Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

SingleSue

tomterm8 wrote: »

I think the audi problems tend to come with second hand cars, because a lot of salesmen/women drive them, and then sell them on after a couple of years after they have been treated quite harshly.

Unfortunately, our Audi didn't have that excuse. It had been the wife of the boss' car and she had had it from new. Consequently, it was a fairly low mileage car and regularly serviced.

Was still crap though......

PN - I do the same as you now, any car I have has to meet my requirement of "What can I get in the boot", too small and we can't cope. I keep thinking that we could possibly downgrade to a smaller car but then I think of the practicalities and realise that it would be too much of a stress.

vivatifosi

SingleSue wrote: »

PN - I do the same as you now, any car I have has to meet my requirement of "What can I get in the boot", too small and we can't cope. I keep thinking that we could possibly downgrade to a smaller car but then I think of the practicalities and realise that it would be too much of a stress.

Funny you should say that. When my car finally departs for the Audi dealer in the sky, I will definitely want something with a hatchback. You can get so much more in when you have the height of a hatchback and the option to fold the back seats down. Plus all these years on, I still miss having a rear windscreen wiper.

dopester

misskool, compared to so many of the forum members on car forums I visit, I'm really no expert. Just the very basics. Love watching master mechanics like EricTheCarGuy on YouTube though.

lostinrates wrote: »

A good friend has an old passat. Drives a lot for her job, and its very, very reliaable.

They are good solid cars. The same generation Passat as the Golf MK4 (1997 to some time in late 2002, prior to window clips going metal before model build ended in 2004) have the same plastic clips, but I'm told the cabling can cause issues more than the plastic clips failing. There was an upgrade for both in Passat factory build.

I can agree with many of the cars Sue listed but just thought a larger engine is more expensive to run for fuel + insurance if you're coming back to driving from some time away. Larger Passat style engines, and diesels for that matter, do hint longer life to run up some great distances. Diesels are the ones you hear most of reaching 1 million mile marker longevity by owners who want to keep them running - but I've never owned a diesel. Don't like the sound, extra servicing requirements, and suspect fewer modern diesels will reach the 1m marker. Had a petrol Astra myself, but for less than a month (only because I got it for £180, realised I didn't really need to be running a car and money was an issue at the time when I could be saving instead), with an offer from someone else at work, which was a mile walk away, of £200 for it.

Today's Passat is a different beast I'd imagine. Stuffed full of new electronic complexity with mechanics ever more reliant on computer diagnosis to fault find. Even more so, I would imagine, for cars like Polo 'Blue' which make a special play about their green and improved mpg credentials to squeeze out economy.

The complexity of electronic emissions equipment imposed on modern cars by lobbied governments has actually made them unreliable. Electronic throttle modules fail regularly.

Unlike Vivatifosi, with her Audi that has never put a foot wrong and only needed minor repairs (same as my German car) I've never bothered replacing the cambelt. VW/Audi/SKoda/Seat UK like you to replace them every 4 years (unless it is a timing chain). My thoughts are the reasons for 4 year change came from UK dealerships just after all those VW's suffered cambelt failure from that bad design pulley I mentioned in a previous post.

There are different mileage cambelt recommendations in my official German factory servicing manual for each engine model, but no "age" recommendations. I'm pretty sure I'll get 12 years out of mine, before hitting the recommended mileage change limit, and then sell it, without cambelt issues. Know of others with the same car who've chanced it and still fine at 12 years, rather than paying £350 every 4 years for replacement. (If you do change the cambelt, best to get them to put in a new waterpump at the same time for the extra £30 whilst everything is out). That is a personal risk though as they can go. If mine did go then obviously I'd regret skimping on the cost of changing it - something there is no way I can do myself despite reading many a DIY guide. From what I've read.. cambelt changes on many older Toyota models are much cheaper and simpler to do - and I would do at times/distance recommended.

This guy is a doctor who also knows mechanics, and I follow his philosophy, but that is the risk I take (I'm going to shut up about cars now!)

I'd inspect it. Give it a squirt of belt dressing. Mine looks strong enough to drive a motorbike. A flimsier one on my Passat lasted 240,000 (before car being sold on). And 130,000 on a previous Audi (before car being sold on). And over 100,000 on my son's Pug 309 - needed tensioning slightly.

I've read lots of stories of cambelts 'failing' a few thousand miles after they've been changed. I've read only one story about Ford's 10yr 100,000 cambelt engines failing yet by now there must be zillions of them about run by people who make an active or passive decision to leave them alone.

Remember, the motor service trade, like any other service and repair business, exists to turn a profit by advising as much work to be done as the client will accept.

lostinrates

PN, we love chestnuts too. Its a lovely time of year for chestnut lovers

tomterm8

I like chesnuts, we have a couple of huge trees here which product thousands of the things, but have never worked out how to peel them without (a)cutting your finger off or (b) burning your finger or (c) it taking absolutly ages.

lostinrates

tomterm8 wrote: »

I like chesnuts, we have a couple of huge trees here which product thousands of the things, but have never worked out how to peel them without (a)cutting your finger off or (b) burning your finger or (c) it taking absolutly ages.

Shhhhhh....dh is getting a couple for Christmas from my parents. . Not really ready for trees and don't know where to put them. We use to peel them at school and eat them raw sitting an chatting under chestnut trees. Good peelers went up in the social scale At home we roast them mainly....then if not eating them like use them in recipes fro cooked.

michaels

If the insurance isn't too crippling and you don't find a slightly bigger car too intimidating I would recommend a mk1 avensis about 8 years old.

dopester

tomterm8 wrote: »

I like chesnuts, we have a couple of huge trees here which product thousands of the things, but have never worked out how to peel them without (a)cutting your finger off or (b) burning your finger or (c) it taking absolutly ages.

They are quite pricey aren't they? There is one independent grocer near us who also has a secret source of chestnuts they have someone collect come the season.

I was looking for scrap copper on ebay the other day (when it weathers and goes green, like the Statue of Liberty or the roof of many a public European grand building. Apart from 2p sized pieces of copper, any real length of copper takes years and years, unless clumsily chemically treated to turn that shade of green.)

A length of such copper is absolutely magic to prevent roof moss forming on a roof, when fitted up to the upper part of a roof. I look at people's roofs and there is often green copper flashing around the base of their chimneys. You can see a lighter patch of the roof where the rain mixing with the molecules of copper have treated the roof, with no moss below, compared to the rest of their roof with moss growth.

During that search I found a cute copper chestnut roaster.. still some listed but larger, and don't go into a traditional over, and not as cute.

A tip I was told, is to bake them fully (piercing them first with a fork), then remove a few from the oven into a bowl, but let them cool just for a few minute a bit before attempting to open. Not to leave them to go cold or anything, but just enough so the chestnut shrinks back a bit in the shell. Should make them slightly easier to open. Or maybe PN could invent a device to open.. every problem has a solution sort of thing.

tomterm8

dopester wrote: »

They are quite pricey aren't they? There is one independent grocer near us who also has a secret source of chestnuts they have someone collect come the season.
.

Er, I wouldn't know, we just pick 'em up off the ground when we want them. Kent is chock full of ancient chesnut trees that were originally planted to feed the pigs, and there aren't any pig anymore, so in the right season you can get as many as you like for nothing.

vivatifosi

dopester wrote: »

Unlike Vivatifosi, with her Audi that has never put a foot wrong and only needed minor repairs (same as my German car) I've never bothered replacing the cambelt. VW/Audi/SKoda/Seat UK like you to replace them every 4 years (unless it is a timing chain). My thoughts are the reasons for 4 year change came from UK dealerships just after all those VW's suffered cambelt failure from that bad design pulley I mentioned in a previous post.

My mechanic is a friend of the family and he told me to get cambelt replaced or it could invalidate other works. He did me a great deal though, a little over £300 for a service, cambelt change and MOT. This was my second. Because car used to be my company chariot, the first change was early and on mileage. Needless to say, I don't take my car to Audi, who wanted something like £600 for cambelt alone.