artdjones

They are a bit more rot prone than average but not in the Mk1 Golf league. They were awful up to 1980, then VW discovered cavity wax and seam sealer.

It could be a UK thing, lots of American influence on business. American businesses dont look on their distribution network as partners, just as a resource to be sucked dry then cast aside.

Far be it from me to defend main dealers, but the ones to blame for all this are the manufacturers. Margins on new cars are low. The manufacturers insist on the franchise having a huge glass showroom, they also change signage and point of sale graphics at their discretion, but the dealer has to pay for it. Likewise with a complete set of special tools and diagnostic equipment, where the manufacturer sets the exorbitant price. If the car maker decides to can you, that's it, they can do it on a whim, with a very short notice period, leaving the dealership in hock to the eyeballs with no way to pay the loans off. They will remove the signage etc. that the dealer paid for very quickly. So you get £210+VAT labour rates, because it's only through parts and service that the company can make enough money to ensure that loss of the franchise won't result in immediate bankruptcy. It seems to be a particularly UK/Ireland system of doing business. French, German, Spanish, and Italian dealers are much more modest in size. In France there's an unpretentious Citroen, Peugeot, or Renault dealer in every small town, sometimes more than one.

Because you're from a certain demographic in Ireland who rules don't apply to? That rig must be right on the towing limit, or over.

The thing that seemed strange when I went in a family friend's 55 was the engine revs decreasing as the car continued accelerating.

Ideal employee from the US point of view :- "I don't have a social life, that would be like stealing from the company."

You could still get the Variomatic for a long time on the 343. I drove one once, as it was lhd and had to be started on petrol, then switched over to lpg, so that particular car was an acquired taste.

They did pretty well in production car racing, as the categories were based on the car's on the road price so a very cheap 1.5 was much faster than other maker's weedy one litre economy cars.

Don't you like him😊?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202403147555927 A Megane Estate is my answer to everything after 6 years experience of them. They do have a DMF, if a 110hp, but it seems to be a robust one.

You can tell which engine you've got, its stamped into the r/h side of the block as you look at the engine from the front. But hard to see as it's partly obscured by the plastic mouldings of the cylinder head cover. I think the actual eco engine came with the small facelift that happened around later 2012. So your engine could be an 836. It doesn't make a huge difference, just a couple of mpg. And for some reason the 836 and 636 have a different timing belt, with the newer engine having 4 teeth less.

As yours is down as an Eco on car checking sites it's probably got a k9k 636 engine, which has a different stat housing. I'm fairly sure the working part can be swapped over, though. This is the one off the 636

You can buy them with housing or without. Most of the ones that are sold are 83°, fairly cool, which might explain why they dont warm up easily, but you can get an 87°item as well, which is what I did. I did notice from the fuel computer that having the engine warmed up enough to read three bars on the gauge made a noticeable difference to economy.

The one I had with the digital gauge used to stick on one bar a lot of the time in winter. So I got a thermostat, which improved matters, but it still took 3 or 4 miles to go to normal. The gauge jumps from 1 to 3 bars, bypassing any intermediate position. The thermostat is on the opposite end of the cylinder head to the timing belt, a bit fiddly, but reasonably easy. Especially by VW standards.

They are like a Corolla with a bit more flair.

Should be trouble free, going by my experience with two of them, plus two friends having them as well. And reasonably light for the size for a modern, so quite lively with 110hp. Expect an extra 20 mpg over the Astra. The six speed is quite nice because the top 4 ratios have fairly small gaps between, it's not like some cars where there's a massive gap between fifth and top.

Autodoc are doing the LuK kit for €695 on the app today, so around £600.

It's not in stock anyway but Ridex is a generic make on Autodoc. So probably Chinese. I'd only use LuK, Sachs, Exedy, or Valeo.

I keep meaning to go(my brother lives in Essen) but every year it creeps up on me.

The ultimate car to just use has arrived. Not for me, but to sell, as the mother-in-law has given up driving. Probably still worth what was paid for it in 2020, as they are starting to thin out, and lots of the ones for sale have 3-400k kms on them. This one only has 159k.

Probably best to just run it with regular oil changes until some symptoms manifest themselves. Full camshaft and follower kits are available, if the worst happens. Approx £300 on eBay with a cambelt kit on top.

I thought Mitsubishi were leaving Europe?

The only one I've bought that did that had the oil pressure light come on at idle when I got home. It had run perfectly on test a few days before,but then it started knocking. I was able to get another engine very cheaply, so changed it over, but I couldn't help noticing that the sump on the bad engine had a huge dent in it in the vicinity of the oil pickup. No damage to the pickup, but obviously there hadnt been enough space for oil to get through at high speed. And all the cam lobes had those deep pits.

Mum and dad put those in our bathroom back in 1967.

1.6HDi?, they can do that without any symptoms, maybe there's been some oil starvation.