Your fleet running reports

[Jobbo]

M5 Touring update. Passed 10,000 miles on my journey to Cardiff yesterday. Average fuel economy over that is 43.2mpg.

It's been to most corners of the western half of the UK (from the most northerly point on the Isle of Lewis to Looe in Cornwall via Anglesey and pretty much all of mid-Wales, it's been on a heck of a lot of small ferries and a couple of larger ones, it has attracted more attention than I would necessarily like, but less negativity than I might have expected. It's still much more of an event to drive than my previous series of big estates over the last 20 years but it's still fitting into daily life as a big practical estate car should.

If Audi had launched the new Allroad a few months earlier I'd probably have ended up getting one of those instead, but then I'd always have wondered about the M5 so I'm very glad I've got it. I'll probably swap it for an Allroad next time though; the performance is utterly unnecessary. I remember in my first 545i Touring accelerating up a long dual carriageway and being surprised when I looked down and was doing 150. On my journey to Cardiff I pressed the accelerator pedal a bit harder from 70 when something moved over and saw 130 in seconds; I don't think I was flat to the floor either, and I was only in the normal hybrid mode not sports settings. But you wouldn't do silly speeds and not notice; it's very refined crusing at the legal limit but it does make more noise if you prod it.

Oh, and the seats are utterly brilliant, incredibly comfortable but hold you in perfectly due to the adjustable side bolsters. All of the stuff which being a hybrid gets you - like pre-conditioning the cabin and driving around town silently and efficiently - is so useful and doesn't really compromise the car at all. Yes it's heavy but so is a petrol Cayenne. The steering has a really quick rack so it's alert and has very little understeer, while only needing a roll of the wrists for corners - clearly Alfa were right all along because I am really enjoying that.

Downsides: the adaptive cruise control is a step back from my Audi which was a step back from my 2018 Volvo (!) - it is very quick to drop the steering assistance and a bit slow to react to the car in front braking or accelerating. The boot roller cover is a bit flimsy and needed a warranty repair - but it can be stored under the boot floor which is not something any of my previous cars have done, so swings and roundabouts. I think the front P-zeroes are in need of replacement fairly soon so it's not as easy on tyres as my Audi was.

Still very much enjoying it anyway

How many times have you used full throttle, and do you ever manually select gears or just let the car decide for you?

I do use the paddles more than in any car I've had for a decade. Often to turn the engine on when it's running in EV mode (hold the right hand paddle) but despite there basically being no need to worry whether you're in 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th when overtaking it still feels good to flick it down a few gears.

Full throttle: not sure if I have at all consciously. It's already up and going faster than I can push my foot to the floor so I'm sure I back off before it hits the end of its travel.

[John]

Zoe due the eight year/80k miles service. According to the Renault booking service it "includes cabin air filter, brake fluid change", for which they would like £809.something.

I'm going with, no.

Had the brake fluid changed two years ago (not by them), so going with a more reasonably priced option elsewhere.

I had an argument with the Stoneacre call centre last week when booking in my wife's Vitara for a service. The local Suzuki dealer was a one branch family affair but has been taken over by Stoneacre. Phoned the call centre as you can no longer call the dealer direct, over £700 for the service. I literally laughed down the phone and asked him to explain the cost which was brake fluid, spark plugs, cabin filter etc. The plugs and fluid were changed two years ago so I asked him to take them off but he claimed he didn't have the authority to do this. I laughed again and he was now getting properly arsey and arguing back

He did eventually put me through to the dealer direct and they quoted me £260 for a basic service. I'll do everything else myself if it needs it

[DeskJockey]

Called a local Renault specialist (they started when the dealership they worked at closed), £229. Seems better.

[Matty]

M5 Touring update. Passed 10,000 miles...

It's still incredibly impressive MPG for the power/weight. How many of those miles are electric vs petrol?

We all love a Misha video, watched his recent video on the 1000bhp one he had - but amazingly got to that from just an exhaust and remap (I say "just" - still £10k of parts and labour). Still impressive figures...for those who need 1000bhp on the road, of course.

[Matty]

Called a local Renault specialist (they started when the dealership they worked at closed), £229. Seems better.

Specialist all the way. No call centres, no fancy showrooms, speak direct to the mechanic who fixes it, cheaper and better service. I'm absolutely no fan of franchised dealers or their prices.

Question is whether it's even worth 'servicing' EV's, just DIY the filters and rely on the MOT for the checks.

[Jobbo]

M5 Touring update. Passed 10,000 miles...

It's still incredibly impressive MPG for the power/weight. How many of those miles are electric vs petrol?

43% electric, the app tells me. I have to say I really like driving it in EV mode. It still uses the gearbox and it’s still quick enough to beat people away from the lights.

[DeskJockey]

Called a local Renault specialist (they started when the dealership they worked at closed), £229. Seems better.

Specialist all the way. No call centres, no fancy showrooms, speak direct to the mechanic who fixes it, cheaper and better service. I'm absolutely no fan of franchised dealers or their prices.

Question is whether it's even worth 'servicing' EV's, just DIY the filters and rely on the MOT for the checks.

I prefer the specialist too, the only issue is they're in an awkward location compared to the dealer, but not ~£600 awkward. I'll bring my laptop and go work in the greasy spoon nearby.

I could do the filters, but I'm not confident I'd be able to do all the checks and know it was as it should be.

[Sundayjumper]

…noticeable looseness and noise over sharp bumps and broken surfaces.

I assume after 80k miles and now 20 years old…

My wife’s ID.3 is doing that. After 44k miles and nearly 6 years old. I’m not very impressed with it.

VW drop link after 44k miles / 6 years:

IMG_0153.jpeg (125.63 KiB) Viewed 432 times

[Rich B]

i was working on the Lotus today, swapping back to harnesses for a track day. The drivers one went on easily but i had an issue with the passenger one. the bolt through the seat wasn’t quite right and it looked like the nut on the actual seat wasn’t the right size so wasn’t fully engaging with the bolt. I’m assuming it was a bodge where a captive nut had broken. I thought i’d pop out and see if i could find a better nut to go on it and went a few miles to a local hardware shop. Predictably they didn’t have anything because it’s an imperial size.

i went back to the car and it wouldn’t start…. i think the battery is a bit low and the immobiliser alarm has got out of sync. it just flashed the hazards continually instead of disarming.

I tried a jump start from my brother but ended up being towed home. Is it even legal to tow someone these days? it feels terrifying enough to be illegal?

[Sundayjumper]

I think it's allowed if it's an emergency and the distance is not excessive. With "emergency" and "excessive" not actually being defined anywhere.

Similar to the way towing dollies aren't legal for transporting cars, but the AA/RAC etc. are able to use them as moving a broken-down car away from traffic and to a place of safety is easy to justify as an emergency.

[Rich B]

I plugged it into the ctek on the recon mode and after about an hour i’ve been out and it’s alive again. I thought it would be - but it’s annoying the ctek doesn’t seem to keep up with charging it any more. i think there was a power cut when i went on holiday a while ago and the breaker stopped it, then the car battery may have gone a bit low.

i think ive fucked up the sync on one of my keys though, but i have 1 (or 2 maybe) spares.

happy it’s working again!

[Jimexpl]

Collected the Abarth today.

Typically average contract hire vehicle collection from Abarth Nottingham, "here's the keys, bye!" - I didn't want much more than that as I was on a tight schedule, but it would have been nice to be offered some sort of handover. At least they fully charged it!

Given that I've never even seen one, let alone sat in or driven one, I'm happy with it.
The drive is very much a FWD hot hatch despite the weight of the battery and highish ground clearance. 240hp feels like the right amount of performance, enough that you can feel the LSD when accelerating hard or onto motorway slip roads (that's all I've done for now). Nice steering for an electric car, and the regen seems to blend into the Alcon brakes without you noticing, with a decent pedal feel (much better than our VW Caddy).

Gave it a 10 min top up at Leicester services taking it back up to 89% and arrived home (140 miles) with 50 miles range remaining, driving normally at a decent speed. Displayed an average of 3.1 miles per kwh over the trip, doing a lot of it at 73-75.
Reviews have complained of a stiff ride for town, but it's fine.

Not worth the £35k rrp, but I definitely got a bargain on the contract hire deal - I see they're now nearly double what I got it for.

[integrale_evo]

Looks pretty good, not sure I’ve ever seen one or even knew they existed.

I did quite like the old 500x

[John]

Removing dried glue is always fun but helps if you buy the correct stuff. The steering wheel on the caterham had glue marks where Velcro was used to hold the padded steering wheel centre on. As far as I'm aware these are needed for the IVA test but then many owners remove them including the previous owner of my car

You can see the marks at the end of each spoke



I tried isopropyl alcohol, WD40 and even nail varnish remover but nothing touched it. Toolstation came up with Superglue de-bonder so decided to give it a go



And it worked! It took numerous applications and I used an old plastic membership card to rub the surface then wipe clean with a cloth



Very pleased with the result and will now be sending the wheel away for an Alcantara recover

[Jimexpl]

Looks pretty good, not sure I’ve ever seen one or even knew they existed.

I did quite like the old 500x

According to howmanyleft up until this quarter there were only about 160 on the road in the UK. There are 60 Abarth showrooms, which presumably have a demo car each, so only 100 have been sold since it was launched last year - so it's pretty rare!

[Matty]

Arbarth looks good - never seen on one the road either! Those Sabelt seats look fantastic

i think ive fucked up the sync on one of my keys though, but i have 1 (or 2 maybe) spares.

Used to be a combo for resyncing them, not sure if it's still the case?

[Delphi]

Noticed a worrying knocking noise which seemed to be coming from the bottom of the engine when the 928 was idling in gear. I was properly shitting myself as this is an indication of the dreaded thrust bearing failure that can occur with later automatic 928s. I have the flex plate checked and tension released annually which should prevent it but I was concerned that maybe there was already damage that pre-dated my ownership.

Ran the car down to Strasse and popped it onto a ramp. Turns out it's the torque converter bearings which also probably accounts for slight moan I get from the back at over 40mph. It sounds like it's coming from the bottom of the engine as the sound and vibration travel down the torque tube. It's a transmission out job and there's a few While You're In There jobs to be taken care of but at least it's not the worst case.

[Sundayjumper]

I took the M5 to work yesterday. It seemed to be running a little cool in the morning but no errors. Then shortly after leaving to come home it did the same as before with the "temperature too high", -128° coolant temp reading, and the cooling fan running full speed. On clearing the error codes the coolant & oil temp readings immediately came back - so it looks like the sensors themselves are OK.

Drove the rest of the way home with no errors but the coolant stayed at about 85°. At home with the engine idling I noticed the fan was still running, albeit at a lower speed, despite the engine not being hot enough to need it.

I think I know the answer now.

The ECU has a map of how quickly it expects the engine to warm up based on ambient temp / load. If the readings don't match the expected behaviour it *assumes* the readings are wrong & stops recording them, and *assumes* the engine is actually very very hot, and puts the fan on full speed to be safe.

It turns out there are two temperature sensors...

One on the water pump that generates the readings above ^^^

And one on the radiator outlet that triggers the fan...

It appears the sensor on the radiator has failed and is making the fan run at low speed all the time. Which stops the engine warming up at the expected rate and triggers the above. Maybe it's been doing this a while and I never noticed until now, when the weather is getting cooler ?

A new sensor is OVER FOURTEEN POUNDS. I'll get one ordered. I guess I may as well do the other one too, while I'm at it.

[mik]

It appears the sensor on the radiator has failed and is making the fan run at low speed all the time. Which stops the engine warming up at the expected rate and triggers the above. Maybe it's been doing this a while and I never noticed until now, when the weather is getting cooler ?

A new sensor is OVER FOURTEEN POUNDS. I'll get one ordered. I guess I may as well do the other one too, while I'm at it.

Top sleuthing

[Beany]

A new sensor is OVER FOURTEEN POUNDS.

Christ, not worth keeping, I'll take it off your hands if you can deliver it?