Criss-AC.net

Ford Focus 1.5 TDCi Diesel 88 kW (120 hp) for sale

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 08:53:00 +0000

Selling my Ford Focus, fully loaded and all. Bought it in Nov 2016 for 350,000 CZK, selling it now almost 3 years later for 100,000 CZK cheaper. Feel free to contact me to arrange a viewing and/or a test drive, and if you agree to purchase it, I'll offer you a set of winter tires worth 5,000 CZK as a bonus.

Tech. specs:

• 2015 Ford Focus SW (combi)
• 1.5 liter engine, 1.5L DURATORQ-TDCI DIESEL
• Power: 88 kW, or 120 hp
• 6-speed manual transmission
• Fuel efficiency: 4.5l / 100 km in the books, tested consumption 4.5 - 5.0 l / 100 km (I track this month by month and I know for sure)
• 73,900 km
• Service history book

• Cruise control
• Speed limiter
• Auto start / stop system (can be turned off with the push of a button)
• Bluetooth - your phone will automatically connect to the car after you pair it for the 1st time
• Touch-screen display
• Voice controls
• Tire pressure monitor
• GPS nav with visual and audio traffic alerts and speed limits
• Traffic alerts (road works, road closures, etc) on the touch-screen monitor, with suggestions to take alternate routes if needed

• Phone book download supported, meaning you can call your phone contacts directly from the car's touch screen without having to touch your phone. You can also use voice commands to call someone by the name you saved them in your address book - much faster than browsing through the contact list.
• Call controls (pick up, hang up, volume up / down) on the steering wheel. Pick up and hang up controls on the central touch screen
• Multimedia, radio, cruise and speed limit controls right on the steering wheel
• USB connectors, a few of them

• Spare tire (this comes by default, but I thought I'd mention it)

• Heated windshields (really useful in the winters, all I do is stay inside for 3 - 5 minutes and all the snow / frost is gone from both)
• Heated seats
• Heated steering wheel
• Electric windows on all 4 doors, centrally controlled from the driver’s side
• Automatically open/close all windows with the key fob
• Automatic folding/unfolding mirrors when locking/unlocking the car

• Baby seat system (ISOFIX I think it’s called)
• Door access can be disabled so baby can’t open it
• Window access can be disabled as well, for the same reason (from the driver’s door)

• Tinted windows and windshield (back)

• Hill-hold control, so the car won’t roll backwards when taking off from a hill - configurable in the menu
• Parking sensors in the front, back and sides. Can be disabled with the touch of a button
• Visual representation of obstacle proximity on the touch-screen display, when parking or approaching an obstacle

• Car can self-park by itself in parallel with other parked cars, or perpendicularly. Driver operates the gas and brake pedals only

• ABS of course
• Electronic transmission control (it is on by default, but can be disabled if you're feeling adventurous. You'll have to navigate through the settings menu, there's no dedicated button for that)

• Central locking / unlocking of all doors from driver’s door
• Height-adjustable seats
• Height and depth adjustable steering wheel
• Visual and sound alerts if your passenger doesn’t has the safety belt on
• Visual and sound alerts if departing when doors are not completely closed, or hand brake is engaged

• Serviced only at the Ford dealership at Autopalace Sporilov
• Tech. inspection and STK good until Feb 2021
• Oil good until 79,000 km (I changed it before I hit 69,000 km)

• Car is quite powerful. Although it has only 120 hp, I need to be careful when trying to be the first at the green light, as I easily lose grip if I push the gas too hard. Happens easily in the 1st and 2nd gear.

• If somebody else will drive the car, you can program the 2nd key to have a maximum speed limit of your choice, and give the key to the 2nd driver. When the car will be started with your key (the main one) all restrictions are lifted.

• Issues:

• Air leaking from front left tire and rear right. Front left tire leaks air until it goes down to 1 bar then it stops at that pressure, and I need to inflate it once every two days. Rear right tire leaks slowly, and I inflate it once every 3-4 days. The car notifies me when air pressure is low, that's how I know. These are both recent issues and I haven't had the time to take the tires to a pneuservis yet.

• Car has been hit by other cars while parked... twice. In both situations the front and rear bumper were hit, and parking sensors were damaged. The car was drivable afterwards, but because parking sensors were damaged too, I couldn't use the self-parking feature. Not that this is a deal breaker for me, but if I paid for a car that can self-park itself, I want to use that feature. Luckily, my insurance took care of everything, got both bumpers fully replaced with new ones, as well as the parking sensors.

• Once I drove too close to a truck that threw a rock right in the middle of the windscreen, cracking it in three places. That was an irreparable damage, and my insurance replaced the windshield with a brand new one.

• All these reparations were made by Ford at Autopalace Sporilov, I didn't take the car elsewhere. These reparations are recorded in the Ford databases, as well as in the history book.

• About one year ago, the right mirror stopped folding when locking / unlocking the car. I solved the issue with a bit of silicone oil and now if folds / unfolds as expected - I didn't need to take it to the Ford service for that.

• Minor cosmetic issues that come naturally with time when driving and parking on the street. Nothing major.

If I remember anything else, I’ll update this list later

Some pictures:

View from the outside

Another outside view

Inside view

Spacious trunk

Optional accessory, in case you want to tow an RV or a trailer

Door and window controls, everything is located on the driver's door

At the top: menu navigation buttons, at the bottom cruise control and speed limiter controls

Voice control, previous track / pick up call, next track / hang up call, volume up and down

GPS nav on the touch-screen display

Hardware multimedia controls, as well as AC, windshield (front and rear) defrosting and driver + passenger seat heating with three levels of heat intensity

6-speed gearbox, manual transmission

Self-park button, parking sensors on/off, auto-start on/off, steering wheel heat on/off

Storage space for your chewing gum bottles and McDonalds drinks

(under the arm rest): line-in, SD card (used for storing the maps for the GPS nav), 12 V output and USB

Under the hood there's a relatively small-capacity 1.5 liter engine, but powerful: 88 kW (or 120 hp)

The label with the VIN number, in case you want to run it by yourself

Service book (it has been updated since this picture was taken), as well as the two key fobs you'll be getting

Self-park mode: car found an available space on the left, and it is about to self-park itself in that space. Don't worry about the German language, the interface is offered in several languages, including English and Czech.

The boat-like area around the car represents the safe distance around it. If something gets closer, the gray bars turn yellow then red, and it shortens to visually tell you how close you are to the obstacle. Once you're too close (around 30 cm), the car will continuously beep and tell you to stop. Alert is visual as well as audio (a beeping that increases as you approach the obstacle)

Don't worry about the German language, the interface is offered in several languages, including English and Czech.

Next, I'm sharing the fuel economy from the previous months:

April fuel consumption

May fuel consumption

June fuel consumption

July fuel consumption. Almost 3,000 km done with 4.7 liters / 100 km is good.

August fuel consumption. 1313 km done with a fuel consumption 4.3 liters / 100 km is not bad at all.

I take these photos on a monthly basis, for fuel-tracking reasons. The September month is still in progress, and as of now I drove around 500 km with a fuel average of 4.3 liters / 100 km.

I'm not a dealer, I'm a private seller, so please ignore the AUTOVOKO logo on the license plates. The photos were taken by the dealer I bought the car from.

• For a fast and easy transaction, I'm happy to throw in a set of winter tires worth 5,000 CZK, as a bonus for you. Feel free to contact me to arrange a viewing and / or a test drive, and I'll be happy to talk to you.

Fireman Saves Kitten

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 19:47:00 +0000

A very emotional video. Fireman Cory Kalanick rescues an unconscious kitten from a burning house filled with smoke.

My first real track ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:09:00 +0000

Excellent computer repair service in Prague

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:07:00 +0000

Just to give a shout out to the guys at www.ComputerSolution.cz. Couple of days ago my computer simply died, and I couldn’t quite figure out the precise reason. That’s why I decided to bring it in to a service. After some Google-ing around I found them and I brought my computer in. They did run a diagnostic right on the spot and gave me a quotation (less than what I was expecting actually), and in less than 24h my computer was all ready and waiting for me. Excellent service!

- this is just my way of simply saying Thank You! Great job, guys!

[Criss.AC] Prague Castle Vltava Karluv Most Prague

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:19:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Prague Castle Vltava Karluv Most Prague, a photo by Criss.AC on Flickr.

it goes HDR

[Criss.AC] Retro car

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 22:16:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Retro car, a photo by Criss.AC on Flickr.

[Criss.AC] Fisherman in Carrara

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:12:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Fisherman in Carrara, a photo by Criss.AC on Flickr.

fisher fishering

[Criss.AC] Girl + green filter = Girl + green filter

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:04:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Girl + green filter = Girl + green filter, a photo by Criss.AC on Flickr.

Her name is Ilyana. She is Russian and beautiful. She's here on Flickr too, as well as on Facebook.

[Criss.AC] Simona sings well

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 07:38:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Simona sings well, a photo by Criss.AC on Flickr.

Gloria Gaynor has well made it through the night [she has survived, she has surviveeeeed]

[Criss.AC] A hot chocolate

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:36:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] A hot chocolate, a photo by Criss.AC on Flickr.

and a warm evening

[Criss.AC] Open love

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:37:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Open love, a photo by Criss.AC on Flickr.

On sale: NIKON D700 + AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VRII

noreply@blogger.com (Cristian N. BIEDERMAN) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:50:00 +0000

I am a hobbyist photographer (working my way up to pro) and a Nikon D700 owner. Since Nikon recently released two new dSLR models, the D4 and the D800, I am considering upgrading to the new D800.
For this reason, my actual D700 and one of my lenses (the 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VRII) go on sale. As a bonus, I throw in a 16 GB 133x Kingston CF card.

Since you’re reading this, I would normally assume you know what the specifications of the equipment I’m putting up for sale are. If not, check out the links below:

-http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Digital-SLR-Cameras/25444/D700.html, and
-http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2191/AF-S-NIKKOR-28-300mm-f%252F3.5-5.6G-ED-VR.html

This same kit but without the 16 GB card goes on sale in Prague for CZK74,000. My bad was that I initially bought it from eBay US, and I ended up paying much more than that (because of the Czech taxes and customs), but I will not try to make up that money by selling it now over-priced, no.
From this total of CZK74,000 I will discount CZK1,750 from the camera and another CZK1,250 from the lens. Price I will sell for is then CZK71,000.
About camera:

I love photography, and I am a really enthusiastic enthusiast about it :-D. I am always over-protective with my photo-gear, and I always maintain it in its best of shapes.
- camera is in almost-new condition;
- doesn’t have signs of use;
- less than 10,000 actuations;
- always used a protective cover for the rear LCD, to keep it scratch-free;
- kept it and carried it around in a Lowepro camera bag, away from extreme temperatures, direct sun light, moisture or anything as such.

Lens now:

- excellent condition as well;
- also no signs of use;
- no scratches, no dust, and I always used a NC protective filter (which I will not include it in with the lens, since it is part of a three-filter-kit which I do not intend to sell)

PS: in case you want to see some of my work, check this link out. It is a slideshow of a gallery of 18 of my fav pictures. Just click the link and lay back for 50 seconds.
PS2: the Kingston card that I said I will give for free with the camera is sort of faulty. I would advise you to use it same as me: as a backup solution (due to the fact that it might fail on you), and not as your primary card.

My EasyTagger GPS unit arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:27:00 +0000

Received it in the mail today. 14 days from China to Czech Rep, that was excellent! They've provided tracking number, so I knew all the time where my parcel was. Inside the box, there was a personalized letter (Big Thank You Bryan!) with instructions on how to calibrate it, how to recharge it, what leds mean, etc.

I mounted it on my D700 and went out to a park nearby. Got a signal lock (1st time cold start) in less than 30 seconds. Pretty impressive, considering I get a cold-start signal lock with my Coolpix P6000 (which has built-in GPS) in a good 3 to 5 minutes. It tagged my pictures with extreme accuracy, and I was really surprised at how good it is.

I did not switch it off as I've entered the building. I’ve thought to test it inside as well, to see if it beats the GPS in my P6000.

…and just as I’ve expected, it did not. It gave me some strange readings, and the path I’ve got from the tracing file from the MicroSD card looked really weird in Google Earth. And as far as I'm aware, there is no GPS unit to ever work indoors. It doesn’t matter – as I did not buy it for indoor use anyway.

What actually convinced me to buy this particular unit instead of the most expensive Nikon GP1 (which does not provide route tracing, by the way) was this in-depth review, here:

http://www.pixiq.com/article/geotag-your-nikon-photos-with-affordable-gps

And also this YouTube clip:

I’ve bought mine from here: http://e-geotag.com/products/gps-products/easytagger.html

This time I go with the wave². WAVE II

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:03:00 +0000

Unpacking and showing the WAVE II Samsung phone (model number GT-S8530).

The old phone is my 4-year old Sony Ericsson P990i, which served me well and it’s been through a lot of physical… challenges. The reason is being replaced is the impossibility to carry on a conversation longer than 3-4 minutes without restarting, in order to – as it said, “to improve performance”.

Got this phone for 2 days. Couldn’t be more happier about my purchase.

And Bada? Kicks a$$!

And here is the related video I’ve put on my YouTube channel:

[Criss.AC] In a world in motion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:39:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] In a world in motion [...], originally uploaded by Criss.AC.

In a world in motion, I choose not to be a bystander.
...and yet...

These damn Facebook apps

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 11:51:00 +0000

At times I hate Facebook for allowing everybody to “develop” their own social junk that doesn’t even deserve the name “apps”. Lately I was going through my privacy settings on Facebook, and to my surprise I’ve noticed how big the list of apps I’ve blocked is. Click image to see full-size.

[Criss.AC] 2 under 1 moon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:47:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] 2 under 1 moon, originally uploaded by Criss.AC.

Taken more than one year ago, on my annual visit to Italy to see parents. I'm not really sure what it expresses, but the two pigeons there under the moon... there must be something to it, I can't quite put my finger on it. On the other hand, I can't believe it actually took me this one long year to find it and publish it - anyway, here it is.

Cris on Flickr front page

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:42:00 +0000

If you use Flickr to show your photographs to the world or to browse pictures of the world, chances are you know what Explore is, or even how it works. To explain briefly, every minute of the day, there are over 3,000+ photos uploaded. The best 500 of these almost 4,500,000+ pictures/day are featured in Explore.

But to be featured on the home page of Flickr, this is something! Recently I’ve learned that my Sunset in Carrara picture was featured on the Flickr front page.

Although so far I’ve managed to get 7 of my pictures selected for Explore, I never even dreamed that one of my pictures will be displayed on the home page, making it visible to the thousands of viewers! It is not something lucrative for me, it did not bring me any revenue, but it is always such a nice reward to see my name next to my picture, on the front page of a site visited by the world’s best photographers!

*how do I know I’ve made it to front page?

[Criss.AC] Red night // red light

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:57:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Red night // red light, originally uploaded by Criss.AC.

night@7,500º K // The Monte Marcello hill, in Toscana Italy. There is the sea, some homes on the hill, and what I like the most, is that red "mist" raising up from the harbor, which I've created by exposing for 30 seconds! Hope you guys like it as much as I do!

cum învârte buha // rot.8 ze owl

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Pun pariu că și cu găina merge.

Twitter thinks I am a MoRoN

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Evidence? Here. And if it’s too small, click it.

[Criss.AC] Sunset in Carrara

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:37:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] Sunset in Carrara, originally uploaded by Criss.AC.

A beautiful purple sunset in the beautiful Marina di Carrara, in Toscana, Italy. And I am in Prague.

Dang! -CHR error

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:22:00 +0000

I have a Kingston (sounds a quality brand to me) ELITE PRO 133x 16GB CF card that I use with my D700. Some months ago it gave me a CHR error. I switched camera off, removed battery + card, reinserted them both, and I could continue to take pics.

I did not pay attention to that error.

...until today. Today I've been out on a city tour and I took 77 shots. In 77 shots, two times the CHR message appeared on the LCD display and on the TFT display it would say that card might be damaged, pls replace, pls etc...

I did the same: turned camera off, removed card, reinserted card, and continued to shoot.

I am not sure why this is actually happening. Could it be because I manually uploaded some pictures on it from my computer (using a 100-in-1 card reader bought for €0.99 - shipping included, from eBay), could it be because I continued to shoot on what I previously uploaded myself manually, or...
...could it be dying on me?? Have you ever encountered the same problem? What action have you taken?

PS: the images I've uploaded manually from my HDD using that cheap card reader are D700 untouched images, which are dear to me and I want to have them on the card, so I could browse them directly from the camera. My point is: I did not upload a different kind of data on the card.

[Criss.AC] See Prague

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:08:00 +0000

[Criss.AC] See Prague, originally uploaded by Criss.AC.

A beautiful photograph of a beautiful city.

Australians got talent

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:46:00 +0000

The following questions about Australia were initially asked by potential visitors. They were posted by an Australian travel agency on their website, and the answers were provided by the officials of this agency – people who obviously have a good sense of humor.

Q: Is there any wind blowing in Australia? I’ve never seen on the TV that there is rain over there, so how the plants live and grow? (UK)

A: We import all the plants, already grown-up, and afterwards we just sit around them watching them die.

Q: Could I see any kangaroos roaming on the streets? (US)

A: Depends on how much you have drunk.

Q: I am considering a walking journey from Perth to Sydney – can I follow the train tracks? (Sweden)

A: Sure. It is only 3,000 km, don’t forget to take water with you.

Q: Is it dangerous to crawl through the bushes in Australia? (Sweden)

A: So it’s true what they say about Swedish people.

Q: Do you have ATMs in Australia? Can you send me a list of the places where they are located in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)

A: Your last slave has just died, maybe?

Q: Can you please provide some information on the hippopotamus races in Australia? (US)

A: A-FRI-CA is that continent shaped as a triangle, south of Europe. AUSTRALIA is that big island in the middle of Pacific which doesn’t have…………… or better not. Sure, the hippopotamus compete against each other each Tuesday night in King Cross. Please come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (US)

A: Face South and rotate 180º degrees. Contact us once you land and we give you the rest of the details.

Q: Should I bring table cutlery with me (forks, spoons, knives, etc) in Australia? (UK)

A: Why? Use your fingers, same as we do.

Q: Can you send me the concert schedule of Vienna Boys’ Choir? (US)

A: AUSTRIA is that little country neighboring Germany, whose capital is……………… or better not. Sure, Vienna Boys’ Choir performs each Tuesday night in King Cross, right after the hippopotamus race. Please come naked.

Q: Is there a supermarket in Sydney, selling milk all throughout the year? (Germany)

A: Nooooo, we’re a peaceful civilization of hunters / lumberjacks. Milk is illegal.