The new news 24 thread

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

Lol at the geese! We had a fair bit of high wind near Heathrow, one minute it was cold rain then quite a warm breeze when the wind dropped, bizarre.

I thought that this afternoon when I went outside. I expected it to be cold after the wind and rain but it was actually oddly warm. 
 

[wuvvum]

The elusive stereo I bought for the Merc finally got delivered on Thursday, and I fitted it yesterday.

 

It's an Android unit but specific fit to the car and it looks similar enough to the original Comand system as to not be too noticeable.  I'm not sure what version of Android it runs but it's modern enough that I can still download and install apps from the Play Store.  It sounds decent enough too, at least on the radio - I haven't tried it with CDs yet.  It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and it also has the ability to take a SIM card, although that needs an adapter that didn't come with it.  Overall though it's rather more capable than the Comand system was.  One oddity is that it seems to be expecting a reversing camera to be installed - when I engage reverse the radio goes off and the screen goes black.  I might install a camera if I can find out how to connect it to the unit (there's no port on the back so presumably needs another adapter) - it'd be a useful thing to have given that the car doesn't have parking sensors (a bit of an odd omission given that it's generally quite high spec).

I've just reassembled the dashboard loosely for now as I have a GPS antenna adapter on the way - the unit came with a plug-in antenna that would sit on the dash top, but as the car came with sat nav from the factory it has a built-in antenna which will be neater, but the connector is different.  So once that turns up I'm going to pull everything back out to fit that and the hands free mic which also came in the box.

I've also now got a replacement exhaust section to fit between the turbo and the cat, but it wasn't really the weather to be scrabbling around under the bonnet this weekend, so that's going to have to wait a bit longer.  I'm not particularly looking forward to it - it's one of those jobs that should take 10 minutes but is almost certainly going to be a right pain in the arse.

[wuvvum]

32 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I thought that this afternoon when I went outside. I expected it to be cold after the wind and rain but it was actually oddly warm. 
 

The Ampera was showing an extra 5 miles of electric range tonight over what it was saying on Thursday (it hasn't been charged in the meantime).

[High Jetter]

Temp was 18 degrees here at 8pm. Still bloody windy tho.

[Snake Charmer]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

The elusive stereo I bought for the Merc finally got delivered on Thursday, and I fitted it yesterday

There's a whole new world to explore when you enter the Chinese Android rabbit hole. 🐇

[Split_Pin]

I thought Storm Bert had passed on Saturday morning but a fresh yellow warning was issued running from midnight to 10am on Monday. It's ten past 3 in the morning and I'm currently lying awake listening to my house moving.

[Split_Pin]

A year ago today I collected this from Newcastle.

Its not often I keep a car for this long  these days but it served Mrs_Pin faultlessly until September when the grey one came on fleet. It is continuing to provide the same good service to me. Regularly returns 45-50mpg. I forget to fill it up sometimes as it goes so long on whatever amount I put in the tank.

All its needed in the year I've owned it is a wheel bearing, 2 driveshafts and a couple of thermostats. I had the belts done when I got it as well.  I also replaced the driver's seat base, cupholder (still doesn't work but at least the facing is intact) armrest (old one fell to bits, so did this one about a week later 😂) and passenger mirror glass. Ideally needs a wing but they are unavailable anywhere.

Good times!

[Westbay]

7 hours ago, wuvvum said:

The Ampera was showing an extra 5 miles of electric range tonight over what it was saying on Thursday (it hasn't been charged in the meantime).

Ambient temp affects the 'range' ...

[wuvvum]

Speaking of anniversaries...

18 years ago today I was sat at home idly browsing eBay when I received a message from a user going by the moniker Mouseflakes.  He said that he'd noticed I was bidding on a lot of the same cars as him (this was back in the good old days when you could actually see who you were bidding against), and he thought I might enjoy a web forum dedicated to obscure old cars, called autoshite.com.  I was dimly aware of the site's existence (I think I'd seen it mentioned in Practical Classics) but I'd never visited before.  I had a look at the site, liked what I saw and signed up.

I can't remember exactly what was in the fleet at the time.  I had the Volvo 164, obviously, and I think my daily was a Mk1 Jetta automatic.  There would have been at least one Saab in the mix, a van of some sort and I think I also had a Spacy, although not my current one.  The Mobylette was still in storage in France at the time.

A child born on that day would now be celebrating their arrival into adulthood, which does make me stop and wonder what I'm doing with my life!  Some cars now considered AS fodder weren't even built at the time.  In those 18 years I've had one house move, one new job and probably 400 cars (many of them bought from shiters, many more sold on to shiters after I'd finished with them).  Autoshite has changed almost beyond recognition in that time, but there's still a few of the original members around and actively posting, and there are still enough occasional flashes of the traits which originally attracted me to the forum to keep me hanging around like a bad penny...

[Yoss]

Even when I'm not in a Škoda I seem to attract other Škodas. 

 

I know it's been said many times before about the size of modern cars but these are just about the smallest modern cars you can buy, yet it towers over my Triumph which was considered a medium sized family car at the time. A Herald is smaller than this. 

I must admit if I ever have to move in to the 21st century I quite like the idea of one of these. Not necessarily a Škoda but any of the Up! family. 

[Split_Pin]

My grey Audi, built in March 2008 was one month old when I joined up. I would never have thought that I would buy something like that , even two of them, from here for a shade over a thousand pounds each many years later.

Glad that you are still posting and that a few of the others are too. We've moved with the times from when you could easily get an MOT'd Renault 9 or a Maxi for £500, through the MK1 Laguna phase and now even electric cars, a type almost unheard of in popular motoring, back in the mid to late 2000s are regularly cropping up in the For Sale thread for under £5k.

[Stinkwheel]

7 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Speaking of anniversaries...

18 years ago today I was sat at home idly browsing eBay when I received a message from a user going by the moniker Mouseflakes.  He said that he'd noticed I was bidding on a lot of the same cars as him (this was back in the good old days when you could actually see who you were bidding against), and he thought I might enjoy a web forum dedicated to obscure old cars, called autoshite.com.  I was dimly aware of the site's existence (I think I'd seen it mentioned in Practical Classics) but I'd never visited before.  I had a look at the site, liked what I saw and signed up.

I can't remember exactly what was in the fleet at the time.  I had the Volvo 164, obviously, and I think my daily was a Mk1 Jetta automatic.  There would have been at least one Saab in the mix, a van of some sort and I think I also had a Spacy, although not my current one.  The Mobylette was still in storage in France at the time.

A child born on that day would now be celebrating their arrival into adulthood, which does make me stop and wonder what I'm doing with my life!  Some cars now considered AS fodder weren't even built at the time.  In those 18 years I've had one house move, one new job and probably 400 cars (many of them bought from shiters, many more sold on to shiters after I'd finished with them).  Autoshite has changed almost beyond recognition in that time, but there's still a few of the original members around and actively posting, and there are still enough occasional flashes of the traits which originally attracted me to the forum to keep me hanging around like a bad penny...

This is a great post and really makes you stop and think/reflect, as you rightly say.

I'd just like to add that I can report that back in the days of approx 2000-2005 ish I would often find that the Citroen tat i was bidding on was also being bid on by a certain Wuvvum (as you say, when you could see user names) and frustratingly, he often seemed to have a bigger budget than i did and i often got the 'outbid' blues

Although. Part of me was glad that there was someone as mad as i obviously was for wanting that chod in the first place 

[Yoss]

18 years ago I still owned the above Triumph and a Škoda Felicia so not much changes does it. I also had a Routemaster bus but not the one I still consider mine, but RM 2213. I had not long sold my last Landcrab, a Damask red Six auto, but didn't know it would be the last. It still might not be but prices are getting a bit silly on them now. That's something that has certainly changed in 18 years, they were almost free back then. 

[chadders]

26 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Even when I'm not in a Škoda I seem to attract other Škodas. 

 

I know it's been said many times before about the size of modern cars but these are just about the smallest modern cars you can buy, yet it towers over my Triumph which was considered a medium sized family car at the time. A Herald is smaller than this. 

I must admit if I ever have to move in to the 21st century I quite like the idea of one of these. Not necessarily a Škoda but any of the Up! family. 

I'd certainly recommend one.

We've got a 2012 Up! that we've had since new and a 2017 Citigo for about 5 years. They can comfortably take us and our 2 sons, 6ft 1 or so and 6ft 5 plus.

They've been the most reliable cars that we've ever had.(Cue various mechanical disasters soon).

[captain_70s]

48 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Speaking of anniversaries...

18 years ago today

18 years ago I didn't have a car, or a driving license. because I was 14. The family cars were a 2002 Citroen C5 2.0HDi estate and a 1999 Ford Explorer 4.0 V6.

I may have been present on the Practical Classics/Popular Classics forums by that point. I was quite interested in buying a 1960s car as roadworthy examples of an A35/Minor/Herald could be had for under a grand. I wasn't particularly interested in cars newer than that.

Weird to think how the landscape of motoring has changed, the SUV/crossover craze hadn't really started, electric cars weren't a thing. Rovers and Protons were still everywhere. A Series Land Rover was a commonplace workhorse and not a £10k car. 

[Supernaut]

7 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

A Series Land Rover was a commonplace workhorse and not a £10k car. 

I resemble that remark.

I got my license in 2005 and drove a series 3 in precisely that sort of condition. My dad bought it in 2000 for £1k and it didn't have a straight body panel on it. It towed well though.

 

I only joined in 2015, but when I was trundling about in the Megane the other day I had a thought. Back in 2011 I was driving a 14 year old diesel French hatchback. A 1997 Peugeot 306.

I remember seeing Mk3 Meganes when they were brand new.

Now I'm driving a 2011 one of them because it's become my type; a diesel French hatchback entering its teens.

[hairnet]

fuck sake dave

400 cars in 18 years?

not had 40 in 40 years

 

[danthecapriman]

18 years ago… I had a mk2 Capri, a Volvo 740 and a Volvo 244… with the exception of the 244, some things don’t change! 
I might possibly of had a smiley Transit too thinking back.

Although technically the 740 is not the same one.

It seems like an age ago now. So much has changed, and very little of it for the better either unfortunately.

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Speaking of anniversaries...

18 years ago today I was sat at home idly browsing eBay when I received a message from a user going by the moniker Mouseflakes.  He said that he'd noticed I was bidding on a lot of the same cars as him......................

IIRC I joined in May 2006 and I recall the discussion about approaching you. I think I'd put two and two together and realised that you were the person with a load of random stuff parked-up in a Norwich housing estate that I'd stumbled across in late 2003. Were you buying or selling an Alfasud at the time Mouseflakes contacted you?

Trying to think what I had when I joined. At least one Datsun 240K GT, a very manky D-reg Laurel as my daily driver and maybe the bronze Starlet? 'Proper' family car driven by Mrs SL was a P-reg Carina E, which back then was a sensible, roomy, fairly modern car for ferrying around two pre-school children who are now 21 and 19 and both driving with their own cars.

In some senses things haven't moved-on much, as I still have a Laurel and a P-reg Carina E (just different ones) and the kids are driving AS-worthy Toyotas that are older than they are.

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, chadders said:

I'd certainly recommend one.

We've got a 2012 Up! that we've had since new and a 2017 Citigo for about 5 years. They can comfortably take us and our 2 sons, 6ft 1 or so and 6ft 5 plus.

They've been the most reliable cars that we've ever had.(Cue various mechanical disasters soon).

A friend of mine collects them. He's had all sorts over the years. Was buying them new and chopping them in every two or three years. Now he has a standard Up! in that nice pale blue for his Mrs, an Up! GTI for himself and a ten year old Seat Mii just because it was cheap and he'd never had a Seat one until then. 

[wuvvum]

38 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Were you buying or selling an Alfasud at the time Mouseflakes contacted you?

Could be, that was probably about the time I bought my first 'Sud, the white 1.5 Ti.

This was the Jetta.  KKY815W if memory serves.

[MikeR]

the old sx200 printer scaner has finally bust , despite new inks it proceeded to print in only black and red ...

£50  quid I paid for it 15 or so years ago , been hammered by various kids school and uni work  ..

they dont build them to last ??? 😂

[IronStar]

18 years ago I didn't drive as I was 12.

Family had a '99 Skoda Felicia 1.9D and '70-something Lada 1600 special.

Felicia was still a relatively new car, Ladas have been commonplace, as were many others now next to extinct cars. 

I remember seeing a magazine article about Brera about then and seeing the first 159 in person with my jaw hitting the floor. At about that time, my neighbor bought a brand new Swift in red with all the boxes ticked, and I was staring at it for like 15 minutes. Brand new cars were very very very uncommon here and this one stuck in my head for ages.

[JJ0063]

18 years ago I owned a 50cc Peugeot Vivacity! I got stopped by the police for having some sort of dodgy comic sans type front number plate on it. Got a £60 fine which at the time was a lot on my McDonald’s wages!

[Lord Sterling]

18 years ago I was a member of the AROnline forum back when it was a forum like this, a 'phpbb' based forum rather than a Facebook page or whatever its become. 

I may have been driving my Mum's K11 Nissan Micra and was on my way to saving up for my first Rover 800, a 1989 Rover 827Si.

(Soz about the no plates thing, that was way back when I wore a tinfoil hat) 

The Micra is still with us today, albeit in a garage and needing some minor crash repairs.

The 827Si was crashed a couple of years later as I was on my way to a job interview.

I hadn't yet joined Autoshite, that would be about 2 years later in 2008. I can't remember how I found it although it must have been through searching for Rover 800 related stuff. I was a lurker for a little while, maybe a year or so and had a lot of laughs as I loved people's dry senses of humour, especially from members like @Mr_Bo11ox, @Hirst (Made Under Licence) et al...

Since then, I have met and made a lot of friends and aquintances here. There are people who have helped me out considerably, yet (I feel) I've done little in return. My life has honestly changed for the better being here. I've gone from being a wet-behind-the-ears 25-year-old to being slightly life-battered 41 year old. There are people out there who were newly born when I joined this forum to probably just passing their GCSE's and are now about to enter into the big bad world of responsibility. 

As @wuvvum has said, this forum has changed a lot over the years. I've watched it go from being a tiny corner of the Internet concerned with old rammle to being the bigger forum it is today. It's had its ups and downs and big changes. We've lost members and gained new ones. This forum really has had a life of its own.

Both AROnline and the Rover800.info forum I migrated from have not managed to survive to now, both forums taking a fall into obscurity and finally being boarded up and locked up for good as the members dwindled.

Let us remember the good old days and the how it all started:

Courtesy of; waybackmachine.com

(Not sure why the last picture has all of the writing blurry, but see the link below if you want to check out some of the names that used to frequent here a lot)

https://web.archive.org/web/20080403022804/http://autoshite.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1

[Cavcraft]

This (1.6 petrol VTR+) sort of temporarily became a thing yesterday.  Can't think of the last time I saw one.

Can't think of the next time I want to see another one.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, Lord Sterling said:

Note the Renault 15 top right, which I think belonged to one The Management. And now we have one on the forum again.

[wuvvum]

12 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

This (1.6 petrol VTR+) sort of temporarily became a thing yesterday.  Can't think of the last time I saw one.

Can't think of the next time I want to see another one.

 

Don't let @alcyonecorporation hear you say that, he loves these.

[andyberg]

36 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

This (1.6 petrol VTR+) sort of temporarily became a thing yesterday.  Can't think of the last time I saw one.

Can't think of the next time I want to see another one.

 

Now, see I really liked these when they first came out and I would still have one now. This has the funky steering wheel with the stationary centre?? Yes I like these very much. 

[lesapandre]

9 minutes ago, andyberg said:

Now, see I really liked these when they first came out and I would still have one now. This has the funky steering wheel with the stationary centre?? Yes I like these very much. 

Yes. They weren't too much fun to drive IMHO. Just 'an car'. Bland - I drove one new.  Not a VTR which may be better.