What's made you grumpy today?

[The Panda Nut]

Good, because there’s no room in the back of a CT similar to the 500 really, but with less excuse. The doors also don’t open wide enough. We’re all quite short here though so it’s not big hassle. The 500 (as a courtesy car) was the last time I remember thinking “wow, they deliberately CUT off space in pursuit of style”.

My Pandas though, were tardis like. People I’d give lifts to would comment how much room (head room) it had in total (positive) shock. They complain about the CT but it’s that or my mates 4 series coupe or A5 coupes which are far worse and vomit inducing with the being stuck in, no openable windows and a stupid plastic tray where the middle seat could be.

I also miss the visibility of the Panda. Nothing beats it!!!

I will say the ride in teh 4x4 is MUCH better than the 2wd it doesnt bottom out which the 2wd does. Thinking about it i must try it now we have new dampers on the 2016 car.

 

[StevenRB45]

Our family childhood car was a Laguna, exactly like this estate - same colour and all. Had two seats in the boot we used to love… looking back, not too sure how an accident would have went! View attachment 464991

I was a fan of these as a kid..my dad liked his french cars having 2 Renaults and then a Peugeot.

However he was also too much of a skinflint to buy a nice car...his idea of an upgrade was his MK1 Renault Mégane RT

After his Renault 19 Oasis..

(Both of these pictures are the correct colour and spec..).

After his succession of Fords and Vauxhall's they were very solid cars weirdly.

However whenever they went in for service I wanted him to get a Laguna... Alain Menu had nothing to do with this of course.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I was a fan of these as a kid..my dad liked his french cars having 2 Renaults and then a Peugeot.

However he was also too much of a skinflint to buy a nice car...his idea of an upgrade was his MK1 Renault Mégane RT

View attachment 465001

After his Renault 19 Oasis..

View attachment 465002

(Both of these pictures are the correct colour and spec..).

After his succession of Fords and Vauxhall's they were very solid cars weirdly.

However whenever they went in for service I wanted him to get a Laguna... Alain Menu had nothing to do with this of course.

I loved the 19. I had one on load for a week and shall we say enjoyed its performance to the full. It was really not at all bad. Nothing fancy but as you say solid and handled better than it was given credit for.

 

[StevenRB45]

I loved the 19. I had one on load for a week and shall we say enjoyed its performance to the full. It was really not at all bad. Nothing fancy but as you say solid and handled better than it was given credit for.

I think the main thing I remember about Renault of this era is the bizarre engine noise.

Like it was powered by nothing but aux belts.

However interior wise they were so much better appointed than the Ford and Vauxhall opposition although it has to be said the main reason he had them is unlike the Ford and Vx cars he had previously he wasn't chasing rust from day 1..

The Mégane was a good cruiser perfectly suited to a man who never went further than Scarborough

 

[PuntoHowTo]

As I recall he had issues with the air suspension, apart from that he had a warning message on the dash in Japanese and in the end paid a student to translate......washer bottle empty!!!

I think I remember you telling me that before now you’ve mentioned it

I so nearly had a GS in the 90's I just couldnt bring myself to spend the extra and ended up with a top spec Laguna instead. Now I just think of the extra fuel costs and wince. My brother has an LS400 which was understated but pretty impressive. The potential repair costs would give me sleepless nights although his never missed a singel beat.

They were pretty thirsty cars so you probably made the best choice there. I’m assuming you had the earlier Laguna with it being the 90s ? I was much more a fan of the later model the ones with the plastic card for a key.

I got to drive a glorious V6 laguna when I was in the trade top of the range with every conceivable extra. French cars can be extremely luxurious, my main complaint with French cars was the soft seats which while super comfy, didn’t support or agree with my dodgy lower back.

And speaking of talking cars. Around the same time we had a Toyota I think it was a crown ? Big square 80s thing, traded in, that had some system in it for talking for various warnings except the key was broken off in the ignition. No matter what you did it would constantly tell you “the key is still in the ignition” I heard that warning so many times moving that bloody car around the yard and eventually onto the truck to go off to auction.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I was a fan of these as a kid..my dad liked his french cars having 2 Renaults and then a Peugeot.

However he was also too much of a skinflint to buy a nice car...his idea of an upgrade was his MK1 Renault Mégane RT

View attachment 465001

After his Renault 19 Oasis..

View attachment 465002

(Both of these pictures are the correct colour and spec..).

After his succession of Fords and Vauxhall's they were very solid cars weirdly.

However whenever they went in for service I wanted him to get a Laguna... Alain Menu had nothing to do with this of course.

We had loads of Meganes when I worked in the trade.
I deliberately destroyed the clutch in one I was asked to take to a customer in Cambridge at about 4pm on a Friday, I didn’t want to go, I had plans so I rode the clutch hard the whole drive, making it about 20 miles before it gave up somewhere near snetterton race track on route from Norwich. It was a rather horrid blue saloon version.

A friend of mine had the 2.0 Coupe which was a lovely car, first and only car I have ever known to have electric pop out rear windows.

A large number of the Meganes we had, would seize the cambelt pulley and break the belt, happened maybe a dozen or so times so we started getting a cambelt service done on every one we had in.

Nostalgia Nerd on YouTube who is local to me, bought a Renault 19 he did a whole video about the 19 and why he bought one.
Renaults of that era definitely had a certain style/feel to them.
Lots of 90s grey plastic

 

[SB1500]

Speaking of Renault’s, we’ll all remember this ass for as long as we live….




What were they thinking? …actually, I’d probably rather not know

 

[StevenRB45]

Souvenir of my son's birthday from parking eye...

Being me...I have of course appealed with 2 pieces of evidence.

1. A photograph of me holding my son

2. A photograph of my car clearly parked in a maternity unit bay..

I refrained from enclosing a photograph of my middle finger...

 

[bugsymike]

Souvenir of my son's birthday from parking eye...

View attachment 465429

Being me...I have of course appealed with 2 pieces of evidence.

1. A photograph of me holding my son

2. A photograph of my car clearly parked in a maternity unit bay..

View attachment 465430

I refrained from enclosing a photograph of my middle finger...

Parking Companies need reigning in.

 

[StevenRB45]

I've appealed successfully in the past... hopefully we win again.

To be fair i can provide them with the geotags and timestamps for the photo of my car not where they are charging me for it being if it gets to that.

Luckily I decided to take a photograph that I'd taken when my first lad was born of the car in maternity..(back when I had the white Mazda). Of course this was 5am and the fact it's nose in not reversed speaks of the urgency difference.

As a result I've got photo evidence of them talking shite..

 

[SB1500]

Souvenir of my son's birthday from parking eye...

View attachment 465429

Being me...I have of course appealed with 2 pieces of evidence.

1. A photograph of me holding my son

2. A photograph of my car clearly parked in a maternity unit bay..

View attachment 465430

I refrained from enclosing a photograph of my middle finger...

First mistake is even bothering to reply to them in my opinion. Our work car park is managed by Smart Parking, it's a shame they continue to waste paper with all the letters! At least it costs them to do the DVLA lookup each time lol

 

[StevenRB45]

First mistake is even bothering to reply to them in my opinion. Our work car park is managed by Smart Parking, it's a shame they continue to waste paper with all the letters! At least it costs them to do the DVLA lookup each time lol

That can be a reasonable way to end up with the Baliffs round and a CCJ depending on how committed to being dicks they are.

Who knows but aye I think we'll just tell them politely but firmly to do one.

Edit: Actually the internet suggests parking eye absolutely will issue CCJs and trash your credit score if you ignore it...

 

[SB1500]

That can be a reasonable way to end up with the Baliffs round and a CCJ depending on how committed to being dicks they are.

Who knows but aye I think we'll just tell them politely but firmly to do one.

Edit: Actually the internet suggests parking eye absolutely will issue CCJs and trash your credit score if you ignore it...

in fairness I think they won some court case around a decade ago that actually gives them some edge in England / Wales. As for NI... for once being 30 years behind the developed world works sort of in our favour..! haha

One of those companies started issuing creepy emails as well... expecting you to go online enter your reg etc. Found a way to do this without giving over any info to them and it turned out to be some 2022 parking fine from the Avensis days!

MoneySavingExpert's forums are good for those companies... from what I can gather, when they do turn up to court, they operate on such a shoe string budget that often the solicitors don't even have all their paperwork with them and it gets thrown out.

Hope you get it sorted anyway

 

[SB1500]

The CT has creaky brakes when rolling to a stop... no doubt some sort of either.. subsequent failure of the system which was waiting to happen before the brake booster was replaced.. OR just a minor bedding in or issue from that replacement job that is easily rectified.

I've made the decision (mentally) to commit to now, that if this is anything other than a normal, run of the mill brake issue that any car at this age would reasonably have, then it's gone. Warranty is out in July. I don't fancy having to pay for any of the next major failures out of my own pocket, it'd be naïve to presume they will just stop when the warranty runs out, isn't it scientifically proven to be the opposite?!

 

[bugsymike]

The CT has creaky brakes when rolling to a stop... no doubt some sort of either.. subsequent failure of the system which was waiting to happen before the brake booster was replaced.. OR just a minor bedding in or issue from that replacement job that is easily rectified.

I've made the decision (mentally) to commit to now, that if this is anything other than a normal, run of the mill brake issue that any car at this age would reasonably have, then it's gone. Warranty is out in July. I don't fancy having to pay for any of the next major failures out of my own pocket, it'd be naïve to presume they will just stop when the warranty runs out, isn't it scientifically proven to be the opposite?!

Disc brake caliper sliders?

 

[SB1500]

Disc brake caliper sliders?

I'm not sure if it's any of the usual offenders when it comes to brakes... Hoping they'll point out if it's one of these little things I could DIY-fix at little to no cost. I shall post the verdict here and let you all decide if it's 'normal and reasonable'. That's if they figure it out.

The good thing about this warranty is, for now, it's their problem to solve. I just take note of what it would have cost me and am very close to thinking it's time to walk away come July if it's abnormal.

 

[SB1500]

Disc brake caliper sliders?

Took it down on Friday, very good service. I must say, closer we get to July (when they no longer need to care about me for warranty) the nicer, and more helpful they are! I do appreciate that though.

Technician (different one who did the brake booster job) said he seen a spring he didn't like the look of above the brake pedal and adjusted it. After that he said he couldn't replicate the sound and asked me to go on a short test drive. I suspect the spring was the issue, as no matter what we tried, the car was driving flawlessly with no brake noise whatsoever. And it hasn't happened since. Must have been that spring indeed.

Much better news than I had expected. They had a look over all of the brake system and said everything looks fine, I can't imagine they'd take a chance when it comes to that - no matter how much they might hate me! Just kidding. But in fairness with the warranty and all they have looked after me and if someone kept score, that's more positive outcomes than negative now by far. And the coffee machine was working, for a change, cherry on top.