Your fleet running reports

[Mito Man]

The OE BMW batteries may be Bosch but they’re definitely different from the crap they sell in store.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I wouldn't know as I haven't bought a battery in well over a decade

[mik]

Evora is currently with teh Specialist (the amiable Mr Craig Moncrieff).

He fitted a new TPMS (that I sourced) as the original left rear was dropping connection when temperatures dropped. Also fitted two new MPS4S fronts (that I sourced). Service & MOT (passed with no advisories despite the same tester he uses citing only 3mm tread remaining on the outer shoulders of the rears (edit : at the last MOT not this one) - which was bobbins as they have 5mm all over but MPSS don’t have many tread sipes on the outer edges).

Pick it up at the end of the week.

Still absolutely love it.

[speedingfine]

Evora is currently with teh Specialist (the amiable Mr Craig Moncrieff).

He fitted a new TPMS (that I sourced) as the original left rear was dropping connection when temperatures dropped. Also fitted two new MPS4S fronts (that I sourced). Service & MOT (passed with no advisories despite the same tester he uses citing only 3mm tread remaining on the outer shoulders of the rears - which was bobbins as they have 5mm all over but MPSS don’t have many tread sipes on the outer edges).

Pick it up at the end of the week.

Still absolutely love it.

how long have you had it now Mik?

[mik]

That’s 4 years now Chris.

[scotta]

Managed to source a set of rocking horse shit OEM headlights for the elise - they should be arriving imminently. Unfortunately they were not £30 each like they used to be...

[JonMad]

Yeti update:
Collected, serviced, dropped back: £200
Insurance renewal: £200
Still doing its thing.

[Sundayjumper]

Took the Fabia for a spin this morning. It sounds fairly fruity from the outside apparently. Between a couple of roundabouts I gave it a needless razz to the redline past a BMW 318d. That was followed by the driver staring at me for behaving like a child (which I was). And the driver was a young chap in a baseball cap - exactly the kind of person you'd expect to see razzing around in a noisy hatchback, and his car was exactly what you'd expect to see a late 40s bloke driving. This amused me.

Like

[Sundayjumper]

Touareg passed its MOT with just a couple of obvious advisories. That’s good in terms of selling it, but like an old dog who just keeps on going I’m rather fond of it and don’t want to get rid.

[Jobbo]

As Jobbo found with replacing silly stuff on his Boxster like the alternator (all generic Bosch parts I expect), that shouldn't break, German reliability is not all its cracked up to be... it just might be still better than the rest

I think it's just evidence that sparing use doesn't increase the longevity of ancillaries - age dries out seals, contacts get tarnished etc and they just die.

[JonMad]

Just got about a tenner back from Direct Line for each of our cars for reduced mileage over lockdown. Handily I had a spreadsheet

[GG.]

As Jobbo found with replacing silly stuff on his Boxster like the alternator (all generic Bosch parts I expect), that shouldn't break, German reliability is not all its cracked up to be... it just might be still better than the rest

I think it's just evidence that sparing use doesn't increase the longevity of ancillaries - age dries out seals, contacts get tarnished etc and they just die.

Yes, agree. I mean mine gets used regularly but seemingly no level of usage, high,medium or low, will stave off the effects of time.

Some of this stuff is just precipitated by design flaws though. The cross-over coolant pipes fail, for example, because the join is between two different metals which corrodes over time. Fortunately the new ones are an updated design from Porsche which are one material the whole way through. Hopefully this means it shouldn't need doing again.

[DeskJockey]

As Jobbo found with replacing silly stuff on his Boxster like the alternator (all generic Bosch parts I expect), that shouldn't break, German reliability is not all its cracked up to be... it just might be still better than the rest

I think it's just evidence that sparing use doesn't increase the longevity of ancillaries - age dries out seals, contacts get tarnished etc and they just die.

Yes, agree. I mean mine gets used regularly but seemingly no level of usage, high,medium or low, will stave off the effects of time.

Some of this stuff is just precipitated by design flaws though. The cross-over coolant pipes fail, for example, because the join is between two different metals which corrodes over time. Fortunately the new ones are an updated design from Porsche which are one material the whole way through. Hopefully this means it shouldn't need doing again.

Hardly a new concept to science. Wonder how such things get signed off...

[GG.]

Almost always because it is cheaper for some reason I expect.

[DeskJockey]

Almost always because it is cheaper for some reason I expect.

Yes, no doubt about that.

[McSwede]

Almost always because it is cheaper for some reason I expect.

What about the £3k rear discs though? That has me genuinely intrigued. Especially when you can buy Brembo stuff for buttons.

[GG.]

Rich was being sarcastic based on how I'd phrased the last part of my post.

Rear discs would probably be about £300 fitted by the time you factor in pads, shims, wear sensors (if needed) and labour. Fronts are £600 I think.

Consumables and regular services on 911s are cheap... until something more substantial breaks.

[V8Granite]

Almost always because it is cheaper for some reason I expect.

Yes, no doubt about that.

A lot of stuff is simply not seen during testing.

We had test beds checking all manner of things for wear and tear. Abusing engines terribly. We even had a rig where every few minutes it changed the coolant from 90 degrees or so down to about 15 in a manner of seconds. We used to pump compressed air into the crankcase and tip the engine over at 45 degrees to mimick high blow by and extreme running. After a few years you get no issues and all is well.

We would then give tractors to a farmer for free to get actual on site running.

“Yes it’s me Bob the farmer, well the head snapped clean in half, come pick it up”

Dave!

[DeskJockey]

Almost always because it is cheaper for some reason I expect.

Yes, no doubt about that.

A lot of stuff is simply not seen during testing.

We had test beds checking all manner of things for wear and tear. Abusing engines terribly. We even had a rig where every few minutes it changed the coolant from 90 degrees or so down to about 15 in a manner of seconds. We used to pump compressed air into the crankcase and tip the engine over at 45 degrees to mimick high blow by and extreme running. After a few years you get no issues and all is well.

We would then give tractors to a farmer for free to get actual on site running.

“Yes it’s me Bob the farmer, well the head snapped clean in half, come pick it up”

Dave!

And that all sounds like the kind of testing you'd expect. But having two metals known to cause a reaction touching is guaranteed to cause an issue, isn't it?

Meanwhile more about the head snapping story, that sounds interesting!

[integrale_evo]

Manufacturers really aren’t that bothered. They know it will easily outlast the warranty period so why make it more expensive than it needs to be?

Long gone are the days where things were over engineered because it was the right way to do it, every single part is very carefully lifed and costed.

Go too far and there’s a risk that a slight drop in quality could lead to regular early failures which can lead to long term damage to the brand which can take decades to recover from.