I don’t think it is the vtc. The sound was louder, more metallic and lasted much longer. Also the car was shaking/trembling. I’m unable to find something similar online, so it is hard to explain.
For me it's interesting that, if I use the car as normal (i.e. 4-5 times a day) and park overnight, no issues at all. It runs very sweetly. But if I left it for a week without using, I'm sure the fault would occur again.
That would fit in with my theory about the high pressure fuel rail. The pressure, and possibly the fuel level might be gradually dropping. Not enough to cause any problems if only left for a few days, but after a week the car might be initially starting with an insufficient fuel/air mixture . The new and efficient engine might still fire up immediately and run roughly on a couple of its cylinders until its firing on all cylinders.
On conventional cars any lost pressure can be built up while you are cranking on the starter motor. It may sometimes take slightly longer than usual before it starts at all, but would you necessarily notice or worry if the car doesnt fire up instantly - especially in cold weather ?
With the hybrid you dont directly start the engine. You initialise a start up procedure but a computer decides if and when it needs to start and stop the ICE. I suspect Honda, and probably other makers, have a bit of a dilemma . They can probably detect if an engine starts as instructed and whether its running badly. If it happens when the engine should by now be up and running properly there may be ECU metering changes, or serious red warning lights and the car comes to a stop.
But if an engine occasionally runs badly on start up but they know it will clear itself within a few seconds they wont want to hit any panic lights and shutdown for those. It may be something thats extremely difficult to eliminate entirely either by mechanical or computer solutions. Hence a bit of a " they all do that" fudge.
My neighbour in London had a 55 plate Fiesta and did about 50 miles a year
Tip and service/MOT
The Fiesta fag socket must be permanently powered because he had a dash top solar panel that kept the battery charged
I have a dash top solar panel which plugs into the OBD11 port on the Jazz . I havnt needed to use it much, but the car did start OK after being unused during January and February. The port is not that easy to reach for regular use but it may be a solution for some.
