Gruber

Excellent news!! Did you get the lumpy throttle thing sorted?

This week, EO the Clio went to Blackpool. And came back again. Entirely under its own (limited) power. Approx 460 miles round trip, mostly at 70ish / 3,500rpm-ish. Returned approx 42mpg and never missed a beat. Remarkably comfortable car to spend 4+ hours in. Blackpool was grey and grim. Apologies to anyone who lives there... it must be tough. Here's a quick snap of the Tower as we rolled into town. Before the trip, it had oil, filter, an air filter and some new brake fluid. Plugs all seemed clean and everything else got a broadly clean bill of health. Clutch remains high and slip-free. TADTS. It's a pleasing little car for the money. I might put it up for sale.

I’m enjoying this little car. It feels about as simple as cars have been in the last 20 years. No air con, no parking sensors, no touchscreen, no remote mirror controls, nor any other fripperies of the modern age. Lightweight, utilitarian, billy-basic motoring with just a hint of Gallic something or other.

Yes! Especially if you look in the opposite direction while squinting.

Useful to hear. Maybe its fine. Hard to tell whether it is slipping when there's so little power available.

Yep - that's right. Renault pushed the boat right out to make sure those Mk2s kept selling.

The 2023-4 winter runabout has arrived! Christened "EO the Clio", it's a last-of-the-line Mk2 parts bin run-out Campus model complete with the 1.2 8v petrol lump. Barely enough power to pull the skin off a custard, but it drives nicely and has been well looked after. Interior immaculate and seems to have been well maintained. Better photos to follow... maybe. What's wrong with it...? Well it's due a service, the clutch bite feels a bit high to me and the the MoT runs out in early Feb. It'll be doing a 500 mile round trip to Blackpool in a week or so, so that'll be a good opportunity to see what else shakes out as we get better acquainted. Might treat it to oil, plugs and air filter before I go.

The "auto" bit is the real killer here. A friend asked me if I could help her find something local along similar lines (slightly lower budget) and her insistence on an auto box made the hunt considerably harder. She ended up with a Focus in the end, which she's happy with - but older than she'd been hoping. Good luck with the hunt!

Thanks for the mention. Yep - my Rav4 is for sale... in a half-hearted sort of way. I really like it but just don't need it. Mine's the next generation one - 2006, 5-door with the the super-reliable 2.2 chain-driven diesel engine. Previously owned by @garethjof these parts.

It'd be rude not to, right? I do a great Pammy: I increasingly seem to have the body for it.

‘Fun cruiser’ (?!) beach pic.

It's fair to say there's very limited chance of heatstroke here on the north coast of NI. 😀

The old girl is doing great work as the family holiday hack. Having done about 800 miles in it over the past week, it is really growing on me. Bags of room for 'stuff'; confidence-inspiringly solid at a steady motorway lope; enough get-up-and-go to zip past tractors on country roads; rides nicely; and everything works despite 16 years and 151,000 under its belt. It wears its age and miles with a few battle scars but, as a family hack to leave in tight spots at supermarket car-parks, that's ideal. Having never owned a Toyota before, it's a bit of a revelation. It feels like a big Golf, in the best possible way. Highly recommended shite! And of course, the coastal roads of Northern Ireland are properly stunning.

Three months into ownership: time for an update! It's a very likeable thing this Rav4. Not fast, not fancy and certainly not in the first flushes of youth. But solid and dependable. It just trickled over 150,000 miles and seems to be going strong. ...well, except for the starter motor, which has played up since (literally) Day 2 of ownership. Every three or four starts, the starter would spin up but not engage. It always engaged second turn of the key, but gradually the non-starting became increasingly frequent. So last week the bullet was bitten and a new starter fitted. Not cheap, but now it starts first time every time. While "in", it had oil and a filter and a good check over, also resulting in two new rear tyres. An expensive day at the garage. But now the old girl is prepped and ready for a big trip: driving from Cambridge to Stranraer this Saturday, then over to NI for a fortnight's holiday. It has proved VERY useful for tip trips and carting big stuff around. And a couple of mates have borrowed it and were suitably impressed. She's probably not a keeper: once the NI trip is behind us, I'll need to move her on to make room on the driveway for a caravan. So if you fancy a big slice of reliably solid shite, feel free to form an orderly queue.