General Cromas are quiet

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General Cromas are quiet

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A couple of weeks ago a passenger (BMW driver) commented how quiet my Croma (1.9 mJTD 16V) was. That was with the engine undertray off, a loose rear exhaust heatshield and a dodgy driveshaft. Having sorted those out and thought about it, the Croma IS a very quiet car. It's certainly a lot quieter than the wife's Focus estate, dispite the Ford being petrol, 5 years and 50,000 miles younger, it is also a fairly high spec, Titianium.
Nice to report something positive for a change
biggrin.gif
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Robert G8RPI.
 
Thats funny that is,because my dads friend who also has a bmw said exactly the same thing about his 1.9mjt when he had it(now gone to my brother).The same thing cant be said about the 2.4mjt,although that is music to the ears.
 
I will miss mine, its been an enjoyable time owning a Croma but with periods of stress. If you are mechanically minded such as g8rpi and can manage what the Croma throws at you then I would imagine keeping a Croma on the road is manageable but to the novice its probably not. I liked the idea of never seeing a Croma on the road and the effortless cruising down the motorway. I still admire the shape and style. The fuel use was also excellent for the size of car and engine. I would have considered purchasing another but don't want a repeat of possible problems which i suppose as the cars disappear and get older , will be more likely
 
The trouble is forums always generate these kind of problematic posts,thats the idea of forums and i do agree at times cars can be a pain in the backside.But on the whole i have never thought as the croma to be any worse than any other modern day car and alot better than some.We have three in the family,two 2.4s and one 1.9 and two be honest they,ve been great.Mine has been heavily used,towed a caravan all its life,now come upto 85k.Really speaking the only two spends its had was recently on a transmission valve block(£385)and years ago when rushing i left the centre out of the oil filter service centre and bent no5 conrod.I worry as to what to replace it with.
 
Yes I miss the old boy. If you are a regular Croma Forum member then you will see I've been very active in posting technical stuff, advice and lots more without really a bad word to say about the Croma. (other than all the bits that failed on mine were GM bits excluding alternator and fuel filler cap latch :) )

Over the years it did get a little noisier, mainly all suspension related (rear banana arms, front bushes) but nothing to really worry about or bad enough to get replaced.

However being tens years old and towing to Italy every year and with the increasing number of issues (including limp mode in long tunnel) meant I was losing a little faith that the next long trip would be trouble free. Had it not been for my modest ability at sorting problems and MES then a long weekend recovery (Sat pm to Monday am) would have been on the cards and increased pet boarding fees.

Were the car to be only used in the UK then I would still probably have it.

FYI I replaced the Croma with a 500X Cross Plus (1.4 MultiAir) and I have to say the 500X is a very very worthy replacement for the Croma. A little smaller, very comfortable and pulls like a train. Both me and the boss both feel that the 500X actually tows better than the Croma.
 
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As a replacement I'd really like a Freemont (I know it's not a real Fiat) but they don't sell them in the UK despite having a RHD variant (Australia). I had a Dodge Journey for a while but ended up suing the dealer(another long story) over various faults. I loved the space and driving position. Put a 150hp mJTD in with a manual transmission and it would be ideal for me.


Robert G8RPI
 
The Tipo estate would be a contender (if it is sold in the UK) but I doubt it will match the 5 seats 1400l boot capacity of the Freemont (145l covered and 7 seats). One thing I like about the Freemont / Journey is the ability to fold the 3rd row seats completly flat. Most MPV's make you take them out, but this assumes you have somewhere to put them.

Robert G8RPI.
 
The Tipo looks alright except the engine choice,1.6 mjet,its too small for my needs.Would be nice with the biturbo 2.0mjet fitted.
 
Yeah i miss mine {a bit} I miss the forum more Just on to refresh my memory on power steering problems . My son has the Croma now and it is serving as a builders van. He is moving house.
 
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