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LabRat

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    Oldham

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    England

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  1. Heard back from the dealers- the gearbox is fucking fucked M8. They're ordering another box and fitting it once it's here, looking at 3-6 weeks on back order. Fortunately it's all being done under warranty. Then I think it's being sold off before it borks itself again. He's happier with the Laguna.
  2. Yeah, that was my thought at first. Looking closer at it before it went back to the dealers, we're not sure if the recon powershift has shit itself. It seems to act up as it switches gear spools and either stutters/hiccups or looses drive and revs right up before finding a gear (with an almighty bang). The box was reconditioned by Ford and has only done 2k since being fitted. I think Dad will be parting company with it regardless once it's back, he's far happier with the Laguna. To be fair, its a bloody good looking thing for £2k!
  3. We said the same, but Ford's "Master Technician" is adamant that the job was done correctly and that something else is the problem. It's a bloody lovely car, when it all works. There was mutterings about the high pressure fuel pump possibly breaking down, at 54k...
  4. Father_LabRat has been fighting with his Ford Kuga for the last few months. It's a 2014 TDCI AWD 140 powershift, which in a shocking move no-one saw shat out the gearbox. Spend £4500 on a recon box through Ford 2 months ago, had it serviced and the timing belt changed last week at £600. On Monday it starts stuttering when accelerating, which got so bad it was visibly bouncing the car yesterday and throwing transmission faults/limp mode. Ford have predictably said that there's nothing wrong with the recon box and it must be something else, so we'll keep it in and do some investigation, but it could be 2-3 weeks before it gets sorted as the code reader isn't showing anything wrong (Lincolnshire, so no rush for anything here!) He's at his wits end with the damn thing, so did the AS approved option- bought another car. A 2011 Renault Laguna 3 coupe dynamique with the 2.0 DCI 150 engine. 1 giffer owner, 95k miles and full Renault service history for the princely sum of £2000. It's fucking immaculate and drives perfect, even the sat nav still works! (For now, he's well aware of Renault's electrical gremlins) Comes to something when it feels less likely to bankrupt him than the bloody Kuga!
  5. Went to go visiting relatives in the fiat yesterday, first time it's moved for a week or so (we tend to use the Ignis for local stuff) and found this: Some useless fuckwit courier decided to try and swing their van round in a parking spot just big enough to fit a Suzuki Ignis. No note or anything, one of the neighbours spotted them turning and didn't think to the firm or reg numbers. Could be any one of 4/5 different ones that have been this way over Christmas. How the fuck they thought a full size van would fit here, Christ knows! Looks like I'm phoning around body shops/chips away places to sort the scratches and dents out. Fuck knows how much a wheel arch trim will be, thankfully the alloy and tyre are alright. Fucking lovely.
  6. It's been 3 days of hell, but we've finally moved into to our new house. Managed to bag a 70 plate transit from hertz for the move, which was nice. Even nicer was the half tank of diesel in it, so it didn't need filling afterwards! Best bit after years of fighting with dickhead neighbors for parking? Off-road parking! And the 8 bottles of ale and a welcome card from the new landlord are a nice touch too. Even George seems happier (excuse the ratty old settee- it keeps him off the decent one for now! (Going when I can afford a couple of decent armchairs that fit the feel of the place)
  7. On a road trip from Oldham to Skegness to visit the parents. The weapon of choice for a 130 mile run? 2 people, a basset hound and a weekend worth of luggage, with room to spare surprisingly. Though may the Gods have mercy on my spine, cos the suspension certainly won't!
  8. It thrums along merrily upto about 55mph, then the hybrid battery loses charge and the torque drops of sharply. It does seem quite reliant on the generator to give it that bit of extra shove, considering the battery is the size of a couple of AA's! To be brutally honest, I found it a lot less refined than the old 1.2 fire, but I did get 65mpg out of according to the trip computer and it's only done 3000 miles (all of them as a courtesy car, which probably doesn't help!) Finally got the key sorted on the 500x, which is nice. The multiair mapping update is even nicer- smoothed out the turbo response in sport mode so it's less laggy at low revs.
  9. The 500x is back at Fiat for a new key coding in. In the meantime, all 6'2 20 stone of fat lad here is riding around in this mean machine as a courtesy car It's a 1.0 3 cylinder firefly mild hybrid... 3 cylinders, 70bhp and a 0.1kwh battery/motor in the gearbox apparently. Sweet enough to drive round town, but a blast back to Oldham from Rochdale down the a627m has it struggling. Still. Could be worse, the dealers also cover MG, so it could've been an mg3...
  10. After all the fuck about with our landlord selling the house out from under us, we've finally been accepted on another house, subject to appropriate references. (That won't be a problem!) The relief is almost bloody palpable! In car news, the 500x is going back to Fiat on Thursday for a new key coding in under warranty (had to wait a month for the key to be shipped from Italy). The Ignis is still being boringly reliable in the way small Suzuki's are.
  11. Currently, there isn't much in Oldham for rent that will take pets as well, but that's what we're looking to do whilst we try and get a deposit together for either a mortgage or a better rented place. Tbh, I'll be shocked if it sells anytime soon given the current interest rate hike and the area it's in. (It's gone downhill massively in the last year or so) It's doable with a bit of time and plenty of effort, just fucking irritating that the first actual contact we've had with the owner was when he turned up with an estate agent to get a valuation. We currently rent through a 1 man band agency, who did inform us of the visit, but forgot to mention why.
  12. To be blunt, it's a shit situation. The owner has offered to sell the house to us at his full asking price of £150k... Probably didn't help my case when I told him politely to jog on- this house is in desperate need of a full renovation, including boiler replacement and gutters/fascias. Also its in the shit end of Oldham. But mainly, I can't afford it, because the twat put the rent up last Christmas and that's taking all our free cash which would go towards a mortgage deposit.
  13. Oh the joys of private renting. The owner of our current house has died and left it to her grandson, who has now decided that he wants a nicer house and is going to sell both ours and his current houses to fund this. So, this means that we're looking at probably being served our 2 months notice around Christmas if he can't get an investor lined up to take it on. Of course, because we have a dog, no fucker else around here will take us on- he's a 9 year old basset hound and there's no way in hell I'm giving him up- it wouldn't be fair on him or Mrs Labrats mental health. (She's already suffering insomnia and stress at the thought of giving him up and we only found out 2 days ago) I know that it's our fault for not saving a deposit on a mortgage, etc. But at the time, we couldn't afford to and now were trapped by the fucking cost of renting. Still. There's always a tent in a layby I suppose.
  14. Spotted on our chalet site in Chapel St Leonard's Lincolnshire. A 1946 Austin 10 in full oily rag resto condition, apparently it's a daily driver through summer!
  15. Had to take my car back to the dealers for some warrant/recall work- failed engine mount, faulty keyfob and a software update, on a 2016 plate car. This is my courtesy car for the next few days... Feel like I should grow a manbun and get a job cutting hair, but at least it isn't pink! It's supposedly a mild hybrid, but I've not seen anything other than a flashing light when braking. Reckons I'm getting 48mpg round the doors though.
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