Your fleet running reports

[Mito Man]

I did a Foz, although not on my own car, birthday present for my dad as there’s still no brighter torches available for sale. It’s also CCC so went from a unit from here
https://integratedautomotive.co.uk/pro ... interface/

I put a fibre optic cable in the wrong way round, which genuinely made me think I bricked the whole car
But after some emails back and forward with the supplier he found my error


Something I didn’t expect is how much better the sound system is now, it’s almost like plugging a pre-amp into your iphone, not sure how it works but it now has the best speakers out of all the cars.
The idrive controller also works way better than the touch screen I have in my Defender, because you can use it whilst driving.

Annoyingly it will cost significantly more to retrofit this into my 6 series as I will need a new door seal, an aux cable input fitted to the head unit as well as aux input menu coded into the idrive as it’s so old that it didn’t come with aux.

Also final note, but did you all know that there’s a third cabin air filter under the glovebox of these BMWs? I found an ancient dirty one, looked it up and it’s the “air recirculation cabin filter” which isn’t mentioned in the idrive. Need to order a replacement...

[Jobbo]

I got my CarPlay interface for the Merc from the same seller. He was very helpful, though he needed to be because nowhere in the documentation did it tell you what you have to press to activate it. Long press on the phone hang up button on the steering wheel; not something I tried without prompting

[Mito Man]

Yes the instructions aren’t very clear and missed out a lot of things, plus in my case they were for a 3 series which has a completely different dash layout as the X5 has that silly glovebox design.
Still I did a better job than the professional guy I paid to fit CarPlay to my Defender

[Foz]

Good stuff!

[Rich B]

Good stuff!

Foz, you should have asked for £25k and a slice of future sales!

[Foz]

Good stuff!

Foz, you should have asked for £25k and a slice of future sales!

I did, and got it but didn’t want to boast

[Sundayjumper]

People are weird. The boot liner from the Cayenne eventually sold and the guy turned up 20 mins ago to collect it, not in his Cayenne, but in a VW EOS. Produced some carpet from the boot and proceeded to strap the boot liner to the roof with gaffer tape. He’s still out there right now fiddling about.

I suggested it would have been better to bring the Cayenne and put it straight in the boot, but apparently the EOS already had diesel in it.

People.

[Rich B]

[Broccers]

People are weird. The boot liner from the Cayenne eventually sold and the guy turned up 20 mins ago to collect it, not in his Cayenne, but in a VW EOS. Produced some carpet from the boot and proceeded to strap the boot liner to the roof with gaffer tape. He’s still out there right now fiddling about.

I suggested it would have been better to bring the Cayenne and put it straight in the boot, but apparently the EOS already had diesel in it.

People.

I'm surprised anyone bought it

[Jobbo]

Is he taking it straight to the tip?

[Broccers]

Is he taking it straight to the tip?

[McSwede]

M140i is due new rear boots as theyre about buggered.

Cannot get GYE F1SS anywhere and Goodyear have moved the date back to at least the 31st March. Gutted as those tyres are superb!!

Anyway, taken a punt of the just released Bridgestone Potenza Sport as they should be a direct competitor. Already tried MPSS and PS4 so thought I'd try the NKOTB

I had a run to Glasgow and back for a meeting today so cracked off a nice 399 miles but mpg was below usual because it was so chuffin' windy. In fact going North (uphill) was much betterer than downhill on the way home. Go figure

Weather must have matched Sturgeon's mood after Salmond came out swinging




Going to London tomorrow so let's hope the weather isn't so shit!!

[Mito Man]

It was 15 and sunny today in London. Felt like summer!

[DeskJockey]

Zappi charger fitted to house and Zoe happily charging from it. It was entirely uncomplicated except getting the Hub device configured.

Only annoyance is that because the law states that the charger must be 1.2m above ground (according to the sparky) it is fitted to the side of the house where the drive is longest and where the Galaxy is normally parked. To avoid running the charger cable in front of the front door, we've swapped the cars round. The Galaxy fits on the shallower bit at an angle, but it needs the nose in the flowerbeds to clear the pavement by more than a few inches.

Zoe reporting a range of 147 miles with a 95% charge. 150ish should be achievable, so that will comfortably do two days commuting on a charge with a healthy reserve.

Only complaint from my wife is that there is nothing for her left leg to do when driving.

[mik]

LFB? Or just tap to her tunes?

I am not sure if it is better to just charge it to 80-85% and then charge it every day? My understanding is that the best way to
Keep the battery healthy is to keep your general use in the 20-80% charge range, and only charge it fully when you expecting to need longer range. And when you have a home charger - this is absolutely possible.

[DeskJockey]

I'll suggest tapping her foot.

Good point about the charging. Will look into it.

[mik]

Good stuff. For this reason we have Mrs mik’s car set to charge to 80% only. Upped it to 100% when she had to do a trip to Edinburgh and back - not cos it was essential - just to remove any range anxiety.

[Gavin]

Mercedes in for towbar fitting today. Hopefully they will not call to tell me anything dodgy...

Volvo had it's annual service last week too, £130 for oil & filters and a few other bits and bobs. Saves me fannying about with oil capture canisters I guess.

[DeskJockey]

Finally got round to fitting the radio I bought for the Galaxy and after much swearing and coaxing of trim and plugs and whatnot I can report that the new radio is... broken.

Display is broken, it lights up, but no data is displayed. Sigh.

So, have started a refund with eBay and will ship it back to the seller.

As the old radio has once again become possessed I had to take it out, meaning there is no radio at all. If the seller can't supply a working replacement, I will have a think about a non-OEM solution.

[mr_jon]

Zoe & Leaf have a big reserve, so no need to go 85% or 90% like a Tesla. BMS does the rest. Eg. a 22kWh battery was actually 26, 41 is 46, etc. Tesla quote the whole battery. Indeed the weak point on the Zoe is the 12v, which does a nice balance/charge at 99-100%, so best off going 100% every two days.