Your fleet running reports

[Jobbo]

That looks great - hiding the USB/Media inputs behind the CD player tray is

I think it’s supposed to look more like a cassette deck with that auto-reverse type logo, but I don’t know if any car tape decks loaded bottom first. Really cool anyway.

[integrale_evo]

I’m pretty sure the original it’s based on did.

Hopefully it works as intended, I would hope at more than twice the price it’s a bit better than the one I got. Would look wrong in an e36, but would suit an e30 perfectly.

[integrale_evo]

It did
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265751494580 ... media=COPY

[John]

Motorhome sold Now the search for a new one begins

Owned for seven and a half years and covered 24000 miles around the UK. Everything from beach holidays in Cornwall to mountain bike races in the lakes and exploring Ben Nevis. It never let us down but did spring a leak in the radiator which was easy enough to replace. The only other expenses were servicing, new tyres and a few replacement parts in the habitation part. I was sad to see it go but you can't keep things for ever. The bonkers prices for motorhomes at the moment meant we sold it for only a little less than we paid for it in 2015.

[John]

Having studied the work of many great automotive photographers it will come as no surprise that Beany is a heavy influence, hence...

[nuttinnew]

3.5k a year round the UK was good going in the camper

[Jobbo]

Having studied the work of many great automotive photographers it will come as no surprise that Beany is a heavy influence, hence...

Brilliant.

[Sundayjumper]

So the results are in, and while I’m not surprised, I am a little disappointed. 610.3 miles for 37.56 litres = 73.9mpg vs. 91.1 on the OBC. We hit loads of traffic coming past Brussels yesterday and that dragged the average down. If I did a simple pro-rata to the ~95 mpg I saw at times then it’s 77mpg. Published extra-urban is 78.5mpg.

I can’t be upset about it, and 90+ was always too good to be true but I was really hoping for 80. The OBC vs. actual discrepancy is a lot more than I’ve had on any other car.*

Mitigating factor though - having had a few whiffs of raw diesel over the week I looked under the bonnet and there’s a reasonable amount of diesel sitting around the injectors. Impossible to know just how much has leaked out but it could contribute to the discrepancy.

* Except my E46 Compact where I retrofitted the OBC stalk and the mpg always over-read by 50%. I assumed maybe the stalk came from a 6-pot and it was something to do with coding because 6/4 = +50%. Occasionally under perfect conditions it would report 99.9mpg for a trip

[Beany]

Having studied the work of many great automotive photographers it will come as no surprise that Beany is a heavy influence, hence...

I'm....*sniffle* I'm so very proud of you

[drcarlos]

Been away for 2 weeks in the IoW towing and driving the L200 around. Not a problem at all and performed so much better after the remap.

Got in the TVR on Sunday and fired it up to take it to the Blackbushe monthly classic meet and the calliper issue reared it's head again, worse than last time as it was noticeably dragging after only a couple of miles, hot and smelly after 3. Freed up again on the way back after cooling but I've ordered the rebuild kit with new pistons (axle set) from Big Redd for the princely sum of £30, so that will be getting done next Saturday.
The hot weather looks to have taken a toll on my windscreen. Where it was delaminated (not to the degree it was an MOT failure, just unsightly) the inner glass looks to have fractured at the bottom corner. So investigations will have to happen with the insurer to see whether it's covered in that way (I don't see why it wouldn't be as it's a broken screen) and it will have to be booked in for a fitting. I'll probably have to take it in as by all accounts it's a days work for 2 people, so will need to be done in a workshop in case of rain.
It needs a wash too and I'll get chance to try my Glart drying cloth to see if it's better than the old Chamois I've been using.

[Ascender]

The boy's Corsa has been MOT'd - another introduction to real life and real bills - nearly £700 as there was a couple of things including a shock needing replaced which meant the pair got done.

M2 is going in for its free MOT and end of manufacturer's warranty check in a couple of weeks. There's a bit of a vibration when you get to about 80mph and a don from the brakes, so will get them to look in to that. I've installed a wifi aerial and got Apple CarPlay activated thanks to eBay so that's a job well done.

I continue to absolutely love the car (as does Mrs Mike), the only criticism is the DCT gearbox. Its a real pig when starting from cold and pulling away in 1st - its as if the clutch biting point has been set way too high so it ends up over-revving for very little progress. Not great for neighbours in the early morning. Reverse is also clunky as hell and unresponsive - seems to be a common criticism of the gearbox though so not much can be done.

The throttle response can also be a bit binary - kind of like turbo lag in some gears and parts of the rev range, but again, its another thing which I've seen other people complain about.

That's all pretty nitpicky in the scheme of things though, its an incredibly fun car, pretty practical too and is racking up the miles without any real issues.

[JonMad]

Public service announcement: It has been scientifically proven in controlled test scenarios that adding a roofbox reduces mpg by about 15%*

*When towing a trailer with a 1.2 Yeti at 60mph

You’re welcome.

[Rich B]

The boy's Corsa has been MOT'd - another introduction to real life and real bills - nearly £700 as there was a couple of things including a shock needing replaced which meant the pair got done.

M2 is going in for its free MOT and end of manufacturer's warranty check in a couple of weeks. There's a bit of a vibration when you get to about 80mph and a don from the brakes, so will get them to look in to that. I've installed a wifi aerial and got Apple CarPlay activated thanks to eBay so that's a job well done.

I continue to absolutely love the car (as does Mrs Mike), the only criticism is the DCT gearbox. Its a real pig when starting from cold and pulling away in 1st - its as if the clutch biting point has been set way too high so it ends up over-revving for very little progress. Not great for neighbours in the early morning. Reverse is also clunky as hell and unresponsive - seems to be a common criticism of the gearbox though so not much can be done.

The throttle response can also be a bit binary - kind of like turbo lag in some gears and parts of the rev range, but again, its another thing which I've seen other people complain about.

That's all pretty nitpicky in the scheme of things though, its an incredibly fun car, pretty practical too and is racking up the miles without any real issues.

re: apple play - how did you go about it (which seller/link) I need to do mine!

[DeskJockey]

Public service announcement: It has been scientifically proven in controlled test scenarios that adding a roofbox reduces mpg by about 15%*

*When towing a trailer with a 1.2 Yeti at 60mph

You’re welcome.

Can believe that. Galaxy certainly drank more than normal over the 2060 miles we drove. Overall MPG down by one. Filled up six times and came back with half a tank, call it about 320 litres used. Probably didn't help that the roof box wasn't straight, which I only noticed when we were home again.

[Mito Man]

Roofboxes are supposedly quite a bit more aerodynamic if fitted backwards, or maybe its a myth.

[16vCento]

Mine knocked my MPGees on the journey to the caravan down by 6 compared to normal for the trip, and I was doing a good 20mph less than I normally do as an average speed due to travel sick pup and roof box combo!

[JonMad]

I suppose I should try 60mph, not towing, no roofbox just to complete the set* but I'm not sure I cold bear trundling along at 60 without having a decent reason for it. It does give a different driving challenge though - timing overtakes of stuff with as little impact on other traffic as possible, especially on dual carriageways.

*then take off 15% for '60mph, not towing, with roofbox'

[integrale_evo]

Yep, cruising along at 60 just feels wrong unless you really have to.

The Alfa is so low geared that although it will happily cruise all day at 70, it feels much more suited to 60mph. You just feel like a berk at that speed on a dual carriageway so put up with the extra noise.

[Jobbo]

Played fuel light bingo with my Audi last night. It was showing 70 miles' range as I left the office and I had 70 miles to go, but I didn't drive particularly efficiently (still showed 44mpg for the journey). Filled up and got 72.34l into the tank. The official capacity is 73l. The zero range bong and 'fill up right now' message came on about 12 miles before I got to the forecourt and I confess I slowed down to 70mph for those last miles

[Swervin_Mervin]

Public service announcement: It has been scientifically proven in controlled test scenarios that adding a roofbox reduces mpg by about 15%*

*When towing a trailer with a 1.2 Yeti at 60mph

You’re welcome.

Last time I used mine on the 330 I got the best ever economy. And that was cruising at 80-85 with 3 adults and a baby on board. Think I managed 34mpg which is 4-5mpg above normal for that cruise speed.

Maybe it was the low profile aero bars + low profile box combo. There was probably only 2" between the roof and the box.