After 18 years together we've finally had to say goodbye to "Toany" our '99 plate SEAT CORDOBA VARIO (estate). He had the old (pre DPF) 1.9 tdi engine with a Bosch distributor type injection pump. He didn't even have ABS brakes! Looking after him was easy and, once I'd bought VAG-COM (now VCDS) I never had a problem with him I couldn't resolve myself. Up 'till a couple of years ago he was monotonously reliable and took us many times the length of the country visiting relatives. On long journeys he would always return 60+ mpg. Then a couple of things happened. First I noticed the clutch pedal started feeling "funny" then, but unrelated, when accelerating hard away from a roundabout, he went into limp mode. That was a little exciting as I was in the outside lane at the time! Max speed and power was greatly reduced but I managed to pull off at the next slip road. Turned the ignition off, and after a quick under bonnet check, restarted the engine and drove home. VCDS showed overboost DTCs and after a bit of "fiddling" I discovered the wastegate actuator diaphragm was ruptured! No replacement available but I could buy a whole turbo at great cost! Discovered that he was driveable as long as I kept below 3000 rpm and didn't floor the throttle! This was OK for local journeys but not for 500 miles to Devon two or three times a year! After a lot of thought we decided to make him our second car (we had recently sold Felicity, our '92 plate Panda Parade, to a chap who was going to restore her so "her indoors" didn't have her own transport). Then, quite quickly, his top (clear coat) paint started peeling. He looked like he was peeling after a really bad case of sunburn! There was other stuff too, strut top mounts, several rusty brake pipes, rust taking hold of the near side sill and off side rear floor, a broken rear spring, etc, to say nothing of the extortionate amount of money for his road tax! I took him down to the scrappie about a month ago but kept his nearly new battery for jump starting duty and his nearly new set of tyres which are for sale - collection only - (185/60R14 on 4 stud Ibiza steel rims or, as they are a common size, would fit many other vehicles if stripped from the rims).
So we are in deep mourning at the loss of our trusty friend. I knew every nut, bolt, dodgy ball joint, oil leak, etc, etc, and other secrets only he and I knew!
However all is not doom and gloom as there is also good news. His place in the "family fleet" has been taken by "Becky" or "Beki" (we have yet to decide on the spelling), a 2010 1.2 Panda Dynamic Eco with SkyDome roof - oooh! I'll introduce her soon in the appropriate Panda section.
However, for a wee while, it's going to seem very strange not to see our bright yellow Toany outside the front door!