Your fleet running reports

[Jobbo]

Mazda dropped off at the dealership for fitting the alcantara interior today. I had tried to avoid booking it for a day when the roads were salted. Fail, except that the 4 mile or so lane from my village wasn't gritted and still had a fair amount of water on it last night, so was sheet ice. Quite funny, but glad that wasn't my whole journey.

[mik]

Mazda dropped off at the dealership for fitting the alcanara interior today.

Out of interest - did your wrap add anything to your insurance premium? (I was reading over the weekend about people whose insurers had cancelled their policies based on them having clear PPF applied (to non-factory-PPF'd areas). Not because it made any difference to the look, or because it increased the likeliehood of theft, but because adds potential complications during repairs. AXA was explicitely mentioned a couple of times).

edit: no need to answer - I went back and checked your "car wrap" thread and you already said it added < £20 to your premium.

[Jobbo]

Done - nice and quick. The sales manager phoned me and tried to sell me a new one while it was in too



I do have an alcantara gearshift gaiter and handbrake gaiter to fit, substantially cheaper than Mazda's overpriced parts. For two bits of fabric it's nearly as expensive as the whole dash panel or doorcards! I'm not sure yet if I will fit them to be honest; they might be too much of a contrast to the faux leather centre console.

[Sundayjumper]

530d took ages cranking before it fired today. That’ll be the glow plug controller then. Common fault, I had to do the same on the 7-Series. One of those simple but insanely awkward jobs because it’s tucked away under the inlet manifold.

[V8Granite]

Done - nice and quick. The sales manager phoned me and tried to sell me a new one while it was in too



I do have an alcantara gearshift gaiter and handbrake gaiter to fit, substantially cheaper than Mazda's overpriced parts. For two bits of fabric it's nearly as expensive as the whole dash panel or doorcards! I'm not sure yet if I will fit them to be honest; they might be too much of a contrast to the faux leather centre console.

All black interiors with lots of different textures really do work well

Dave!

[dan]

Decided to teach myself to weld titanium and remade the exhaust on my elise from the manifold back. The silencer was already titanium but the rest of it was stainless. Despite it only being 2 short runs of pipe it saved 4.5 kilos. The replacement Ti parts were a grand total of 1.7kg, its crazy stuff

I'm not a fan of pie cuts generally, but I could get a 70mm 45 degree mandrel bend so didn't have a choice. Welds look cool though.





Goes a nice colour when it gets hot



Pretty useful weight saving on a car that only weighs 500 kilos as it is

[DeskJockey]

That looks amazing.

[Matty]

Mazda dropped off at the dealership for fitting the alcantara interior today.

Alcantara is so much nicer than leather - much more comfortable on severe weather (very hot/cold days) and looks much better with the contrast. The MY23+ QV has gone full leather seats from half/half and it looks like a big downgrade.

Are the seats identical, bar the material?

[Gavster]

New car collected and I couldn't be happier with it

I'm really amazed by how well it handles, it's very nimble, has a great connection to the road, nice and precise steering and the 2.0tdi has more than enough guts to whizz around the country roads. It's actually great fun to drive - I had read that the Ateca has best-in-class handling, and I can confirm that's borne out after around 200 miles in it over the last 24 hours.

It's also totally spotless, fabulous condition for a seven year old car, and the whole thing drives (and sounds) really tight like a 2 year old car. Glad that I held out for the full top-spec 'Excellence' because it's really quiet and peaceful in the cabin, plus has everything I wanted form a comfort perspective, the seats are very comfy, plus have a little bolster that folds out in the middle of the back and feels really supportive.

Averaged 47mpg over 200 miles, which was very mixed driving including London traffic jams, motorway cruising at ~75mph, plus a good 60 mins whizzing up down and around the lanes. Really impressed with the economy. The move into Suffolk is now 99% going ahead, so also glad I went for the 4WD 2.0tdi, as I will be doing a lot more motorway miles now, also living down a lane in the hilliest part of rural Suffolk in the middle of winter, where 4wd might save my bacon occasionally.

Also, this purchase is the first time I've really drilled down into the precise specification I wanted from a car, and then only jumped in when with a car that 100% hits every single option I wanted. Can confirm it's worth it!

Very happy owner here

[IanF]

Congrats Gav.. girlfriend looks bemused

[Gavster]

Yeah she was pulling stupid faces while I was trying to take photos lol

[Jobbo]

Mazda dropped off at the dealership for fitting the alcantara interior today.

Alcantara is so much nicer than leather - much more comfortable on severe weather (very hot/cold days) and looks much better with the contrast. The MY23+ QV has gone full leather seats from half/half and it looks like a big downgrade.

Are the seats identical, bar the material?

The seats are alcantara with nappa leather bolsters from the factory (if you get one with Recaros like mine) - so they are unchanged. The alcantara bits are the dash and door cards.

I’ve always been a big fan of Alan and his cantara fabric. Anyway, before and after - sadly I didn’t take one from the same angle before:

[Jobbo]

Gav, your new car looks great. I’m not sure if it is based on the same platform as the Yeti or (more likely) the next generation of that. A Golf may be all anyone needs but something like the Ateca is much more what people want and use.

My stepson is after a car since he’s about to return his company car and he was talking about getting a loan for £14k for a wet belt Puma Ecoboost. I’ve persuaded him away from them when he is taking the risk of the engine failing… something like your car would suit him perfectly. I might have to start researching something other than Kia’s (he likes the idea of the long warranty, and he’s not a car guy…)

[dan]

Mazda dropped off at the dealership for fitting the alcantara interior today.

Alcantara is so much nicer than leather - much more comfortable on severe weather (very hot/cold days) and looks much better with the contrast. The MY23+ QV has gone full leather seats from half/half and it looks like a big downgrade.

Are the seats identical, bar the material?

The seats are alcantara with nappa leather bolsters from the factory (if you get one with Recaros like mine) - so they are unchanged. The alcantara bits are the dash and door cards.

I’ve always been a big fan of Alan and his cantara fabric. Anyway, before and after - sadly I didn’t take one from the same angle before:

That looks really good, I’d love a go in that one day, I’ve never driven an mx5…

[Jobbo]

I’ll drop by at some point Dan - in spring though

[dan]

Splendid, I can offer you a go in a megane, panda or Elise in exchange.

[Jobbo]

V. kind! A listen to one of your K-series builds is all I ask.

[nuttinnew]

Decided to teach myself to weld titanium and remade the exhaust on my elise from the manifold back.

The silencer was already titanium but the rest of it was stainless. Despite it only being 2 short runs of pipe it saved 4.5 kilos. The replacement Ti parts were a grand total of 1.7kg,

Pretty useful weight saving on a car that only weighs 500 kilos as it is

[nuttinnew]

Done - nice and quick.

The sales manager phoned me and tried to sell me a new one while it was in too

I do have an alcantara gearshift gaiter and handbrake gaiter to fit, substantially cheaper than Mazda's overpriced parts. For two bits of fabric it's nearly as expensive as the whole dash panel or doorcards!

Cheeky c nt - maybe he wanted to talk extreme eoy discount...
I wonder if Alangators would be more awkward to keep clean?

[nuttinnew]

New car collected and I couldn't be happier with it

Very happy owner here

Get it begrimed and it'll have a bit of the UN* about it.

*Effa; CUNT.