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

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

The other thing is I seem to recall some service plans cover one service per calendar year.

So if it's delayed you effectively have missed service one and used service 2 for service 1...and when you turn up next November be told the plan has finished.
 
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The "chills".. Yes I've seen many people in Masks in Southern England the last few weeks 🤔
Not something that's bothering me this week,

Landed in Venice.. Bright sunshine 36'c

A full UK summer has NOT prepared me for that, 😔
a few uncomfortable train journeys later.. I am surrounded by Fiat's..
it's 26 and showery in Turin

On an excursion I saw an old Brava like @ben owned.. Just sitting on a path.. As an ornament

It's still "alive" I suppose 😊

The smile..
A reminder of what I've had before
An immaculate Mk2 Uno 5 door

It really was "time warp" condition

No photo I'm afraid.. As I was travelling

I wonder when European Uno production stopped?

Obviously UK finished 96/97

But boxy pandas ran until @2002 in Europe

Tidy panda (and fan..) spotted
1000012420.jpg
 
The other thing is I seem to recall some service plans cover one service per calendar year.

So if it's delayed you effectively have missed service one and used service 2 for service 1...and when you turn up next November be told the plan has finished.
Hmm? I'll ask about that. Thanks.
The "chills".. Yes I've seen many people in Masks in Southern England the last few weeks 🤔
Not something that's bothering me this week,

Landed in Venice.. Bright sunshine 36'c

A full UK summer has NOT prepared me for that, 😔
a few uncomfortable train journeys later.. I am surrounded by Fiat's..
it's 26 and showery in Turin

On an excursion I saw an old Brava like @ben owned.. Just sitting on a path.. As an ornament

It's still "alive" I suppose 😊

The smile..
A reminder of what I've had before
An immaculate Mk2 Uno 5 door

It really was "time warp" condition

No photo I'm afraid.. As I was travelling

I wonder when European Uno production stopped?

Obviously UK finished 96/97

But boxy pandas ran until @2002 in Europe

Tidy panda (and fan..) spottedView attachment 451426
I like the colour of that Panda. never seen one that colour before.
 
Hmm? I'll ask about that. Thanks.

I like the colour of that Panda. never seen one that colour before.

Probably a 2002/3 colour Jock,

We had a 2004 reg 169 in the UK, There was 2 shades of Blue in circulation, ours being slightly darker - didn't see another for several years

I Think this was the lighter shade..
127's may have also been available in this..? 🤔
 
Probably a 2002/3 colour Jock,

We had a 2004 reg 169 in the UK, There was 2 shades of Blue in circulation, ours being slightly darker - didn't see another for several years

I Think this was the lighter shade..
127's may have also been available in this..? 🤔
I always liked Felicity's colour (see her in my Avatar picture) Looked blue but was listed as a purple - can't remember the proper name for it.
 
Now I've had the night to sleep on it I'm feeling much clearer in my head and happier about the service situation regarding Bluey, our Skoda.

I've come to the conclusion that because the service warning is being displayed on the dash then that's when the ECU in the car thinks it's due a service and that's the base line from which things are going to be taken. Ok, I've only owned the car since end of Feb 24 and covered 3.200 miles but the dealership registered it back in Nov 23 - most likely for sales figures. However she wasn't actually at the dealership branch at that time but in some sort of storage over in Glasgow I'm told and I can easily imagine that she came into the country and was actually PDI'd in September. Do they do the PDIs here in Uk or are they done at some sort of import centre? - like I remember the Polski Fiats were done. Anyway, if that was the case it would explain the service reminder starting to run from end September/beginning October. So I rang "uncle Arnie" this morning, had a brief discussion with a very helpful chap on the service desk explaining my reasoning and he said he thought that was exactly the best thing to do and would ensure no confusion if any warranty work had to be done. So, she's booked in for Wednesday 25th and, as it's just an oil change and inspection, I can wait while it's done. This also ensures that she's all good to go before my hip op so Mrs J doesn't need to fret over how she might be getting the car to the garage when I'm "Hors de combat"! Must remember to ask them to ensure she's been set up for Time/mileage servicing and not extended interval, which I believe, from what I see on Briskoda, is the default from the factory.

All this has caused me to reflect, uselessly, on why the car lay unsold for those months leading up to last Christmas. Of course I will never know, hopefully it's not because she was damaged in transit and undergoing repairs :eek: I think more likely, it's because she's a "Technology" trim model. This particular trim spec is very hard to find in their advertising, so I think very few people come across it when researching the model so won't be seeking it when ordering. Then, when you do come across it they lay it on pretty thick that it's a trim spec intended for the business high mileage user - which might deter people? The standard SE spec is cheaper but the more desirable SEL has a lot more "toys" - apparently they sell SEL spec the most. The SE Technology therefore is more expensive than the basic SE but not that much cheaper than the SEL, so why would you go for the SE Technology when for not that much more you can have the SEL with more "toys, bigger alloys, etc, etc.? Unless, of course, you're an old phart like me who likes a more basic spec with nice compliant tyres etc. Come to think of it, if I were a religeous person, I'd say "someone" had intervened to make sure she was there waiting for me to notice her!
 
Spotted on the Member's Map what I thought was some kind of mistake...

'AONB' Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, of which I'm surrounded by a few, are now called 'National Landscapes'.


I always wonder what the justification for these changes are... surely a lot of money in signs and re-printed brochures to be costing us?
 
Spotted on the Member's Map what I thought was some kind of mistake...

'AONB' Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, of which I'm surrounded by a few, are now called 'National Landscapes'.


I always wonder what the justification for these changes are... surely a lot of money in signs and re-printed brochures to be costing us?
Dont worry about the signs they will soon be invisible as are now 50% of our national roadsigns in unmaintained roadsides So in relative terms the cost of the waste will be but as a drop in the ocean.

Oh and by the way you better not break the speed limit or you will be fined, even if the signs are invisible!
 
Spotted on the Member's Map what I thought was some kind of mistake...

'AONB' Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, of which I'm surrounded by a few, are now called 'National Landscapes'.


I always wonder what the justification for these changes are... surely a lot of money in signs and re-printed brochures to be costing us?
I had read "National Landscape" before,

I think it Might be..
As well as.. Rather than..
In Replacement of..? 🤔

In some respects an important "Landscape" is not necessarily beautiful

H+W yard, or the Titanic quarter as loose examples 😊

Below image is from a cafe in the "Birthplace of Industry" near me

Not an Image everybody would want on their fireplace.. 😉
1000001728.jpg
 
I had read "National Landscape" before,

I think it Might be..
As well as.. Rather than..
In Replacement of..? 🤔

In some respects an important "Landscape" is not necessarily beautiful

H+W yard, or the Titanic quarter as loose examples 😊

Below image is from a cafe in the "Birthplace of Industry" near me

Not an Image everybody would want on their fireplace.. 😉
View attachment 451489
I see it is near what we used to call, "The dead centre of town";)
 
I had read "National Landscape" before,

I think it Might be..
As well as.. Rather than..
In Replacement of..? 🤔

In some respects an important "Landscape" is not necessarily beautiful

H+W yard, or the Titanic quarter as loose examples 😊

Below image is from a cafe in the "Birthplace of Industry" near me

Not an Image everybody would want on their fireplace.. 😉
View attachment 451489
All good points! :)
 
Musing on Various "sensible" dad car options..

One piece of information that came to light during this is that the Vauxhall Astra facelift (2019-2021) was fitted with a 3 cylinder turbo of 1199cc displacement of 108, 129 or 143bhp power outputs...if 2 of these power outputs sound familiar and the rest of the configuration sounds familiar they are exactly the same as the cursed puretech as fitted to Vauxhall Grandland and others from about 2017 onwards.

The engine is not a puretech though...it's a GM E-turbo so I was looking on the basis perhaps it's not a wetbelt and I could avoid having to faff around looking after one..but no it's a wetbelt and the recommended belt change interval is 15 years or 150k miles. Pigs might fly mate puretech was initially a 10 year interval that didn't go well..but this is too new and too rare being a 2 year production run during COVID to have shown up any issues yet or at least be widely known.

Think we'll add that to "AVOID" given the one thing more problematic than a wet belt engine that has known faults with 12 years of data, development and fixes behind it is probably much newer wet belt engine that's no longer used or developed in this country....so is unlikely to have been seen by most garages.

They were using the Puretech at the time FFS...could they perhaps have not had a quiet word with PSA engineers to ask how the extended interval on the wetbelt was going?

At least if they'd fitted Puretech...then the warranty for it's known issues was recently extended to 10 years....
 
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Musing on Various "sensible" dad car options..

One piece of information that came to light during this is that the Vauxhall Astra facelift (2019-2021) was fitted with a 3 cylinder turbo of 1199cc displacement of 108, 129 or 143bhp power outputs...if 2 of these power outputs sound familiar and the rest of the configuration sounds familiar they are exactly the same as the cursed puretech as fitted to Vauxhall Grandland and others from about 2017 onwards.

The engine is not a puretech though...it's a GM E-turbo so I was looking on the basis perhaps it's not a wetbelt and I could avoid having to faff around looking after one..but no it's a wetbelt and the recommended belt change interval is 15 years or 150k miles. Pigs might fly mate puretech was initially a 10 year interval that didn't go well..but this is too new and too rare being a 2 year production run during COVID to have shown up any issues yet or at least be widely known.

Think we'll add that to "AVOID" given the one thing more problematic than a wet belt engine that has known faults with 12 years of data, development and fixes behind it is probably much newer wet belt engine that's no longer used or developed in this country....so is unlikely to have been seen by most garages.

They were using the Puretech at the time FFS...could they perhaps have not had a quiet word with PSA engineers to ask how the extended interval on the wetbelt was going?

At least if they'd fitted Puretech...then the warranty for it's known issues was recently extended to 10 years....
There was a very interesting multi page article in Car Mechanics magazine just the other day detailing what's involved in changing one of these belts - the puretech that is. Also a discussion of what they fail on and what to look out for if you own one. They were of the opinion that it doesn't really deserve the reputation it's gained but then went on to describe all the things to look out for and all the ancillary components that need to be checked and cleaned out when doing one. One thing I'm convinced of is I'll never buy one.
 
There was a very interesting multi page article in Car Mechanics magazine just the other day detailing what's involved in changing one of these belts - the puretech that is. Also a discussion of what they fail on and what to look out for if you own one. They were of the opinion that it doesn't really deserve the reputation it's gained but then went on to describe all the things to look out for and all the ancillary components that need to be checked and cleaned out when doing one. One thing I'm convinced of is I'll never buy one.

The problem tends to be owners are F*****g Berks unfortunately as are many of the garages that work on them...up to and including main agents (who have been known to put incompatible oil in them..oh and some certain large car chains have been known to attempt to get independent specialists to just switch the oil light off so they can sell the car!!).

98% of the issues seen are on cars that have had skipped maintenance the other 2% are unlucky but some cars break as we all know.

The problem being the 2% tend to get lumped in with the 98%. I've said previously but friends with the bloke who looks after puretech things for UK Citroën owners club and you do get people who have done everything right and the thing has gone wrong. They tend to be massively outnumbered by people who battered the car into the ground then did a quick Google search when they realise that ignoring the oil light for a week is going to cost them a new engine and then go online and blame the car..even though the car was 3 years over belt change interval and hadn't been serviced for 4 years. People literally message him ask if they should change the belt on 2014 car, he says yes it's well overdue and you'll have the MK1 belt that comes to bits and blocks the oil pump and they'll say "nah maybe next year".

Given they have a reputation for being made of glass it's quite incredible the things people get away with...for example someone drove one to a garage for a timing belt change...with a timing belt missing teeth (11 year old car so only 5 years over the change interval) and got away with a new belt and oil pickup clear out.

Basically PSA designed an engine to kick the majority of their customer base who think an MOT and service are the same thing in the balls...Epic. Then to compound that they put them in Vauxhalls...which are also known for the scrupulous maintenance habits of the owners.

However would I buy my car second hand with unknown history?....No. I trust ours because it's been done and done right and also I've got all the documents to claim under the 10 year warranty if I need to. I'd not trust a random one on a used lot because you just don't know and maintenance is very important.

Trying to find a modern car without any gotchas is like trying to find a needle in a haystack with no needles in it. I was looking at VW 1.5s but I've restricted my search to 1.4s as the 1.5 has a longer list of common faults than the Puretech despite being on the market half as long. I could get a Toyota...but just no 🤣.
 
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The "chills".. Yes I've seen many people in Masks in Southern England the last few weeks 🤔
Not something that's bothering me this week,

Landed in Venice.. Bright sunshine 36'c

A full UK summer has NOT prepared me for that, 😔
a few uncomfortable train journeys later.. I am surrounded by Fiat's..
it's 26 and showery in Turin

On an excursion I saw an old Brava like @ben owned.. Just sitting on a path.. As an ornament

It's still "alive" I suppose 😊

The smile..
A reminder of what I've had before
An immaculate Mk2 Uno 5 door

It really was "time warp" condition

No photo I'm afraid.. As I was travelling

I wonder when European Uno production stopped?

Obviously UK finished 96/97

But boxy pandas ran until @2002 in Europe

Tidy panda (and fan..) spottedView attachment 451426
So that's a Panda.
While in Paris back in 91, after finishing PBP, myself and two other cyclists had taken the metro and gotten butt lost because, Americans. We don't have a lot of public transportation and back then you could drive for 8 days and not hear another language. Anywho, at one metro station we asked a guy for directions and it turned out that we were about 2 miles away from where we needed to be. The guy said he'd take us there as it was on his way home. He had a Panda, or something similar, which none of us have ever been in. I'm kind of broad shouldered, Gary was skinny as a rail, and Don was a big black former All-American college football player. The Panda had a child seat in the front seat, so we all crammed in the rear seat, with Gary's butt cheeks taking up space on one of Don's and my legs. We laughed the entire ride.
 
So that's a Panda.
While in Paris back in 91, after finishing PBP, myself and two other cyclists had taken the metro and gotten butt lost because, Americans. We don't have a lot of public transportation and back then you could drive for 8 days and not hear another language. Anywho, at one metro station we asked a guy for directions and it turned out that we were about 2 miles away from where we needed to be. The guy said he'd take us there as it was on his way home. He had a Panda, or something similar, which none of us have ever been in. I'm kind of broad shouldered, Gary was skinny as a rail, and Don was a big black former All-American college football player. The Panda had a child seat in the front seat, so we all crammed in the rear seat, with Gary's butt cheeks taking up space on one of Don's and my legs. We laughed the entire ride.
Sounds like you need to get married by the end;)
 
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