Be Excellent To Each Other

Err
2002- white J reg volvo 440 (birthday present)
2006(i think) - grey M reg volvo 440. After the steering wheel in the last went missing. (as part of the continuing birthday present)
2009 - greenish T reg audi A3. (part of inheritance)
2015 - Black 57 reg Mercedes C180 sport. (yeah first one I actually chose and bought)

Should have done it last year. They're £3 - £4k now (up from £1.5k).

Bugger.

How do you lose a Transit Van?

Also, is Top Gear should sack off Joey and have pay you to do what you do to cars.

I'm glad you asked that Davpaz, I read it and thought I'd ask but then forgot.

Nase lost it. It was parked somewhere in East London but he couldn't remember where. The council crushed it in the end.

Whoops.

That's an amazing story.

It had about £10k of DJ gear in it, too.

Mind blowing! I can't even begin to think how this story unfolded.

Nase 'lost it'.

Changed 3/4 spark plugs at lunchtime. The fourth wasn't changed as the insulation from the HT was left around it,and I didn't have my long pliers to remove it. I will buy new HT lead and dig it out.

Lists :

After I passed my test I had no money for a car so drove my parents Astra , for a long time then bought my first car which was a

Renault 19 'A' plate in blue

Which got me to and from work for a while , including one time when a pipe burst and it leaked water all over the front pedals which really freaked me out driving along the motorway was still working when i sold it to get my second car

Vauxhall Astra Belmont 'C' plate in a disgusting burnt orange

I liked this unfortunately some twat ran into the back of me at a roundabout and did a runner which meant it failed its next MOT so it got changed out for a

Rover 200s in silver , think it was a K plate

This was the first car i killed by too many miles and it died somewhere around the 160,000 mile mark and I needed something quick so picked up a car from a guy at work who was selling a

Volvo 440 in brown , no idea of plate again

Again I killed this one with too many miles - it stopped somewhere around the 180,000 mile mark and since the price of fuel was going up and a garage next to me / a garage about 1/2 way to work started to sell LPG I got a nearly new

Vauxhall Astra LPG - W plate in silver

I really liked this one but again , killed by too many miles it got to around 190,000 before it gave up and i bought another LPG this time a

Citroen Picasso LPG - again in silver , this was an 03 plate

This one lasted me well from about 50,000 to 220,000 but again died so i picked up a

Renault Megane diesel - in black - an 07 plate (I think)

This one didnt last and the fuel injectors went after around 9 months and i switched to my current car which is a

Skoda Fabia diesel - in 'cappuccino' - an 07 plate and it has gone from 50,000 miles to around 135,000 miles

Jeez... How many miles do you do?

"lots" is the correct answer to that.

Around 85,000, reckon.

I had a ~150 mile daily commute for around 14 years (so around 35,000 a year)

I now have a ~7 minute daily walk into the office

My list is distinctly unimpressive

Skoda Fabia
Honda Jazz
YELLOW Skoda Fabia (the yellow bit is the important bit)

I've not been driving long

Yellow is a daring choice!

Mate of mine had a lemon yellow, debadged, lowered Cinquecento a while back. Bucket front seats. Tiny little fella he was. Could barely see over the steering wheel.

"Bus Wanker!"

Not far off. He was from Manchester...

Ah, The Inbetweeners.
The films were a bit shit (IMO) but the series were split-yer-sides funny.

Nowt wrong with being a Manc. I've been here 25-odd years so I've got my passport.

I spent far too many hours pushing this thing around.

Is that a baja buggy Grim...? Beetle or Mini running gear? (or neither knowing me lol)

Either way, it's awesome, love it. That's what life's all about - daft, improbable vehicles and fun times. Good on ya

Best choice.

My older brother had a bright yellow Ford Capri ( sadly only the 1.6 model ). It was awesome - tiger skin seat covers and a horn that played "Dixie" with half the notes wrong.

Is that both ways?

My brother had a yellow Vauxhall Chevelle that had no reverse gear (as in, it was present but didn't work)

He also had a blue Ford Fiesta that had a fully working gearbox, until my other brother decided to TWOC it and do "racing gear changes" (no clutch) around the area.

It's a Beetle, and it's not mine. Bloody thing

Google maps says 75.8 miles one way and 73 the other :-)

That was the last place we stayed at - the one before that was a much easier 67 miles one way / 65 the other

Title

I've owned three cars. I passed my test in 2000, but only got my first wheels eight years later, opening up the wonders of the supermarkets on the ring road to me.

i. Bright red early-1990s VW Polo . I was always surprised about how much I could fit into it. 2008 - 2010
ii. Blue P-reg Nissan Almera. A bit of a workhorse. 2010-2014
iii. Silver 2008 Chevrolet Lacetti . Yes, it's got all the stylings of a Tesco Value Cornflake packet and the interior is plastic, but it's a fun drive and surprisingly nippy especially when going round bends on country lanes. 2014 - date.

Blue Citroen AX
Metallic Blue Citroen AX (Splendidly nippy and excellent in the snow)
Silver Citroen Saxo VTS (Probably my favourite car I've owned)
Bell end purple 1.6 Vauxhall Vectra (Company car...utterly forgettable)
Bronze(ish) Scooby 2.5 Legacy (excellent car, but the requirement for Super Unleaded and servicing after 8k meant it would have been cheaper to throw fivers out of the window while driving)
Black Skoda Octavia VRS (Excellent, speedy and economical, stolen twice and didn't come back the second time)
Blue 2005 1.6 Mitibushi Lancer Estate (Bought from my parents to replace the Octavia, a potato of a car that has done the business for the last seven or so years however my most recent MOT was very expensive and the engine light has just come on so it looks like it is on its last legs).

"a potato of a car" -

I have been driving a while, and as a result my list is:

V reg Ford Focus.
63 reg Ford Fiesta.

Um, that's it.

Oooh, list!

Er,

1987 VW Polo called Arthur. Loved it, drove it to death.
S reg Peugeot 206. Horrible, horrible piece of shit car. Started making horrible noises (suspect was the engine mountings going) and traded it off onto a dealer as soon as I could.
R reg BMW 316i. Slightly underpowered but it was fun to drive. Got totalled by a twat who didn't understand how roundabouts worked (not me).
X reg Puma. Awesome funtimes. Only got rid of it because the clutch died.
02 reg Volvo V40 - it happens to all of us at some point. At some point I'll get rid - probably when we're back from Singapore. Then it's Disco time.

You're going to scour East London for Grim...'s bus?

Hell yeah. It's got 10k of audio kit in it - that's like the chuffing Sierre Madre, man.

My hire car whilst mine is in for repair is a white Ford Focus - I look like a right boy racer in it. It's a 1.6 diesel, however, so I'm not quite burning off any Porsches at the light though.

£49.99 for four litres of oil!

CASTROL EDGE TITANIUM FST or something.

Extra annoyingly I have most of four litres of some super-duper OW40 left from when I had the Type-R (which was also fifty quid for four litres IIRC), but the S4 needs 5W30/5W40 and it has to meet VW504/507 spec.

The engines on the S4 are known to 'use' a bit of oil so they need periodically topping up with half a litre or so.

Fifty quid! For four litres!

You can use some of that money you don't pay tax with.

This should do you:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FUCHS-TITAN-5W ... ag=beex-21

I do an oil change every 3-5,000 miles in the Celica.

4.5 litres of Fuchs 10W50 for £42 (well, it was last time I bought it)

I used to do a fluid and bearing change on the Tomcat every time it had been "out". Fortunately the Rover V8 would probably be happy if I used fairly liquid as lubricant so it only cost me around £50 for the whole lot.

That appears to be substantially better value, and it meets the spec so it must be fine.

I will get that next time!



I pay all the tax and NI required by the laws of the land, unless you're suggesting I volunteer to pay more?

Nothng jamming a screwdriver into something doesn't fix. Fourth plug done and new HT lead on and hopefully it is fixed. Otherwise, we're up to coil packs.

I had a brief look at the throttle body arrangement and it seems easy enough to swap, just the cable looks fiddly. I think I'd have been happy as a mechanic

I want an S4 now, sick of driving ordinary cars. Fancy putting all those chips in you linked to as well

Wife is going to take some convincing, I don't help myself though. I found an S4 estate so went in with the "family car" line.

She commented on the room and how we could get kids in etc, then I blurted out " no way I would have kids messing up those red leather seats"

It's early days for me and the S4, and plenty of time for MANY EXPENSIVE THINGS to go wrong with it of course, but I'm honestly prepared to say based on my time in it so far, that it's the best car I've ever owned.

It really is two cars in one, stick it in dynamic mode, set off for some 'spirited driving', and it's an absolute beast of thing, with truly gob-smacking pace and superb cornering ability. I know Cavey doesn't much rate the handling on these cars (and yes they do understeer, but the newer ones with the V6 are nowhere near as bad as the old V8s), but I've been driving the mountain road here for over 16 years, and this car handles it with aplomb - it feels as well planted on the road as the Scooby did.

However, leave it in auto mode, and it's pretty much just a normal everyday practical saloon car. Easy to drive, quiet and comfortable - with a handy burst of acceleration when it's needed. (Comfort mode is a bit too squishy and wallowy IMO, auto gets the job done for everyday driving fine.) I was off last week so did a fair bit of driving around with Mrs Hearthly in the car, she found it comfortable and pleasant, and was pleased with the heated seat

The B8 (2009-2015) S4 got a facelift and tech revision in 2012 (not sure on the exact model year but they're easy enough to spot), but even on my earlier 2010 car it's got all the toys and tech I want. In particular I love the dual-SD slots in the head unit, and the factory-fit iPod/USB connectors in the glove compartment, all of which are fully integrated into the MMI system. (I've got 144GB of music on tap via an iPod and two 32GB SD cards.)

I've already put several hundred miles on it, and it looks to be settling down to about 25mpg with a combination of driving styles, so not bad at all for a car packing 333bhp.

If you're seriously starting to look at these asfish just let me know as there are definitely a few options you want to be keeping an eye out for IMO. Specifically the Drive Select was an option on the pre-facelift cars (it's standard from the facelift onwards), I think you definitely want this. Also the MMI wasn't standard, which is pretty scandalous considering how expensive the S4 is even in its base configuration (£37K without any options at all), I think you definitely want this as well.

When it comes to the looks of the car that's subjective of course, personally I really like the fact it just looks mostly like a normal A4, with a few key differences if you know what you're looking for. White is a nice colour but fuck me they pick up the dirt and show it, very quickly.

There seems to be a reasonable number to choose from looking at sites such as Autotrader, so you can afford to be picky in terms of getting the one you want when it comes to colour/options/miles/price etc.

One thing I just cannot live with on Audis is the shocking MMI user interface, especially that bloody wheel thing on the satnav that takes about 10 minutes to enter a bloody postcode. All the car mags moan about Range Rovers touchscreen satnav but it's about a million times quicker and easier to use, as is the Porsche's which is also touchscreen. It's not a money thing as Mrs C's boggo A3 was similarly hobbled with this.

I honestly couldn't live with it, it's a deal breaker for me.

The satnav destination entry on our Focus is fucking rubbish, too. Why is it so hard for car makers to give you a good interface?

It is an odd omission, when my 2002 Tom Tom one has a nice touch screen, all in colour and off you go, yet expensive cars sometimes have monochrome ugly screens (or am I way out of date on that front?) and no keyboard or touch screen.