Car Talk

[Baitrunner]

So what about diesel in boats? Surely red diesel has the same problem as normal diesel?

 

[Malanka]

And all diesel has biofuel in by E.U. dictat. Even though it’s ( biofuel production) has been shown not to reduce emissions. Once more commission morons don’t know shoes from shinola.

 

M

[oldgregg]

7 minutes ago, Baitrunner said:

So what about diesel in boats? Surely red diesel has the same problem as normal diesel?

It does but partly because of the (relative) leniency of emission regulations, marine diesel engines are very different and basically far more robust than anything you'd find in a production car now. Fuel consumption is greater, but so is reliability.

Some very solid vehicle engines such as Ford's 1.8 Endura D and the GM Circle L or 'Isuzu' 1.7 engine were killed off by emission regulations.

[Baitrunner]

What if we talk about Volvo penta? My understanding was they were basically marinised truck engines. 

I think it was Scaniaman who mentioned fuel pumps and injectors suffer now. Must be the same parts in a boat engine?

I know it’s not the same, but a truck averaging 20mph over its life would take 5,000 hours to cover 100,000 miles. That’s a lot of hours compared to the average private marine engine so guess your not going to see much of a problem in a boat anyway. Although a boat engine I’m talking about is going to have been revved pretty well so used a lot harder in comparison. 

[oldgregg]

29 minutes ago, Baitrunner said:

What if we talk about Volvo penta? My understanding was they were basically marinised truck engines. 

The more powerful stuff is nowadays, yeah. And as a result they're less reliable and more sensitive to all manner of things.

But yeah, the average leisure boat will do a lot less hours. A popular hire boat will log upwards of 600 hours in a season, though.

 

[Poppy]

You want a big posy 4x4 and rarely , if ever need to get mud on your road tyres ? Good luck - I hope the neighboura sre impressed. I also hope that the Main Dealer service charges are worth it.

Mrs Poppy and I both run low mileage French oil burners. As for servicing we bought into the service plan they had (and still do) on offer.  For £20 a month we get an annual service - including oils and filters , MOTs as appropriate, a six monthly check , free tyre repairs, free bulb repacement (we pay for the bulbs) and 10% off pats and labour should any mechanical repairs be reqired. We've been driving this brand now for over 15 years with great satisfaction.

Would I ever buy a German status motor ? Not on your nellie !!  Oh - and both cars (as have the others) run perfectly well on the cheapest supermarket fuel, with a drop of RedEx diesel cleaner about every fourth tank.

 

[Ray]

Cars, like most things, are simply a matter of personal choice surely. Any of us lucky enough to be able to choose the car we enjoy driving doesn't have to justify that choice. It's also good to remember that, just like boats, sometimes a good choice is not for the obvious reason or the advertised benefits.

I drive a 2l petrol 4 wheel drive CRV with a Sports Auto box and all the trimmings. I don't need such a car but for certain reasons it was a treat and a "one of" expense and I love driving it 

[Davydine]

Robin, I bought my car just over 2 years ago when I got the chance to opt out of my company car scheme.

I had a choice of a brand new, entry level, Vauxhall Insignia or a 3 year old top of the range Skoda superb. (The L&K model) I was reluctant to buy the Skoda because of some sort of snobbery on my part (you remember the jokes in the 80s about them right?) but I took it for a test drive and fell for it completely! It is incredibly comfortable, sufficiently fast, handles very nicely, tows my caravan, and can fit all my family in easily. The stereo is a thing of joy and the DAB radio is excellent. It also has a built inTV and will park itself, but can't say I use either feature much!

I only ever fill it with Tesco diesel and the fuel consumption is consistently 55mpg. I drive bout 25,000 miles per year. I get over 30 mpg when I tow the caravan.

A minor service in a Skoda main dealer is about £150 a major one about £250. I recently had the cam belt changed (recommended at 5 years old) a major service and front brake disks and pads all for just over £1000

I would have another Skoda in a heartbeat and for the £40k you mentioned you could have a brand new top of the range Kodiaq, which is their large SUV, rather than a second hand BMW.

Having said all of that, what others have said about it just being a car is absolutely correct. I could do everything I need to in an older, cheeper car, but I think I have got a good balance. Skoda is part of the Volkswagen Audi group, but I am not paying for the Audi badge. I see no reason why I shouldn't keepthis car for another 5 years when it will be 10years old and have don 150,000 miles. I reckon I will have had my moneys worth.

Just my 2p

David

[finny]

3 hours ago, Jbx5 said:

Just topped up with fuel and as advised by the garage who I called at this morning put in some Forte adatives as in their words supermarket fuel isn’t great.

John

 

 

 

 

use this product regularly to keep internal carbon build up at bay  - i dont use supermarket fuel after spending many years delivering fuels i can tell its the bottom of the barrel stuff ,scaniaman is right on the money and when i was in the job many large fleet operators that fueled through their own pumps would request the fuel set to their own standard in terms of additives . ever wondered why you dont see many HGV fueling at tesco the difference of 5p a ltr cheaper  is a massive saving on a large fleet 

 

finny

[Ray]

Interesting fact/myth page about fuel here -

https://www.allstarcard.co.uk/this-matters-fuel/fleet-news/supermarket-fuel/

[ExSurveyor]

I haven't bought a new car in over 30 years,  I really don't like depreciation.

The Jeep Commander cost 6k with 70k mileage,  after 4 years and 100k additional mileage I sold it for 3k with no major expense.  It only did 20mpg but was ideal for my use.

I now have a VW Toureg, 10 years old with 35k mileage,  I really splashed out and paid 9k. This will last me 5 years and will still sell for a reasonable price.  I get 30mpg.

My best cars have always been big Lexus saloons,  i am on my second one,  the previous one i had for 18 years and paid less than 8k for,  it lost 5k in that time,  amazing comfort and reliability,  , again my latest one is 12 years old,  60k for under 6k. this does 30mpg even though it is a 4.3cc petrol  engine.

I may be able to by a new car that does better mpg but would lose thousands in depreciation.  At least I am being "Green" by recycling old cars.

 

[petersjoy]

You can't get thicker than a Quick fit Fitter, try saying that after a couple of gin & t's 😂

[grendel]

the most I would lose in depreciation is about £1000 as that is about what I pay for cars, my latest volvo 16 years old with 160,000 miles on it. a car is another tool, it gets me to work, and around and about.

 

[JanetAnne]

Some interesting points above regarding tyres. 

I went to budget radials some years ago mainly because I didn't like losing quality tyres with loads of life in them to the various nails screws and lumps of sharp bits left around places I regularly visit. 

My Mondeo (mobile skip) is now over six years old and has been with me for four of them. Mileage is now just under 190k. I drive 35 to 40k a year and normally fit new tyres around mot time. I always buy budget from eBay and the set of four will be about £150 delivered. I fit them myself. I use standard 4 ply on the front with 6 ply rears ( I tow a lot, mainly car transporters ).

 

The thought of £100's per tyre would keep me awake at night!

The mondeo spent about six months in limp mode when it decided the dpf was  blocked. Supermarket fuel was blamed of course. Three regens later, each one only lasting about a 1000 miles I just put up with it. Then it cured itself. Seems a sensor fault was the cause though we never did properly get to the bottom of it. 

My last Mondeo estate came at 3 years old and I had it 15 years until it collapsed on the drive exhausted with close to 400k on it. I doubt this one will last as long. It's a stunningly good engine and box wrapped in a load of crap and gimmicks you don't need and rarely ever use but they are all linked to each other and very very fragile. I do like the stereo though 

This will be my last diesel as well.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Hi all,

I`ve come into this thread a bit late, so my post may say be about things that have already been said.

First, genuine manufacturers parts,

Ford, BMW, Renault, Jaguar etc etc etc DON`T make a lot of their vehicles. They DON`T make wheels, tyres, wiring looms electronics, ball joints clutches brake discs cam belts etc etc etc. They are made by outside suppliers like ferrodo, borg and beck, Quinton Hazel, Lucas, etc etc etc. However, if you went to a main franchised dealer, you will buy these parts, but in main dealer packages, and with a hefty mark up, but you can buy EXACTLY the same part, but in a manufacturers package for considerably less.

[NeilB]

5 hours ago, oldgregg said:

The more powerful stuff is nowadays, yeah. And as a result they're less reliable and more sensitive to all manner of things.

But yeah, the average leisure boat will do a lot less hours. A popular hire boat will log upwards of 600 hours in a season, though.

 

D1 / D2 are Shibaru engines built by Perkins.  D3 is the 5 cylinder car engine.  D4 / D6 are pure marine engines, you won’t find them anywhere except a boat.  D5 / D7 / D8 / D9 / D11 / D13 / D16 are all used in construction equipment, trucks, buses etc.  

[oldgregg]

2 hours ago, psychicsurveyor said:

My best cars have always been big Lexus saloons

There's a reason they're always top of owner satisfaction surveys.... 

[BroadAmbition]

Scaniaman  -  ps  can the right honourable member for Donny not do the brakes(use grease not grout)

I will have you know that when I left the RN in 2000, one of the resettlement courses I did was run by the AA.  Yes it was a car mechanics course, about thirty of us on it.  I was the only RN person on the course.  I was also the only person that came top of the course and was subsequently offered a job by the AA running out of Sheffield, after some consideration I declined their kind offer.   I used to be well clued up with car / bike mechanics.  However over the last 19 years it has massively slipped, I've not kept pace with the modern tech and don't regret it or miss it one iota either.  The only hands on I do nowadays is 'B.A's Beta, my Mighty Tiger and simple stuff on the 'GriffTile' van or MrsG's car.  The rest is left to the garage we use.

Griff

[woodwose]

I currently drive a Honda Civic Estate car. It is a diesel. It has a lot going for it. It is exempt from road tax and does about 70mpg. It really is cheap to run and actually costs me less than the boat. I use the cheapest possible supermarket fuel with no additives. Ludham garage do good servicing and I use etyres for tyres.

However, prior to this, I ran a Land Rover Freelander for 14 years. It was noisy and slow and used twice as much fuel as the Honda, but it was a lot more fun. It was fantastic off road and I have rescued all sorts of cars and caravans with it. It took so much stuff to Scout Camps and towed massive trailers with ease. My grandchildren loved it and even made up a song about it called "Dear old Land Rover". This was after I rescued a BMW which was stuck in soft sand at Horsey beach.

In fact, it was so much more fun that I am now thinking about buying another Land Rover. Maybe a Discovery Sport or one of those squashed Range Rovers. I think it would have to be a hybrid engine now.

I am not a big fan of cars and don't like driving but the Honda has clearly demonstrated the difference between fun and boring. Give me the fun any day.

Nigel (Ludham)

[BroadAmbition]

Tyre Talk - I steer well clear of any budget tyres on MrsG's car or the 'GriffTile' van - I do think that tyres are just about the most important safety aid we have a choice over.  I don't do much research on them though, just stick to what I know.

However the Mighty Tiger - I keep my eye very closely on new tyre developments as they come to the market and they do, very often from many manufacturers throughout the year.  I'm very particular with the tyre choice on the Tiger bordering on OCD territory.  It will have something to do with the fact the Tiger has just the two of em and in this country it tends to rain now and again.  I can get through a new back tyre every year if I'm riding it correctly !

Ford - Fixed Often Repaired Daily

Lotus - Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious

My favourite car manufacturer seems to be Ford by the number of various marques we have owned.  My ultimate car to own would be a Lotus Esprite twin turbo V8 and I have never even been inside one!

Griff

[LondonRascal]

I thought this would get some discussions going, and that kinda shows to me how big a deal cars actually are to people and everyday life and why everyone has their take on it..

So far as the fuel goes there are some benefits to spending some more. A good example is using Super Unleaded (or whatever the latest brand names are for it) in things like outboards, gen-sets etc since It does not contain Ethanol which standard unleaded does - at varying amounts up to 5%. That means nothing for a car where you use fuel often, but in something that might not get used that much and has fuel sat in a tank it does. I found this out at my cost with the Generator I bought to use at the Forum Meet - the fuel has 'gone off' to a degree making starting hard and running rough and I had to drain the fuel tank and take apart the Carb to clean it out recently. Ethanol absorbs moisture more from the air and is a good solvent for eating into certain plastics and rubber seals and while it had not caused harm it had begun to bring moisture into the fuel and I found some evidence of varnishing too. 

Anyway, as far as Diesel goes, no the premium stuff at the pump won't make your car go faster or give it more Horse Power but it has been shown time and again in independent tests, and even peoples own experiments to keep the fuel system very clean because of the additive packages that this diesel  has in it over and above the standard stuff. It also has other properties like foaming far less and being more stable.

I have found that using it does indeed mean I get better millage, not a great deal but around 3 to 4 miles per gallon more than if I used Supermarket fuel. I am happy with that so I use it, others may not be or feel that is a good enough reason to switch.

It is interesting too reading about people's thoughts on cars generally.  I think generally speaking the best times for cars were the late 1990's and into the early 2000's.  It was a time where cars were actually comfy, I mean Velour seating is a damn sight more soft and comfy than modern fabric coverings. Older cars seats, especially Fords were much softer than they are now too. Cars then also had a nice style and there was room for a lot of individuality and even the French were able to still be quirky! These days really there is far less difference between cars, both in style, interiors and performance - much like all Smartphones do much the same and look much the same.

If I was going for a run of the mill SUV there are so many out there, but really they are much of a muchness. What gets a little harder is when you want some performance, a 'chunky' more aggressive look and a nice luxury feel. Go with a Lexus and you get a great reliable luxurious car - then you also have to deal with a petrol engine that is large and smooth. That means higher tax, higher parking permit prices and yet not much to write home about in out and out performance. That soft ride also means it has the traits of other higher riding SUV's - body roll. Go for the Hybrid to reduce the tax costs and give some better MPG and loose a bunch of boot space taken up with the batteries - add weight because of them and the electric motor assembly and that eats into the performance still further. That is just an example, there are many more.

You can go through various models from different manufactures but for my mind the BMW fitted the bill and maybe that is because that was what I was used to with the 7 Series, maybe too because of the fact I had learnt in an Audi so I was more used to the Germanic styling and ways than a Japanese model might have.

Many would disagree and that is fine because then what they might say is their cup of tea would then make me disagree and that is great because it shows what passions so many of us have towards cars. And think too how things have changed, remember 20 years ago the UK market was driven by fleet cars - it was a real big deal if you had a company car and your job only warranted an L model - you got a choice of Ford or Vauxhall perhaps,  but you might be won over by the smallest of things, like one having front electric windows when the other did not. You'd work up through the ranks and might get get to a Si Vauxhall Cavalier and think you were at the pinnacle when your boss would go home in his Carlton GSi and make you feel tiny. Thank god this massive range of sub-models is behind us and we are now more interested in the tech the car has than anything else as these days so much is taken for granted or mandated be it to do with safety or comfort.

In my view you have those who see a car as a means of getting from A to B and absolutely nothing else with little emotion attached to it and treat it without too much respect. I don't mean just what happens under the bonnet, but about how often it is washed,or  leaving a dent in it, and you can begin to tell things about who owns it as to how clean the interior is or what may be left in the car.  Equally you have the real 'nerds' who not only know everything there is to know about the car, but will lavish it with attention, and keep it in the best fettle they can.  Between these two extremes you've got a great deal of other types making car owners a very interesting demographic.  What really does make someone switch from years of allegiance to Ford to Kia, or why does an Audi owner snub Mercedes.

As for myself, well I have changed over the years. As a teen I was into cars like you would not believe, indeed I was a a proper nerd. I could identify any car on the road, including the sub-model at glance. I could also identify any car at night by the shape of the headlights or their beam angle and when a boy went on 'You Bet' (anyone remember that TV show) he was able to identify cars just by the sound their doors made when closed I felt I was not alone in this odd ball world. These days I don't really care about what is out there, they are as I said very much of a muchness one model year to the next they have the slightest of changes generally as if we are all playing safe. But do still like it when I see a 90's car still out and about on the roads maybe because that takes me back to my youth.

I know I will not get many people who agree with me on this, especially where cars are concerned. Mine does not need a service for another 3,000 miles and does not need new brake pads at all yet but it is just what I do to bring it inline with what I do. Urm yeah, does not make much sense eh - but then this is the chap who will wash the car on a wet day, drive it get it filthy and then wash it again for good measure. I drove up to Brundall today, grabbed some food then drove to Wroxham - but not before I had polished it again.  When I bought Independence everything was done weather it needed it or not in mechanically so I knew it had been and when it had been, same with Trixie. The car is no different but that does not mean I cherish it, I could decide at short notice 'time to change' and would and then begin my journey with the next one afresh. Gosh, being British and having some eccentric genes. Perfect.

 

 

[FairTmiddlin]

I bought a 2 year old Mazda 2 90ps last year (yes it was a snip as it was due to go to auction the next day and was up for £2000 below book price) through the main dealer where my nephew works.

Now this was fitted from new with Dunlop Econodrives which during the hot and even warmish weather, seemed to hold the road quite well. But came a bit of frost just before Christmas and it was like Torvill and Dean doing the Bolero.

Soon had those changed, got a set of four Khumo ecowing for just under £225 fitted from Blackcircles.

Not had chance to try them in the cold yet but they are a darn sight less noisy than the Dunlops.

Absolutely love the Mazda 2 brilliant bit of kit (So good that Ford nicked the design for the focus as payoff for the sale back to Mazda)

 

[LondonRascal]

PS - these days of course less and less people buy cars new - they Lease. This is great for the manufactures as they can show how many new cars they are making, this also is nice for the government with new registrations etc, not so clever for those who pay over the odds but they do get a shiny new car every three years and that is the key. 

I was looking a beautifully kept Range Rover Sport - one owner from new and very well cared for. Thing is, it is a 2008 model - you don't get much tech, a real slow infotainment system and dated looks to the dash and silly as that might sound that actually is stopping me going to the next step, yet it is well under £8,000 which for a car kept as this has been a steal. But then what the hell would I do with one of those? I think I just want to say I owned one and experience them for a bit. I still keep going and looking over the phones though lol.

[CambridgeCabby]

Currently I drive a 2017 Mercedes 220d estate I find it incredibly comfortable and I return approx 48mpg which for a large automatic estate is very good, especially since a lot of my driving is in town . My previous car was a Skoda 2 litre Superb 5 door  (2011)  which covered just shy of 350,000 faultless miles and I would have happily kept it if licensing had permitted ( we have a maximum age of 8 years old for cabs in Cambridge City.

if I had been able to source a newer Superb estate with the mileage/spec I wanted then I certainly would have bought Skoda again , surprisingly a six month old Skoda estate is not much less money than the Mercedes was , in fact I found one with similar mileage (9k) to my Mercedes and it was only £4000 less with far fewer extras fitted , sadly it was in a colour not permitted by council taxi licensing 

[grendel]

Currently I could not lease if I wanted to - to start with the mileage limit is about 12,000 a year , after which you are paying a huge amount per mile extra, and at 30 odd thousand a year, that just makes leasing exorbitant, (even if it was just 10p per mile that would be an extra couple of thousand a year - which is twice what I pay for a car that lasts me at least 3 years).

my ancient volvo has topped the 50mpg on the daily commute (more normally about 46, but I do sometimes accelerate hard)and that is fully loaded (as anyone who has seen my car can attest to, the boot is always full).