The new news 24 thread

[GMcD]

1 hour ago, JJ0063 said:

 

Amazed that this was owned by a school until 2021, typically a place where cosmetically I can’t think much care is usually taken. This thing looks brand new, it’s fantastic.. look at the engine bay!

There is some light distortion to the rear bumper corners. 🙄🙄

this example outclasses its contemporaries by miles....

Salesman's speak is strong with this one.  I forgot there was a huge market for 16 year old LDV Convoys. 

NSR light is an older version with ambers? 

 I mean if I was offered it for £4k I might say yes given how tidy it is, but £10k for a Convoy! 

[MorrisItalSLX]

12 hours ago, brownnova said:

My gran had a Metro, one day she parked it in a multi storey car park, and forgot where she parked it. Eventually she was relieved to find it, and unlocked it and drove off towards the exit… at which point she realised it wasn’t her Metro as it had different coloured seats!

She carefully returned it to its spot and found hers!

Or so she says… 

A chap I work with told me a story from his youth. He had a blue 1980 Holden Commodore Manual saloon and took a lady friend to village fair. Late in the evening they returned to the car, unlocked it, got in and started it up, only to discover that the blue 1980 Holden Commodore saloon they were in was an automatic!

[Split_Pin]

"Welcome to old convertible ownership in the winter" I said to my wife this morning.

The drivers footwell is absolutely soaking wet after all the heavy rain. Thankfully its not coolant though!

I had a very similar problem with the Audi convertible when I first got it  and taking off the scuttle panel and sealing up everything in sight worked well.

[MrGTI6]

I set myself a resolution at the start of the year that I would have a full motorbike licence by Christmas. Being the procrastinator that I am,  it's been put on the back burner most of the year and only this morning have I taken the theory test, which I'm pleased to say I passed! 

Upon arrival at the test centre, for the first time in my life I felt old! While waiting to be checked in, I had a brief chat with a visibly nervous lad who arrived at the same time as me. When the lady at the desk called him over and asked for his date of birth, I'm sure I overheard he said 2005! I thought that can't be right, then did the maths and realised it probably was!

 

[Jazoli]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

"Welcome to old convertible ownership in the winter" I said to my wife this morning.

The drivers footwell is absolutely soaking wet after all the heavy rain. Thankfully its not coolant though!

I had a very similar problem with the Audi convertible when I first got it  and taking off the scuttle panel and sealing up everything in sight worked well.

Is that the brown one? The scuttle drain blocked and killed the heater blower and flooded the passenger footwell when I first got it but it never let a drop in anywhere else.

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, Jazoli said:

Is that the brown one? The scuttle drain blocked and killed the heater blower and flooded the passenger footwell when I first got it but it never let a drop in anywhere else.

Yes it's the brown one. Passenger side is bone dry, I'm fairly sure it's just the drain on that side.

[andy18s]

18 hours ago, artdjones said:

Back in the day it was Fords that were notorious for completely interchangeable keys. Cortinas especially.

My old man told me a tale of falling out of a pub with his mates,piling into his mk1 Cortina and then driving into the nearest town (Oswestry)

It was only when they got there that some asked when he had switched his horizontal speedometer for round guages.   

[Split_Pin]

I found both drain holes, one in front of the pollen filter and another buried under the wiper motor. The former was clear as expected but the latter had a small bit of dirty water come out. There's also a grommet further over to the drivers side where the loom for the wiper motor goes through. It looks fine but water is sitting where the wire goes in so once its dried I'm going to fire some red rubber grease all over that area.

[RoverFolkUs]

Decided to do a bit of tinkering to the Focus this afternoon

Started off replacing the rear speakers. Then discovered one of the fronts wasn't working either, thought it sounded a bit quiet!

The door panels are off and speakers accessible within a few minutes on the mk2 focus which is nice

Fitted the rears, still didn't work, oh. Fitted the front and it did work. Swapped speakers round and only the fronts still worked so knew all the replacements were ok.

It then occurred to me to check the fade settings and they had disappeared. I suspect because the factory head unit is designed to work both with and without rear speakers depending on the vehicle it's fitted to, as soon as the rear speakers went open circuit it thought they weren't fitted so hid the option

So I reset the unit by pulling fuse 58 from the BCM and then re-entered the code and bingo, they started working and the fade option reappeared. 

Only slight issue was that I ordered a set of 4 speakers out of a MK3, the rears were the same but the fronts are different on the MK2. I didn't think it would need a front speaker so I'm going to have to try and modify one of the spares to fit in the front. Other than that, I'm happy. 

Then I thought I'd check the tyre pressures as the N/S/F was looking low, it had gone to 12 psi

There was the remnants of a screw in it. Fortunately it was repairable so that's what I've done. Hassle I could have done without though as I had better things to be doing than going into work on my day off and fixing a bloody puncture 🤦

Still got the cabin filter to replace but I ran out of energy so packed the tools away for today 

[EyesWeldedShut]

21 hours ago, brownnova said:

My gran had a Metro, one day she parked it in a multi storey car park, and forgot where she parked it. Eventually she was relieved to find it, and unlocked it and drove off towards the exit… at which point she realised it wasn’t her Metro as it had different coloured seats!

She carefully returned it to its spot and found hers!

Or so she says… 

I had a Mk 2 Escort (BWT772S) in ~1982/83 and the worn key for that could be used to open many other Fords - it wouldn't always turn in the ignition barrel though.
My dad's 1960/70 Triumphs had numbered keyed (FS---) and the boot key for his Herald was the same as the ignition key for the Toledo.

[HMC]

[stuboy]

Nothing eggciting today just washed it in my lunch break...

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Nyphur said:

Is this something I need to concern myself with on my "og 9-3"?

Probably on any older car really.  The same happened to my Audi 80 and keeping the 75s drains clear is also critical as the ECU lives under there.

[stuboy]

12 hours ago, JJ0063 said:

 

Amazed that this was owned by a school until 2021, typically a place where cosmetically I can’t think much care is usually taken. This thing looks brand new, it’s fantastic.. look at the engine bay!

drove one at the college... noisy and slow.

[EyesWeldedShut]

21 minutes ago, stuboy said:

drove one at the college... noisy and slow.

Drove a slightly different one for The Met, noisy, slowish and evil in the wet - think LDV Convoy (OK Sherpa 3500) with the Rover 3.5 V8 mated to the three speed auto box they used at the time (ZF I think - same one as my 1983 Range Rover had).  Empty it was nippy but the rear brakes would misbehave;  laden it stopped better but was certainly a bus. Sounded great, drank petrol like it was going out of fashion and shed water pumps at a rate (no idea why).

Back to the topic (ahem) I think they're flying a kite - you can pick up a much more modern 'bus for that sort of money and you'll not have the possible spares problem and something that has a bit more 'go' - stack 3.5 tonnes into the Convoy and you'llknow it

[Ghosty]

Type R's tyres are sorted, Kwik Fit came back, sent another guy to fit the other two, with a trainee in tow. 

This guy was good and had the two tyres done in 20 minutes each. He said the compressor on the van was too weak to work on 19" wheels, and that the other guy didn't know what he was doing. 

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

My dad's 1960/70 Triumphs had numbered keyed (FS---) and the boot key for his Herald was the same as the ignition key for the Toledo

Yup. Working for Longlife Accessories in the 80s we stocked keys. Not blanks, but cuts. FA, FS, FT single sided and some others. I may* have a smoll stock still.

[Zelandeth]

20 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Been out today driving for the first time in five years in the US.  Pleasingly it feels far less alien than last time I was here. 

Guess being in an area I actually know my way around rather than the Florida Keys helps - Miami rush hour traffic is not something I ever want to experience again.  Especially that bit where dropping the rental car off where I merged into the freeway on the left - then had less than 500 yards to merge SIX lanes to the right to get to my exit.  That was not a pretty manoeuvre.

Things I have reaffirmed.  

I am still not a fan of this bloody thing.

Sorry, don't have a current photo...so have one from out an upstairs window from 2015.

Things I dislike:

[] Indicators/wipers.  It has those STUPID stalks that just toggle up/down and don't latch in place.  Trying to cancel the indicators without signalling in the opposite direction is near impossible.  Plus it seems to be a complete crap shoot as to whether you will get three flashes or whether the signals have actually latched on.

[] Suspension.  It's a big, heavy lump of a seven seat SUV.  It is never going to handle anything like well.  It corners like a pregnant hippo.

So WHY the bloody sodding hell did Ford find it necessary to fit Audi style shock absorbers?!?  It just about knocks the fillings out of your teeth every time you hit a joint in the road or a pothole.  It also makes it skip really unnervingly on freeway ramps where there are undulations in the surface.  It makes what could actually be quite a comfortable car (the seats aren't half bad actually) incredibly tiring to cover distance in.

[] Central control panel.

*Sigh.*

Screen ain't actually bad by the standards of touchscreen interfaces, though I'd really rather not have one for ANYTHING beyond the reversing camera and sat nav if given the choice.  The controls for the media system are pretty easy to follow, many are duplicated on the steering wheel/multifunction screen on the dash for the driver.  I also like that when you have the phone linked to it that there's a gigantic "do not distrurb" button to just automatically divert calls to voicemail and to silence notifications.  No need to hunt through menus, it's just there on the home screen.

Below the screen there are a plethora of buttons.  Quite a few as there is a modern stereo and pretty comprehensive quad zone climate control to deal with.  Grouping is pretty logical and the layout isn't by modern standards terrible.  

However they're not buttons...the whole damned thing is a touch sensitive panel!  There are mouldings to pick out the button locations by touch...which is precisely zero use as you'll then trigger every button you touch on the way to find what you're looking for.

It may as well just be controlled through a touch screen as it's completely impossible to use without actually looking at it.  I hate it.  It's an absolute abomination of UI design, the worst of both worlds.

[] Drivetrain.

No idea what size the engine is, I'm guessing somewhere around 3.0 litres, it's a V6, and is matched to an automatic gearbox with completely the wrong set of ratios for it, and some seriously dim witted control logic.  If you absolutely boot it from a standing start it will gather speed acceptably well.  It only really produces any decent power at high revs though.  Trying to accelerate for instance from 45mph to 55mph (two common speed limits here), requires it to think about it for a good second before dropping at least two, maybe three gears and thrash around frantically trying to use torque that just doesn't exist.  Increasing the cruise control from 65 to 70 produces similar levels of panic.

I really miss it's predecessor.

That was a 2000-ish GMC Envoy.  Roughly four litre straight six which had plenty of torque to make progress effortless at any speed, conventional controls, and nice squidgy suspension which dealt with concrete slab construction roads excellently.

There's nothing the Explorer does better aside from having bigger rear seats.  It's even appreciably worse on fuel.

 

Has reminded me though how much I really do want to own a proper old Jeep Cherokee though.  They're everything I like about US vehicles, the whole "high velocity squidgy leather sofa" idea just appeals to me.  Just wish I could find one that hasn't A: Dissolved, B: Been modded into an off-road toy or 😄 Is priced at the best part of ten grand.  Had kinda hoped that the recent fuel price madness might have hurt their values a bit, doesn't seem to have though.

Just to reiterate my seething hatred of the centre console, here's the thing itself.

I thought when I first saw this that it was a rubber membrane keypad, nope...touch panel.

The worst of both worlds.  And I double checked, yes if you brush against any of the controls at all it interprets it as you having pressed it.  

Which in several cases changes the mode things are in requiring multiple inputs to get back to where you started.

Ford, what the hell were you thinking?

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

Passed my hgv class 1 CE driving test on Friday. 

Far More difficult than i initially thought, driving around Guilford and Woking not hitting any kerbs with the trailer.

Even more respect now for hgv drivers and the far too frequent idiot car driver !

With only 7 days training Rightly or wrongly i have gone from zero experience of anything bigger than a transit to a first time pass. 

And 1 of those days was spent getting my head around reversing the thing.

Just waiting for final easy module 4 test ( using straps, chains etc and checking for illegal immigrants) and then the real learning can start.

[GMcD]

Well done man 🥳.  

[Spottedlaurel]

I need to start doing something with this one:

It spent the entire summer elsewhere on the driveway, parked against a bush. Hence the soiling which Master SL is going to deal with today when he cleans the Yaris (which becomes his next month).

Had to have a shuffle around in readiness for a skip delivery, and the Lexus started and moved quite happily despite not having been run for months. My current thinking is to get it in for an MoT, do the basics to get it through then think about spending some ££££s. I couldn't go out and buy another LS for sensible money (certainly not a Mk1) and it's such a lovely thing to drive. I finish paying off the RX next year and I have no plans to replace that, so a bit of that car money can go in this direction instead.

[bunglebus]

You know those god-awful fake "vintage" cars based on Mustangs? Someone's built a drift car with one. Glad to see there are still some glorious lunatics left in the world

[SiC]

8 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Ford, what the hell were you thinking?

They were thinking "We save the cost of 16 push buttons here"

[Yoss]

9 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Just to reiterate my seething hatred of the centre console, here's the thing itself.

I thought when I first saw this that it was a rubber membrane keypad, nope...touch panel.

The worst of both worlds.  And I double checked, yes if you brush against any of the controls at all it interprets it as you having pressed it.  

Which in several cases changes the mode things are in requiring multiple inputs to get back to where you started.

Ford, what the hell were you thinking?

You want buttons? I got buttons. 

There's no pressing these by accident, you have to press them in about half an inch before you let go. And even if you did they aren't going to open some sub menu you didn't want. One day somebody will realise what a good idea these are. It's the future I tell you. 

 

[Metal Guru]

5 minutes ago, Yoss said:

You want buttons? I got buttons. 

There's no pressing these by accident, you have to press them in about half an inch before you let go. And even if you did they aren't going to open some sub menu you didn't want. One day somebody will realise what a good idea these are. It's the future I tell you. 

 

Especially the big button for fog lights . I know there’s a lot of people who turn them on at the first sign of drizzle, but I’m sure many are activated or at least not switched off , because it’s a tiny out of sight switch or worse hidden in a menu somewhere.

[Yoss]

19 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Especially the big button for fog lights . I know there’s a lot of people who turn them on at the first sign of drizzle, but I’m sure many are activated or at least not switched off , because it’s a tiny out of sight switch or worse hidden in a menu somewhere.

My MG ZT-T was like that (as I suspect are many newer cars but that is my only experience of 21st century motoring). A small button alongside the main headlight switch , not visible from the normal driving position, that was easily pressable when fumbling for the main switch. The Škoda also has much more prominent warning lights too, but then it has a lot less things to warn about so it can afford to make them bigger. 

[New POD]

2 hours ago, SiC said:

They were thinking "We save the cost of 16 push buttons here"

No. They were also thinking, "People will think are cars are posh, and we can charge more for less" 

[SiC]

59 minutes ago, New POD said:

No. They were also thinking, "People will think are cars are posh, and we can charge more for less" 

Nope. That would be a touch screen in the middle. 

[Lankytim]

Visited the In-laws today and fired up the Fusion that they’ve kindly allowed to be parked on their driveway.  I drove it forwards and backwards to keep the brakes free and allowed the engine to reach full temperature.

I inherited it from my Mother 10 years ago and immediately sold it to the in-laws who ran it for 6 years or so until the semi automatic box got stuck in reverse. They then gave it back to me, I converted it to manual and we used it until earlier on this year when I needed to do a lot of motorway miles and bought a Mk3 Laguna. Around that time my Dad gave me his Honda Jazz as he is unable to drive so the wife uses the Jazz and the Fusion is pretty much redundant. 

The Fusion should really be MOTd and sold on but being an old banger the next owner will more than likely run it into the ground which is difficult for me to think about as there’s a lot of sentimental value attached to the car. 
 

For the time being it’ll stay on the in-laws drive being run up from time to time until the in-laws get fed up and evict it. 

[andy18s]

I'm pretty sure Ford would have a certain trim level for hire/rental cars.

Auto Auction Rebuilds was checking out some ex Enterprise rental Jaguar F types and said they have a wierd interior for a US citizen to get used to.