Your fleet running reports

[Swervin_Mervin]

@Swervin_Mervin I replaced both front dampers on my 5 y/o Skoda this year too with the same issue. Cunts.

I've felt for some time that VAG products are fairly flaky Duncs, but not sure if this is a more recent thing with them, as the testers suggested. Having driven/owned a few F-series BMWs I wouldn't be surprised if they're not much better.

That's my worry TBH, I quite fancy a nicer daily, and would love something a bit more 'premium' eg. Merc/BMW, but I just feel there's big bills and issues everywhere you look.

I wonder whether it's worth getting a relatively new well-engined 5er touring, then just maintain it at an indy and run it until it dies (which is hopefully a long time). That way you can sort out the early niggles and have a relatively low long term maintenance cost. Dunno if it would work like that, but in my head it's a good excuse.

I know the purists may not agree but I still think that the late E-series BMWs may prove to be peak BMW for build quality and dynamics. Even they're getting on a bit now though!

[Mito Man]

Cars in general peaked from 2000-2012. Maybe I should say affordable cars which weren’t totally white goods.

[McSwede]

I've felt for some time that VAG products are fairly flaky Duncs, but not sure if this is a more recent thing with them, as the testers suggested. Having driven/owned a few F-series BMWs I wouldn't be surprised if they're not much better.

That's my worry TBH, I quite fancy a nicer daily, and would love something a bit more 'premium' eg. Merc/BMW, but I just feel there's big bills and issues everywhere you look.

I wonder whether it's worth getting a relatively new well-engined 5er touring, then just maintain it at an indy and run it until it dies (which is hopefully a long time). That way you can sort out the early niggles and have a relatively low long term maintenance cost. Dunno if it would work like that, but in my head it's a good excuse.

I know the purists may not agree but I still think that the late E-series BMWs may prove to be peak BMW for build quality and dynamics. Even they're getting on a bit now though!

The E series are superb. My wife's 320d auto has been rock solid. I also did a lot of miles in one from new with zero issues.

I also had an F21 M140i which was brill. 84k in 3 years from new. Other than having a rattly exhaust valved silencer replaced, it was faultless. Same with my current 330e 60k in 2 years so far and it just works. Nothing breaks or falls off. They're excellent.

[GG.]

Cars in general peaked from 2000-2012. Maybe I should say affordable cars which weren’t totally white goods.

You can probably widen that to 2015 I think. From 2015 on pretty much everything went turbo and I largely lose interest after that point. You're then mostly stuck with special edition cars to get your naturally aspirated kicks. 2017 with GPF to meet Euro 6c made it even worse.

[IanF]

Neither UAE nor USA have GPF and their cars sound much better.

I think what has happened is car manufacturers have built their cars to last until warranty plus one day and have much better knowledge now about when metals etc will fatigue to the point of failure. After all, they don’t get any money from you selling your car to a third party, so why should they waste resources/ increase costs for nought?

[Rich B]

Neither UAE nor USA have GPF and their cars sound much better.

I think what has happened is car manufacturers have built their cars to last until warranty plus one day and have much better knowledge now about when metals etc will fatigue to the point of failure. After all, they don’t get any money from you selling your car to a third party, so why should they waste resources/ increase costs for nought?

it is in their interest for them to last longer than that though, they make a load of money from the finance on them when they're new, then those same cars get a second lump of interest when sold as approved used cars (usually at an even higher APR).

[Swervin_Mervin]

That's my worry TBH, I quite fancy a nicer daily, and would love something a bit more 'premium' eg. Merc/BMW, but I just feel there's big bills and issues everywhere you look.

I wonder whether it's worth getting a relatively new well-engined 5er touring, then just maintain it at an indy and run it until it dies (which is hopefully a long time). That way you can sort out the early niggles and have a relatively low long term maintenance cost. Dunno if it would work like that, but in my head it's a good excuse.

I know the purists may not agree but I still think that the late E-series BMWs may prove to be peak BMW for build quality and dynamics. Even they're getting on a bit now though!

The E series are superb. My wife's 320d auto has been rock solid. I also did a lot of miles in one from new with zero issues.

I also had an F21 M140i which was brill. 84k in 3 years from new. Other than having a rattly exhaust valved silencer replaced, it was faultless. Same with my current 330e 60k in 2 years so far and it just works. Nothing breaks or falls off. They're excellent.

Our F20 felt fairly flaky to me. Had a 5 figure warranty claim, and a steering rack replaced without us asking. A few courtesy F30s we had when that was in felt flaky compared to the E91. Was similarly unimpressed with an F10 as well.

[Sundayjumper]

Teh Smart teh Second

I took it for a spin around the block this afternoon and generally it felt pretty OK. Suspension is firmer than Gavster's. Brakes grinding a bit from rust. It spluttered a bit under full boost in 1st gear but that's all. Fuel was very low though which made me think - if it's only done fifteen miles in five years, how old is that fuel in the tank ?? So I went off to Tesco and put £30 of SUL in there plus half a bottle of Redex. Came home, left it idling for a bit to circulate the fuel, then went off to do other stuff.

This evening under cover of darkness I went for a slightly longer run, particularly looking for smoke as it's much easier to spot it in the headlights of the following car. There seemed to be a bit when hoofing it, but I'm pretty sure it was gradually getting better. Stuttering less. Brakes less terrifying.

Which again made me think - if it's done zero miles in the last three years, how did he get to the "smoking" diagnosis ? It wasn't by getting it properly warmed up and driving it under full load / boost.

I'm increasingly hopeful that the only real fault is lack of use. MOT is booked for tomorrow morning. I'm still 100% expecting a fail but I'm hoping it'll be a mild one.

[GG.]

Brakes even on the more recent ones are not good. Nothing nothing nothing... head through the windscreen. Not clear how they can be so badly calibrated

[Sundayjumper]

I'm still 100% expecting a fail but I'm hoping it'll be a mild one.

I was right, and quite amazingly so. It failed on wiper blades. That’s all

Frikkin wiper blades. LOL.

There’s a bunch of advisories of course and I’ll deal with them in due course. Bearing & brake are real, brake hoses / pipes are totally normal old car items.

IMG_2974.jpeg (46.65 KiB) Viewed 6293 times

[Gavster]

I find it hilarious that the garage sold the car as spares or repair when it could have passed an MOT with just some new wiper blades

[GG.]

Yes that's a massive result - to be honest though it is probably just a stronger way of saying "sold as seen". They wouldn't want to be bothered with any recourse if it was actually a basket case.

[Alex88]

That's a right result, SJ

Mini passed its MOT, but initially failed due to the TPMS light being on. They reset it and it passed. Nothing else came up that's the first MOT in our ownership.

[mik]

I'm still 100% expecting a fail but I'm hoping it'll be a mild one.

I was right, and quite amazingly so. It failed on wiper blades. That’s all

Frikkin wiper blades. LOL.

That's rather awesume.

[Rich B]

Yes that's a massive result - to be honest though it is probably just a stronger way of saying "sold as seen". They wouldn't want to be bothered with any recourse if it was actually a basket case.

are traders allowed to sell "sold as seen" these days?

[GG.]

Yes that's a massive result - to be honest though it is probably just a stronger way of saying "sold as seen". They wouldn't want to be bothered with any recourse if it was actually a basket case.

are traders allowed to sell "sold as seen" these days?

I don't think they can say that to avoid liability - hence why they've fallen back on 'spares and repair'.

[Jimexpl]

Yes that's a massive result - to be honest though it is probably just a stronger way of saying "sold as seen". They wouldn't want to be bothered with any recourse if it was actually a basket case.

are traders allowed to sell "sold as seen" these days?

I don't think they can say that to avoid liability - hence why they've fallen back on 'spares and repair'.

It used to amuse me when my day job was classic cars that the order form and invoice never described it as transportation - your £1m Miura was just a collectable like an old painting, not something defined as a car!

[JonMad]

Result, @Sundayjumper !
(and thanks for the spreadsheet update)

[tim]

I'm still 100% expecting a fail but I'm hoping it'll be a mild one.

I was right, and quite amazingly so. It failed on wiper blades. That’s all

My Mondeo was MOTd yesterday and failed on a slightly wobbly driver's seat.

[Mito Man]

My contribution to the “Smart cars parked up and used as advertisement boards / decoration” list.

Spotted at Winter Wonderland