Ownership Verified: Nitrous Blue 2018 Focus RS

Out with the PSC2, in with the PS4S.

Hopefully they will last longer. I still need to figure out how much km I've put on the original tires.

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Edit: Roughly 13000km, 10000 the first summer, under 3000 last year and just a few hundred in 2021.

That means that the Pilot Alpin have around just under 13kkm on them as well.
 
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Gave a quick wash to the RS and both bikes to try the new pressure washer and the foam cannon I received yesterday.

Not satisfied with the results, I will need to tweak my technique and maybe the equipment to get better results.

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New 1.1 mm orifice + proper soap + proper dilution ratio == foam bukkake
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Went to work just to have lunch with some coworkers today, I had to take a picture with a landing plane in the background.

Should take a proper one with my DLSR and by parking closer to the runway centerline.


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Went for my first service in a year yesterday.

I kinda forgot to do the one last spring (I usually do one every 6 months whatever the mileage is).

I also had them do the end of warranty inspection, since in a few weeks the 3 year full warranty will expire.

Everything ok, except the engine under tray that is slightly damaged, probably due to me parking in some hard snow at some point. No need to replace it according to the dealership, and at 450$ plus labor, if I do it will be for an aftermarket aluminum skid plate.

Gave it a wash today, probably the last time I'll do at home this year

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I took possession of the RS exactly 3 years ago today.

I am 12 km shy of 30k, so I have an average of only 10k km/year. Mostly due to covid, bur also my travelling for work.

Fuel consumption average so far, 12.9l/100km.

Went through one set of summer and one set of winter tires.

I still love the car, I still enjoy every drive.

Pictures from last Saturday, as I swapped back from the PS4S to the PA4.

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It was so nice to take it out again today ?

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I also finally bit the bullet and got myself a Brodit/Proclip USA phone holder.

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I'd say it's more 2015, which makes sense since that's when the mk3 RS was introduced.

The SYNC software was last updated to Sync 3 3.0. I knew that newer version of Sync allowed to have Android Auto nav guidance in the main dash, but when I read about how to install it 2 years ago I decided against it, the process being a bit too risky.

For some reasons I decided to google it again a few days ago, and saw that there is now a pretty simple solution, and gave it a try last night.

It took 2h to download the files and copy them to the USB stick, and then 30 minutes to perform the update in the car.


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After the 30 minute install
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After all that, I had the new Sync 3.4 UI, but still no nav guidance in the dash. Some reading informed me that some option needed to be changed using FORScan and a BT-OBD2 dongle.

I fired up my laptop, only to realize that to change options using FORScan you need the extended license. You can get a free 2 month one, but it takes a few hours to receive it. So I waited a bit, and just when I gave up and went to bed, I received the email :doh:

I continued the process this morning.

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This always gives me this vibe:

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Finally, success!

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Waze guidance in the dash.

I feels like the CC control is a bit more sluggish than before, everything else seems to work ok. If that's the only drawback, I can live with that.
 
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This seems to be one winter that just won't let go of the north.
Saturday I was wearing shorts and sweating.
Monday I was shivering because I went out without a coat.
This shit is annoying.
 
Blue is just the best colour for cars. I washed my baby today at work, and it's gleaming in the sun.
 
One thing my car has that I wouldn't be able to go without anymore is Android Auto.

I use it all the time, with Waze for traffic and road hazard warning, and YouTube Music for well, music.

Even on short drive of less than 5 minutes, it's automatic (just like setting sport mode and ESC sport ON), phone always gets plugged in.

One thing my car doesn't have and that would be useful for that short drive use case is wireless Android Auto.

Until now.

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The MA1 is a dongle that add wireless AA to cars that support wired AA (as long as your phone is running Android 11 or above). It used Bluetooth for handshaking, and 5 GHz Wi-Fi for the actual data connection between the phone and the dongle.

It was released under the Motorola Sound brand in late January, but it's made by a nameless Chinese company that bought the Motorola naming rights. Distributed only in the USA at Amazon and Target, getting one has been problematic, whenever they become available they become sold-out in minutes, and then appear from third party sellers scalpers.

I managed to get one during my last business trip and have been running it since, first in my rental Ford Fusion, and now in the RS.

So far I'm impressed. Connection is relatively fast (30 seconds, vs 15 for wired AA), and once connected the experience is almost seamless. I get occasional sound glitches, but not enough to annoy me.

Battery hit is not as bad as I expected, so except for long trips, this is now my default way of connecting.

Edit: Connection time difference was probably down to the infotainment system bootup time in a "dark" car vs one where some systems have come up.

Under the same conditions, wireless also takes 15s to be up and running.
 
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