Be Excellent To Each Other

That would be a little epicyclic gearbox bolted on the back of the main gearbox housing. The switch works a solenoid which activates a band brake on the gear race, choosing between "ratio" or "direct drive".
So that car actually had 6 forward gear ratios, one of them overdrive.

Hardly a ploy, they have been around for well over a decade!!

Phoned Blackpool Honda today to find out WTFF is going on with my car. Dropped it back off with them for 2 days work* 4 days ago. After getting the run around from the salesmen yesterday and today I called the bodyshop dept directly to have my suspicions confirmed.

"the salesmen don't have a fucking clue mate, it's a 5/6 day job so we'll call you Fri or Mon"

At least I know they're doing a proper job and I do have a brand new Jazz as a courtesy car until it's sorted.


*Rear inside arches, rear bumper and mark on roof needed a tidy up, and new parcel shelf ordering.

Sounds about right mate, a decent cut and shut job is normally about 5 days for a good bodyshop.

I think it was the flared arches and lowering kit and air scoop that has added time onto the job.

Be worth it for lunchtimes spent cruising past the uni though eh? Still, at least the "59 plate" Jazz is a good stand-in.

Dam rite. Fucking Saxos dint no wot hit em.

Blorf. I had one of those as a courtesy car while they sorted my bodywork out, it was horrific. Tiny, narrow little tires meant on the hills and twisties it felt like it was going to go skipping into the guardrail like a stone off the surface of a pond.

The one cool feature was the self-retracting mirrors.

This one it the top of the range! alloy wheels, Panoramic sun roof, nice stereo/ ac. Best courtesy car I've been given by far. It feels underpowered though, not sure if it's a 1.2 or a 1.4.

Is that the one with massive windows & looks like a sleeker Popemobile?

That's the one, it suits Z perfectly, he's like a sleeker PJP 2.

Outted!

Bless you.

Voted: Best car in 2009 - Dogging Digest.

"The panoramic sunroof means no one's left without a great view. Front cup holders are large enough to get your feet into. The Jazz takes on all the new comers and beats them hands down"

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/doc.asp?c=52&i=20850

Quick feature on concept cars, concentrating on the 1950's when there was still fun to be had.

Awesome, it has the nuclear powered cars featured amongst the detritus in Fallout 3:

Also the '57 Gaylord

Defo Monday now when I get my car back, and the parcel shelf has turned up too.

Top of the range dogging wagon for the weekend then.

Did it fire the guns?

Have you not seen the 2009 Gaylord?

.

Got it, although VW still need to fix the hole in the dash where the previous owner had drilled for his carphone holder.

Just been down some country roads in it. Quite enjoyable, the only thing is that it feels a little sluggish when pulling away in first. But no way as bad as the other diesels I've driven. Also need to get used to the smaller rev range. Turbo feels great when it kicks in.

Need to fix the garage up as the underside gets slightly knocked when I reverse in. The previous owner had put a ramp in for their Mazda but this car is lower. Might have to find some bits of wood for now.

All good fun. Need to explore it. + The comedy radio needs replacing asap. Speakers sound shit compared to the mk4 but I am told this is partly down to the stock radio.

having a new car is great. Getting bored with mine now need to change it!

It is but I don't like the smell of whatever they clean it with on the inside. Smells nasty.

Next weekend I'll clean it and will wax it. Got carpets on the way.

Just need to mock something up for the garage ahead of adjusting the ramp properly. Who would have thought an MX5 (which is what the ramp was apparently built for) would be higher than a Golf!

Can't go in the other way either. Tried driving straight in on my old Golf and there was much scraping of plastic. On a car that is half an inch lower I won't be trying it!

sounds fun... I need to clean my car, but it is peeing it down..

Looks like fitting a car radio is slightly harder with modern cars. No longer can you insert a small tool, pull the old radio out and put a new radio in.

I've fitted four or five car radios but this looks beyond me. Is the best thing just to buy one from Halfords and get them to fit it?

I'm almost loathed to do it but anything that requires me to take out almost the entire dash, has torx screws requires battery removal and will generate fault codes that I will need to fix doesn't make me that happy.

there should be away to take it out. Special tools might be needed. Might be worth giving halfords a call to see if they sell the tool

Sadly not. The VW forums have very detailed guides. It lifts out of the dash but you have to take some trim and the air vents out first.

that is a pain!

Fixed the garage problem. Two planks of wood just before the ramp give the clearance needed.

VW managed to charge me £150 for a tax disc that cost £125. Have emailed to complain.

Car is sweet to drive. Took it for another spin. Have managed to stall it twice when reversing however. Our driveway is quite steep and I guess I'm just getting used to it!

According to the logbook the dealer haven't serviced it as it was done only 2000 miles ago. Fair enough I guess but one thing I did note in the book was apparently its due for a brake fluid change in Feb. The manual makes dire warnings that this must be done every 2 years. What do you lot think? Do it in Feb or wait until it needs a full service (probably May).

I'd personally never seen a car that demands it precisely every two years with specific dates mentioned.

Guess I need to find a good independent VW specialist. There's one in Salisbury by the looks of it:

http://autoworkvwaudi.co.uk/index.htm

While filling up last night I saw a Nissan GTR!

Being driven by a middle-aged man with a child!

Well, they are remarkably big and spacious

So you are saying middle aged people can't have nice cars?

No need to get Kranky.

Inspection 1 on Friday.

BMW didn't supply rocker cover gaskets in time, so their replacement and valve adjustment still need doing.

They reckon a front damper*, the power steering pump**, the gearbox and diff are all leaking***.

They didn't do the gearbox "spigot bearing" as... the clutch is slipping.

Sob.

* If one damper is leaking, the other side is surely well on its way out as well, right? And the rear "corner push" rebound check shows inadequate damping/oscillation, so I may as well do all four? And if I'm doing all four, I may as well have coilovers fitted, with polyeurathane bushes all round?

** It's certainly been a bit noisy at full lock for a while, and is getting heavier.

*** To be expected really, if the bearing plate holding the driveshaft steady has been knackered for ages, leading to the latter rattling about.

<sucks teeth>

Crikey. That sounds expensive.

And it's all documented on the invoice, so I can't run to a garage and chop it in against something non-broken - I think I'd getting my £2k scrappage at best with that list.

I wouldn't replace the springs unless they're broken. And shock absorbers come with new bushes anyway. Replace the shock absorbers.

The rest of it: Hmm, sounds like it's worn out. Thought these German cars were supposed to last?

The E36 was the first car BMW designed entirely in CAD. Before that, it was all manual calcs with tripled tolerances, after that they realised CAD isn't completely to be trusted.

The shocks, based on internet "data over time" stats, have a lifetime of about 60k apparently. Mine have done 120k over 12.5 years, and I do like a corner, so eh.

And coilovers are shiny. So are polyeurathane bushes.

Who needs a spine, right?

As I say, the bushes come with the shocks.
And it won't be shiny for more than a day, anyway.

Sure, why not?

Seriously, what sort of comment is that? I felt sorry for the guy, here he is with his excellent new car, and no doubt his wife had nagged him to take junior out and do the grocery shopping or something.

I'm gonna be taking the Four to Curborough (near Lichfield) at the end of November for a sprint day. Hopefully I'll actually be able to use my in-car camera this time.

Oh. I totally read it as "people with a family don't deserve cool cars".

That is how I read it... and why would you not want to take your son out in a cool car...?

51.9 mpg on my way in to the office. Wow! I wasn't even watching my driving. The old SE could only scrape 35mpg!

Still trying to work out when 6th gear is best. Ended up doing alot of changing on the motorway in the traffic which felt wrong. Expect I'll get used to it.

In traffic I don't use 6th gear at all..

It is mainly when I settle on the motorway, just before I put cruise control on.