Your fleet running reports

[Mito Man]

I'll check it again in Dec 2024 when I need to change the plugs again

[Beany]

Got he yellow oil warning on the BMW after turning it off in Lidl car park tonight so suppose it's time to top it up. Think if I get a Christmas bonus - you know, the almost entire month of annual leave I've not been able to take - I might treat it to a full fluid service.

And also check the rear diff locating bushes, and the front lower arm bushes, as I think they might be getting a little soft. Might as well cast an eye before MOT time, eh?

[Jobbo]

Isn’t that the oil pressure warning, Bean? I don’t remember the E46 having an oil level light.

[Beany]

Isn’t that the oil pressure warning, Bean? I don’t remember the E46 having an oil level light.

I think the two are functionally interchangable. Basically, it needs some tasty Castrol shoved down it's gullet. I'll park it somewhere flat tomorrow for an hour and top it up.

[speedingfine]

Collecting a wing tomorrow, hopefully will get the car back soon!

[Simon]

Isn’t that the oil pressure warning, Bean? I don’t remember the E46 having an oil level light.

Yeah, you actually need to have oil in the engine to have any oil pressure

[integrale_evo]

They do have an oil level sensor, you can’t have ever run yours near to the minimum.

Ours is broken and comes on about 10 seconds after starting up regardless of oil level

[Jobbo]

No, I was fortunate to have one of the M54s which didn’t use oil

[Jobbo]

Yeti now also sporting winter tyres.

[integrale_evo]

The merc is apparently a bit shit in the snow

I’ve been wanting some new summer wheels for a while as the ones on it are a bit old man, and relegate the current ones to winter duties. Would really like another pair of front wheels to match the existing ones so I can run a sensible 225 45 17 tyre all round, but the 17in versions seem to be pretty rare, the same style 16in version is much more common but don’t think they’ll cover the brakes on the 350 and look even worse.

[McSwede]

Whilst my car is away being mended I've had a couple of pool cars from work.

First off a 69 plate Rav4 2.5vvt-i Dynamic Hybrid AWD. A surprising thing to do a lot of miles in. Really comfy, reasonably brisk, quiet and plenty of kit. I liked it more than I thought I would. The infotainment system is a bit shit but had a cracking JBL sound system. As a daily hack it was very good. It's the first time I've enjoyed using radar cruise. It worked really well and on Thursday I did 490 miles in it and the radar made it very relaxing.

Secondly just swapped into a 17 plate GLC220d 4matic which is at the end of its lease. It made me remember how much I liked my previous C Class. Great seats and a lovely interior. The 9 speed box is good too and it goes along quite nicely. It goes round corners better than expected as well.

I'm enjoy being sat high up in these SUV's. My car is going to feel low and very quick when I get it back.

[Rich B]

Radar cruise is very good. I've hated CC on every car I've ever had it on, but I use the Golf one all the time. Just set it to something like 95 and cruise along at whatever speed the cars in front will allow.

[integrale_evo]

Been poking under the merc to try and source the occasional ping and boing it’s been making.

Looks like one of the rear springs is broken / cracked. I say think, because even on full droop there’s no way I can get my fingers between the coils and it’s hard to make out what’s spring and what’s mount. I tried poking / prodding with a screwdriver but nothing is loose / moving.

Will investigate further tomorrow, hopefully taking the wheel off and unbolting the damper will give more room.

Still have the set of eibach springs I bought last year to fit but have heard the fronts are a bit of a bitch, and don’t really want to fit the rears before the fronts.

[Sundayjumper]

Two English sports cars on the driveway today ! Almost exactly forty years between them, May ‘67 and Jan ‘07.

7FA7FE1C-DB11-46F4-806F-B903481BB9B9.jpeg (136.99 KiB) Viewed 1444 times

[V8Granite]

The merc is apparently a bit shit in the snow

I’ve been wanting some new summer wheels for a while as the ones on it are a bit old man, and relegate the current ones to winter duties. Would really like another pair of front wheels to match the existing ones so I can run a sensible 225 45 17 tyre all round, but the 17in versions seem to be pretty rare, the same style 16in version is much more common but don’t think they’ll cover the brakes on the 350 and look even worse.

The 500e is absolutely atrocious!!!! It gets moving ok but if I left it in drive while coming to a stop the engine would overcome the rear brakes at idle when slowing and you’d do the slowest ever slide to a halt

Every other car I’ve owned I’ve played with in the snow, the old
Merc, only once!!

Just gave the Defender a look over, it sat at 86 for a good half an hour on Thursday as I needed to get home quick for the dog. That’s sat full speed for 40 odd miles on the governor, 3800rpm. Just like sitting on the Rev limiter in a car for half an hour. Not a drop of oil used in 5000 miles and still ticking away nicely at 247,000 miles.
I don’t want to jinx it but the 200tdi is a bloody great engine for what it was developed for.

Dave!

[integrale_evo]

I think that was the main complaint, if it got going it didn’t want to stop I’m assuming knocking it into neutral would work and not kill the gearbox?

Looking as the PS4 tyres it’s but surprising, the middle three strips of tread are almost completely flat, only the outer shoulders have decent horizontal grooves.

They’re still excellent in anything other than actual snow.

[V8Granite]

I think that was the main complaint, if it got going it didn’t want to stop I’m assuming knocking it into neutral would work and not kill the gearbox?

Looking as the PS4 tyres it’s but surprising, the middle three strips of tread are almost completely flat, only the outer shoulders have decent horizontal grooves.

They’re still excellent in anything other than actual snow.

Yep that fixed the problem. It does highlight how rubbish it was though. Mine was on GSD3s at the time.

Dave!

[GG.]

Two English sports cars on the driveway today ! Almost exactly forty years between them, May ‘67 and Jan ‘07.


7FA7FE1C-DB11-46F4-806F-B903481BB9B9.jpeg

How tempted are you to re-spray it silver

[GG.]

So - as it turns out - I'll likely be in a position to clear off the residual loan on the 911 a year in advance. On that basis another auto-mo-bile may be on the cards in the near future...

I'd only be interested in upgrading the 911 for a manual 991.1 GTS and basically they're as rare as hens teeth, are commanding 70-80k and I can't bring myself to pay 991.1 GT3 prices for one. So the likely choice is something more practical for lugging bikes (and maybe, one day, a dog) and dawdling around in 20mph zones. It also has the benefit of a much higher "WAF" than, say, buying a Gallardo.

Growing up in a Land Rover/Porsche family I'm realistically only considering a Range Rover. I like the current generation Sport much much more than the previous version but they're still ten a penny compared to the much rarer full fat rangeys and have an inescapable whiff of chav about them. If you're going to do something do it properly, etc.

It also has to be petrol as I'm a committed diesel-phobe. The question (and point of this rambling post) is that for my intended budget it then comes down to a 7 year old 5.0 supercharged Autobiography or a 3ish year old 3.0 supercharged V6 Vogue SE. As I'm pretty certain you do not need faster than mid 7 seconds to 62 in a a 2.5 tonne barge I'm strongly leaning towards the latter given it has the newer tech and should be noticeably fresher and in better condition.

Does anyone have experience of the V6s to be able to offer an opinion?

[Carlos]

Two English sports cars on the driveway today ! Almost exactly forty years between them, May ‘67 and Jan ‘07.


7FA7FE1C-DB11-46F4-806F-B903481BB9B9.jpeg

How tempted are you to re-spray it silver

They are good looking cars. Very Italian like the Lancia Flavia Coupe and the Lambo 350 GT.

It will be silver by spring lol