gnomeot

I witnessed the Xsara this morning and can indeed confirm that it is an car.

Just now, beko1987 said:

Their taking a long time with the emissions test... 

Not often they get to enjoy the smell of premium 90's French exhaust these days, he's just enjoying himself.

Needs more brie!

Check your oil pressure! If that's a 16vT (or to be fair any turbo Fiat) you'll be forever checking it so get used to it now. Great cars, 16vT uses the same twin cam Lampredi engine as a Lancia Delta Integrale, so plenty tuneable if you fancy.

I drove it in today for the MOT, and you know what...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I quite like it... It's nice to drive, rides well, it's actually quite lovely... Gearbox is quite notchy, you have to line the gate up to the mm before it goes in, but it's nice... I'm not sure how to think at life now, it needs to do a vauxhall quite quickly now so I can go back to not liking it...

 

mpg is 26.9 now, but I have a large ill to boot it up to get to Maidenhead so we shall see what happens there!

Time to hand in your man card and admit that you've given up on life...

...next you'll want a narrow boat, handles about the same as a Vauxhall

The engine has a habit of gumming up the breather pipe from the crank case to the head, in-line filter will fix that. And remember to keep your MAF clean! Otherwise the engine & running gear is about as undramatic as you'd hope...

Yep, misfire on cylinder 2 came back on in the rain yesterday. Myself and beko1987 are gonna grease some parts at lunch today and see if we can't give it a temporary fix until next payday.

Fuel economy report...filled up yesterday evening. Done 70miles since and used about 1/8th of a tank. I reckon I'll see just over 350 miles out of a tank for £55. Thirsty, but liveable. Everything feeling much smoother after a bit of a drive though!

You have to bring the car home now, so they may be taking a massive gamble on their daily driver...if that's the case then fair play to them!

With just two people they can go for something relatively small. I'd be looking at something like a Suzuki Swift or similar, ruthlessly reliable, easy to work on and won't use any fuel. Make sure that they spend time sitting in it...if they need to put more comfortable seats in then it's best to know before you leave! Take at least 3 spare wheels and tires, put on a sump guard and take plenty of duct tape! A crash course in welding wouldn't go amiss either, as beko1987 said, we had to weld the rear axle on our Transit Connect, I also had to weld some springs and an axle on a Danish Mazda Demio, and a hole in a sump on a Lada Riva...welding saves lives people!

They will most definitely need car insurance for Europe and Turkey (Turkey won't let you across the border without it, if you're going that way), make sure the V5 is in the name of the main driver and get your International Driver License sorted. Make sure you have budgeted to give the odd official a "little gift", and allow at least a spare week for your travels. We were held up for 3 days in the Caspian Sea, trying to get from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan on a freight ferry, due to bad weather; then got lost driving the wrong way up a dried out river bed on the edge of the Gobi desert. Maps are everything! Make sure you know your route and which borders/border crossings are open at any given time. We nearly got shot by the Russian army trying to cross the border from Azerbaijan...the Azer's let us through their side, but the Russians wouldn't let us in to Russia because of the Chechen rebels...we nearly caused an international incident!!!

IIRC, a team did it in a 2CV in 2009. I seem to recall it didn't end well, with a crash in Russia.

I met a 2CV team at the start line, they were nuts so wouldn't be surprised if it was them who crashed out! Not quite as nuts as a team in a Corolla who smashed their windscreen in Turkey, and drove the rest of the way to Mongolia wearing goggles! Or the team in a fur covered fire engine who decided in Kazakhstan that the truck was using too much fuel so took an angle grinder to the rear of it and finished with just the front cab on a naked rear chassis! 

I did the Mongol Rally in 2009 so if you want any advice just give me a shout.

Choosing the right steed is very important. How many are in their team? what is their level of mechanical know-how? How stupid do they want to be?

If I was doing the rally under the current rules I would be looking at something like a Skoda Favorit. Just make sure you put a sump guard on it and can easily get hold of lots of spare wheels!