Your fleet running reports

[integrale_evo]

Those rear seats
How did they do that in just 57000 miles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a car with rear seats more worn than the fronts.

Appears to be common on low mileage petrols ! Check out this 56k mile beauty.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405173038023

When looking at x5s I was happy I found one I liked with cloth centres because the all leather rear seats look like baggy old bin bags if anyone has ever sat on them

[Jimexpl]

Winter tyres on wheels bought for the X5 ready for a ski trip in Jan. Bought from that weird place - The Isle of Sheppey…

£230 for 7 year old Bridgestones with 7-8mm tread on seemed a good deal. Obviously not that fresh, but they seem to be in good condition.

IMG_1867.jpeg (201.33 KiB) Viewed 4220 times

[Beany]

I now have fully working windscreen scooshers - front and rear - on the M135i.

The important stuff, you know. Rear motor was fuckin' dead.

Will get banana arms redone early next year methinks, once things have calmed down at work a bit.

[nuttinnew]

Bought from that weird place - The Isle of Sheppey…

Did you go this weekend with the road closure?
The route was more fun in the past, before the A249 was dualled from the M2, the new bridge built, the new housing built, the old route downgraded ... it probably seemed weirder as well, certainly far more out in the sticks.

[Jimexpl]

Bought from that weird place - The Isle of Sheppey…

Did you go this weekend with the road closure?
The route was more fun in the past, before the A249 was dualled from the M2, the new bridge built, the new housing built, the old route downgraded ... it probably seemed weirder as well, certainly far more out in the sticks.

It didn’t impact me - 1 1/4 hours from London Bridge and the same back.

I haven’t had reason to go there for about 15 years - they’ve done an incredible job of making some new housing look like average commercial estates to not show up the existing infrastructure!
I think it must me the highest ratio of flag masts to population in the country outside of Westminster - every street seems to need at least one in a front garden with a Union Jack…

[16vCento]

Fitting all season tyres to the Golf has turned it into a bit of a hooligan

Will happily LOO at will now, this is a very unexpected yet welcome happy accident.

Really good fun, it seems a fair bit quieter as well which is nice.

I think 235 rather than 225 width tyres might cope with the torque better when (if) summer comes back around, so I'll be looking for some Adelaide 19" Wheels in spring (235/35/19) and keep these (225/45/17) for the colder months.

[nuttinnew]

It didn’t impact me - 1 1/4 hours from London Bridge and the same back.

I haven’t had reason to go there for about 15 years - they’ve done an incredible job of making some new housing look like average commercial estates to not show up the existing infrastructure!
I think it must me the highest ratio of flag masts to population in the country outside of Westminster - every street seems to need at least one in a front garden with a Union Jack…

Good news, it sounded like it was going to cause tailbacks galore.
I can't say I've noticed the flags, they probably don't register anymore because my mind has classified them as ye NFx (Normal For ... ).
Cheap enough for a set of wheels & tyres, even if you only use the tyres for the one trip.


I think there's a connection between where you've been and integrale_evo's map thread. I might have to check.

[nuttinnew]

Fitting all season tyres to the Golf has turned it into a bit of a hooligan

Will happily LOO at will now, this is a very unexpected yet welcome happy accident.

That's sounds all kinds of wrong, and defeating the purpose of buying them
Maybe they need scrubbing in. I'm not sure they had sideways in mind for that.

[16vCento]

Probably will be a lot better in 500 miles time, until then though it's very fun.

[nuttinnew]

[Gavster]

Collected the Ateca this afternoon

It's all fixed and running nicely. The problem was a coolant pipe at the back of the engine which required the subframe dropping for access. The heater curiously seems to run hotter than it did before the repair, I had it on 22ºC when I first had the car, now that feels too hot. Also, they gave it a valet which is a massive win because I'd done 400 miles in damp conditions during the first week and the outside was absolutely filthy.

It did take a long time to resolve (10 days since I reported it), which seem to be all down to their processes and internal communication, because the rest of the service from Marshall was great, they always responded quickly, gave straight answers and seem to have high standards in all other areas. Hoping for some reliable motoring and to get some good miles into the car now

[GG.]

Good that the Ateca is fixed - nice when they just get on with it and don't quibble (even if annoying it had to disappear for the best part of two weeks).

The news on the Smart is basically as I expected / feared. The first update call I got was about the rough running - apparently an O2 sensor is borked. Very annoying as that's what I told the first garage it would be (rough running, smell of fuel) so they basically did the VVT solenoid and plugs for no reason... Mercedes / Smart rates are also ridiculous - they want £600 for the diagnosis and repair and then the speedo which is borked needs a full replacement unit at the same again

FFS.

[Mito Man]

That's piss poor service, a 10 second check with even the most basic code reader would have told them an O2 sensor is at fault.

[GG.]

Yes - I need to get one myself. Any recommendations?

[Gavster]

Small car, big bills, that's horrendous pricing for diagnostics!

[Mito Man]

Yes - I need to get one myself. Any recommendations?

Not particularly, mine is just a generic OBD2 reader from Amazon which I must have bought over 10 years ago.

[Matty]

~400 labour, 200 parts? Wouldn't be suprised if Merc are on £200/hour now, they were on £120/hour back when I used them years ago - although I would have thought the Smart servicing side had lower labour rates?

Cars are insanely expensive to own these days, genuinely wonder how some people afford to run modern cars.

[Gavster]

Cars are insanely expensive to own these days, genuinely wonder how some people afford to run modern cars.

Also what's happened to used values? I was looking at the used car prices when picking up the Seat today and was thinking how insane they are. My Ateca, which I paid £12k for (and that was a competitive price) was £15k in 2021 according to the invoice to the previous owner in paperwork. Really only lost £3k in 3 years?!?

[Carlos]

Lack of supply of new cars during COVID really propped up up used cars but the recent trade figures suggest that bubble is about to burst. Stats show Q4 sales way down.

[GG.]

~400 labour, 200 parts? Wouldn't be suprised if Merc are on £200/hour now, they were on £120/hour back when I used them years ago - although I would have thought the Smart servicing side had lower labour rates?

Cars are insanely expensive to own these days, genuinely wonder how some people afford to run modern cars.

£200 diagnostic, £200 parts, £200 labour I think. That bloody well better include VAT!

The one plus and to Gav's point - I bought the car 3 years ago for £8k and I think its still worth that (at least with a bit of remedial paint and alloy refurb).