The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

Worth a repost

 

Christmas is coming.Norfolk style.

 

post-1-0-91105900-1384448980.jpg

 

Sadly, the Coca Cola lorry does make it as far as Norwich Morrisons.  I can't say I'll be going out of my way to go and see it - although I do love a T-series Scania, and when I win the lottery I'm going to buy one to roar around in, like a slightly less ostentatious white Chris Eubank.

[Rusty_Rocket]

My geriatric Discovery passed its MoT this morning, with no advisories I don't know how it managed it either.

[twosmoke300]

I didn't realise Stevie wonder had got his vosa smart card back!

[dollywobbler]

Talking of Discos, I'm pondering the future of mine. I enjoy greenlaning less and less as it is sadly proving as popular with the general public as smacking kittens in the face with a spade. Militant cyclists and ramblers and idiots from the city who think the countryside should always be peaceful are really ruining my enjoyment of it. Intolerant arseholes.

 

This limits opportunities to actually drive the Disco how it should be driven. The remainder of the time, it's just a fuel-guzzling, cumbersome truck. Can't help thinking that this is a good time of year to sell it. But I do still like it, despite its faults. So, I'm not exactly trying to sell it yet, just wondering if it's a good idea.

[Micrashed]

DW in buy car, spend £££ on it and sell at wrong time of year shocker...

 

Although I do know where you are coming from, and its for exactly this reason that I wont be buying a SWB Fronty any time before the daffodills are sprouting.

[dollywobbler]

Eh? It's winter! It's actually the perfect time to sell! I may already be thinking of keeping it. Maybe I can get into trialling or something. I'm hoping to have a little more disposable income in the new year, though it's never really possible to bet on this!

[wuvvum]

I ran the Vectra up to my usual friendly garage this evening to have the MoT failures sorted.  They occasionally get some interesting stuff in (it was from there that I bought the Twingo), and this evening they had a Vel Satis 2.0T with a bad case of OMGHGF.  Apparently it might be for sale - I may have to enquire further when I pick the Vectra up.

[ruffgeezer]

Eh? It's winter! It's actually the perfect time to sell! I may already be thinking of keeping it. Maybe I can get into trialling or something. I'm hoping to have a little more disposable income in the new year, though it's never really possible to bet on this!

 

 

Wrong time to be selling it, not wrong for someone to buy it. You'll be the first getting stuck in the white stuff if you were to sell it this time of year, you know what a sod sod's law can be.

[dollywobbler]

Sold the Maverick in November 2012. Then we got lots of snow. So I stayed in the warmth at home (it's what people do around here - fill the freezer and hunker down). Once it had calmed down a bit, the BX on winter tyres was fine! Ironically, my Maverick then got stuck with the new owner because he was cocking about trying to smash through snow drifts. 

[Lacquer Peel]

Winter tyres are amazing, who needs a 4x4?

[Shep Shepherd]

Just returned from an almost 400-mile round weekend trip to the Netherlands in The Volvo, which performed faultlessly:

 

 

About two miles from Dunkirk on the way to the ferry this evening, the car's odometer clicked round to 225,000 recorded miles, although due to an intermittent speedometer/odometer in 2006-2007 (caused by a dodgy connection to the transducer thing mounted on the car's rear axle) I think it might have actually done closer to 230,000...

 

 

GR9 4 CAMERA SKILLZ ON THE MOVE

 

In recognition of this feat, and also due to the upcoming tenth anniversary of being in my ownership, amongst other things, I intend to give the car some fresh transmission fluid at some point in the near future. Oh, and give the bodywork a good clean, as it's filthy

[Mr_Bo11ox]

How many mpg did you get Shep?

[Shep Shepherd]

^

 

At a rough estimate, 27-28mpg, which for a 740 estate with a 1986cc engine and an autobox is pretty good

[HMC]

Just about run in! Shep How many miles have you covered since you bought it?

[cobblers]

I decided to take the T25 for a run to work this morning to blow the cobwebs out, and I fancied a change from the golf. I'm smart so I at the last minute I remembered to take a battery off my drill so I could hotwire the leccy windows to get my 6am coffee from macds without having to leave my seat. It did 20 or so miles there fine, the only real reminder it had been stood was the back tyres which seem to have turned to fuppin stone over the last 8 months, It's all over the place, so I suppose I need to keep an eye out for some part worn 255/40/18s. For the time being I'll just try and scrub these off as best I can. I might be expecting too much of 5 year old Wanlis though.

 

On the way back this afternoon I got stuck in mega traffics cos some nobhead's car transporter set on fire on the M1, so I decided to divert to my mums house and cadge some dinner off her until it all died down. She lives proper in the sticks down a single track lane access only lane and obviously when I stopped on said lane to ring her up to shift cars about so I could park, the van wouldn't start again and was left blocking the road. I absolutely killed myself pushing it uphill for quite a distance to get it out of the way before investigating the problem - wiggled the connection to the starter solenoid and it fired straight up.

[rml2345]

Didn't realise yours was an auto Shep! 27-28mpg average on an auto B200 is some sort of miracle.

[dollywobbler]

That'd be this fire then? "Take my breath away..."

 

(image and topical Peugeot-ad-related comment stolen from a friend's Facebook feed)

[cobblers]

Ah, I won't moan too much then, it might have inconvenienced hundreds of thousands of people but it's done about 18 budding new peugeot owners a massive favour.

[Shep Shepherd]

Just about run in! Shep How many miles have you covered since you bought it?

 

I bought The Volvo on December 11th 2003 when it had covered 130,000 miles. Most of the nearly 100,000 miles I have put on it were driven in the first six years I owned it, when it was my daily driver; it would often cover 500 miles per week. Since TV2 came on the scene, it has only done around 15,000 miles...

[Shep Shepherd]

Didn't realise yours was an auto Shep! 27-28mpg average on an auto B200 is some sort of miracle.

 

The Volvo's fuel consumption is amazing when it's driven on fast 'A' roads and motorways. When it's driven in stop-start traffic, it's appalling...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

28mpg from a 2.0 4-cyl on a long run doesn't sound very amazing to me I'm afraid!!!!

[cobblers]

I get a bit more than that in a big old shit VW transporter with a 2.0 golf gti engine in it, and I drive like an absolute twat.

[vulgalour]

I get more than that out of an underpowered 30 year old lump of British pig iron.

[Spiny Norman]

...and I get that from a 3.2 litre straight 6 Merc on a run.

 

Still, Rumbling along at 80-ish in a 700 series Volvos is just as pleasant as doing it in anything else, so it's worth it.

And you're saving £299 a month by not buying a Diseasel Eco box that allegedly does 80mpg.

[rml2345]

I get 27-30 round the doors out my manual 2 litre 740 and 35ish on a run but the 2 litre isn't really man enough for the job if you want to press on and chews the fuel accordingly. Probably why the 70-80 mph dash to Not Chodmongley we all ended up with the same fuel consumption at around 32mpg.
Sorry, I find all this tedious shit quite interesting and 27mpg still beats having to drive a Chevroletwoo. 

[Shep Shepherd]

28mpg from a 2.0 4-cyl on a long run doesn't sound very amazing to me I'm afraid!!!!

 

It is if you drive a RWD Volvo!

[Shep Shepherd]

I get 27-30 round the doors out my manual 2 litre 740 and 35ish on a run but the 2 litre isn't really man enough for the job if you want to press on and chews the fuel accordingly. Probably why the 70-80 mph dash to Not Chodmongley we all ended up with the same fuel consumption at around 32mpg.

Sorry, I find all this tedious shit quite interesting and 27mpg still beats having to drive a Chevroletwoo. 

 

You hit the nail on the head with that last sentence

[Micrashed]

No, DW, I thought you meant you were going to run it to Spring then sell.

[Sigmund Fraud]

I get 27-30 round the doors out my manual 2 litre 740 and 35ish on a run but the 2 litre isn't really man enough for the job if you want to press on and chews the fuel accordingly. 

 

The 2.3 is supposed to be man enough for the job, but mine barely manages 30mpg in constant 70mph motorway use.

 

Having said that, nobody buys those boxy beasts for their superior fuel economy. We buy them because they are cheap, well built, easy to maintain and can carry loads of stuff !

 

Oh, yes, and because they aren't Chevywoondais 

[Lord Sterling]

Thisa weekend, I have had MANFLU, so took a day off work today. I decided to take the Rover McSterling oot fae a raan seeing as it had not been used for a couple of days. Initially reluctant to start, clicking and whatever, it eventually burst into life.

 

As part of the runabout, I'd decided to see a couple of 800s in my constituency, making myself some self-appointed Rover 800 "representative". I'm already helping my old mayte ole_Hayden out with his Sterling, so why shouldn't I do it with others.

 

First off I went to see this N-reg Sterling:

 

 

I have spoken to the owner a number of times over the phone but contacting her has proved difficult, she confesses that she often loses her phone and misses people who call at the door. Originally, my intention was to help her get the Sterling started and running for a bit and maybe chuck a bucket of water over it. Alas it didn't happen. I left hastily hand-written message and posted it through her letter box, at least then she knows she can contact me, hopefully for once in my life, I shall actually have a hand in saving an 800. 

 

Next on my list was this TASTY 820SLi:

MUKKY 820SLi with TAGGART McSTERLING

 

Orignally, I wrote out a note and left it on the screen a few months back, but these things can get lost, so I wrote another one intending to post it, but I was'nae sure which house to post it, so I plumped to knock the door. I got speaking to the owner about his car. He had bought it for £200 a couple of years ago. I explained that if he needed any help/parts/advice, he could either telephone me or pop on this site.

 

3rd Car:

 

A Rover 820i SE. A very rare model of the mk2. I believe these only lasted a year or so and were intentionally supposed be a near Sterling-spec without the leather and V6 engine.

 

The auld_lad who owns this is 90 years old, so about the right age fae an average 800 owner. Its an manual and he still drives about everywhere in it. He has been driving since 1947. We had a small chat about his car and again, as with everyone else, I offered any advice/parts/help for free if ever he needed it.

 

Incidentally, you will notice his passenger-side mirror has been broken off, he explained that this broke off after someone had passed by and knocked it off with a sports bag, he has a new one but decided to leave it off for fear of same thing happening again.

 

My hat is well and truly doffed to the owner of this car. 90 years old and is still as fit as a fiddle. Incidentally, the 820i SE is due for an MOT tomorrow, so good luck to him and the car. He has my details should he need help with the car.