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bub2006

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bub2006 last won the day on April 14 2018

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  1. Can I speak as someone with a physical disability? A motability car would be your best bet dez. No insurance to worry about,running costs or maintenance woes. It will be ulez and congestion zone free and there is a very wide and varied choice of vehicles from small to large,manual,semi auto and auto as well as petrol,diesel,hybrid,plug in electric and full electric. Regards not being sure if you would be comfortable with one and you have mentioned you are comfortable with rev,well consider this please. My last motability car was a mini countryman cooper 1.5 3 pot turbo auto. I was unsure if it would be comfortable or not so I asked for an extended test drive. I collected the car from the dealer and had a 48 hour loan. In that 48 hour time frame I took it on country lanes,motorways,towns and busy cities. I covered a hell of a lot of miles just to be sure I was making the best decision. I covered varied scenarios of driving to ensure I had ample visibility,I could park it comfortably,I could get my scooter in and out as well as shopping trips for entry and egress concerns. Here's some information on the cars I have had on the scheme and my views. Skoda Octavia 1.4 TSI DSG auto. Easy to get in trouble with speed wise. Very quiet and smooth but not the most comfortable,mine was a low spec model which actually had sidewalls on the tyres and a supple suspension but the seats weren't the most supportive. Boot was large enough for a mid size mobility scooter. High sills though and short doors. Averaged mid 40s mpg. Nissan qashqai 1.5 DCI tekna Top spec with all the bells and whistles. Decent driving position with good visibility and seats were extremely comfy. Steering was vague though and the 1.5 was overwhelmed in a large car. Boot wasn't massive and a high load lip made getting scooter in and out a pain. Panoramic roof was a nice touch though. Averaged high 40s mpg. Hyundai ionic 1.6 DSG hybrid My favourite of them all. Superb on fuel,mid 60s was common with low 70s on a run. Mine was a premium trim level so had a lot of toys like heated seats and steering wheel but didn't have electric leather cooled seats. Reason being was the seat position was higher than a non electric seat and I'm not a massive leather seat fan. Very smooth engine with supercharger effect power from the motor and engine combined. Was an odd sensation on a cold morning with the engine at tickover warming the batteries but still accelerating on the motor alone. Good wide doors,low sill and massive boot. Mini countryman cooper turbo Nice car but had a few niggles,all fixed through motability. Being a base trim I didn't get armrests but had a nice high driving position with good visibility all round. Boot was small and the interior really was small for what seems to be a deceptively large car externally. Averaged mid 40s mpg. When the mini went back I stepped away from motability and purchased a 2003 mk1 ford focus 2.0 Ghia auto estate. One of the best cars I've owned. Had it for over two years now. Very comfy, supportive seats,auto box is very well mannered for an old car and the boot is very large. Swallowed a large mobility scooter no problem. Average around 32 mpg so not great but it is essentially a 30 year old engine and 3 speed + od box. The main vehicle I use nowadays as the focus has been taken by the wife is a Peugeot partner 2.0 hdi 90. 2004 model and I can't sing the praises high enough of these and the same Berlingo. Large square boot so can fit scooters, lightbulbs or even a mattress and make a mini camper. Rear seats fold down east and can be removed with 6 bolts. Massive doors,high roof and I can practically walk into it and sit comfortably and I'm 5ft10 ish and 18 stone. The early 2.0 hdi is a pearler. No dmf,coded injectors or dpf to clog up and if it's on disabled tax then it's no concern with ulez and Caz. I'd recommend getting the multispace variant as there is only 2 Caz zones in the UK need paying for whereas the van variant has alot more. That's one of the reasons I went for the multispace over the van as well as sliding side doors. Take seats out,tiny out rear windows and you have essentially a van. The non turbo 1.9 isn't as good on fuel and higher tax bracket than the 2.0 hdi also. I've bought mine as I'm trying to go self employed man and van. Taking some time to get going and I'm working with my disability instead of against it. Trying to make good of a situation where I don't have to worry about a boss breathing down my neck or getting fired for a day or two a week off work when I'm housebound. Maybe something to consider for yourself? I focus on what I can do instead of what I can't. We can't change our situation so we have to deal with the hand we are dealt. Sorry for rambling but shedding some light, hopefully,on your situation as someone who is in a similar physically impaired situation. Tl;Dr Keep rev,use as a toy but please consider options for main mode of transportation that's more viable for your location and today's traffic and road network.
  2. Back in 2009 I had a 414SLI and the reg ended in NWE too. I think it was L186 NWE and it was the same colour as your 827 too. Strange how pictures can stir up memories!
  3. Right folks. A small update. The Ignis bit the dust on December the 23rd. The gearbox was always notchy and the clutch didn't help matters at all. Lost 3rd gear completely and second and fourth weren't far behind. Sold it in boxing day to someone for 300 quid so all wasn't lost. The focus is still in my ownership and still going strong. 16 or 17 month ownership now and coming up to it's second MOT in my hands in April. Back when we had the caravan I replaced the rear end and the shocks kept leaking. Had 3 sets in 10 months from same manufacturer. The last set the super said he'd do an upgrade to a better brand so now the focus is sitting in a set of KYB gas shocks. After selling the Ignis I was left with a space on my driveway and a need for a second car. I fetched this from the Wirral. Just over 72k on clock. Started life I think near Newcastle and spent nigh on 23 years there before it moved over to the west coast later last year and it's now down in Derbyshire. 1.6 single point injection 8v in LS trim so has cd player,velour seats and air con yet surprisingly doesn't have ABS. Remote locking still works fine and overall it's a tidy old car. Drives lovely and getting high 30s mpg round the doors. my driveway now resembles a lower middle class household circa 2005.
  4. New clutch had to be fitted to the suzuki. Looks like the old boy owner was the type to rest his foot on the clutch. Started slipping then lost all drive in the space of 10 miles. Slipped then grabbed on a steep hill then started slipping again. The thrust bearing was sticking on the shaft too. Tried to limp it home but lost all drive at the end of my road. Wife had to come out with the focus to drag it home. I wasn't pushing it uphill nor was I ringing the AA for such a short distance. Dave of dcd autos sorted it though. Good having a decent mechanic for a friend! Third gear still a bit awkward and the gearbox itself is rather "clicky" Can see on the pics there is a lot of wear on the plate from the thrust bearing too.
  5. Similar set up to the xtr re. Diffs then I think. I think I've seen somewhere the older escapade had some sort of limited slip too.
  6. You can get bash plates and other gubbins. The newer xtr and the earlier escapade had a slightly raised suspension also. Bingo hdi with peugeot partner escapade suspension and light guards would be doable easy enough. Or just buy a partner.
  7. Now that sounds fun. The ignis is quite high up too so may lend itself rather well.
  8. The focus I guess you are referring to? I'm planning on next spring pulling the liners and rustroofing with some wax oil or similar. It's had something like ziebart on it underneath from an early age and the sills have tiny holes evenly spaced both sides of the car. The holes on inner sill have tiny grommets in them and the ones on the outer side don't so i'd assume its had some form of wax injection? It's got some surface corrosion starting on the spare wheel well under the car which I'm also going to rectify as well as getting the scuffed front bumper and wing sorted and also the rear bumper repaired. It has a slight bubble starting above the chrome boot trim too but I'm led to belive that's quite a common thing on the cars with chrome trim. Regards rust too,we went on holiday to Kent a couple months back. I brimmed the car the night before we left and could smell fuel when I got home. The thinner pipe that runs above the main filler neck had a pinhole in it and when the tank was full caused a little leak. Drained aome fuel out to bring it to 3 quarters so not using the overflow pipe and kept it around a half tank while we were away. Replaced the whole filler pipe when we came home. Ford only part and they wanted over 480 quid so ordered one from ebay for 60 brand new.
  9. Joseph Lloyd did a video on it and he seemed to like it too! Insurance is funny though. Last year the insurance online form auto filled in the valuation at 950 when we purchased it for 600. Just renewed the policy and the value they've auto filled on the online page is now £2025. Having seen the prices of good condition mk1 st170s are going and even the lower models are starting to rise too I can well believe ut could be close to that if I was to sell. Highly doubt it will get sold though as the wife has took a shine to it.
  10. I love my wife but she don't half shout when things go tits up and she gets scared. I just follow her orders and exited the motorway at first available opportunity. Happy wife,happy life.
  11. It's a lot of fun using what folk see as the "incorrect" vehicle. I've used scooters too. Just take time and things will be fine. I'm a big fan of unconventional offroaders!
  12. Yes it has. Old style leaf spring bar. Tyres on car and van were at correct level and the van was also loaded correctly and not overweight. It was a bit sketchy,just got hit with a cross wind and it scared the wife. As I said on paper the focus can tow it but I think it hasn't got the weight. Being auto too it needed to be kept on the boil especially with hills.
  13. I live in Derbyshire. Some great lanes I've took bikes over in this area. I may or may not have took a xsara picasso down a muddy green lane with water past the sills and at one point up to the headlights. I can't say for sure if I did or not due to self incrimination.
  14. Well it's been a while so thought I'd update. To long term shiters who know me,you may be surprised to learn I still own the focus. Just over a year now and it's doing well reliability and mpg wise. Still around low 30s. As some may have read the focus is a low mileage car with 2 former keepers. Was on 44k when I bought it having only done 8500 miles since 2011. In the past year of my ownership I've done just over 20k. The caravan was sold a few month ago as even the the focus towed it ok we had a bit of a bad snake on the m62 coming back from Wales and put my wife off touring u till we get a bigger car. We both don't want to part with the focus so it may well end up being a summer only car in another year or so. We have purchased another car though,a little runaround for town duties and for me to use after I sold the bike. Enter stage left the little Japanese shoebox. here we have a 2004 suzuki ignis 1.3 vvt in GL trim. 2 former keepers,1 from 2004 till 2006 and 1 keeper from 2006 till middle of October when I bought it from Doncaster when previous owner passed away. The car had just over 100k on it when I bought it. It's a decent trim level with front fogs,electric windows and mirrors but no central locking,or so I thought. After speaking to some people we found it it should have central locking and after going to my friends garage for investigation we found the module had a blown capacitor. Ebay second hand part fitted and an ebay remote locking kit bought it back around to working fine. The car had when I bought it only done 1300 ish miles since its mot in 2020,I though have done 1400 miles so far in my ownership. Tyres on it were dated 2007 so new tyres were fitted and as of today its had better bulbs fitted in the headlights as they were next to useless. Hasn't used a drop of oil or water since purchased and it doesn't sound like a vauxhall with the cam chain rattle either. Had it up on the ramps and found its recently had new brake lines,rear wheel bearings,hubs and shoes as well as front discs and pads and an engine service. It has a little leak of oil on the gearbox around the drain plug which could be running down from the fill plug or it could be a seal. Not properly investigated it yet but will do so at some point. That's all for now folks. Take care.
  15. I've got trade card and that Groupon still is cheaper too plus it be done with the correct technique rather than fill through low point
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