Your fleet running reports

[duncs500]

104 miles since last year

How many did you do in the Aston?

I've done 140 since the last MOT on 20th June. Slightly better I guess.

Like a lot of people, I just don't go anywhere any more. I've not been to the office since mid-March. Our food shopping gets delivered. We're not allowed to go and visit people. For the very occasional local errand it's just not worth the hassle of getting either of them out of the garage.

And I never seem to fancy "just going for a drive".

Life is quite messed up right now.

Sad times. Sign of the times though I guess, here's to more excuses to get them out in the summer.

[Jimmy Choo]

Anyway, it looks like the issue might be that the wiper arm is the passenger side one rather than the drivers side one.

It's not. The mechanism has failed and rather conveniently, it's a bastard to get to so I'll get a garage to do it and check the front left suspension as the tyre is jumping on full lock at low speed. If I'm lucky, it's allignment. If I'm not, it's more cash for bushes.

[PaulJ]

[/quote]

It's not. The mechanism has failed and rather conveniently, it's a bastard to get to so I'll get a garage to do it and check the front left suspension as the tyre is jumping on full lock at low speed. If I'm lucky, it's allignment. If I'm not, it's more cash for bushes.
[/quote]

Isn't the tyre jumping called tread block creep and more noticeable on stiff, low profile sporty tyres in low temperatures? I get this on my car and it's only done 800 miles so far. I think it's quite normal.

[McSwede]

Got to love Covid traffic . I left Hanger lane at 16.16 yesterday and got on the North Circular to head for the M1 and home. Had a brilliant cruise back with zero hold ups and mile after mile of uninterrupted cruise control waftage. 70mph average for the journey was pretty good. Journey down was 10 mins quicker too. Happy days. (And reasonably economical too).

[jamcg]

Come to Stockton, traffics almost back to pre covid levels, absolutely ridiculous

[Jobbo]

Got to love Covid traffic . I left Hanger lane at 16.16 yesterday and got on the North Circular to head for the M1 and home. Had a brilliant cruise back with zero hold ups and mile after mile of uninterrupted cruise control waftage. 70mph average for the journey was pretty good. Journey down was 10 mins quicker too. Happy days. (And reasonably economical too).

That's impressive, but I think proves I wouldn't get 40mpg out of a 540i xDrive

[Gavin]

Bongo up for sale, had a few enquiries but will need to wait until lockdown eases unless someone local pops up.

Volvo pinged up needing a service, but given the grand it took to get through the MOT a few months back, I am hoping it will be an oil and filter change.

Neither vehicle has done many miles in the last 12 months funnily enough!

[McSwede]

Got to love Covid traffic . I left Hanger lane at 16.16 yesterday and got on the North Circular to head for the M1 and home. Had a brilliant cruise back with zero hold ups and mile after mile of uninterrupted cruise control waftage. 70mph average for the journey was pretty good. Journey down was 10 mins quicker too. Happy days. (And reasonably economical too).

That's impressive, but I think proves I wouldn't get 40mpg out of a 540i xDrive

Definitely not Mine does high 30's sometimes as high as 42mpg but that's at a very steady 75mph cruise.

Funnily enough, it's 6 years to the day since I collected my new F11 520d. It was the first company car I'd been able to spec exactly as I wanted it. I loved that car! I only had it 9 months but did 40k in it and that only averaged 37mpg over that time. Dread to think if it'd have been the 540i

Brilliant cars are those F10/F11 5 series.

[Mark_bt52]

When I was commuting 60 miles pre-Covid I was able to average 50mpg in our 530d for that journey (High Wycombe to Andover).

Yet I still rank it as the car I dislike the most of all those we have owned other than the MG-ZR and bottom of all, MG-B.
Rubbish vague steering, lifeless handling, terrible ride quality, nasty diesel engine. Completely outclassed by the S4 in every way (other than economy...)
Will not miss it when it goes at all.

[Carlos]

When I was commuting 60 miles pre-Covid I was able to average 50mpg in our 530d for that journey (High Wycombe to Andover).

Yet I still rank it as the car I dislike the most of all those we have owned other than the MG-ZR and bottom of all, MG-B.
Rubbish vague steering, lifeless handling, terrible ride quality, nasty diesel engine. Completely outclassed by the S4 in every way (other than economy...)
Will not miss it when it goes at all.

I had a 214 in the late 90's for a few months and really enjoyed it. Nippy and handled well although it was rusty within the warranty period

What happened to the MG-ZR ?

[Sundayjumper]

...Andover...

HQLF ?

[Sundayjumper]

Well we now have the 530d.

It's very nice.

Mainly though it's a soft comfy car that pampers rather than threatens to bite your head off.

Have you broken it since buying it ??

[Jobbo]

I got a high of 38.5mpg out of my F11 535i. I have managed 47mpg out of my CLS, but now I don't drive it so gently I am happy to average around 40mpg. From time to time I consider something like a G31 530d xDrive, but the actual cost saving if it managed 50mpg even at 30k+ miles a year isn't significant. Having a large fuel tank so I can do a week's commuting without having to fill up part way is more important.

I've noticed that the last generation Touareg had an 85l fuel tank, and optionally came with a 100l tank. I imagine the 262PS diesel will achieve pretty close to 40mpg at a 70-75mph cruise, be comfy, reliable and practical so I think that'll be my next car. Not sure when.

[Jobbo]

When I was commuting 60 miles pre-Covid I was able to average 50mpg in our 530d for that journey (High Wycombe to Andover).

Yet I still rank it as the car I dislike the most of all those we have owned other than the MG-ZR and bottom of all, MG-B.
Rubbish vague steering, lifeless handling, terrible ride quality, nasty diesel engine. Completely outclassed by the S4 in every way (other than economy...)
Will not miss it when it goes at all.

I don't miss my F11 - it seemed quite interesting when I collected it, but it seemed devoid of character as I lived with it. Missed my C350 CDI while I owned it, and I imagine I'll miss my CLS when I change it.

[Rich B]

When I was commuting 60 miles pre-Covid I was able to average 50mpg in our 530d for that journey (High Wycombe to Andover).

Yet I still rank it as the car I dislike the most of all those we have owned other than the MG-ZR and bottom of all, MG-B.
Rubbish vague steering, lifeless handling, terrible ride quality, nasty diesel engine. Completely outclassed by the S4 in every way (other than economy...)
Will not miss it when it goes at all.

why did you buy it? Did you not test drive it?

[Sundayjumper]

When I was commuting 60 miles pre-Covid I was able to average 50mpg in our 530d for that journey (High Wycombe to Andover).

Yet I still rank it as the car I dislike the most of all those we have owned other than the MG-ZR and bottom of all, MG-B.
Rubbish vague steering, lifeless handling, terrible ride quality, nasty diesel engine. Completely outclassed by the S4 in every way (other than economy...)
Will not miss it when it goes at all.

why did you buy it? Did you not test drive it?

He got it 2 and a half years ago. I presume he's only just noticed ? Nobody would put up with a car that bad for two and a half years.

[Mark_bt52]

Didn't buy it. Was Christine's parents and got handed down to us when I sold the Spec C, so for the money it's great

PS Yes, Field Army HQ. Going back there in April.

The initial impression of comfort was compared to the Spec C. It is remarkable how quickly the novelty wore off when driving around the potholed South Bucks roads.

It does its job cheaply, and simply can't bothered with the hassle of changing it at the moment.

[Delphi]

Picked up the 928 from Strasse yesterday. They replaced the gearbox sump seal, new filter, oil and cleaned and repainted the sump. On the drive back I noticed the windscreen wipers had stopped working. Hopefully, it's just a fuse. I've had to leave it at my in-law's place as my garage is currently full of bathroom suite as we're getting the bathroom re-done.

My heater control valve has finally turned up (two weeks to arrive from Germany), so I'm going to book some time off in a couple of weeks to fit that and sort out the other main niggles.

Volvo had its annual service without any issues although the stealer reported all the brake disks were slightly lipped and the front pads were 60% worn. Quote for supplying and fitting 4 disks and front pads? £830.04!! Priced up the parts to do it myself - £165. It'll be replaced at the end of the year so I'm leaving it as is.

[Rich B]

Blimey, I want to live in the world where you get handed down really very nice BMW 5 series' and you still whinge because you don't like them!

[Mark_bt52]

Well one of the reasons we still have it is to avoid causing any offence. Think I'm entitled to have an opinion about it aren't i?

Also since Covid and working from home 80% of the time even before that happened I'm not even sure about what type of car we would replace it with.
Would the economy of a diesel really matter any more? Would it offset the hassle of ULEZ? (if so then A8)
Would an EV alternative be workable?
Can I justify an Audi S7...?

Will wait for the world to return to whatever normality looks like first