HMC- Austin 12/4 motorsport entry 💩

[Marm Toastsmith]

I can't believe you've kept it this long.

[HMC]

29 minutes ago, Marm Toastsmith said:

I can't believe you've kept it this long.

me too 😂

[Semi-C]

I’m chuffed that this is still treating you right, there’s just something about it that is so effortlessly cool, 

Vive the vessel.

[HMC]

Sooo, my 12 month plan with the benz lasted 8 weeks 😂

The big benz has sold to a shiter, and in its place i wanted to go back to core AS.

To me at least thats cars that are largely unwanted by the masses and bargain bucket money. Quite hard to find anything for bargain bucket money these days that has any interest level for me- however…

Exhibit A- 2003 omega 3.2 elite estate, 11m mot , £790

Exhibit b - 2002 passat tdi estate , 240k £600

So ive got those 2 to replace the big benz.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Why not 3?

[ProgRocker]

O!

[2flags]

11 hours ago, HMC said:

Sooo, my 12 month plan with the benz lasted 8 weeks 😂

The big benz has sold to a shiter, and in its place i wanted to go back to core AS.

To me at least thats cars that are largely unwanted by the masses and bargain bucket money. Quite hard to find anything for bargain bucket money these days that has any interest level for me- however…

Exhibit A- 2003 omega 3.2 elite estate, 11m mot , £790

Exhibit b - 2002 passat tdi estate , 240k £600

So ive got those 2 to replace the big benz.

I see you like your low mileage examples!! 😂

[RichardK]

Cor, that Omega...

[sdkrc]

Can I book an appointment to sniff the seats in your Passat? It looks great*.

Bad jokes aside, I have had nothing but good experiences with cheap derv Passats. Big, comfy, disposable and reasonable mechanically besides the front suspension. I think I fell in love with them when we had a test drive of one back in 97 and I was a kid. It felt colossal inside and was a much nicer place to be a passenger in then anything else we'd seen

 

*shit

[HMC]

34 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

Can I book an appointment to sniff the seats in your Passat? It looks great*.

Bad jokes aside, I have had nothing but good experiences with cheap derv Passats. Big, comfy, disposable and reasonable mechanically besides the front suspension. I think I fell in love with them when we had a test drive of one back in 97 and I was a kid. It felt colossal inside and was a much nicer place to be a passenger in then anything else we'd seen

 

*shit

Me too, around the same time. For some reason the door hinge mechanisms and the flush turning fascia vents i thought were cool.  Coming from my dads sierra it felt a lot more substancial and that a lot of attention had gone into detail design. Now sierras are hot property and these are roadside eyesores.

-DELIVERY NEWS-

Alas, the curse of vag shite has struck (shit locks +/- a submerged module under the passenger seat, or lets hope just a dead battery?)

OAP Vendor Ingrid may set fire to it before it reaches me….

[HMC]

I feel sorry for her, hopefully its just a dead battery. Although @Rave sadly it may not be!

[HMC]

Success 💪Long distance diagnostics at work

[Marm Toastsmith]

I love these too, although typically I didn't notice them at the time - I've never paid much attention to modern cars, and anyway back then it was the equivalent Audis that seemed the most desirable. I think the design has aged really gracefully though, bauhaus-esque lines are really slick, much like the Audi TT they have a timelessness to them. The saloons look particularly cool, I think, but you can't beat an estate.

They won't be cheap for long, and IMO they're only still cheap because they've lasted so well. It's still amazing to me that a quarter of a million mile 20+ year old car can still be a practical workhorse. Electrics and typical VW design flaws aside this generation of VAG were pretty well built really.

If it's a decent one it would probably suit me when you get rid. Is it the same colour as that automatic saloon we both had the pleasure* of experiencing?

[S2000]

Ingrid Bergman, owns a Pissat?

 

[Rave]

On mine you can always open the driver's door with the key, it's only the rest of the doors that require power and a functioning BCM, so not sure why they had to go in through the boot?

When working they are perfectly pleasant to drive and be in, the engine's great and they're big and practical. But to me, a car that:

1) requires electronic gubbins to do something as simple as opening a door

2) is designed to leak in multiple places as and when inaccessible drain holes get bunged up

And 

3) positions said electronic gubbins at the very lowest point in the car where all the leaking water collects

...doesn't suffer from "design flaws". It suffers from "unbelievable design incompetence". I genuinely hope the engineers responsible were drummed out of the profession.

 

Oh, the Omega looks fit BTW, that looks a megabarg! 

[Marm Toastsmith]

7 hours ago, Rave said:

It suffers from "unbelievable design incompetence". I genuinely hope the engineers responsible were drummed out of the profession.

No chance, VW have been building similar design flaws into their cars since the late 70s and possibly earlier. Come to think of it even the air cooled VWs I’ve owned have also suffered from water ingress, electronic faults, and failing locks. It’s more irritating on the late 90s-on cars because they are more dependent on electronics. With the earlier cars it’s only really instrumentation that suffers. 

I think it’s an institutional failing. I have often wondered why though, especially when they get so many other design and engineering aspects so right. Perhaps they send the talented engineers to other (more critical) departments.

[HMC]

Ingrid fought and won the VAG lock struggle

And the 23 year old passat is (un)locked and loaded

 

[horriblemercedes]

On 6/20/2023 at 4:13 PM, S2000 said:

Ingrid Bergman, owns a Pissat?

 

This must be news for the Stars in Shite thread

[yes oui si]

Love the colour of both of these. Two randoms on each, ta x

[HMC]

So, as delivered by 2 stocky, and friendly Russians, “here we have” as they say on e bay, this old passat.

It was dead on the key @Barry Cade as the pros say, and charging in hope the grubbly looking bosch it came with didnt work. So i bought a new battery, and it fired up with no fuss. 

It seems to drive ok, the front end seems fairly slop free, good brakes, but boost seems to bleed off gradually; so theres a small leak somewhere. I had a quick look at the induction rubberwork and all of it looks a bit fucked. Still, its £600 worth (make that £700 with the battery) of faded bauhaus goodness*
 

 

[timolloyd]

I think this generation Passat are peak An Car. Well bought!

[HMC]

Dropped of some batteries for scrap. Initially i think they supected I wanted to cube the passat as they were keen to weigh it 😂

I took the opportunity to grab pics, its a pretty small yard.

 

 

 

[horriblemercedes]

On 4/24/2023 at 6:34 PM, HMC said:

DOY news-

Its currently being used as a mobile skip to store wood and plasterboard during a house rennovation; such is the fate of large, cheap luxobarges?

The heating has always been jammed on hot, and twatting the duo valves, and working the temperature selectors repeatedly was to no avail, although the passenger side did cool down breifly after i hit the duovalve with the jack. That procedure is definitely not covered in the owners handbook.

Ive ordered a second hand replacment. This w140 debuted the “rest” function on benz saloons; hence it also contains a coolant pump to push the warm coolant into the heater matrix when the car is off.  So its a bit more complex than just a thermostatically controlled heater valve; its a minature water pump as well.

Anyway thats on its way, as is the headlamp switch which was broken and wouldnt do half the jobs it was supposed to. So by the weekend i hope i can operate the foglamps and set the cabin temperature to less than a furnace. All good news for the new AS buyer when i sell it after 5 minutes for breaking money…

I am sure I saw this car yesterday on the M42

[HMC]

1 hour ago, horriblemercedes said:

I am sure I saw this car yesterday on the M42

That would be @Semi-C. on his travels back home.

[Semi-C]

7 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I am sure I saw this car yesterday on the M42

That you did, windows down, rolling flash!

[Bren]

I liked our pisshat. But had guilt about what came out of the 'zorst - only car we have had where I wouldn't start it till all the doors were closed.

[Marm Toastsmith]

posh vauxhall vs povvo vw. hmmm... be interested to hear who wins.

[HMC]

Deffo got bleed off of boost, any ideas where to start?

Edit- one for the parking thread!

[83C]

I’d be starting with the vacuum lines especially any going to/from the boost solenoid, failing that the boost solenoid itself.

[HMC]

Posh omega en route….