Your fleet running reports

[mik]

Like that.

[Matty]

They're certainly not lacking in length.

[DeskJockey]

That looks lovely. What options does it have?

[Simon]

Great choice. As you know I was looking at these last year but didn't have the courage to put proper money into a diesel. We did get the 400 petrol over here but only in saloon guise unfortunately.

[Jobbo]

The steering wheel appears to be set to “Routemaster” position?

It was like that when I got in first - electric steering column and the last owner presumably never found the joystick to adjust it

It’s got reversing camera, memory seats, heated seats (yeah, they were an option) and the retractable tow bar plus some minor bits I forget. The AMG Sport trim with the V6 engine comes with full COMAND Online as standard, full LED adaptive lights, folding mirrors and some other stuff you wouldn’t necessarily expect as standard on a Merc. Intriguingly it has MBConnect Real Time Traffic Data on the options list, which is not something I’ve seen on the build sheet for other CLSs. Doesn’t have ambient lighting but otherwise it feels pretty plush; the dash is covered in stitched pleather and the vents etc are lovely solid brushed metal.

[Jobbo]

They're certainly not lacking in length.

It isn’t quite 5m long, but it’s not far off. The boot is consequently excellent. I’m looking forward to carrying stepladders without needing to fold the seats

You could spec aluminium rails in the boot floor (saw one with those, looks classy) or cherry wood (over £4K and looks even classier in photos). But the more you spend on boot lining materials the more useless it is; things would just slide around

[DeskJockey]

They're certainly not lacking in length.

It isn’t quite 5m long, but it’s not far off. The boot is consequently excellent. I’m looking forward to carrying stepladders without needing to fold the seats

You could spec aluminium rails in the boot floor (saw one with those, looks classy) or cherry wood (over £4K and looks even classier in photos). But the more you spend on boot lining materials the more useless it is; things would just slide around

I'm sure there was an optional strap pack to mitigate it.

Looks a very comfortable car to do motorway miles in.

[Mito Man]

Nice one jobbo

[nuttinnew]

[Jobbo]

It's nice that my 'cheap diesel for a long commute' criteria led to such a seemingly approved purchase

[Nathan]

Glad to see you back in a used car.

[Jobbo]

No regrets about leasing, Nath. Not sure the deals this year are as good as previously but if you find the right deal it makes financial sense as well as enjoying a new car.

[_andy]

Pictures from last time.

You has LSD! Well jel. All these really need is a LSD and a bit more noise, the power is already enough I find.

I took the Civic out for a blast down the A20 on Saturday, I can confirm that the vtec works, and it is ignorantly loud, so this will need to be addressed at some point. Feels fairly quick as well, which is nice. I need to get the rust sorted out before I do anything else in case its beyond saving. I did get a quote locally but it was too cheap to be a good job so I'm still looking around, TGM Sport in Fleet and Canada Coachworks in Byfleet have both come up as recommended in rusty Honda circles, but neither is exactly over the road.

The Honda is in danger of getting out of hand, I've been researching AWD conversions (using CRV parts and a viscous coupling from a Freelander of all things) and turbo K series swaps.

[Beany]

Car is back in for MOT, fingers crossed and all that.

[Nathan]

No regrets about leasing, Nath. Not sure the deals this year are as good as previously but if you find the right deal it makes financial sense as well as enjoying a new car.

No that's fair, I just feel that you always enjoyed your purchases more.

[McSwede]

Pictures from last time.

You has LSD! Well jel. All these really need is a LSD and a bit more noise, the power is already enough I find.

No LSD just electronic braked diff when all systems off. It works ok to be fair.

Certainly not lacking in power. I've loved my time with it so far. Lucky to be able to do so many miles in it.

[DeskJockey]

It's nice that my 'cheap diesel for a long commute' criteria led to such a seemingly approved purchase

I think we need to work on your definition of cheap not like you're buying a 20 year old £1k shed.

[McSwede]

Not my photos yet, just the ones from the ad:



I thought I’d found one with aubergine leather but sadly it was sold ages ago and the garage can’t stop eBay advertising it. So the more standard black leather, which feels beautifully cocooned with the black headlining. I did try one with the upgraded Passion leather (semi-aniline) but it’s so thick that it doesn’t actually feel as nice as the standard leather. I also sat in a C-class with Artico; ignore anyone who says you can’t tell the difference.

Hoping to collect it on Thursday, subject to my rather manic workload.

That looks cracking Simon!!

[Nefarious]

@scotta has your Fabia got two fans behind the radiator?

I wanted to check they were both working after my off, and only the slighter higher up of the two, the one nearest the battery, came on. This was once the temp reached about 98-99 degrees, according to my bluetooth-connected OBDII dongle and Car Scanner app.


Haynes manual shows the following:
2020-03-15 12.27.50 copy.jpg

This suggests fan 1 should have come on at a lower temp.
I don't know which one is fan 1 and fan 2.

Do you have a connector, low down in the engine bay behind the fans?
I have these two parts that look like they should be connected?
Maybe they came apart when I was pulling the mud out from beneath the engine?!

This is looking down, with the fans at the bottom of the shot (overexposed to brighten what's in the gloom beneath).
2020-03-15 12.20.30 copy.jpg

That's slightly blurry, I apologise. The end with the ribbed cover on it (oo-er) is higher up. The end with the red wires is coming out from underneath.
I would need to get underneath and get the sump guard off to try and reconnect them, hence checking first.

Here is the connector on the upper end, that I can reach. This is coming out of that clipped in tubing that you can see.

2020-03-15 12.17.19 copy.jpg

@Nefarious Is the man to ask. Ive not even seen the car yet.

I'll have a look when I'm next down at the garage. I think the front bumper is going to need to come off to relocated the washer bottle, so it should give decent access to be able to see what's going on...(you may have to wait a couple of days, as apart from everything else going on, I've hurt my hand, so am only one light spannering duties)

[Beany]

Car is back in for MOT, fingers crossed and all that.

FlyingColours.jpg (14.05 KiB) Viewed 2342 times

Well, couple of advisories - rear mounts of the front lower arms have a little play (they all do that, apparently), front tyres a little worn (I'm doing 3k a year ATM I don't care) and some play in the rear drivers side wheel bearing.

So that's OK.