What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Helping someone change the wheel is OK , but I would draw the line at getting underneath to kick the wheel off when sat on their old wobbly car jack.

Absolutely. I've long preached to others never to do that. So what did I do last time we were down at Mrs J's sister? Only tried to jack the Ibiza up using the one leg jack. Ok, I've done that before and not had a problem but Sister's driveway is pea gravel! didn't even start to get the wheel off the ground before it all started to go sideways! If that had been with the wheel off I'd have been left feeling very silly. Even on a hard surface like tarmac or concrete, if you jack the car up high enough it'll seriously destabilize it. I'd never get under a car held up on only a scissors type jack and if I really have to in a roadside emergency I'm very careful about what I'm doing and keep everyone else away from it.

 

[bugsymike]

Damnit. SUns shining, Im going to have to mow the lawn. No excused are being accepted.....

The sun has been drying my lawn out and you almost embarrassed me into cutting mine , but thankfully i managed to fight it off.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I tried asking my dealer to vary the service on Noop to leave out the windscreen washers and wiper blades etc. as this is just padding, but asking them to take the wheels off and properly inspect the brakes etc. They were both unable to understand the concept of doing extra work I deem necessary to do a proper service and unwilling to accept that anything else might need a proper inspection. The suggestion about removing brake pads and cleaning things was totally alien to their limited intelligence and beyond their understanding. DId I want all the discs and pads changing, they could do that for nearly a grand! Im pretty sure that warranty aside the car is actually better of if noone touches it at all, rather than half baked "servicing". I really loathe doing car repairs and service, but slightly less than knowing the car isnt in perfect order. Im considering when to change to a lease with maintenance included, on the basis that I will then just drive it and throw it back at the end. I toally object to the obscene costs of leases but am going to have to accept it in old age. Owning is cheaper but I feel compelled to keep the car in as near perfect order as possible. OCD (Fiat Panda) affliction (addiction) running ahead there. If I get an electric car then I won't know how to service it which might help. I anticipate OCD must have it 100% charged at all times would be difficult to live with though. Keeping the cars full of pertol is so much easier.

As an aside, I was talking to my brother the other day and his car has depreciated more in 5 years than the entire cost of Noop. Some £12500... Nopp on the other hand could clearly be put up for sale for at least £500 more than he cost. He still looks sounds and feels brand new too. could get some more money back for his red roof rails, summer alloys wheels and roof bars too if I sold him. I like Pandas more than Range Rovers and this is one of the reasons why! PANDAS ON THE TOP!

Our other two Pandas are worth £1500 more than paid and about £750 less so three Pandas driven £80,000 miles and owned for a total of 14 years have cost a combined negative depreciation of £1250. I sat here a few nights ago and was looking at Jags. The depreciation was outright funny, so you can get some really nice ones for a smallish outlay. What killed it again, is the fact that I reckon getting out, especially in the garage would be impossible. So, they make a car for the man who has made it, or the retired person who wants a little luxury from their pension lump sum, but that rules out anyone under 60, and anyone over 60 or without money to waste or a pension lump sum. No wonder they struggle to make money. If they miss your 60th birthday they missed you altogether, and if they get the right day you respond "But its my birthday so I want a special discount". Maybe that explains the heavy depreciation?? LOL

Trouble is labour is so expensive now that it makes "proper" servicing, as you and I understand it, prohibitively expensive and the "ignorant" general public just won't stomach it. My perception of "servicing" these days is that oil and filters are changed as specified but pretty much everything else is just a visual inspection and/or plug in the diagnostic machine and see if any fault codes come up. Stuff like brakes etc are only touched if they start to malfunction or look well worn. I've heard similar horror stories like your's regarding a brake overhaul and, when you look at what you can buy brake rotors and pads for from the factor for it's a licence to print money.

You mentioning electric cars brought to mind an article I read very recently to the effect that manufacturers of electric vehicles are thinking of going bck to drum rear brakes because of the corrosion problems with discs on the rear of these vehicles doing so little work - regen braking etc.

Finally, car prices? Insane aren't they? a good friend who likes to always have a "flashy" car has been running Jag saloons for a number of years now. His present one is due up for renewal very soon and he's been looking at it's electric version as a replacement. "D'yu know Jock", said he, "I'll not get much change out of £100,000 to do that"! Insanity I call it. He isn't going to do it, I think he's going to buy out the option on the one he's got right now, bet that'll probably be more than I'm paying for my new Skoda Scala

Talking about the Scala deal I got, I'm actually quite pleased with the trade in I got on the Ibiza I bought it as a pre-reg with 100 miles on the clock for about £11,500 (list was around the £13,000 mark) back in 2016 and am realizing just under £5,500 for it 8 years later so it's lost half what I paid for it in 8 years. The new car is also a pre reg and thus saving me a whole bunch of the hard earned too. I asked the sales manager about the pre-reg thing and how it affects resale value as, technically, I'm actually the second owner. He told me that once the car is around 5 years old it really makes no difference. If I was selling it after, say, 18 months then it'd be a different story.

Once all the negotiations were over I was just passing the time of day with him and chatting about what the trade was like in my day and his up to date experiences and one interesting wee tidbit, remember this was a really big multi-franchise main dealer, that surfaced was that they "quaked in their boots" at the prospect of taking a modern Range/Land Rover as a trade in. They've actually turned them away on occasion. Almost impossible to get them economically repaired, spares are often not available and difficult to get, and even getting the main dealer to fix them. Oh how are the mighty fallen?

 

[bugsymike]

I believe I mentioned to you before, Jock about inspecting a pre registered Hyundai i30 that the saleswoman was slow in producing the V5c for inspection saying the car had come from another branch of this large well known National company and the sales manager had registered it for his use.
On realising the deal would not go through without production of the V5c she finally confessed it was a car rental company and not her sales manager boss that was the previous owner. I had directly asked this very point earlier in the visit so the thought "lying bitc* did go through my mind for all the time we wasted with her!!!
Many years ago a local Ford agent used to sell off "pre registered " Fiestas saying it avoided a Vat charge by registering the cars in the Channel Islands. It turned out these were hire cars also, but with the added problem of being on a small island they spent most of their lives in first and second gears.

 

[porta]

Yes, remember lots of pre reg unos and pandas, all were channel island hire cars. Very little mileage but always ‘coked up’, nothing that a good blast up the M62 wouldn’t sort out. They also got colours that the general UK didn’t, like bright yellow which we only ever saw in Eire and Europe

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Every month or so I start thinking about the Seat. Its going to have to be replaced at some point, or Im going to have to have it back for a couple of months and deal with all the neglect. What do you buy, if you want to get a straight forward, well made economical 5 door car thast acceptable on safety and going to last a long time. Preferably without all the electronic nanny aids. Im looking again at VAG. Mii, Up, Ibiza.

My conclusion is that a very low milage job, is the way to go. Send it strighht in for new timing belt, clutch and a full brake job before my daughter gets involved. Am I right to rule out Ford, Spellantease and french stuff? I just dont trust them to build anything properly?

As you know, I've just been through this process and I arrived at the same conclusion, looking at VAG stuff I mean - which quite surprised me. I found the competition just didn't stack up when drawing comparisons. Wet timing belts just weren't a consideration for me - I believe the newest Ford Eco engines have gone back to chains? and I see there's a chain conversion kit for the diesel! However lengthy chains seem to have their own problems too, especially guidewise. So, looking for a dry cam belt please. Concentric clutch slave cylinder? Who on earth thought that was a good idea! Dual Mass flywheel, probably better now than they were but I'd rather not thank you very much. Electric parking brake? Just extra expense and I see it's one of the things we're now being locked out of, re resets, by the latest electronic protocols so you can't "do" your rear brakes now! The more I looked into it all the more the VAG products, and particularly the Scala, floated to the top every time.

The ones that did tend to buck this trend were the Toyota and Mazda, although not without their own problems they were probably the best of the rest. However they seem to be pretty cash sapping if you need to buy genuine parts or use the dealers. So, I plumped for the Scala. It'll be interesting to see how she works out over time. Oh, got to think of a name for her now. Suggestions anyone?

I used to swear by Fords, but the newer small high performance engines don't fill me with confidence for the long term, much the same with much of the French stuff. It all seems to be geared towards the "throw away society". Maybe VW, but much like Mercedes living on it's past reputation.
A clue in the past was what the Taxi rank was full of, but they appear to be being forced to EVs.
My general preference has always been to larger slow revving diesels with regular oil changes.

The old Fords I loved. they would absorb ridiculous amounts of punishment and neglect and still bounce back with very little money being needed for the repairs. I started feeling a bit less enthusiastic about them when the Mondeo appeared with the need to properly align the front sub frame after doing a clutch - got caught out with that one. The newer small turbo jobs do seem to attract a lot of adverse comment but I've never even opened the bonnet on one so can't comment.

Old diesels? yes, love em! My old 1999 1.9Tdi VE engined Cordoba with the distributor type fuel pump - ie Pre PD - was unkillable. I had it for over 20 years and it eventually went to the happy hunting grounds due to the unstoppable tin worm assaults. and a ruptured turbo wastegate actuator for which I couldn't get a diaphragm capsule. Wish I had it today! Modern diesels though? no thanks, far to prima donna-ish if you ask me.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I believe I mentioned to you before, Jock about inspecting a pre registered Hyundai i30 that the saleswoman was slow in producing the V5c for inspection saying the car had come from another branch of this large well known National company and the sales manager had registered it for his use.
On realising the deal would not go through without production of the V5c she finally confessed it was a car rental company and not her sales manager boss that was the previous owner. I had directly asked this very point earlier in the visit so the thought "lying bitc* did go through my mind for all the time we wasted with her!!!
Many years ago a local Ford agent used to sell off "pre registered " Fiestas saying it avoided a Vat charge by registering the cars in the Channel Islands. It turned out these were hire cars also, but with the added problem of being on a small island they spent most of their lives in first and second gears.

Hope mine doesn't turn out to be something like that! however, with only 9 miles on the clock and registered tail end of 2023 (I checked) I would hope not. Anyway, deal done now, too late for regrets. I will have a very careful look at pedal rubbers etc though before I hand over the remains of the cash.

 

[The Panda Nut]

As you know, I've just been through this process and I arrived at the same conclusion, looking at VAG stuff I mean - which quite surprised me. I found the competition just didn't stack up when drawing comparisons. Wet timing belts just weren't a consideration for me - I believe the newest Ford Eco engines have gone back to chains? and I see there's a chain conversion kit for the diesel! However lengthy chains seem to have their own problems too, especially guidewise. So, looking for a dry cam belt please. Concentric clutch slave cylinder? Who on earth thought that was a good idea! Dual Mass flywheel, probably better now than they were but I'd rather not thank you very much. Electric parking brake? Just extra expense and I see it's one of the things we're now being locked out of, re resets, by the latest electronic protocols so you can't "do" your rear brakes now! The more I looked into it all the more the VAG products, and particularly the Scala, floated to the top every time.

The ones that did tend to buck this trend were the Toyota and Mazda, although not without their own problems they were probably the best of the rest. However they seem to be pretty cash sapping if you need to buy genuine parts or use the dealers. So, I plumped for the Scala. It'll be interesting to see how she works out over time. Oh, got to think of a name for her now. Suggestions anyone?



The old Fords I loved. they would absorb ridiculous amounts of punishment and neglect and still bounce back with very little money being needed for the repairs. I started feeling a bit less enthusiastic about them when the Mondeo appeared with the need to properly align the front sub frame after doing a clutch - got caught out with that one. The newer small turbo jobs do seem to attract a lot of adverse comment but I've never even opened the bonnet on one so can't comment.

Old diesels? yes, love em! My old 1999 1.9Tdi VE engined Cordoba with the distributor type fuel pump - ie Pre PD - was unkillable. I had it for over 20 years and it eventually went to the happy hunting grounds due to the unstoppable tin worm assaults. and a ruptured turbo wastegate actuator for which I couldn't get a diaphragm capsule. Wish I had it today! Modern diesels though? no thanks, far to prima donna-ish if you ask me.

Im now very interested in how your new car goes. I thnk we are looking to cap spending at £7500 and hope to spend less and with a max of 25K on the clock. There are a few Polos and the odd Nissan Micra, the odd Panda (my favourite) and the odd Tipo which I also favour having had such great service from the Bravo, but I dont want the multiair on top of agreeing entirely about your list of msut be avoideds. Im still tempted to do up the Seat but its really too old and rusty now.

Now, Names

OIur last Skoda was called Scud after the modern missiles of the day, but Skoda Mac Skoda face would be top...

 

[portland_bill]

Oxfordshire County Council don't like cars. A few years ago, when the government made it easier to introduce 50 limits on rural roads, Oxfordshire blanketed the county, with no obvious justification. A road near me that was fine as a 60, has suffered an increase in collisions due to impatience. There were always a few dawdlers, but with a 60 limit, the few overtake opportunites presented could be used, but with a lower margin from the 50 limt, overtakes became impossible.

More recently, they have been blanketing every village and small town with 20 limits. My own street, a cul-de-sac, now has 20 signs. Most people never exceedid 20 anyway, and the few who did, continue to do so. Lots of expense, no change. Any minute now, they'll be presenting their increased council tax demand.

Returning home earlier, A small village near here has been attacked with the 20 signs. It has been a 30 for all the years I've known it, without issues. But they've messed it up, temporarily. Entering the village, the previous 30 signs have been replaced with 20, but as the order is not yet in effect, the 2 is covered. With no street lighting in the village, this effectively changes the previous 30 into national speed limit, raising it to 60. For the first 200 yards, until the first repeater, whcihis not covered. Pure genius.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Im now very interested in how your new car goes. I thnk we are looking to cap spending at £7500 and hope to spend less and with a max of 25K on the clock. There are a few Polos and the odd Nissan Micra, the odd Panda (my favourite) and the odd Tipo which I also favour having had such great service from the Bravo, but I dont want the multiair on top of agreeing entirely about your list of msut be avoideds. Im still tempted to do up the Seat but its really too old and rusty now.

Now, Names

OIur last Skoda was called Scud after the modern missiles of the day, but Skoda Mac Skoda face would be top...

Yup, just under two weeks to go now! I get it on the 28th. I was initially told I would get it on the last day of the month which, as this is a leap year, would have been the 29th but the computer can't cope with that so it's to be the 28th! I'm seesawing between nonchalance and uncontainable frustration!

Slightly frustrated that noone seems to know what the difference between the 3 mid range engines are. All you get at the dealer is "it's emissions related"

Tipo? yes, I was slightly tempted by the 1.4 turbo estate but when I really looked into it there were too many negatives. Wish I'd been able to actually drive one though. Maybe just slightly too big for the two of us though?

The multiair/twin air valve module and how it controls the valve timing is very interesting but I'd be very nervous about owning one.

Thinking about "simpler" cars, I had great hopes for the Dacia brand and have looked at the Duster and Stepway a couple of times. However when you really get down to it there's still a lot of tech in them. Inevitable I suppose because you've got to have it to keep ahead of the game with regard to emissions etc. They seem to have had more than their share of problems with excessive oil consumption and timing chains - internet is awash with reports and I saw a report that they're being taken to court in Belgium over it? This engine seems to have been replaced with a considerably re-engineered 1.3 version which has been developed in conjunction with Mercedes (from what I read their involvement was in developing the cylinder head, which is quite an interesting design) Anyway, they've got DM flywheels and concentric slave cylinders and other stuff which puts me off before I start looking for other "features". Haven't driven one but thought the clutch felt "funny" to push up and down in the Duster I sat in in the showroom? Might just have been that one though I suppose?

No point thinking about it all now though, the die is cast. I know how to switch off the Scala's stop/start - very simple, just a push switch by the gear lever - but don't yet know how to switch off the lane keeping assist which is going to be off most of the time I'm behind the wheel. Don't think you can permanently disable either, they always come back on at start up. I believe the lane assist can be quickly disabled with the steering wheel switches though which I think I can live with. It'll just become part of the start up regime as is disabling stop/start at startup on the Ibiza at present.

Im now very interested in how your new car goes

After I've driven it around for a week or so I'll try to remember to write a bit of a report/assessment on how I'm finding it. There's only one negative thing that stands out in my mind from the test drive which is that I let it fall right off the turbo as I pulled out of the garage entrance onto the 4 lane Seafield Road and got the impression that it has worse "ultra low speed" turbo lag than the Ibiza. However i didn't notice it doing it for the rest of the drive and I did really "bog" the engine, so very unfair to it. Other thing was that the brake pedal was ultra light, I nearly stood her on her nose at the first traffic lights we came too. I remember I had the same problem with the Ibiza when it was new, soon got used to it though. Top gear -6th - seems very high, definitely for motorway cruising. I tried accelerating from 50mph in 6th on the A1 dual carriageway and it was extremely sluggish. Probably good for extended cruising on the M6 on our trips down to Devon but unlikely to get higher than 5th on our country road trips out of town to visit our boy's families? and will spend most of it's time in 2nd and 3rd in the mix of 20 and 30 mph around town?

Still haven't decided on a name yet, can't make up my mind whether it's going to be male or female yet, maybe the first few trips out in it will decide that?

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Oxfordshire County Council don't like cars. A few years ago, when the government made it easier to introduce 50 limits on rural roads, Oxfordshire blanketed the county, with no obvious justification. A road near me that was fine as a 60, has suffered an increase in collisions due to impatience. There were always a few dawdlers, but with a 60 limit, the few overtake opportunites presented could be used, but with a lower margin from the 50 limt, overtakes became impossible.

When younger I used to drive much more aggressively and fast but now I'm content to just go with the flow and find that journey times don't differ greatly whether I'm trying to push on or just keeping station with everyone else. Mind you there's a lot more traffic these days so you may get past one or two cars only to find yourself being held up by the next one. So much more restful to just maintain station - unless you come up on areal slow coach.

More recently, they have been blanketing every village and small town with 20 limits. My own street, a cul-de-sac, now has 20 signs. Most people never exceedid 20 anyway, and the few who did, continue to do so. Lots of expense, no change. Any minute now, they'll be presenting their increased council tax demand.

Ah yes, the "dreaded" 20 mph zones. I think they should either make all streets within city boundaries either 20 or 30. Having some 20 and some 30 with often no obvious reason why the 20 is needed gets very confusing especially when you've lived somewhere most of your life and got used to the roads being 30 limits. I also frequently come up behind someone going 20 in a 30 and can only assume they've missed the sign where it changes from 20 to 30. Works the other way too. Driving these days is such a brain overload we don't need this complication.

It's now illegal to park on a pavement up here so everyone, well nearly everyone, is complying and parking by the curb. Trouble is there are lots of small narrow streets in this old city of ours so once people start parking legally on either side of the street there's now not enough room for ambulances and fire engines to go down the street. So the council is now starting to yellow line one side of these streets. Brilliant way to ensure a goodly number of people will now have nowhere to park at all! Then there's the new bike lanes in Leith walk, just take a look at this:



Of course to add to the mayhem there's now also trams going up and down the middle of the road! This video is some 6 years old so was made before the tram lines were laid.

 

[StevenRB45]

Son fell over at school yesterday, mild friction burn off his trousers on his knee, just took the top layer of skin off.

I put a plaster on it...mainly to keep him happy.

Today he's walking like he's got a shattered knee cap, he hasn't got even a bruise...also he keeps forgetting to limp.

 

[There all puntos]

The wife sold her 12 plate Punto to 'webuyanythingthat'ssmallandwecansellelsewhereforaprofit.com for £1750.

The fresh from his mum's uterus salesperson said ' when you phoned we thought it would be a wreck with a disco light dash and full of carparking dents and carwashing scratches'.

But saw no lights flashing, everything worked (apart from the bulb in the map light) all tyres had over 5mm of tread. Had all tools and spare wheel, pump. Ran it on tick over for the best part of fifteen minutes, then drove it around the car park for about 200m swerving, braking, changing through the box (with the wipers on supersonic as it was pelting down)

Was going to give her about £800 - £1050. But saw the history and looked through all the MOT's and recorded mileage tallied up with the mileometer.

Walked around it with a magnet/paint depth meter, and then said. 'the only thing wrong with this is, two stone chips on the bonnet and one hubcap was kerbed a bit'.

She was very happy, until she walked away from what she called her "baby".

But most twelve year olds go to secondary school. Not sold to white slavers.com

Then now that she is now driving a 18 plate Citroen Cactus with Aircon and a media player that she can connect her iPad to and listen to, and use her phone via bluteeth

I have all the pain of having to repair it (and the stress of previous brake downs that I had to get repaired) as she told me

'Get your clown car repaired or my brother with kick your fuc&in head off'.

Hey hoo, wummin huh.

Can't afford to run two cars any more. So the Fiat had to gooooooo.

 

[StevenRB45]

Then now that she is now driving a 18 plate Citroen Cactus with Aircon and a media player that she can connect her iPad to and listen to, and use her phone via bluteeth

Not to rain on the parade...but if it's a petrol get the timing belt done as a matter of urgency.

 

[There all puntos]

Not to rain on the parade...but if it's a petrol get the timing belt done as a matter of urgency.

No it's a 15:60cc Diesel Peugeot/Ford engine with the adiglu removed.

 

[StevenRB45]

No it's a 15:60cc Diesel Peugeot/Ford engine with the adiglu removed.

Ah the one with both a timing belt and a chain....

 

[bugsymike]

Son fell over at school yesterday, mild friction burn off his trousers on his knee, just took the top layer of skin off.

I put a plaster on it...mainly to keep him happy.

Today he's walking like he's got a shattered knee cap, he hasn't not even a bruise...also he keeps forgetting to limp.

Put a plaster on his other knee

 

[StevenRB45]

Put a plaster on his other knee

I took it off entirely...he now can't remember which leg to limp with.

 

[Cheest]

I took it off entirely...he now can't remember which leg to limp with.

Ahh, kids.

 

[There all puntos]

Tell the runt 'pain gets easier to deal with when your older' .

Then tell them, 'Apart from when you lover rips your heart out'. And stands on it ...

But with age you'll learn to cope and survive