Your fleet running reports

[JonMad]

Swift. MOT. Flying colours. Keeping up my average of about 2200 miles/year. Continues to be fun at low speed, with a decent amount of kit for a relatively cheap thing (DAB, bluetooth, cruise, AC, sat nav, remote locking, rear parking sensors).

[Gavster]

Remember the “STOP” button ? According to the instructions - in a rare break from tradition I had actually RTFM this time - it turns off the a/c. Like in every normal car where you press a button to turn on the a/c, but opposite. But it turns out that the manual is wrong and the “STOP” button also turns off the heat meaning you just get ambient air regardless of the setting on the dial

I’d had the “STOP” button engaged the whole time because I didn’t want the a/c running. Gah.

Drove home with heater on.

That's weirdly logical, if unusual. I quite like the idea of having the option to have ambient fan, or heat/AC.

[mik]

Remember the “STOP” button ? According to the instructions - in a rare break from tradition I had actually RTFM this time - it turns off the a/c. Like in every normal car where you press a button to turn on the a/c, but opposite. But it turns out that the manual is wrong and the “STOP” button also turns off the heat meaning you just get ambient air regardless of the setting on the dial

I’d had the “STOP” button engaged the whole time because I didn’t want the a/c running. Gah.

Drove home with heater on.

That's weirdly logical, if unusual. I quite like the idea of having the option to have ambient fan, or heat/AC.

I guess it's kinda logical if you have climate control as opposed to just an AC switch , but you can always achieve ambient air by switching off the compressor, and setting the temperature to minimum (whilst manually reducing the fan speed so it's not trying to achieve a lower temperature it can never reach).

[Mito Man]

I can see how Ferrari arrived at that point. What is essentially a manufacturer of cars which are not driven very much at all would surely have experienced many problems with customers phoning up saying the AC doesn’t work on the 2 occasions a year they turn it on. Having the default be on would at least mean the compressor and gasses circulate and lubricate everything even if it’s just for a few minutes.

[Jobbo]

Audi went past 8008 miles last week. I was on the motorway so didn't take a picture.

[Beany]

I hit 80085 last month, I think I posted a pic here, I was very pleased with catching that.

[IanF]

Think the F430 has an OFF button there.. it’s not obvious whether it’s depressed or not, which is helpful!

[Alex88]

Mustang 4.6:

Passed it’s recent MOT with mostly flying colours (dodgy taillight bulb stopped us getting a clean sheet).

Just had all the fluids changed out, including the diff & gearbox, which I don’t think had ever been done! despite the diff having a fair bit of surface corrosion on it, I was informed that the bolts all came out easily and the job was no problem. Even the ancient fluid looked ok, although I’m sure it had absolutely no lubricity in it.

We’re loving having the Mustang. It’s so much fun to own. I never would have considered one before, or any yank-tank for that matter – I think the years of being told (by Top Gear mainly) that they’re slow, don’t handle, rubbish build quality, etc, result in you having a very dismissive view of them, despite not necessarily having any experience with them..

I mean, it’s not that those things are untrue, but in the Mustang’s case, the old stereotypes are kind of lacking context. No, it’s not the quickest thing on the road – I’m sure most hot hatches are quicker – but it can get a real move on, and you have to work to get it there. On top of that, it’s quite raw, so you always feel like you’re going faster than you are. It’s great fun! Quite a contrast to a lot of today’s cars that you just stick in Drive and let the car do the work for you. While often being quite isolated from what’s going on.

Handling I think is ok, it’s not an Elise, and it does have a live rear axle, but it’s absolutely fine for our driving. Build quality is a weird one – there are some cheap materials, but everything feels durable. Evidenced by the fact that this car is 15 years old and has 112k miles on it, and almost all of them in the UK. The underside looks ok, nothing has fallen off, the interior is good. It’s only let down by the corroded bonnet edge – a result of poor design than anything else.

In the Mustang’s case, don’t take it too seriously and enjoy it for what it is. Sounds amazing, looks awesome, and gives you an old-school muscle car experience. Brilliant.

There are a couple of downsides, though. It has the world’s stiffest clutch, and LHD can sometimes be an issue. That’s it.



Mini Cooper 1.5 turbo

We’ve only had this since December after a drunk driver hit the missus’ Beetle and wrote it off. She was distraught. Got the Mini (F55/British Racing Green) shortly after. It’s been faultless. 3cy 1.5 has genuine go in it and seems to pick up really well from low revs. Will happily cruise at 70 with the engine not being bothered at all. Delivers loads of MPG, has decent space, looks super fresh and modern, and feels like a proper premium product. It’s a loaded spec, too. I fully get why they’re everywhere.

Downsides – I hate that reverse is right next to 1st. I’ve gone backwards while trying to pull away! Other than that, nothing

[Matty]

We’re loving having the Mustang. It’s so much fun to own. I never would have considered one before, or any yank-tank for that matter – I think the years of being told (by Top Gear mainly) that they’re slow, don’t handle, rubbish build quality, etc, result in you having a very dismissive view of them, despite not necessarily having any experience with them..

Sounds a lot like the VXR8 - it was just massive amounts of fun to own, despite being everything modern cars shouldn't be.

[Alex88]

Exactly, Matty. Same DNA. Flawed, but loud and fun

Some old pics below. I don't know how to link from Imgur without that annoying border being there

[GG.]

Finally got round to doing a cold start of the GTS... though it seems there are some shenanigans going on in the ECU. Even with the exhaust button "on" the valves are clearly not open whilst its in its warm up mode. You can clearly hear them click open at just about the 1:00 mark.

On the 997 you could fix this (not that it was ever a problem as valves were fully operational even from cold) by simply unplugging the clip to the vacuum line switch which would give you no vacuum and therefore permanently open valves. On a 991 however the fecking engine cover doesn't open so not such an easy solution. Anyway hopefully will have some vids after tomorrow with a better indication of how its sounds.



The throttle blips are only to c. 2750 revs by the way (given it was cold). It is very obnoxious revv'd out to 5-6k when warm.

[mik]

ou can clearly hear them click open at just about the 1:00 mark.

Massive improvement!

[Sundayjumper]

Capristo exhaust off, sold, ready to go. And with the exhaust off, I now have a list of "while we're there" jobs to sort out...

* Engine mounts are shot
* Gearbox mount is shot
* The little rubber bobbins supporting the header tank & air filter housings are shot
* Various nuts & bolts need replacing

Ferrari parts pricing seems a bit all over the place. A lot of small fittings are very reasonably priced and even the engine mounts don't seem bad at about £90 each (CLICK), but then the little rubber bobbins are over £20 each (CLICKY) and I need ten of them ! A single exhaust locknut is £14 (CLICKY) and to replace one exhaust stud on the OEM back box is over £50. CLICK.

I will seek out some cheaper alternatives....

[IanF]

Capristo exhaust off, sold, ready to go. And with the exhaust off, I now have a list of "while we're there" jobs to sort out...

* Engine mounts are shot
* Gearbox mount is shot
* The little rubber bobbins supporting the header tank & air filter housings are shot
* Various nuts & bolts need replacing

Ferrari parts pricing seems a bit all over the place. A lot of small fittings are very reasonably priced and even the engine mounts don't seem bad at about £90 each (CLICK), but then the little rubber bobbins are over £20 each (CLICKY) and I need ten of them ! A single exhaust locknut is £14 (CLICKY) and to replace one exhaust stud on the OEM back box is over £50. CLICK.

I will seek out some cheaper alternatives....

Some of those items are half your prices on scuderiacarparts.com if you want to stay oem.

[IanF]

https://x.com/ediz1975/status/169760412 ... PEzi2DgYoQ

[Sundayjumper]

Some of those items are half your prices on scuderiacarparts.com if you want to stay oem.

I couldn't give two hoots for OEM when it's nuts & bolts that nobody ever sees ! The studs & locknuts are standard sizes that are only a pound or two each normally; no problem sourcing those. And I've found the bobbins slightly cheaper at superformance than at scuderia.

I will just console myself that £400 of parts and fitting them myself is probably saving me a couple of grand over dropping it at a dealer and telling them to sort it.

[JonMad]

Swift: picked up a squeak in the right front wheel early on yesterday at the meet. It is intermittent and stops when I press the brake so I suspect something stuck in there somewhere.

Yeti: The wife managed to ‘scrape’ a wooden post. My first thought was to buff it and see what damage remains but there are indentations and missing paint on the bumper, the headlight washer cap has gone and the washer itself has been broken. So after a quick look on eBay for bumper + washer jet + cap it might have to be an insurance claim.

[Jobbo]

At least you don’t have any parking sensors to replace, Jon…

[JonMad]

Transpires she hit a post (under the round light, which has also cracked the grey trim a little). Then reversed, then scraped the rest of it (and probably pulled off the headlight washer cover) doing most of the damage when moving away again

In a car park, that she only went into to do a u-turn after taking a wrong turn. And there was a roundabout 100 yards further on where she could have turned back.

Oh well.

I hit a post in a car park in the Fabia so I can’t roll my eyes and complain too much. Wasn’t too worried about fixing that one though!

edit: £0 excess and protected NCD so insurance can sort it.

[IanF]

All parts have been received by HR Owen and it’ll be completed by the end of week beginning 11th Sept! Just in time for the weather to change I’m sure