83C

A friend has a 2006 Saab 9-3 TiD with the 150bhp 1.9 turbodiesel. It drives well, but has an odd issue where every so often it blows smoke out. Fuel consumption drops, the smoke is blue/black (via the wing mirrors) and it’ll smell of diesel. It’ll do it for up to 10 minutes, then back to normal. It sounds to me like the DPF regenerating, but it’s doing it on most journeys over 30 miles. Sometimes after half an hour, sometimes it’s done it several hours into a long journey. The car looks to have had a lot of new bits which we suspect was the previous owner chasing the fault. It’s been a to a normal garage but the owner isn’t near any Saab specialists. Anyone have any suggestions as to what this might be?

The fast and frugal machine: Lots of fun to drive, suffers from the usual Fabia thing of both front windows refusing to work. Something to tackle over winter.

Also, started the small resto project: 6x4 homebrew trailer. Floor could stand some reinforcement, so a new piece of 12mm ply has been cut to shape to go over the top, it’ll get screwed down and then tigersealed around the edges. Just need to give it a coat of paint to really protect it.

Been and seen a car today, and agreed to purchase it. Hopefully collect tomorrow at some point, it’s a frugal and fast hot hatch and a marque completely new to me. Short test, a few faults but overall it should do as a daily driver.

The 525d has gone, collected by a nice Croatian chap. I have a bit of a sad about it really, I've done more miles in it (52,000) than any other vehicle I've owned - certainly at 4 years it's the longest I've kept a daily driver. Yes, I know I've got other things to be happy in but the 5 was just an excellent vehicle in pretty much every way that never once let me down. Anyway, onwards. Got a small restoration project that arrived recently, and I might be off to look at something fast and frugal tomorrow.

Aside from the HSV versions (VXR8 etc), the Commodore probably wouldn't have sold all that well here. By the mid-2000s Vauxhall were the last 'non-premium' manufacturer here to offer a big saloon, and as good as the Omega was (albeit a bit long in the tooth) the sales figures just didn't support bringing in or developing a replacement. Ford had come to that conclusion even earlier, with nothing brought in to replace the Scorpio when that was killed off in the late 1990s. Almost anyone who wants a big saloon in that segment wants either an A6, 5 series or E-class. The French made a valiant effort at providing something a bit different with the Citroen C6 and the Peugeot 607 (remember them?) but sales were minimal. Another thing against importing Commodores and Falcons is the engine range - the VE Commodore came with a 3.0 V6 as the base engine, there wasn't really a properly efficient option. Ok, a Euro-spec engine could have been fitted, but at what cost? Vauxhall/GM knew having a big saloon in the range was of little value in Europe and they probably made the right call in not bringing in a replacement other than a few hundred VE/VF Commodores acting as the halo model with mental performance.

An hour with a bucket, sponge and a Hoover and it’s come up ok: Whilst I was sorting the paperwork with @Laney during the collection, a man in a white van pulled up and asked if it was for sale, it may well be. He’s left his name and number. Took it to Sainsburys for fuel and pretty much the same thing happened - got approached and asked if I were interested in selling. I now have two names and numbers to contact. Whilst cleaning, I looked at the exhaust and it turns out it’s a Prodrive exhaust. Subaru dealers did offer a Prodrive Performance Pack (which I think covers ECU, exhaust and an intake pipe somewhere), so it might well be worth digging out the ECU to see what is written on it. Anyone know where the ECU is mounted on these? There’s also the remnants of a badge or sticker above the Forester badge, wonder what it was for?

Honda Very-dear-o/XL125V - great bike. Had one as my CBT machine before I got my full licence, goes ok and well made. Pricey compared to other 125s but you’ll not lose much, if anything when it comes to selling.

Probably the easiest collection ever. Cycle a mile from home, car delivered to me, chuck bike in back and drive home. Thanks again to @Laney, well recommended seller.

Stage one complete: Now to await developments.

Collection occurring this morning, stage one:

Given that every year the LDU runs on the longest day, riding on £600 motorbikes, and avoiding motorways from LE-JOG starting at sunrise and most riders do it in 15-20 hours, I see no reason why someone well prepared couldn’t do it in sub-10hrs using motorways. Similar I suppose to people doing the coast to coast runs across the US.

E46s are just starting to come out of the doldrums in my opinion. Especially the nicer spec models, the rough ones are disappearing fast and with E36 prices following E30s skywards an E46 is a sensible choice.

Managed a few miles in the Arnage today. The red has a tendency to look a bit dull when the sun isn’t on it, but in good light is a lovely colour. Need to give it a full wax and polish to try and keep the colour good. Also, it’s long. Interior is a very pleasant place to be, not overdone or too in yer face: Spot the parts nicked from a certain Bavarian car manufacturer. Was part of the original deal to supply V8s and V12s for the Arnage and Silver Seraph if I remember correctly. Sport button on top of the gearknob, no idea if it makes any difference at all. I’ve wanted a Bentley for a long time. I thought I’d end up with a Turbo R, as they were at the affordable end of the scale. When I got married, we were driven away in this: It’s an Arnage Diamond Series, one of sixty built. It was owned by a friend of the inlaws and they very kindly offered it for the day. They sold the car a few years later, no idea where it is now. The registration doesn’t bring anything up on the MoT checker, so I guess it’s been reregistered. As previously mentioned the plan is to take mine off the road at the end of October, and put it in hibernation until Spring. A custom car cover has been ordered and the car came with a Ctek battery conditioner already wired in, so that’ll be left plugged in over winter too. I’ll put some moisture absorbing bags in as well so it should be fine. In other fleet news the 5 is up for sale, and I’m after a smoll low tax 4 seater to replace it. C1/107/Aygo or Polo are the front runners to replace the 5, it’s been a great car for over 4 years and 52,000 miles but it’s time to move on.

I'll do a better post with moar pictures of it over the weekend, weather permitting. @LightBulbFun the plate I'm undecided on, I'm almost tempted to sell the plate just because running the Arnage with an ordinary age related plate appeals. K5 TRG has no meaning to me and if someone wants to make me an offer then I'm all ears. Previous owner reckoned it was worth £750 but who knows. I've never been interested in vanity plates, had a few cars with them on because they've come with the car but I've never bothered removing them. To me a numberplate is just the combination of letters and numbers that identifies the car for MoT, insurance & tax purposes. K5 TRG is fairly inoffensive though, it's not got butchered numbers and an excess of fixing caps in a crap attempt to make the plate read something it doesn't, all that manages to do is identify the owner as a monumental bellend and I'd have probably gotten rid of the plate fairly sharpish if that were so. The other plate I'd have been quick to get rid of are the cheap Northern Irish plates - they're barely acceptable on cheaper cars but they look utter wank on things like this (and are usually found on Royces and Bentleys used as wedding cars). If anyone is interested in the plate and wants to contribute to the fuel fund, then drop me a PM...

I’ll blame you then if it all goes wrong 😆

Interior is lovely, only negative is that the heel pad has fallen apart. There is a full set of the correct lambswool overrugs with the car, but my feet don’t fit properly with them in place. Weirdly for a car that is eighteen feet long and requires it’s own postcode, the space for the driver is best described as ‘cosy’ - the seat is at maximum travel and drop and I’m still wedged in tight, though I’m a bit taller than average to be fair. The 40 mile drive home was mega - half spent marvelling at the fact that I’ve actually got one and half spent giggling at the way it gathers pace. It’s not quick by hot hatch or sports saloon standards (book time is something like 6 secs to 60) but the shove is immediate and relentless. What is apparent is that it needs some gentle-ish regular use - the previous owner kept it well but barely used it and things were beginning to get a bit stiff - the boot needed opening on the key before the electronic boot release got the memo that it was supposed to work. Plan is to use it until the end of October occasionally, then it’ll come off the road until the council stop spreading salt. It’s already had the sills done and was recently resprayed so it’s worth keeping it good. Tyres are all pretty much life expired, some perishing and all near the wear indicators - a set of Bridgestones will be around £650 in the required 255/50/18 fitment which I don’t reckon is too bad, and the car even came with a Ctek battery conditioner for leaving it over winter. Tyres will be done at the end of winter so as not to leave new rubber standing. Only thing I’d like for it is some sort of aux input for my phone and music, it has an Alpine radio/cassette head unit with Sat nav system in the top of the dash, so there must be a way in there. I don’t want to change the head unit though.

I always promised myself I'd have one before I turned 40, but to be honest I'd kind of given up on the idea. This one turned up local-ish, so it was well worth a look. Older gent selling, knew exactly what he was selling and was helpful pointing out various small flaws with it. For something so vast the cabin is also rather small, the dash wraps around the driver as it should and it feels just right. I'll have it on the road for a few weeks and then store it for winter, its recently had repairs to the inner sills and replacement outers and I'd quite like to keep them tidy.

They say you should learn from the mistakes of others. I’m obviously a bit slow on the uptake, especially given another shiter’s recent experiences of old British metal. Not content with one car capable of throwing ruinously expensive bills, and timed perfectly to coincide with a global recession, I spent a load of my now near worthless pounds on this: The best bit: Back in a bit, there’s someone at the door in what looks like a white coat, holding something that looks suspiciously like a rolled up straitjacket.

Very much this. I did read the ad and debated having a look, but ultimately suspension/brake issues are the off-putting bit for me. The bodywork I could live with and just smoke around in it for a while, the other fluid leaks I could deal with as and when.

They were lovely. If Bangle used them as inspiration rather than watching a welly get melted whilst tripping on acid, then we might have got some instant design classics, rather than a few that have eventually improved with age like the Z4 and E60/61/63. M-sport only though in the case of the 5, the SE models were and still are gopping. That front bumper ruined it all.

The first example of the sort of nonsense BMW let themselves in for when they appointed the Star Bangled Spanner to head up the design team. I’d suggest the design team were actually taking something very nasty, they saved the good stuff for the Quandt family to get them so hopelessly fucked up that they would sign off a car that looked like a reject from the Ssangyong Design Studio. Some of the Bangle designs actually aged quite well. This one hasn’t. Mind you, the best part about driving an E65 is that you don’t have to look at the outside of it. At least yours is the slightly facelifted version, it’s not as likely to give your children nightmares from looking at the front end…

Mulsanne Turbos are blow-through carb too, so even less to really go wrong. If there’s spark, are the plugs wet?

Active suspension was a Mk.2 thing I think, 1989ish onwards.

Might it not be an overload of polish? Looked at first glance to me like someone has been less than economical with a big bottle of Autoglym SRP and not bothered making sure the excess was wiped off.