The new news 24 thread

[Yoss]

On 24/10/2024 at 12:32, goosey said:

unblocked the scuttle drains, cleaned out the scuttle then went a bit mad with cavity wax,

oh and fitted some pop out rear windows 

I do like a nice Lupo (I know it's not a Lupo, but it is if you know what I mean). If I had to replace one of the Škodas, they are on my list. You can get some with nice colourful interiors. There was one on one of my old deliveries in a dark metallic green that had a lot of yellow in it when the sun caught it and yellow facings on the seats. Not practical but certainly colorful. 

How is the 1.0? Probably no worse than the 1.3 in blue Favorit, that's only 61hp anyway. My other Favorit has the 1.6 from the Lupo/Polo GTI so I know they'd be fun but Lupo GTIs are silly money. 

[goosey]

3 hours ago, Yoss said:

I do like a nice Lupo (I know it's not a Lupo, but it is if you know what I mean). If I had to replace one of the Škodas, they are on my list. You can get some with nice colourful interiors. There was one on one of my old deliveries in a dark metallic green that had a lot of yellow in it when the sun caught it and yellow facings on the seats. Not practical but certainly colorful. 

How is the 1.0? Probably no worse than the 1.3 in blue Favorit, that's only 61hp anyway. My other Favorit has the 1.6 from the Lupo/Polo GTI so I know they'd be fun but Lupo GTIs are silly money. 

I think it’s only something like 50bhp but it goes ok ish although 30 does feel like 60mph, I wouldn’t push it past 60mph as it sounds like your thrashing the bollocks off it. 

[brownnova]

Previous owner of my 9-3: I only had the roof down a couple of times this year due to the weather.

In the two weeks I’ve had it the roof down 6 times… and I’ve not driven it every day! 

[loserone]

Convertibles are wasted on most convertible owners.  I must get myself another.

[Rust Collector]

17 minutes ago, loserone said:

Convertibles are wasted on most convertible owners.  I must get myself another.

If it’s not raining, then the roof should be down.

IT’S THE LAW.

[loserone]

Just now, Rust Collector said:

19 minutes ago, loserone said:

Convertibles are wasted on most convertible owners.  I must get myself another.

If it’s not raining hard enough to come into the cabin at 50mph, then the roof should be down.

IT’S THE LAW.

Ftfy.   I used to drive with the roof down when it was snowing too.

[Dyslexic Viking]

14 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

If it’s not raining, then the roof should be down.

IT’S THE LAW.

You have clearly not experienced a Norwegian winter.

[wesacosa]

The most enjoyable drivers I had in convertibles were always crips autumnal and early winter nights not hot summer days 

[brownnova]

35 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

The most enjoyable drivers I had in convertibles were always crips autumnal and early winter nights not hot summer days 

Exactly this! I’ll never forget the looks I used to get in the middle of winter wrapped up in a scarf hat and gloves driving my MG Midget topless… 

The car not the driver… 

[chadders]

12 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Exactly this! I’ll never forget the looks I used to get in the middle of winter wrapped up in a scarf hat and gloves driving my MG Midget topless… 

The car not the driver… 

I did this all the time in my MGB, the people at work thought I was totally nuts doing it in the Yorkshire winters.

[Merryck]

My sister has borrowed the Micra to go down to Bristol this weekend. She’s back from New Zealand for 6 months, and has picked up an MGF as a runaround which she’s left with me.

I’ve only driven it a few miles so far and I’m not impressed. Uncomfortable. Not much power. Not really all that fun round corners. I was expecting a bit more.

I feel like maybe I’m doing it wrong!

[grogee]

19 hours ago, Yoss said:

My other Favorit has the 1.6 from the Lupo/Polo GTI

Does it? Is there a thread anywhere? That sounds like a fantastic car. 

[UltraWomble]

Can't find the abandoned cars thread so have a 206 or whatever it is going mouldy in Bamber Bridge. 

[artdjones]

13 hours ago, brownnova said:

Exactly this! I’ll never forget the looks I used to get in the middle of winter wrapped up in a scarf hat and gloves driving my MG Midget topless… 

The car not the driver… 

His moobs were a terror to the community.

[Yoss]

 

3 minutes ago, grogee said:

Does it? Is there a thread anywhere? That sounds like a fantastic car. 

Yeah, I have my own thread though I tend not to update it much as nothing much happens, they just keep going (except yesterday when the back box made a break for freedom). 

I can't do links on this phone, or at least I don't know how, but it's titled Felly Fav and Trum, if you want to look it up, though it is inaccurate now but I used to have a Felicia, Favorit and Triumph. The Felly was replaced with the second Favorit two and a half years ago so I really ought to come up with a new title. 

It is, I think, a genuinely nice car to drive, though I may* be biased. It also has uprated suspension and brakes. Rear discs from a mk3 (?) Golf and bigger vented fronts from some  sort of Kia! Plus power steering from a Felicia, (which is basically the same car underneath). The benefit of the power steering is not so much the power assistance itself, the standard Favorit steering is by no means heavy, but the higher gearing makes it far more chuckable. And the advantage of the bigger engine is not just for hooning about but it is so much more flexible in normal driving. 

You can go and find my thread but here's a few pictures to tempt you (any excuse!). 

[grogee]

Thanks @Yoss I love them both. I think I probably got mixed up with the other (presumably standard) Fav. 

There's not many lucky people who can look out on their drive in the morning and ask themselves, "Which blue Favorit shall I drive today?" 

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Thanks @Yoss I love them both. I think I probably got mixed up with the other (presumably standard) Fav. 

There's not many lucky people who can look out on their drive in the morning and ask themselves, "Which blue Favorit shall I drive today?" 

Technically one is green though the photos don't do either colour justice. One is Adriatic Blue and the other is Carribean Green (like the Billy Ocean song). 

It's nice having two cars that look virtually identical, certainly to the average non Škoda licker, but which are so utterly different to drive in every way. It's not just the power and handling, one is a mk1, so true Škoda, and the other is a mk2 so has some VW money spent on it. The mk1 is brown and beige inside and the mk2 dark blue and black. The seats in both look exactly the same shape but are of completely different construction, the mk2 being much firmer as you would expect from VAG group. 

So it's not really like having two of the same cars at all. 

[richardmorris]

Typical national trust catering shot…

[stripped fred]

Picked a few bits for the TT. I've already fitted some Bosch wiper blades and I have some correct spec mannol oil I found for about £20. I need an oil filter and I might fit a panel filter at some stage. The climate unit is because the left hand switch has broken and it was cheaper to buy a new unit than a switch for £25 odd, worth more than gold for an original item. The air vent is if I want to fit a boost guage (which I think I do, 53 and never had one!), and a new door mirror switch as mine has snapped off. It should be pretty tidy inside then. I do like the glitzy and well made dash, even though I turned my nose up a bit when they first came out.

[IronStar]

10 hours ago, Yoss said:

Technically one is green though the photos don't do either colour justice. One is Adriatic Blue and the other is Carribean Green (like the Billy Ocean song). 

It's nice having two cars that look virtually identical, certainly to the average non Škoda licker, but which are so utterly different to drive in every way. It's not just the power and handling, one is a mk1, so true Škoda, and the other is a mk2 so has some VW money spent on it. The mk1 is brown and beige inside and the mk2 dark blue and black. The seats in both look exactly the same shape but are of completely different construction, the mk2 being much firmer as you would expect from VAG group. 

So it's not really like having two of the same cars at all. 

How does the Favorit compare to Felicia? Dad had 1.9D Felicia and I hated it, but it was beyond shagged, so probably a bad car to base opinions on. 

[HMC]

Nice Autumn day over Dartmoor so took the xk8 for a drive, and stopped for some refreshments and a quick spotted pic

[Yoss]

6 minutes ago, IronStar said:

How does the Favorit compare to Felicia? Dad had 1.9D Felicia and I hated it, but it was beyond shagged, so probably a bad car to base opinions on. 

The diesel is the one Felicia variant I haven't owned and I'm unlikely to do so unless somebody gives me one for free. 

The 1.3 Felicia and Favorit drive very similarly as they are practically the same car. They just rounded all the sharp edges off the Favorit. But open the bonnet of a late Fav or early Felly, which both have the single point injection set up, and you'd struggle to tell the difference. The interior fittings are more robust but all the dials, switches and warning lights are in the same place. In fact the lower part of the dashboard is the same moulding. 

My early Fav is on a carburetor and so only has 61hp but it's a bit lighter so performance is about the same. It's not the smoothest of engines, particularly on tick over but it seems happy to be wound up. 

The 1.6 was a wasted opportunity. It was VWs own underpowered and overweight unit. At 75hp it was only 7hp more than the Škoda 1.3 pushrod lump that could trace its origins back to the start of time. The Škoda engine was also all alloy so much lighter. The only advantage of the VW engine was that it was much quieter and had more torque so less gearchanging was involved so that did make it a more relaxing drive. But if you wound the 1.3 up it could easily keep up with the 1.6. 

The reason I say it was a wasted opportunity is because at the time of the VW takeover Škoda had their own all alloy OHC 1.6 ready to go. It produced 101 horsepower and was considerably lighter than VWs effort. It would have been a great improvement and just the right amount of power to make a light car like the Felicia nippy enough to be enjoyable without being over the top. 

But Škoda weren't allowed to use it which is why I will forever resent VWs involvement. I don't know why they weren't allowed, there may have been practical reasons, it may have been more expensive to mass produce but I suspect VW  had a shed full of their own engines with no cars to put them in and foisted them on Škoda. I have absolutely no information to back that up, it's just a hunch. 

The thing I like about both cars is their simplicity. They don't excel at anything but they do it well enough to make them enjoyable if not exciting to drive. And they don't have any real foibles. There's no 'They All Do That Sir' weaknesses. 

[dozeydustman]

6 hours ago, Yoss said:

The diesel is the one Felicia variant I haven't owned and I'm unlikely to do so unless somebody gives me one for free. 

My diesel Felicia was a great little runaround. At my height not many small cars are particularly comfy but the Felly was. The steering wasn’t too over assisted either so there was some feel, and aside from regular servicing it wanted for nothing.

The first time I drove a Favorit I was surprised at how light and easy to drive it was; would have been 1999 ish when I was at uni and my housemate and myself flipped cheap cars from the motor auction at Ashford in Kent.

[grogee]

9 hours ago, HMC said:

Nice Autumn day over Dartmoor so took the xk8 for a drive, and stopped for some refreshments and a quick spotted pic

Is that Two Bridges? 

Nice old Sebring apart from the stick on chrome*. 

[grogee]

9 hours ago, Yoss said:

I don't know why they weren't allowed, there may have been practical reasons, it may have been more expensive to mass produce but I suspect VW  had a shed full of their own engines with no cars to put them in and foisted them on Škoda.

I suspect it was a combination of reasons:

Cost considerations: Skoda's high-tech 1.6 OHC would probably have cost more per unit than the plodding VW 1.6 they were churning out in huge numbers. It may also have required new investment in tooling/factory to make it. 

Marketing reasons: VW would have felt the Favorit/Felicia threatened its small car line up, but if the Skodas were only available with low power engines that means Polo and Golf could exploit the upper ends of the market. 

In other words, VW used the existing Skoda line-up to plug the gap at the very bottom of its range, and it probably opened doors to increased volume in the then Eastern Bloc markets. 

[reb]

38 minutes ago, grogee said:

I suspect it was a combination of reasons:

Cost considerations: Skoda's high-tech 1.6 OHC would probably have cost more per unit than the plodding VW 1.6 they were churning out in huge numbers. It may also have required new investment in tooling/factory to make it. 

Marketing reasons: VW would have felt the Favorit/Felicia threatened its small car line up, but if the Skodas were only available with low power engines that means Polo and Golf could exploit the upper ends of the market. 

In other words, VW used the existing Skoda line-up to plug the gap at the very bottom of its range, and it probably opened doors to increased volume in the then Eastern Bloc markets. 

Surely the answer would have been to start using the Skoda lump in VWs too?

[catsinthewelder]

Nipping out last night to fetch my daughter from work I took a bend at the bottom of a dip fairly quickly and an awful noise emmerged from the N/S rear of the Focus.  I was in the middle of a series of bends on a dark and fairly fast main road so continued slowly for about half a mile until there was somewhere to pull over.   I couldn't see anything amiss, the wheel looked ok, the exhaust was attached as well as usual.  I had the fear that a rusty part had snapped but managed to convince myself that it was probably a bumper mount or something so continued at reduced speed, giving it another check over at her work and a petrol station on the way back.  Nothing to see, noise still horrible.

Jacked it up and took the wheel off this morning.

Rear shock mount casting has snapped.  Removed the shock (which was a work out with hand tools) and put the wheel back on for now.

Any experience of these? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283376072937?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=d8apNTNOQ2G&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=dvC0XcBaRN6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Will it last 18 months until the rust condemns the rest of the car?

 

[Westbay]

"Will it last 18 months until the rust condemns the rest of the car? "

 

Well, if you don't use the car - probably ! 

[IronStar]

11 minutes ago, catsinthewelder said:

Nipping out last night to fetch my daughter from work I took a bend at the bottom of a dip fairly quickly and an awful noise emmerged from the N/S rear of the Focus.  I was in the middle of a series of bends on a dark and fairly fast main road so continued slowly for about half a mile until there was somewhere to pull over.   I couldn't see anything amiss, the wheel looked ok, the exhaust was attached as well as usual.  I had the fear that a rusty part had snapped but managed to convince myself that it was probably a bumper mount or something so continued at reduced speed, giving it another check over at her work and a petrol station on the way back.  Nothing to see, noise still horrible.

Jacked it up and took the wheel off this morning.

Rear shock mount casting has snapped.  Removed the shock (which was a work out with hand tools) and put the wheel back on for now.

Any experience of these? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283376072937?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=d8apNTNOQ2G&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=dvC0XcBaRN6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Will it last 18 months until the rust condemns the rest of the car?

 

How much for Magnum shocks? I really wouldn’t go under that, that’s already as cheap as it gets with provisions to keep your sanity as it won’t fail on the day after being fitted.

12 hours ago, Yoss said:

The diesel is the one Felicia variant I haven't owned and I'm unlikely to do so unless somebody gives me one for free. 

The 1.3 Felicia and Favorit drive very similarly as they are practically the same car. They just rounded all the sharp edges off the Favorit. But open the bonnet of a late Fav or early Felly, which both have the single point injection set up, and you'd struggle to tell the difference. The interior fittings are more robust but all the dials, switches and warning lights are in the same place. In fact the lower part of the dashboard is the same moulding. 

My early Fav is on a carburetor and so only has 61hp but it's a bit lighter so performance is about the same. It's not the smoothest of engines, particularly on tick over but it seems happy to be wound up. 

The 1.6 was a wasted opportunity. It was VWs own underpowered and overweight unit. At 75hp it was only 7hp more than the Škoda 1.3 pushrod lump that could trace its origins back to the start of time. The Škoda engine was also all alloy so much lighter. The only advantage of the VW engine was that it was much quieter and had more torque so less gearchanging was involved so that did make it a more relaxing drive. But if you wound the 1.3 up it could easily keep up with the 1.6. 

The reason I say it was a wasted opportunity is because at the time of the VW takeover Škoda had their own all alloy OHC 1.6 ready to go. It produced 101 horsepower and was considerably lighter than VWs effort. It would have been a great improvement and just the right amount of power to make a light car like the Felicia nippy enough to be enjoyable without being over the top. 

But Škoda weren't allowed to use it which is why I will forever resent VWs involvement. I don't know why they weren't allowed, there may have been practical reasons, it may have been more expensive to mass produce but I suspect VW  had a shed full of their own engines with no cars to put them in and foisted them on Škoda. I have absolutely no information to back that up, it's just a hunch. 

The thing I like about both cars is their simplicity. They don't excel at anything but they do it well enough to make them enjoyable if not exciting to drive. And they don't have any real foibles. There's no 'They All Do That Sir' weaknesses. 

Thanks! I now must find a Favorit to test drive. I’d even hazard throwing a few notes to buy to test drive. I looked at cars for sale, and they’re all carb, so I’m not buying that, carbs are devious creatures that think overnight how to fuck your day up next morning. Are SPIs rare / were significantly more expensive, and less likely to be found as a consequence?

I remember the talk of VW supposedly saying no to that 1.6 and the other VW 1.6 from Polo GTI not to cannibalise fast (or at least warmed over) Polo / Golf sales. GTI one should in theory fit 1.6 Felicia with a few changes as it’s based on the same block, so mounts should be the same? 

[BorniteIdentity]

Taken the boy bicycling today. Sierra being as useful and helpful as ever. What a legend. 

And yes. The bike cost more than the car !