The good folks at Kelfords Ford & Mazda are selling the Demo Model Ford Fiesta I have been test driving for you:

2010 Ford Fiesta 1.4i Trend. (Thule bike racks and Specialized bikes not included)

35 000 Km

Price R135 000

This is a great little car. Liezel and I fell in love with it right away. The Fiesta handles great, feels nippy in traffic and city driving, she turns on a dime, and if you wind her up tightly, goes fast enough to widen the smile already on my dial.

The interior is a lot more spacious than you may think, considering its a smaller car. With the split rear seats down, we could fit huge amounts of sporting and camping goodies for adventurous weekends away. With the bikes and/or surfboard on the Thule Roof racks we once even packed the double bed (mattress) on top of all the other gear… Plenty of leg room, head room (I’m 6ft2) and in terms of ergonomics, I cannot think of anything I could improve on.

This car is modern.  VERY modern, considering my previous ride. The small things I like: (things I dislike about some other cars who try to think FOR me as opposed to OF me)

– No unnecessary stupid beeping. This car only beeps when your (or passengers’) seat belt is not on, and when you are about to leave the lights on, and if you have less than 80km in the petrol tank. (it beeps once to notify you when on the road, and if you start the car with less than 80km left, it beeps once softly upon starting up.)

The dash shows all kinds of data, including fuel economy, distance left on fuel in tank and avs fuel economy. (rated at 5.9l/100km, but I got more like 6.7-  we often had two XL bikes on the roof, and with a slight;y heavy foot, I did get a few love letters from the traffic dept.)

The technology I enjoyed the most was the Bluetooth connectivity- I could use my iPhone hands free via the cars’ impressive sounds system. Calling was so easy and the sound quality so good, I saved phone calls for drives.  It also boasts Voice Activation and other fancy technology beyond the grasp of a mere Caveman.

If you’re interested, please contact Tristan at Kelfords Ford & Mazda in Somerset West.

Tristan, (currently getting ready for Ironman) and his crew are kind, warm hearted and offer exceptional service. They’re very active in the Multisport community, sponsoring Team Kelfords and Dan Hugo. And the Caveman. Thanks so much, Tristan for your support & kindness, and also “H”-ie for all the drop-offs and pick-ups at the airport.

The Fiesta is great for an active lifestyle- like motor pacing from Pringlebay to Hermanus…

Getting ready for XTERRA Grabouw course pre ride:

My previous ride: The Family Heirloom: I gave up the prized Grand Luxury Express to drive the Fiesta. My dad bought this Toyota Cressida GLE  new in 1988- also the year I did my 1st triathlon- lots of sentimental value. Also great for cross training- like push starting, pumping tyres by hand etc

I know a hot stuff mobile when I see one.  Check out this blog as further proof: Red Rocket and other cool cars blog.

Liezel played international Netball (Americans. click here for Netball video) for the past 15 years, and just recently took the endurance sport plunge. She took to the endurance thing like a springbok to the Karoo, and here, doing intervals on the Stellenbosch fields, I had to ride my bike just to keep up…

The Totalsports Challenge is a great season opener- its a fun event, the course is really scenic, all kinds of endurance junkies pitch up and we decided  to do the Terra Firma event as a Mixed Team: I do the 45km draft legal TT (road bike) leg, Liezel does the 13km road run leg, I do the 30km MTB leg, and she does the 9km beach run…

The 45km bike. I used it as a trial run for the upcoming SA TT Champs. So I didnt bother with drafting or trying to attack anyone. I’m trying to make friends with my UCI legal (no nose cone) Specialized SHIV TT. However, the hard part is staying friends  with the “Flat bike” as I call it for an hour of pain. The Time Trail is called “the race of truth”, and after 40 minutes or so, no amount of speed (or big watts) makes up for the pain surging through your body…

A gaggle of riders enjoyed my draft for 43 of the 45km, (the yellow line offers the least rolling resistance)

But whenever the TV got near, and on the 2 big climbs (Rooiels in picture) they attacked.

We finished in a pack of about 7, Liezel (in pink) waited at the change-over and burned some rubber on the way out. 13km is a long race for a first time runner, but she paced it well, and put some time into our competition.

After that hard TT leg (1.02 for 45km) my legs were a little dented, but gravity provided some relief and time for play. (And to pick off a few more riders) Thanks to Fanus at Oakpics.com for the great pics

Liezel blitzed the 9km beach run bare foot and brought it home 4th in the open Terra Firma and 1st in the Mixed  teams. It was so much fun being able to race with my wife and being able to watch and support each other along the way. We do some of our training together which is great, but we are both born competitors and nothing makes our adrenaline pump like a gun at the start!

Talking to the TV  hairy squirrel (microphone) in top right…

Hobnobbing with fast athletes Kevin Evans and Richard Murray instead of warming up. Notice GoPro camera- when I get some time (and skill) I’ll put a video up.

After a long day, our Team Kelfords Ford Fiesta with Thule racks, and securely locked Specialized Shiv TT and Specialized Sworks Epic 29er takes a romantic overnight break at Hangklip,  Pringle bay.

After an action packed, fun day, Team Stoltz takes a romantic break at Hangklip, Pringle Bay…

YES, believe it or not, The Caveman has wheels from this century!* Kindly sponsored by Kelfords in Somerset West, South Africa. Kelfords is passionate about multisport. Team Kelfords Multisport club is very active in the Western Cape and they also support fellow XTERROR “DGH” Dan Hugo.

After driving (and pushing) my dads 1988 Toyota Cressida GLE around Stellenbosch for decades, this nippy little Ford Fiesta 1.6 Trend is like living in a dream. It starts every time, ALL FOUR speakers work, it burns more petrol than oil… No, seriously- I LOVE this car. Its nippy, it comfortably takes off (or “launch” as I call it) in 2nd gear, it corners like on rails, it fits into parking spaces in the 1st try, it is really light on fuel (5.9L per 100km rating) and of course, it looks good. Now I can even legally talk on the phone once I put my Blue teeth in. Cheez, whats next?! Voice control? O ja, it already has that.

AND it comfortably fits a size XL 29er (or two) in the back.  I’m working on a roof rack for the bikes. Got to keep this baby looking new, since the Caveman will now be known for his nice, clean car, as opposed to “The Owner Of The Red Rocket”.

* If you dont know the Caveman transport story, check out this great blog post- “A tribute to the Red Rocket“.

Caveman & Team Kelfords