Your fleet running reports

[integrale_evo]

~350miles done over the weekend, zero issues, even went and jumpstarted a honda that had killed its battery.

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[Marv]

Lovely. I'm not buying your tale that an Alfasud rescued a Honda however... Blatant lies

[Sundayjumper]

Sorry GG

It's now over three weeks since I put the M5 back together and I've been using it regularly instead of the Ferrari for trips to Aldi. No problems so far even though it's 1.1 miles (or 1.4 miles if I go the longer way) - Argentinian prawns have always been in stock but the Sticky Korean BBQ, and Peking Duck, flavoured prawn crackers seem to have been a one-off which is very disappointing.

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The car seems to be running better & better as I use it more. Hopefully it is clearing out any remaining muck in the system.

I'm also keeping an eye on the oil consumption. BMW being stoopid and annoying and "modern" did away with their dipstick a long time ago and rely on an electronic measure. Which is clever in its own way, in the sump it uses two concentric tubes, in effect a capacitor with the engine oil being the dielectric, from which it can measure capacitance & resistance and calculate both the level and a measure of the oil's quality. Clever. A temperature sensor is built into it too. To get a readout of the level though you have to go through iDrive and the result is rounded to the nearest 25% between min & max. So if it appears to have not moved since last time, it might have actually moved 24.99% and you're just unlucky about the rounding.

Chipping is a big deal on these cars, simple remaps can take them to 700bhp easily. A little more if you do intake & exhaust mods. It puts a lot of strain on the rest of the parts though; I want to keep the strain on my internals low so I'm avoiding that and consequently my oil consumption through chipping is not too bad. Only about once a month (maybe more) I need to buy more and I use KTC Extended Life Vegetable Oil 5 Litres. Two litres does a complete flush & refill of the pan. Our local ethnic food store (0.3 miles) always has it in stock for a good price. Now that I'm using the M5 for the longer runs to Aldi, this will be a great reason to take the Ferrari for a blast every now & then

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[Beany]

Er, Mr Jumper, I think you'll find the correct shopping run for cars people don't expect to see doing the shopping run is
To Lidl, for Cheap Red Wine and KitKats.

Get it right next time, yeah?

[Sundayjumper]

Hmm, are these regular KitKats or Chunky KitKats ? I don't want to fall out with you over this.

[V8Granite]

Chips should also be cooked in beef tallow.

This isn't like the Countach Wing scenario, there is only 1 right way to do a chip.

Dave!

[mik]

I use KTC Extended Life Vegetable Oil 5 Litres. Two litres does a complete flush & refill of the pan.

I had to read this post very carefully, as I used to run my (remapped) Mk1 Leon TDi on 25% cooking oil back in the early noughties (obviously I'm joking HMRC), and I thought you'd adopted a similar routine for the the M5. Which would have been bold for a petrol engine.

[GG.]

I use KTC Extended Life Vegetable Oil 5 Litres. Two litres does a complete flush & refill of the pan.

I had to read this post very carefully, as I used to run my (remapped) Mk1 Leon TDi on 25% cooking oil back in the early noughties (obviously I'm joking HMRC), and I thought you'd adopted a similar routine for the the M5. Which would have been bold for a petrol engine.

Think you can use up to 2,500 litres a year perfectly legally.

[mik]

Interesting. Did not know.

[Beany]

Hmm, are these regular KitKats or Chunky KitKats ? I don't want to fall out with you over this.

It depends on how I feel at the time - snacky, or whether I want to debase myself.

I'll leave working out which applies to which as an exercise for the reader.

[Mito Man]

£110 for OEM Brembo stuff (off eBay in the end, cheaper than AutoDoc)

I've had mixed experiences with autodoc. Exceptional range of parts, but usually quite slow to arrive.

By far my fave is Carparts in Motion via ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/carpartsinmotion

If you wait until the end of the month they invariably have a 15% or 20% promo code which makes them pretty much unbeatable.

Just bought a bearing off Tayna and noticed that they're the same company as Parts in Motion on the invoice.

[Sundayjumper]

Oh ! I did not know that !

[Mito Man]

Yeah, both come up as “Automotion Factors Ltd” which sounded familiar!

[MikeHunt]

I’m properly pissed off.

The car has been nicked while it was at the garage, and from the photos they’ve sent me it looks pretty bad. They’ve said it was another customer who did it, who is apparently very sorry and has left their details.

Fair enough, but I don’t really see how that becomes my problem to sort out. The car was in the garage’s care at the time, so as far as I’m concerned they should be taking responsibility for getting it repaired properly, then they can deal with the other customer or their insurance themselves.

When I collect it, I’ll definitely be having a few words as I don’t think handing me someone else’s details and expecting me to sort the repair is right.

[Simon]

I don’t think handing me someone else’s details and expecting me to sort the repair is right.

It isn't right. Tell them to let you know when it's been fixed and you'll pick it up.

[mik]

When I collect it, I’ll definitely be having a few words as I don’t think handing me someone else’s details and expecting me to sort the repair is right.

That's really crap.

(I have no legal qualifications, but) unfortunately I think the garage is liable if they damage your car, or if it is damaged via their negligence, but I don't believe they are liable if another customer damages your car.

[Beany]

Assume you mean knocked, not nicked!

If it was in the (publicly accessible) car park, then fully expect them to point to a caveat of 'vehicles left at owners risk' same as anywhere else.

If it was in the workshop and they let a customer drive their own car in, that'd be different.

Really fucking annoying but penny for a pound I'd not expect them to be willing or necessarily able to do anything - their business insurance may well explicitly exclude any public parking area attached to the property, for example.

[Rich B]

I’m properly pissed off.

The car has been nicked while it was at the garage, and from the photos they’ve sent me it looks pretty bad. They’ve said it was another customer who did it, who is apparently very sorry and has left their details.

Fair enough, but I don’t really see how that becomes my problem to sort out. The car was in the garage’s care at the time, so as far as I’m concerned they should be taking responsibility for getting it repaired properly, then they can deal with the other customer or their insurance themselves.

When I collect it, I’ll definitely be having a few words as I don’t think handing me someone else’s details and expecting me to sort the repair is right.

Yeah, that’s their insurance should be sorting that. Consumer rights says they have a duty of care for it whilst it’s in their possession.

[MikeHunt]

Not sure how its stands based on what @Beany said. Id left it with them and parked it outside their garage in the place they told me to park, but it is a pubic area, eg no barrier etc and anyone could drive there from the road.

[Matty]

Regardless of the legal aspects, any reputable place should sort it purely as part of offering good customer service. Doesn't matter who did it.

Ditching that responsibility on a customer is just shit. It's not just the money, it's the inconvenience.

Ask them nicely to sort it (so it gets done properly and promptly) then once it's done well, then make your thoughts known.