General 1.2 Lounge Incoming

[AC43]

I've not given the comfort of the Lounge seats much thought, which probably means they're doing their job well. On the other hand, my wife's Pop, now traded on, had the flatter seats and whenever I drove it my left foot cramped up. Of course that was a Dualogic with no clutch pedal so perhaps it was just bored.

The Lounge seat suits me just fine. I like the side boltsters and the support to my back.

My current Merc has a strangely flat seat with inflatable bladders to adjust lower and upper back support that I can never get it quite right. The previous ones were much better but they were variations of Sports seats and this one isn't. It's more like the Merc seats of old that you sat on rather than in.

It was when I did 200 miles in the Fiat and jumped out feeling just fine that I realised how comfortable the seat was.

 

[AC43]

Here's a fact that I've only just learnt; Frank Stephenson styled both the Fiat 500 and the first iteration of the new MINI. The only two cars that interested my wife when replacing her Clio and the only two I went to look at.

Apart from doing McLarens for the last few years, he's also credited with the Fezza 430 & FXX, the Maserati MC12 & Gran Sport, the original X5 & at least some of the Escort Cosworth

https://www.frankstephenson.com/the-story/

Here he is on Harry's garage revealing he's got a softspot for the R53 Mini Cooper S bit would much rather go for a blast in an Abarth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gdcp9HKJ6U

 

[Piccolo Nero e Bella]

Heh... I loved the beer can story.

The MINI was on my short-list when I bought the 500, but then so was the LR Defender...

 

[AC43]

Spotted one with an unusual cream leather interior. Like that.

 

[AC43]

 

[AC43]

Christmas has come early; I just called Arnold Clark to arrange sending the service book back to them to get the stamp put in for the service they'd done before I picked it up.

While I was on the phone I asked them what they'd done. So it was plugs & oil and air, oil & pollen filters. As expected.

Plus two front tyres, discs & pads. Which all looked very new so I'd suspected that - good to get in confirmed.

What I didn't expect was for them to have also done the cambelt- it was just under a month to the 5 year point and they weren't obliged to do it. Most dealers wouldn't have.

They think they probably did the water pump too and are going to confirm.

Christmas has come early and Arnold Clark Huddersfield are great

 

[chris3234]

Christmas has come early; I just called Arnold Clark to arrange sending the service book back to them to get the stamp put in for the service they'd done before I picked it up.

While I was on the phone I asked them what they'd done. So it was plugs & oil and air, oil & pollen filters. As expected.

Plus two front tyres, discs & pads. Which all looked very new so I'd suspected that - good to get in confirmed.

What I didn't expect was for them to have also done the cambelt- it was just under a month to the 5 year point and they weren't obliged to do it. Most dealers wouldn't have.

They think they probably did the water pump too and are going to confirm.

Christmas has come early and Arnold Clark Huddersfield are great

I'd have been reufusing to buy a car from a dealer that hasn't replaced a cambelt that was due in 1 month
And any dealer's that wouldn't have done this is one of avoid at all costs

 

[John202020]

They think they probably did the water pump too and are going confirm

Note it's not routine to replace the water pump in Fiat's eyes unless specified, as I found out,,, afterwards

 

[AC43]

I'd have been reufusing to buy a car from a dealer that hasn't replaced a cambelt that was due in 1 month
And any dealer's that wouldn't have done this is one of avoid at all costs

Fair enough.

In this case I hadn't spotted that I was buying a car that was due one until someone on here pointed out the 5 year interval. But that was after the event.

So I was happy to find out it had been done.

 

[AC43]

Note it's not routine to replace the water pump in Fiat's eyes unless specified, as I found out,,, afterwards

Hmm...maybe that's why she wasn't sure. I guess if they were following Fiat's schedule they might have skipped it.

That's a really odd thing to miss out when you've gone to all the effort to strip down that side of the engine......

 

[AC43]

And another good thing; I can actually get the voice activation to work. I've had Mercs with Linguatronic for a decade now and still can't that system to work.

I've got 2 x Amazon Echo's at home and an Alexa and just don't get on with them either.

But if ask the 500 to play the radio is asks me "which station" and when I tell it which one IT ACTUALLY WORKS!

Now all I need to do to work out how to programme in R2 for my wife, R4 for both of us and R5 & Talksport for me.

Still loving that car.

 

[AC43]

Three months in and I thought I'd give it some TLC. I handwashed it on Sunday and started to apply some ceramic wax.

Unfortunately, I only had time to do the roof and bonnet so will wash it again this weekend and do the rest. Impressive water beading, though.

 

[AC43]

Seven months in and it's generally been good as gold.

I have put a couple of new tyres on the back; the ones it came on were pretty much finished so when one got a screw threw it I decided to replace both of them.

And the sunroof has developed a slight creak. Time to call the London Sunroof Co. They used to sort my wife's Clio sunroof every 5 years or so; drop the headlining, tighten the bolts on the cassette, reassemble.

Overall, still loving it.

 

[AC43]

10 months in and it's been good as gold.

In the sunny weather I love bombing around in it with the sunroof open.

Fabulous little car.

 

[AC43]

18 months in an now my son is learning to drive in it.

His only comparison is his driving instructor's Citroen DS3. Initially he found driving the 500 rather disconcerting as it's so different to drive but now he loves it and much prefers it due to it's size (esp lack of width), visibility and manoeuvrability. That little car just puts a smile on everyone's face.

PS - I need to get it checked in to the garage - there are a few clonks from the front end due to all the speedbumps round here. ARB's, bushes, balljoints or whatever.

PPS - it's so handy having Android Auto and DAB in the 500 that I'm having and Android Auto box fitted to my Merc tomorrow. Not cheap (£500+fitting) but not having access to all my digital content in it on the go has become deeply irritating in comparison.

I'm having a hidden sub install done at the same time and will ask what the options are for the 500. As I understand it some come with the wiring harness already installed for an under seat sub. Might be a cheap way of beefing up the sound. But it also might make things a little uncomfortable for back seat passengers if it gets in the way of their feet.

 

[John202020]

18 months in an now my son is learning to drive in it.


PS - I need to get it checked in to the garage - there are a few clonks from the front end due to all the speedbumps round here. ARB's, bushes, balljoints or whatever.

If you're going to keep the car say another 5 years, I recommend "simply" replacing all the front suspension components using branded parts mostly

 

[AC43]

If you're going to keep the car say another 5 years, I recommend "simply" replacing all the front suspension components using branded parts mostly

Agree. The previous Clio and all of my Mercs have munched they way through various suspension components; front springs, ARB bushes, drop links, ball joints etc.

Round here they're consumables like wiper blades.

I recently fixed a ball joint and a suspension arm on the Merc (because the bushes in it were shot) and now I can hear the ARB bushes starting to faintly clonk......

I'll do the Fiat next then go back to the Merc and so on,,,,

 

[AC43]

Ouch. Eyewatering bill time. I had a common failure, as per the other thread, when the valve in the clutch hydraulics failed. Cue new valve, new pipework, new reservoir, new master and new slave. Plus labour. A very large bill for the failure of a very small part.

And then it turned out there was some enthusiastic corrosion developing on the trailing edge of the rear subframe and around the rear springs & spring mounts. Had that sorted too. To be fair, this is not just a Fiat thing; this is weak point on recent Merc's too - often coming up in the forums over there.

And then I had it serviced and MOT'd at the same time.

Still, it's a keeper and addressing the (known weak points) of the clutch assembly and subframe should do me for a good few years now.

Off to earn more bonus........

 

[AC43]

.....I might need some more bonus.

In this cold snap I've been having problems with and ASR error message which in turn knocks out the power steering. Or is it the other way round? Gulp.

I replaced the battery and the problem persisted. Just been to the local garage as the fault code needed to be cleared. Fingers crossed that that's it for now.

I'll know first thing tomorrow.

 

[AC43]

Amusing to see that I wrote that in mid-December.....after two weeks of the road in Dec and two in Jan (the fault initially occurred only in the coldest of weather) I took it to the garage as soon as I could; in the 1st week of Feb. Seven weeks later I got it back - what a palaver. So that's a massive bill on the clutch and them a massive bill on the power steering.....

It's nice to have it back, though, and a massive relief for my poor E Class. It can go back to sitting on the drive waiting for a long drive or something that needs a lot of load space and leave the 500 for all the short hop city bombing around that it's so good at.

I'm still astonished at the level of spend though and that comes from someone who's run complex top end V8 Mercs for the last 20 years!