Rascal's Learning to Drive

[MauriceMynah]

Has it changed much?

The last one I had was about three years ago when I was sent on a speed awareness course :(

[Cal]

4 minutes ago, Jayfire said:

 I do. But then I am reassessed and tested every year 

I am pretty sure that if I was retested now I would in all likelihood fail to pass a driving test!

Not because I am a bad driver of course but being taught to pass a test and then learning to drive are two different things completely.

[Guest]

It's not driving to civilian standards it's emergency response driving 

[MauriceMynah]

You mean less than 4 minutes to closing time?

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

You mean less than 4 minutes to closing time?

[FairTmiddlin]

9 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

 

 

 

  That said, I think it would be pretty poor to go about the roads coming up behind someone and flashing them and using your horn because you will likely just cause the car in front to make a move whereby they feel intimidated and under pressure and that might not be what you expect causing more of a risk.

 

 

Tell that one to Italian Drivers

Their horn hardly stops sounds like quality control at FIAMM

[ChrisB]

12 minutes ago, FairTmiddlin said:

Tell that one to Italian Drivers

Their horn hardly stops sounds like quality control at FIAMM

Unless it is Fiamm's battery factory! Great air horns had a set on my Spitfire.

[vanessan]

42 minutes ago, Jayfire said:

 I do. But then I am reassessed and tested every year 

Is your driving that bad then?

[MauriceMynah]

4 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

Unless it is Fiamm's battery factory! Great air horns had a set on my Spitfire.

Vott ? you vish to tell ze Messerschmitts you are there? 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, vanessan said:

Is your driving that bad then?

It's not just me that is singled out I assure you, it is a compulsory requirement.

But then you knew what I meant anyway didn't you Mrs V 

[BroadAmbition]

Chuffin eck, so the standard of driving in the Fire service is that bad that they all have to be retested each year?

Griff

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Chuffin eck, so the standard of driving in the Fire service is that bad that they all have to be retested each year?

Starting to wish I hadn't said anything now 

I know I know, that's how you all feel too when I say anything 

[vanessan]

13 minutes ago, Jayfire said:

It's not just me that is singled out I assure you, it is a compulsory requirement.

But then you knew what I meant anyway didn't you Mrs V 

 

[Vaughan]

 

[VetChugger]

I used to have one of those! Specifically the Fiat Strada 75. It truly went like stink! The acceleration was staggering. I recall pulling up at home one night and a police chappy approaching me red faced complaining he couldn't get near enough to me to signal me to stop! However, a truer rust bucket I have never encountered. The door skins came away from the door frame and used to flap in the wind! I wouln't mind but the thing had been rust proofed using that cavity injection stuff. Can't recall its name. Traded it in eventually to a blind garage proprietor for a cracking Jetta!

[FairTmiddlin]

Waxoyl or the pro stuff was Ziebart

[LondonRascal]

It has been a good while, but I thought I would give an update to things since I passed...

Firstly, it has been just over a month that I have had my full license, as you know a couple of days after passing it was off to collect 'The Barge' and bring it back to Norfolk. Well, it was a lovely car and I am truly happy to have experienced such a fine car especially as my first, but parking was always an issue, the fact the seats did not even fold down let alone the sheer amount of wasted space in the rear of the car made it just too impractical. I got looking for a replacement.

I looked at all sorts of options, even a nice Audi A8 - but I would only find myself once again with a very luxurious car and no practicality. I wanted something with the power of the 7 Series, with as much of the comfort and refinement I had been used to but with the option to carry things - have some better ground clearance, be shorter, and the ability to carry more stuff.

I looked at Range Rovers, Discoveries, Audi Q5 and Q7's, but this particular BMW X5 caught my attention.  Generally speaking the 'newer' style (F15) from 2013 to 2018 was either too new - late 2017 or early 2018 model which might cost upwards of £40,000 or an older car with a lot of miles on - still costing up to £30,000. Then I found one in Kings Lynn, 2013 model but with under 25,000 miles and two owners - the first being BMW and since owned by a chap form London who hardly drove it. It was the SE trim, but had thousands of pounds of factory options from new which made it a bit rare.

We went to see it, and it looked lovely. I was able to have a test drive whereby it was 'here is a trade plate off you go' so no salesman to pressure you. I took it for a spin and had a through look over it. Interior is spotless, exterior too this really had not been driven in its life with very little wear and tear, very few paint chips along the front bumper and things like the Alloy wheels in absolute pristine condition.  I was sold, so came back to the dealers and 'did a Robin'.

The result was that the 7 series was part exchanged for £5,500.00 - I got £3,000.00 off the list price of the car, and due to a cock up with the new salesman I had signed for a three year warranty - but then was told it was only for one year. Well, I said that is a problem as I was told by this chap that it was three years, and I signed on that basis. We haggled and I got them to agree to two years for a years cost. The cargo cover was missing, I knew this and E-bay had one for £170.00 - the break down cover for three years came in at £159.00 they gave me that for free because the cargo cover was missing. I then got a free MOT and full service carried out and free delivery to Brundall. Oh, and four car mats.

I was a happy bunny.  Until the next day when the battery was flat. Off to Kwik-Fit, £306.00 later I had a new battery fitted. BMW recommend a new one every third oil change on these cars, and there are two of them - a large main AGM and a smaller one. I had to have the car coded to know it had a new battery else it will self-discharge forcing you to a BMW dealer.  Unhappy, I got in touch with the dealers in Kings Lynn, because I was also getting Ad-Blu sensor issues, wrong fluid used warnings and other problems. Under the bonnet I find Ad-Blu has sprayed out over the engine - this because it was topped up during the service.

No point for calls, int he car and back to Kings Lynn. Park the car outside and walk in saying they can pay for the new battery, fix the Ad-Blu issue or...They can have the car back and refund me fully. They agreed to fix the issue, even if they would only send the cost of my fuel and battery replacement costs by cheque in the post. Since then, all has been well - well no, not really. I have some issues that come and go with the Day Time Running Lights and the Ambient Interior Lights, this is all to do with coding issues and the car is in BMW tomorrow for them to go over this.

I have also had the windows tinted in the rear with a 5% tint. Basically you cannot see into the car. Very professional service from Direct Window Tinting in Norwich (they do boat windows too). I took the car to their centre, they then keep it for a day as they remove the glass from the car to tint it, making it perfect and guaranteed for life to not peel, fade or crack. You really would never know it was not originally fitted as you can see no 'tint line' where they have cut the tint with a razor blade. Cash in hand, great value. to collected from the station by the owner, got talking boats, he has a friend with a Princess 55 and also had been working for Oyster before they went under. Long story short he gets one of the chaps at the centre to run a check on the car with their diagnostic tool - six errors are found, I am given a print out and will take this to BMW to have them know where to look to sort the issues.

I then got looking at the tyres - the front are horrid budget tyres, newly fitted but noisy and offer no confidence in the wet. The rears are Dunlop's but not their best, they are legal but the tread is on the way down so I have opted to have them replaced with Michelin Latitude Sport 3's - these are A rated for wet grip, B for fuel and at 70db are 'quieter' than say Continental, Goodyear or Pirelli.  They have some very favorable reviews too but are not cheap at over £1,000 for a set of four. The centre who were going to fit them now cannot as their machine cannot cope with the width of my rear tyres, so the next place that can can't fit me in until 3rd January.

The car is lovely though, 2.4 tonnes but will get to 60 in 7 seconds. Let us not consider the fuel usage - if I drive in Eco-Pro mode where everything is 'turned down' and life becomes a real bore I can get over 40 MPG. But, in comfort mode it drops to 32 MPG and in Sport will fall to about 25MPG. It has a twin turbo charged 30L Diesel engine with enough torque to tow away Potter Bridge lol.

Here is a video of the car inside and out which has taken days to upload because of the slow speed i have here:

 

[SwanR]

Very interesting Robin. I shall come back to the video later ... certainly sounds as if buying anything is done in a certain way when it's you! I'm sure that when you finally buy a house or property of some sort, in the words of Phil Spencer, there will be "a deal to be done!"

Enjoy the car. :)

[grendel]

That looks good Robin, I do have to admit that my new to me (16 year old) volvo has a lot of the same features, cruise control, radio controls on the steering wheel - no camera system though, boot space is probably similar, but I have sacrificed a storage tray under the back load area to replace the space saver spare for a full sized steel rim spare that I can drive as normal on, considering the 30,000 miles i do a year and a 125 mile daily commute, I consider a full size spare as an essential. I like you think the current tyres on the car leave something to be desired, they are budget ones, I tend to go for a mid range tyre - balancing grip with wear life, great grippy tyres tend to wear out at the mileages i do, far too quickly, I am lucky if I get a years use out of a tyre with a good wear rating, at least mine are standard profile tyres so a lot cheaper, I seem to recall I spend about £80 a corner. mine too is a diesel engine, a nice volvo 2.4 litre D5 - this produces plenty of oomph when I need it, plus returns about 46 mpg on the motorway run to work, nearly 50mpg (49.6mpg) on the run from london to Daventry and back for our company Christmas do last weekend.

[ChrisB]

I will not have a car without a full size spare. Used a can of gunk once, it went all over the road. The camels back was Aberystwyth to home in Norfolk, 301 miles on a space saver. Someone was looking after me, dont know how I got back there was nothing left of the tyre after 300 miles.

[Hockham Admiral]

40 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

I will not have a car without a full size spare. Used a can of gunk once, it went all over the road. The camels back was Aberystwyth to home in Norfolk, 301 miles on a space saver. Someone was looking after me, dont know how I got back there was nothing left of the tyre after 300 miles.

How I agree with you, Chris!

When we bought our 6-month old BMW M-Sport 120D X-drive for 10k below list price I accepted the "run-flat" tyres as a sign of the future................

Coupled with shiny alloy wheels they are a nightmare when parking alongside any sort of kerb as they are so low-profile that you can easily scrape the whells. Also the "Norfolk Potroads" have claimed THREE new tyres in two years, which at almost £200 a go isn't very helpful. "Sue NCC" I hear... That's a joke!

But one last thing, coming up to the end of her warranty BMW have given her a free 2 hour check in which they replace anything which isn't perfect. In our case an EG-something costing up to £600 was replaced foc.

[LondonRascal]

I think buying anything can be compared to buying some Apples. You know you want an Apple and not a Pear. So don’t let a salesman try to sell you a Pear. You also know the variety of Apple you want, so don’t go out to buy a Pink Lady but end up with a Granny Smith. 

I used that approach when I bought the car. I came to buy it there and then and they could see they could have a quick and easy deal or they might loose it over a few extras and a couple of grand off. I’m pleased they met me halfway and they are pleased I’m sure they did too. 

As for tyres, thousands of new cars are now sold with no spare - not even a space saver. It’s not often the case a puncture is destructive and sudden - usually slow like a screw or nail in a tyre so with a compressor on board you should be able to get to a tyre repair centre - or home. Since you can now get mobile fitters come to you and since most now buy tyres online for far less to be delivered to a centre (or mobile fitter) it has changed the whole business. Even breakdown companies tend to deal less with what used to go wrong with cars and more with things they need a computer plugging into them or simple things like punctures. 

You could always do as many seem to (at least in my part London) which is continue to drive with flat tyre regardless of damage to rim or bodywork as chunks of rubber fly off. No longer is that a rare thing to see but more the usual. 

This morning took the car into Copper BMW which is next to the Norfolk Show Ground. Has been a bit of a trek back but I’m hoping they will be able to resolve the issues. Also they will change some parts that the car needed as part of a recall. 

I am considering having them look at the brakes since the pads are not BMW. I have considered upgrading to a Ceramic blend but what are on have lots of meat but they don’t have the same ‘bite’ as I was used to on the 7 Series which had originally BMW pads but latterly Ceramic and were very powerful and made very little dust. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

I think buying anything can be compared to buying some Apples. You know you want an Apple and not a Pear. So don’t let a salesman try to sell you a Pear. You also know the variety of Apple you want, so don’t go out to buy a Pink Lady but end up with a Granny Smith.

Or just get all the apples you need by buying cider 

[ChrisB]

Robin,

I visit Sutherland you can be 30 miles from anywhere and no mobile signal. I have a family problem in Murcia that will most likely require me to travel through very rural France and Spain in the new year.

With the greatest of respect I have had my licence for 53 years and there is hardly a country in Europe that I have not driven through. Add to that America and Australia.

Please believe me cars need spare wheels. Like being at sea, proper sailing, not playing on rivers. One should be able to get yourself out of trouble and be equipt to do so, up in Sutherland I would carry two spares if I could.

[LondonRascal]

15 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

Pease believe me cars need spare wheels. Like being at sea, proper sailing, not playing on rivers. One should be able to get yourself out of trouble and be equipt to do so, up in Sutherland I would carry two spares if I could.

But so few cars now come with them. Try buying a Ford with a spare for example, an Audi or a BMW. Now some you could buy a spare wheel and put in but increasingly the underfloor area has been altered no longer to accommodate a spare wheel but (with most BMW cars) is where the battery is now fitted. 

So, I don’t doubt what you say but it would be hard to continue to have (or should I say store) a spare wheel on modern vehicles. 

While ‘tyre emergency repair foam’ might not be for all, it will bung up the hole and inflate the tyre even if it also renders the tyre unrepairable in the process it allows you to still drive - somewhere.