Your fleet running reports

[Jobbo]

You're right - it's the wheels and arches.

[Sundayjumper]

Generic EXTREME polyurethane jobbies from eBay. We’ll see how we get on with them.

Bloody hell, they weren't joking. It's fine at idle, which was all I'd done when I posted earlier. But having just been for a drive, from about 1000 - 3000 rpm (i.e. the bit you'd mostly use if it was a normal car) it passes through about eight separate resonant frequencies of different parts of the car. After 3k it seems to settle down again.

When the lightweight, uprated, undamped clutch flywheel is fitted, that will make it even better right ?

Autosolo rules require you to drive to & from events. If they don't loosen up with a bit of use, I've a feeling I'll be switching back to some softer mounts in the future.

[integrale_evo]

I tried poly gearbox mounts on my m3. They made it sound like I was driving inside a cement mixer filled with nuts and bolts. I did a total of three miles before taking them back out again

[Foz]

Fully rose jointed ftw, although chunterign around the paddock it sounds absolutely fucked!

[Jobbo]

Volvo update: had it just over 6 months, done just under 5k miles, have washed it once (well, the Kosovans at Sainsbury’s did), filled up the screenwash twice and other than putting in petrol, done nothing to it. Not even checked the tyre pressure or oil.

It has TPMS to measure the tyre pressures and oil level monitoring and so on. It is amazing how lazy one can become with modern cars.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I must've missed a thread on it Simon, but what Volvo have you got - V90?

[speedingfine]

Alas the missus' Clio is dead, head gasket failed according to the AA man and it's best we 'just get the scrap man to come and get it'.

She loves the Merc she's now insured on unsurprisingly, but she's yet to experience 22mpg

I'm down to a bike and a Caterham like the good old days. Shame it's winter though...

[Sundayjumper]

I'm down to a bike and a Caterham like the good old days. Shame it's winter though...

Meh, MTFU. We went to visit family in Calgary a couple of years ago and one day I was talking to my Dad’s cousin about commuting. He used to go from one side of Calgary to the other every day. He said that down to minus twenty he’d cycle, but below that cycling was unpleasant so he’d run instead

[Sundayjumper]

Aston update. I forgot to put the trickle charger on and the battery went flat. D’oh. Recharged and all good, except the window modules need resetting by pulling the fuses. Instead of putting them somewhere sensible, they are in the passenger footwell, under the carpet, behind a nice aluminium panel held on with SEVEN Torx bolts. Somewhat over-engineered.

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I was also mildly amused to find that the fuse for the footwell light is in the footwell

[GG.]

Volvo update: had it just over 6 months, done just under 5k miles, have washed it once (well, the Kosovans at Sainsbury’s did), filled up the screenwash twice and other than putting in petrol, done nothing to it. Not even checked the tyre pressure or oil.

It has TPMS to measure the tyre pressures and oil level monitoring and so on. It is amazing how lazy one can become with modern cars.

It is funny isn't it. Even on my 8 year old car all I have to flick an auxillary steering wheel stalk away from me twice and wait 30 seconds to get a readout of oil level. Dipsticks seem a bit anachronistic don't they

I imagine the Volvo is a very nice & cosseting place to be at this time of year. Power seems to be noticeably up in the cold weather too.

[speedingfine]

I'm down to a bike and a Caterham like the good old days. Shame it's winter though...

Meh, MTFU. We went to visit family in Calgary a couple of years ago and one day I was talking to my Dad’s cousin about commuting. He used to go from one side of Calgary to the other every day. He said that down to minus twenty he’d cycle, but below that cycling was unpleasant so he’d run instead

Literal insane people don't count, like the chaps who run aeroscreens all year round

[Foz]

I must've missed a thread on it Simon, but what Volvo have you got - V90?

Jobbo's LOLVO

[Jobbo]

Volvo update: had it just over 6 months, done just under 5k miles, have washed it once (well, the Kosovans at Sainsbury’s did), filled up the screenwash twice and other than putting in petrol, done nothing to it. Not even checked the tyre pressure or oil.

It has TPMS to measure the tyre pressures and oil level monitoring and so on. It is amazing how lazy one can become with modern cars.

It is funny isn't it. Even on my 8 year old car all I have to flick an auxillary steering wheel stalk away from me twice and wait 30 seconds to get a readout of oil level. Dipsticks seem a bit anachronistic don't they

I imagine the Volvo is a very nice & cosseting place to be at this time of year. Power seems to be noticeably up in the cold weather too.

It's not a bad place to be, and the heated windscreen is useful though you still need to scrape frost off the side windows, or hope the seals unfreeze before trying to wind them down

Mike, it's a V90 T6 Cross Country. I think I've only posted about it in this thread but here's a fairly recent photo (parked on the verge to accommodate Nef's speedboat and Disco on the drive):

[Swervin_Mervin]

Nice

Courting the idea of a V90 at present. How do you find it compared to the Audi and F10 5 you had? I'd imagine it to be less engaging to drive than the BM, but a nicer place to be inside. I find a lot of the current BMW range a bit sober inside.

[Jobbo]

To be honest, the F11 535i I had never actually felt sporty. The ride was a bit lumpy, it needed revs to shift but it didn't encourage you to do so. I found I wafted round in it mostly. It didn't shrink around you when you pressed on.

The Audi was a far better car than the 5-series for me. Nicer steering feel, felt smaller and wieldier to drive despite being virtually identical dimensions. Faster despite an apparent 33bhp power deficit, 7-sp S-Tronic dual-clutch box was nicer than the BMW's ZF sport auto.

The Volvo is, weirdly, the sportiest feeling. It feels light and nimble, it doesn't need revs to move but it does encourage you to rev it; quite unexpected. Crap fuel economy, possibly as a consequence. Boot space no bigger than BMW or Audi, rear seat space is the only place it really scores over the other two which is almost irrelevant to me. Nice inside, except I still prefer a knob to a touchscreen. Being the Pro version it has the stitched dash and door tops, though it's like Merc's artico not real leather. I think the ambience in the lighter colour interiors is more Scandi-chic than my all-black version. Disappointingly it doesn't come with self-levelling suspension though, unlike the BMW and Audi. And the Haldex 4wd definitely feels more fwd because it allows a little front wheel slip before diverting power, so it's a bit scrabbly compared to the Audi.

[Jobbo]

Just to add to that - I think my next car will be either a G31 530d/540i xDrive on a cheap lease or a used A6 Allroad. I really liked my Audi, and I don't like the touchscreen interiors in the new generation A6.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Very useful ta Simon. I'm reticent about the touch screen displays I must admit. I don't even like BMW's switch to multi-button two stage CC, much preferring the older stalk on mine as you can use it almost without having to think/look.

How's the auto in it? I'm not entirely sold on the ZF8 - we have the Sport Auto in the 125i and it can be quite jerky at lower speeds. Plus you often notice all that shuffling about and sometime wish it would just hold the gear rather than scrabbling to drop one or two on medium throttle applications.

I did wonder about economy, as she'd likely be looking at the T5 - not sure the T6 had even figured on her radar. Would love a T8 but they're out of our price bracket.

Rear legroom is a selling point for us, with having the nipper and regularly ferrying family about - she's long legged so it doesn't tend to leave much for rear passengers, and her dad's 6' 6" so if he's a front passenger as well it really gets cramped. Hence also looking at the Superb, although that's clearly a step down in terms of the build and feel.

[Jobbo]

I find the gearbox to be better than the ZF 8-sp sport auto in my 535i Touring. It doesn't have paddles in mine (you get those with R-Design spec) but I don't miss them and don't even use Dynamic mode; it's always in the right gear or quick to change to it, and adapts quickly to wanting it to respond sportily. But plenty of people have said the box is slow and annoying so definitely try one. Maybe the programming really only suits the T6? It doesn't feel like it shuffles into top as quickly as possible, nor like it's always changing. It's not sharp from standstill, but not too languid - but the auto stop/start does kick in too early coming to a halt so you need to account for that or come to a quick stop, or even have it start again to move you forward as you relax pressure on the brake.

Summary: great if you don't spend time trying to second guess your car with manual inputs.

[Beany]

Bah, picked up something in the tyre on the way to work. Tyre was fine when I left the house, flat when I got to the office.

Dropped it into the tyre fitters 50yds from the office, he had a deek. Sidewall hooped. Space saver thrown on in it's place.

Suppose I'll be getting some new tyres then, although I'll probably leave the space saver on in the interim, as I won't be using the car much over Christmas anyway.

Think a fresh pair of SportMAXX RTs will do nicely.

[Rich B]

Bah, picked up something in the tyre on the way to work. Tyre was fine when I left the house, flat when I got to the office.

Dropped it into the tyre fitters 50yds from the office, he had a deek. Sidewall hooped. Space saver thrown on in it's place.

Suppose I'll be getting some new tyres then, although I'll probably leave the space saver on in the interim, as I won't be using the car much over Christmas anyway.

Think a fresh pair of SportMAXX RTs will do nicely.

just order the tyres and get them fitted. You know full well that something will happen where you need your car and if you’re not relying on it, then it’s the perfect time to get it sorted.