The new news 24 thread

[Kiltox]

2 hours ago, Ohdearme said:

Got the spare 323f last night, identical to the silver one but S plate not W plate, phoned direct line this morning to change details...£272!

FRO

Currently sussing out my options.

Put the W reg on it?

[New POD]

49 minutes ago, dome said:

Bought a new car last night as a winter beater.

Cheap as chips with long MOT but not exciting

I'll not let on what it is but I've just ordered 8 spark plugs for it. Go on, have a guess what it is?

 

It's some sort of italian exotica with a  V12 twin spark that needs 24 plugs, but you are a tight arse.

[wuvvum]

It's an Invacar, and you're going to carry 6 spare plugs wherever you go, just in case.

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

We definitely did not miss out, there is no shortage of grey import people carriers around here. Very popular with the budget backpacker rental businesses.

Call me boring if you like, but I've never felt a burning desire to rent a budget backpacker - or is it a euphemism?

[Eddie Honda]

3 hours ago, dome said:

Bought a new car last night as a winter beater.

Cheap as chips with long MOT but not exciting

I'll not let on what it is but I've just ordered 8 spark plugs for it. Go on, have a guess what it is?

 

Honda Jazz?

8 because iDsi engine.

[Stanky]

I'm with Eddie on this one. Hod-ner Jazz 1300 covered in giffer parking scrapes with a dogs trust & national trust membership sticker in the back window

[LightBulbFun]

4 hours ago, wuvvum said:

It's an Invacar, and you're going to carry 6 spare plugs wherever you go, just in case.

7 because hopefully Villiers powered for extra masochism! 

[SRi05]

That is FIT. what's happening with the e39?

[dome]

3 hours ago, Eddie Honda said:

Honda Jazz?

8 because iDsi engine.

We have a winner!

Octavia is out on sale or return to Fraz on here. I've decided to go down the winter beater route so picked up a cheap Jazz with a noisy gearbox and giffer repairs last night. No pics as the rain was biblical and it's been dumped at my work. Will update my thread, plan is a service and poke around it then press it into daily driver duties

[richbraith]

Well,  I sold another car to JohnK, that's technically two although he got the 205 I had on long term loan and I sold him the Cavalier I said I'd never sell twice, so it's really three possibly for for argument's sake as no one really knows who owns the 205 now.  

[richbraith]

And I bought another Cavalier to say I'll never sell again.  It's a good one, I'll never sell it.  Really.
For maximum creepiness it was used in a reconstruction of the 1998 Real IRA Omagh bombing as the bomb car.  And staying in character, it actually caught fire the other night but only the exhaust rubbers burned.  Here it is pictured with some of the branches that extinguished it.

[richbraith]

Oh yeah, and Silvio the Tipo made a comeback, bless him.  Shitefest next year for him all being well.

[RobT]

Today has been interesting.  First I sold the S60 to a young lad who needed a car in a hurry.  He was apologetic about offering me £550 as opposed to the £600 advertised, but you expect a bit of sensible chipping.  5 minutes and he was off, so I got lucky there.

Despite having a cracking headache cum migraine I had to collect the 535 tonight rather than tomorrow, so things have been a bit of a blur.  Overall I think it's a good one.  Just slightly concerned about the gearbox as it seems to prefer staying in sports mode, which is a bit annoying when pootling around town.  There's also a few other foibles, but by bollocks does it shift.  Feels a bit weird being in a BMW as I'm not familiar with them at all, but that could also be due to my raging head.  70 is 2100rpm so it's the perfect cruiser, which is what I wanted really.  S60 was at close to 3000.

I hope this wasn't me.  The trip probably needs re-setting.

I might start a thread when I'm feeling less fucked.

[RobT]

^^^Something called Adaptive Transmission Control on the steptronic 'box after a Google.  Sounds complicated and rather annoying to me.  I'd just prefer a standard mills-o-matic given the choice.

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, the New Zealand shite-spotting trip is going pretty well to be honest.

 

[MorrisItalSLX]

A P76 bASe! Six cylinder with single headlamps, very rare.

[dollywobbler]

Nope. It's posh enough to have a V8.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I didn’t know you could have a V8 with the poverty “Deluxe” trim level, I thought it was reserved for the posh “Super” and extra posh “Executive”.

Every day is a school day.

[dollywobbler]

Maybe they offered different options for Kiwis? Or it could have been upgraded perhaps. The engine was definitely V8-shaped.

Oddly, this is the Packard and Pioneer Museum, and while they do certainly have a lot of Packards, they also have two ancient Albion lorries, the stuff in the photo, TWO Singer Hunters (as in the slab-sided 1950s thing), a Rover 114 (ie still a Metro to us), an Austin Kimberley and an Austin Princess Wedge! And guns. And motorbikes. And typewriters. 

[MorrisItalSLX]

The P76 was assembled in NZ from CKD kits from Aus, so there could be NZ specific things done at the assembly plant.

NZ really is lucky when it comes to BMC/BL products as they got the Australian and British models. Wedges and Allegros alongside P76s and Kimberleys, the lucky sods, they even got Montegos!

[Timewaster]

2 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

I didn’t know you could have a V8 with the poverty “Deluxe” trim level, I thought it was reserved for the posh “Super” and extra posh “Executive”.

Every day is a school day.

Were the New Zealayland factories as slap dash as ours? 

Any spec is possible. 

[wuvvum]

8 hours ago, RobT said:

^^^Something called Adaptive Transmission Control on the steptronic 'box after a Google.  Sounds complicated and rather annoying to me.  I'd just prefer a standard mills-o-matic given the choice.

Does that mean the previous owner has been DLAC then if it's stuck in sport mode?

[MorrisItalSLX]

7 minutes ago, Timewaster said:

Were the New Zealayland factories as slap dash as ours? 

Any spec is possible. 

It has been said that the Australian factory was much better than the British factories at building cars properly, despite all the beer.

I imagine the Kiwis did it properly, they’re good eggs.

[andy18s]

9 hours ago, RobT said:

Today has been interesting.  First I sold the S60 to a young lad who needed a car in a hurry.  He was apologetic about offering me £550 as opposed to the £600 advertised, but you expect a bit of sensible chipping.  5 minutes and he was off, so I got lucky there.

Despite having a cracking headache cum migraine I had to collect the 535 tonight rather than tomorrow, so things have been a bit of a blur.  Overall I think it's a good one.  Just slightly concerned about the gearbox as it seems to prefer staying in sports mode, which is a bit annoying when pootling around town.  There's also a few other foibles, but by bollocks does it shift.  Feels a bit weird being in a BMW as I'm not familiar with them at all, but that could also be due to my raging head.  70 is 2100rpm so it's the perfect cruiser, which is what I wanted really.  S60 was at close to 3000.

I hope this wasn't me.  The trip probably needs re-setting.

I might start a thread when I'm feeling less fucked.

My old man went to buy 1 of these when they were new

The dealer had a demonstrator sat in the showroom with pretty much everything he wanted fitted to it

He wanted a better stereo putting in,and a different set of wheels fitting.

Offered to pay cash if the dealer could do those 2 things,plus a little cash off...nothing much,I think he just rounded it down to the nearest 1k

Dealer said nope,it would need ordering in....

Old man pointed to another 535 parked outside with the wheels he wanted on it,suggested swapping over would only take half an hour on the ramps and said as the stereo was a simple pull in and out he eould come back to have it fitted...

Still a big no from the salesman 

So he walked out,went to the nearby Mercedes dealer and bought a new 190 they had stock with All the toys, 2.6 engine....extra headlights behind the front grille ect...

Took it to the BMW salesman just to show them what he had spent..

[Kiltox]

Has anyone ever actually “taken it to the xyz salesman” ? It’s the oldest trope on the Internet. 

[Timewaster]

12 minutes ago, andy18s said:

Old man pointed to another 535 parked outside with the wheels he wanted on it,suggested swapping over would only take half an hour on the ramps and said as the stereo was a simple pull in and out he eould come back to have it fitted...

But then the salesman is left to explain why he has a new car in stock with the wrong wheels and stereo. 

[Timewaster]

I read an interview with a car salesman once. 

After a failed deal it wasn't uncommon for people to slow down outside the vauxhall showroom in their new Escort and beep and wave. 

The salesman said that didn't bother them, what galled was if it was a vauxhall from a different dealer. 

[RobT]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Does that mean the previous owner has been DLAC then if it's stuck in sport mode?

Looks like it.  Would explain the mpg!  It did switch off for a period when I was sat at 50 in the M20 roadworks, but it came back on again when I launched it forth past the NSL sign.

I don't DLAC normally, so hopefully it'll do what it says and adapt pretty quickly.

No history with it at all for added excitement.  I forgot to check but it seems OK.

[Kiltox]

Did he take the BMW to the Merc dealer to show it to them??

Jesus fucking Christ. 

[Six-cylinder]

7 minutes ago, RobT said:

Looks like it.  Would explain the mpg!  It did switch off for a period when I was sat at 50 in the M20 roadworks, but it came back on again when I launched it forth past the NSL sign.

I don't DLAC normally, so hopefully it'll do what is says and adapt pretty quickly.

No history with it at all for added excitement.  I forgot to check but it seems OK.

Good choice, E39 535 is a great car and I have always fancied one.

Mrs6C's 2000 E46 330Ci has the 5 speed learning auto gearbox and it is very annoying, you floor it to overtake and then you settle back to cruise with a clear road in front of you and it takes ages to go back to top gear. Also it has manual override and I set it to 5th gear and tried to test how well it pulled from 1000 rpm. It went Dunkoff, if you want to go fast here is 2nd!