Car Talk

[grendel]

well, having got fed up of emulating a ww2 destroyer laying down a smoke screen, and needing several other expensive bits of work done to get the car through its MOT, I decided it was time to trade in for a new volvo (well newer, - new to me) as part of the deal, it will get a full service and MOT before it gets handed over to me. I did check when the timing belt was last done and that was 10 years ago, and 100,000 miles ago, ten years and 150,000 miles is the prescribed interval, so at my additional expense they are going to change the belt for me, that way I will be happy knowing it has been done.

[grendel]

The only problem was that this meant tidying out the boot of my current car.

oops, I have now sorted into 2 piles, essential tools and spares (4 1/2 X small 5 litre boxes) and non essential tools and spares, 3 x50 litre plastic totes,.

the small boxes divide into spanners and sockets, other tools, spares, bulbs and nuts and bolts, these will need further sorting to reduce them down. Maybe I only need 1 of each size spanner.

[stumpy]

16 hours ago, grendel said:

. Maybe I only need 1 of each size spanner.

 

 

Wash your mouth out and lie down in a dark room until the feeling passes!! Wise move on the timing belt though  - I once had one let go on a straight six Rover while making good progress on the A12, it was quite spectacular!

[Andrewcook]

I have now got a Ford Eco Sports but had to get the Top Box as the Boot is a bit Small plus I've got my whole Spare Tyre Wheel up in that Box as the Car makers got rid of the Spare Wheel well as to the Older Car's did have to which in my view is a shame really.

[Meantime]

17 hours ago, grendel said:

The only problem was that this meant tidying out the boot of my current car.

oops, I have now sorted into 2 piles, essential tools and spares (4 1/2 X small 5 litre boxes) and non essential tools and spares, 3 x50 litre plastic totes,.

the small boxes divide into spanners and sockets, other tools, spares, bulbs and nuts and bolts, these will need further sorting to reduce them down. Maybe I only need 1 of each size spanner.

If you were to leave that lot at home, you'd probably get an extra 5 miles to the gallon. The savings in fuel over the course of a year would easily pay for breakdown cover. 

[grendel]

well I had to take the new car back to the garage to be looked at, it wasnt accelerating smoothly between 1000 rpm and 2000 rpm, I then had a lovely 4 mile walk home along the river Stour, and through canterbury, got the phone call and went to pick it up, this time deciding on the added speed of an electric scooter, this was also along the riverside path and was much quicker, though they dont seem to be able to achieve the range quoted, I mean if I half flatten it in 4 miles its not going to get much more than 8 before the battery is flat, (being realistic I do weigh in at slightly more than the 100kg weight limit, however this didnt hold it back and I did hit 13mph at some points.

the garage owner was interested and wanted a go, so we had a laugh around and then discussed the car. the mechanic who looked at my car used to work for volvo and is a master technician, so all good there too.

Now Dave (JA) please tell me if anything else goes wrong with Water Rails engine and the cure, because it seems this car is determined to copy her, its had the diesel overrun, its had the part blocked diesel filter and needed bleeding, so it would be nice to be warned of whats going to occur next. 

[BroadAmbition]

(being realistic I do weigh in at slightly more than the 100kg weight limit)

You sure? 

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

MrsG's Q5 has just recently passed it's very first MOT, which also means that the Audi guarantee is about to expire.

We did get an advisory which I'm quite pleased about - the summer tyres are nearing the end of their serviceable life.  That's good news as it means we have just about got the full life out of them before I put on the winter alloys shod with new winter tyres later this month.  Come the spring the summer alloys will have new summer tyres fitted.

The horrendously expensive new spare key has arrived, they kindly recoded it to the car foc - I should think so and all

I'll be changing over Trevor Transits rims to the winters at the end of the month too

Griff 

[Bikertov]

11 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

MrsG's Q5 has just recently passed it's very first MOT, which also means that the Audi guarantee is about to expire.

We did get an advisory which I'm quite pleased about - the summer tyres are nearing the end of their serviceable life.  That's good news as it means we have just about got the full life out of them before I put on the winter alloys shod with new winter tyres later this month.  Come the spring the summer alloys will have new summer tyres fitted.

The horrendously expensive new spare key has arrived, they kindly recoded it to the car foc - I should think so and all

I'll be changing over Trevor Transits rims to the winters at the end of the month too

Griff 

Interesting you say about summer and winter rim/tyres.

I've never been convinced on the need in this country for summer and winter tyres (maybe with the exception of the far north/Scotland in areas where there is snow for extended periods).

What is your rationale for this ? Is there such a vast difference on a regular car ?

[annv]

Hi Bikertov i also haven't seen the need for winter tyres on private cars but if you live in a rural area then they may have advantage but then you probably have a four wheel drive vehicle anyway, these certainly do make driving on ice/snow covered roads safer giving more control,   had a customer from Australia who wanted winter tyres fitted BUT if it makes the driver happier and they are paying I'm all for it, I just feel that they may drive less carefully in snowy conditions relying on there winter tyres to there determent. John

[grendel]

For me i think of Yorkshire as the far North

[Bikertov]

27 minutes ago, annv said:

Hi Bikertov i also haven't seen the need for winter tyres on private cars but if you live in a rural area then they may have advantage but then you probably have a four wheel drive vehicle anyway, these certainly do make driving on ice/snow covered roads safer giving more control,   had a customer from Australia who wanted winter tyres fitted BUT if it makes the driver happier and they are paying I'm all for it, I just feel that they may drive less carefully in snowy conditions relying on there winter tyres to there determent. John

I guess being in the London area, we rarely see more than about 10 bad snow days a year, if not less - the rest is just rain.

Although where I am, at the top of a large hill, we are often a couple of degrees colder than at the bottom heading onto London itself.

[Bikertov]

18 minutes ago, grendel said:

For me i think of Yorkshire as the far North

For me, it is anything past Watford - and I mean the Hertfordshire town, not the Gap services ...

[Victoryv]

Griff, I would consider some form of extended warranty, it is an Audi after all.

Both Audis I owned made me cry.

[Happy]

10 minutes ago, Victoryv said:

Griff, I would consider some form of extended warranty, it is an Audi after all.

Both Audis I owned made me cry.

I had an Audi A4 estate and covered 80,000 miles in 3.5 years and never had a problem

[Meantime]

I'm not convinced on the use of Winter tyres we get too much of a varience in temperature in this country during the Winter. Winter tyres have a cross over point of around 7 degrees C at which point they become worse for stopping than Summer tyres. Looking at my home weather station for last year we regularly had temperatures above 7 degrees during Nov / Dec 2020 and Jan / Feb 2021.

Taken from the Dunlop website

"In the UK, it is recommended to put winter tyres on your car when temperatures drop below 7°C. On average, temperatures usually fall to these levels between November and April. But there’s no specific date, and temperatures can be vastly different in urban areas compared with rural areas. So you need to keep an eye on the temperature where you are and when it drops below 7°C, that’s when you should consider changing to winter tyres.

Once temperatures start to rise above 7°C in spring, it’s time to change back to summer tyres." 

[CeePee1952]

50 minutes ago, grendel said:

For me i think of Yorkshire as the far North

 

32 minutes ago, Bikertov said:

For me, it is anything past Watford - and I mean the Hertfordshire town, not the Gap services ...

Crikey  Anything past Birmingham is North as far as I'm concerned  

Chris

[Bikertov]

39 minutes ago, Victoryv said:

Griff, I would consider some form of extended warranty, it is an Audi after all.

Both Audis I owned made me cry.

 

26 minutes ago, Happy said:

I had an Audi A4 estate and covered 80,000 miles in 3.5 years and never had a problem

I have an old-ish A4, with the multitronic gearbox.

Had a gearbox sensor go about 4 years back, which meant the gear display was all lit up rather than showing which gear it was in. Was quoted nearly £2k to fix by a main dealer, but I argued with them as it had been Audi serviced, include a recent gearbox oil change, and the problem happened just after that- coincidence ?

In the end, they agreed a split between Audi, the dealer and me, so I contributed £500. 

Also I have had the roof replaced TWICE under warranty, because the demister element in the rear screen had partially failed (and has failed again since) but is part of the hood so is not replaceable.

And the roof motor failed (having already been replaced for over £1k just as I bought the car) due to a common issue of poor/cheap brushes. Had it repaired 3rd party with new/better brushes for a fraction of the cost of a new motor, which would have not lasted anyway.

Other than that (!), no major problems over and above routine servicing and some understandable wear-and-tear on a car of that age.

I've got a VCDS diagnostic cable and software, so I can see faults and error codes, and do an amount of retting myself. It certainly helps understanding issues so the dealer doesn't pull the wool over my eyes.

[Victoryv]

Over a 12 month period I drove about 20 different models of Audi, all courtesy cars, whilst mine was being repaired.

[Andrewcook]

I think Ford Cars are good but I do miss the Old Morris Minors  they were fanatics  cars to have in their day.

 

 

[SANTED]

   2 hours ago,  grendel said: 

For me i think of Yorkshire as the far North

 

   2 hours ago,  Bikertov said: 

For me, it is anything past Watford - and I mean the Hertfordshire town, not the Gap services ...

Crikey  Anything past Birmingham is North as far as I'm concerned  

Chris

 

I used to work in Hatfield Herts travelling there from my home in Coventry.

They were convinced that I was a Northerner

When I challenged this, they said that when you join the M1 Motorway to go home there’s a big arrow and a sign saying “TO THE NORTH”.

Must be true then

Ted

 

[FairTmiddlin]

17 minutes ago, SANTED said:

   2 hours ago,  grendel said: 

For me i think of Yorkshire as the far North

 

   2 hours ago,  Bikertov said: 

For me, it is anything past Watford - and I mean the Hertfordshire town, not the Gap services ...

Crikey  Anything past Birmingham is North as far as I'm concerned  

Chris

 

I used to work in Hatfield Herts travelling there from my home in Coventry.

They were convinced that I was a Northerner

When I challenged this, they said that when you join the M1 Motorway to go home there’s a big arrow and a sign saying “TO THE NORTH”.

Must be true then

Ted

 

In my much younger days. I worked as a tradeplater for Ford Motor Company. Starting off delivering The old Parcel van transits manufactured by Martin Walter Dormobile in Folkestone. Most of which were diesels fastest speed about 57mph.

But we could still do Scotland and back between 4am and 9pm . Even done Folkestone to Belfast and return in 1 and half days.

Even got onto Fords Royal squad, delivering fleet cars for official visits of all royals, which you do get to meet. So positively vetted. What a faff that is.

Diistance seems no object to me now. OK I need more breaks for a stretch and comfort breaks.

[grendel]

I had the 2.0 litre petrol version of those parcel vans, it outpulled a much more modern diesel transit up the hill out of rye once, and I was the one towing 1 ton of trailer. mind you it only did 20 mpg whatever you did.

[FairTmiddlin]

5 hours ago, grendel said:

I had the 2.0 litre petrol version of those parcel vans, it outpulled a much more modern diesel transit up the hill out of rye once, and I was the one towing 1 ton of trailer. mind you it only did 20 mpg whatever you did.

Should have swapped it for the 2.9 ltr V6 with overdrive box on 5 speed, one that I delivered to Southampton, then when it was racked out for audio/radio. I delivered it to a big building near Cheltenham.

[floydraser]

7 hours ago, SANTED said:

 When I challenged this, they said that when you join the M1 Motorway to go home there’s a big arrow and a sign saying “TO THE NORTH”.

Must be true then

As a younger person I thought I'd been north when I drove from here in Leicestershire to Newcastle upon Tyne. The 12 hour round trip seemed even further in freezing, dense fog both ways. Then I had to take a part for a North Sea oil platform to Aberdeen. Setting off for home I remember a sign which declared, "The South - Edinburgh". I thought "Now I've been North!".