the portly (yet very agile) BMW MINI. Now, we have options to choose from, Toyota (and Scion) and Honda have really led the charge with the Yaris and Fit. Nissan appears to be set to release the Cube, and Chevrolet is finalizing their plans for the Beat. Also, it looks like Fiat may soon be re-entering the arena, and we can only hope for the 500 to make its appearance.

There are so many choices either on the market, or soon to be on the market that it makes waiting for a Fiesta so much harder. My personal opinion is that the Fiesta will represent the performance benchmark for the entire segment. From what I've heard from across the pond, I think we'll be quite happy.

An Open Apology

I apologize for my extensive posts. I'm hoping that once I get some of this backlog of thought posted, that the length of my posts will subside into more manageable bits of information.

-Seth

Who am I?

I'm sorry, I've never formally introduced myself and I've already started sharing my opinion. I guess I assumed that this blog would primarily act as a means of interacting with people who already knew who I was.

I'm a 25 years old college graduate who lives in Wooster, Ohio with my wife Rachel and 2 cats Jack and Charlie. I'm a Project Leader for a Contract Research Organization that does pre-clinical toxicology testing on pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. My degree is in Chemistry, but my interests would probably lead you to believe that I'm a bit more interested in Engineering and Technology than the sciences.

I've been very blessed to live a life that has allowed me to explore any whim or interest that may catch my fancy. Some of my first interests lay in Geology. I had a rock collection for quite some time when I was about 7 or 8 and I also had a rock tumbler with which to polish stones that I had found. As a related interest, I enjoyed fossil hunting. Growing up in Holmes County, I had the opportunity on several occasions to wander through some of the strip mines in the neighboring fields. I took a slight interest in Entomology, accruing a small collection of bugs and learning how to preserve specimens.

My brother was (and still is) very much interested in preparing electronics to do pretty much whatever he asked them to do. I have a very tough time visualizing things that don't have a physical manifestation, and as a result, I much preferred building models of airplanes and boats than building electronic circuits. However, I never really wanted to build models just to look at them, so I built quite a number of Guillow's rubberband powered airplanes. They were the type of things that required tremendous patience in waiting for glue to dry and meticulous fingertip dexterity. Once the model was built, I would typically take it outside for a test. More often than not, I ended up with a wing that was warped, or something was amiss with the model and it never really flew correctly. I would normally keep trying until the wing broke, or the model was in some way damaged. Fortunately, one of my favorite parts of building models was finding ways of improvising a repair to get the model functioning again.

Some of the other hobbies that I pursued were building remote control boats. I owned several and would pilot them around our family pond. I was always trying to find a way to get a boat to turn better, make more power, or in some way make the boat a little bit unique. Another project that I took up was playing the guitar. I can't really call myself a musician, but guitar is visual enough that it was something that I could manage and actually do well. Of course, as with all of my other hobbies, I couldn't leave the equipment well enough alone. I wanted an electric guitar, but was unable to afford to buy one, so I decided to build one. My first electric guitar was kind of lopsided and just didn't seem to be proportional. However, it did play pretty well and I actually liked the way the neck felt on it. It was fretless with markers inlaid into the neck for reference, which had been calculated and placed by yours truly. This guitar was torn down to build the 2 subsequent guitars that I would build throughout High School. Once I was actually able to afford a real Electric guitar, I picked up a Mexican built Fender Stratocaster. Of course, this instrument couldn't be left alone, either and got some graphite bits, a Tele string tensioner, and a few other bits.

I guess all of this leads up to my most recent and most significant hobby to date; automotive tuning. As I mentioned in my previous post regarding Ford cars, I currently own a 2003 ZX3 hatchback with a Zetec engine in it. This is the first and only car that I've ever owned to date. The car was specially ordered with all the options that I wanted it to have in early 2003, and arrived at the dealership the week of my Birthday. I have to thank my parents for helping me purchase the car, which was intended to be reliable transportation during my college years. I had only owned the car for about 5 months before I had ordered a set of aftermarket wheels for the car. Several months later, I purchased a cat-back exhaust to give the vehicle a sportier tone. One thing that I wanted to do as I started modifying my Focus was that I wanted to learn how cars work and how to work on them. As a result, I've done almost all of the work on my car to date, with the help of fellow Focus owners who had more experience wrenching. There are a lot of people out there who want to drive a tuner car, but are completely unwilling to do their own work. A hobby is meant to be a learning experience for the hobbyist. Those who pay people to do all of the work, aren't hobbyists, they're consumers who should stick to their Scions.

Currently, I'm still really enjoying the automotive hobby, although I'm kind of getting to the point where I'd like to develop better street cars, instead of the uncomfortable, uncompromised intent of my Focus. I've recently been really looking into Porsche 911s and older British sports cars. Obviously, my life situation makes owning a $90K+ Porsche is a pipe dream, but its a huge change in thought from even 4 years ago, when I did not like the image that Porsche (and other luxury brands) stood for. Many people see these cars as status symbols to show that the owner has been able to earn lots of money and has the opportunity to flaunt their success. However, my opinion has recently changed to see that the desire to own and drive a Porsche is something that can be achieved with dedication and the motivation to attain it. I'll hopefully be driving one in 10 years or so.

Ford, Small Cars, and Me

Part of my renewed interest in blogging stems from a recent project that I've submitted myself to: the Fiesta Movement. In essence, its a very grassroots campaign by Ford Motor Company to raise the public awareness of the upcoming 2011 Ford Fiesta. Ford is offering 100 people the opportunity to drive a European model Fiesta for 6 months, well in advance of the initial public release of the car sometime in mid-year 2010. In return, those individuals who receive vehicles will comment on their experiences with the car, and engage in monthly missions to raise public awareness of the upcoming Fiesta.

Before we get too far into this conversation, I want to make sure that everyone is clear that we're not talking about a Festiva here. In conversations that I've had with several people, there has been some confusion about why I would want a boxy little hatchback that generally looks like a partially smashed soda can on wheels and barely gets out of its own way, much less the way of others. Don't get me wrong, I actually have a soft spot for Festivas (why wouldn't I, right?), but the car we're talking about here has a longer, more storied history.

Ford developed the first generation Fiesta in the mid- to late 70s. The car was one of Ford's first "world cars", a European design that was sporty, stylish, and economical in light of the fuel crisis of the '70s. This first generation vehicle was in direct competition with the first Volkswagen Rabbit, and for a car produced in the late 70s, was very stylish.

By the 80s, the fuel crisis had abated to a degree, and as a result, small vehicles were not in demand in quite the same way as they had been just 5 years previously. The larger, domestic automakers have a tendency to chase the dominant market, whereas import automakers, like Volkswagen and Honda know what they do well, so they stick with a few models, which manage to sell well because there is a lot of development in refining the quality of those few models (I know I'm digressing, that's one of the things that I do well). Long story short, Ford of North America pulled the plug on Fiesta in the early 80s, started building Fox Body Mustangs, trucks and Taurus'. The rest, as they say, is history. Most connoisseurs of automotive culture and design will (should?) tell you that the 80s should be removed from all history books. The only things of automotive importance are Chrysler's K-car (which literally saved the company, think Reliant, Dynasty, Duster, New Yorker, Caravan...all based on the K-car platform) and the introduction of the 1988 Ford Taurus, which is probably the most ubiquitous vehicle in the United States (I think my parents owned at least 6 from 1989 until the present). They were great cars, but truly uninspiring to drive.

Now, I'll try to sum up the last 20 years in a few sentences instead of rambling as I just have. Ford tried the world car approach a few times with the Merkur lineup, and with the Contour/Mondeo, but these vehicles were not received with the fanfare and open arms that comparable European models had received. However, in 1999, Ford nailed it with the introduction of the Focus! Here was a vehicle so far departed from mainstream automotive design of the time, that the entire world couldn't help but stop and look. The look polarized people, but the handling spoke for itself. The automotive media was abuzz with this European Ford, which was brought to Ford's home-market, virtually unmolested from its initial design (aside from slightly larger bumpers for crash testing...thanks Canada!). Unfortunately, a number of recalls from the first couple of years tarnished the image, and the fact that they can be found on most rental car lots with a lackluster automatic transmission and a soft, supple suspension to gloss over Detroit's pothole ridden surface streets did nothing to speak for the genius of the European styling. In 2005, it looked like the Focus was going the way of the Escort...when Europe received the new Focus (which was slightly bigger, and offered a high performance 2.5L Volvo engine in the top of the line model), the North American market received a mildly facelifted version of the existing car (albeit with slightly healthier engine options from the Duratec lineup). The most crushing part; allegedly the face of the North American Focus was revised because "older drivers were unable to tell where the front of the vehicle was when parking". Great, there goes the youthful exuberence of the Focus!

Meanwhile, Ford of Europe kept churning out smaller vehicles to suit the driving habits of their local drivers. Such names as the Mk.1 Escort 1600 RS, Sierra Cosworth, Escort Cosworth RS, Focus RS, the Ka, and of course the Fiesta are tossed around with their motorsport heritages. Obviously, I mentioned a lot of the RS models, which were typically turbocharged, AWD vehicles which could easily be turned into monsters by swapping a few bits and injecting more fuel.

In 2007, Ford unveiled the Verve concept vehicle. Personally, I was smitten with the lines of the body, the roomy, futuristic interior, and the compact size of the vehicle. My interest in the vehicle was intensified when the word came out that the 8th generation Fiesta was going to be based off of the Verve concept, and would likely be coming Stateside! At the 2008 Cleveland Autoshow, I had the opportunity to look into the car in the flesh at close proximity. That night, I knew what my next car had to be. With Ford having seen some tough times in the past few years, and Mulally making significant changes in short order in order to right the ship, I had hoped that Ford would accelerate the Fiesta timeline and do a simultaneous global release in 2009. Unfortunately, it was not to be and initial reports were that the Fiesta would be released mid-year 2009 as a 2010 model, which now looks to be mid-year 2010 as a 2011 model.

I guess this post pretty well sums up my opinions on the last 40 years of Ford's small vehicle history. I'll try to post up this afternoon in regards to who I am with respect to Ford and the nature of my current Focus project. In the mean time, I leave you with a significant chunk of reading and I hope that its not something that turns you off from further posts. I had no idea that I had so many thoughts on this.

-Seth

Look, I'm back!

So it took a little bit longer to renew my interest in blogging, but I'm back. I kind of realized that its hard to maintain a regular blog if you don't have anything that you feel is worth telling your friends and cohorts about. This is more of an internal issue, of me censoring my thoughts and emotions. So from this point on, I think I'm going to try to post uncensored (not crude, just random thoughts), but on the same token, I'm not going to post anything regarding my work life. Its not really pertinent to our discussions here, and as my wife Rachel and I have discussed on numerous occasions, my work essentially only exists in order to allow me to enjoy the remainder of my life.

Happily, I've decided on a course of blogging that I think will be easy to maintain regularly. I'll create a new post as soon as this one is posted in order to isolate my brief justification for this blog from actual blog material.