The new news 24 thread

[Zelandeth]

About six months ago my housemate's company car threw a hissy fit.  While sitting stationary in a traffic jam, the traffic jam assist, adaptive and standard cruise, collision avoidance system and park assist all announced on mass that they were out of order.  Today the dealer was finally able to get it in for a diagnostic session.

Their assessment: The wheel alignment is out, and that's not a warranty issue so will be £110 plus VAT to sort.

I am seriously calling bullshit on that...I reckon they've cleared the codes and looked for something chargeable they can spend ten minutes doing to make it worthwhile.

Taking bets on how long after we get it back tomorrow before the fault reappears.  I give it a week.  Though it should have been handed back about four months back as it is, nobody knows when the next one is likely to surface.

Audi haven't had a great track record with us really where defects, and especially their ability to fix them are concerned.

[grogee]

6 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

About six months ago my housemate's company car threw a hissy fit.  While sitting stationary in a traffic jam, the traffic jam assist, adaptive and standard cruise, collision avoidance system and park assist all announced on mass that they were out of order.  Today the dealer was finally able to get it in for a diagnostic session.

Their assessment: The wheel alignment is out, and that's not a warranty issue so will be £110 plus VAT to sort.

I am seriously calling bullshit on that...I reckon they've cleared the codes and looked for something chargeable they can spend ten minutes doing to make it worthwhile.

Taking bets on how long after we get it back tomorrow before the fault reappears.  I give it a week.  Though it should have been handed back about four months back as it is, nobody knows when the next one is likely to surface.

Audi haven't had a great track record with us really where defects, and especially their ability to fix them are concerned.

Get to fuck! Wheel alignment my ass. 

I think with this sort of thing an electronic hiccup can knock all those things out, but the first course of action is pull codes - record - clear codes - test drive. But that is of course not chargeable. 

I'd be saying that's an outrageous cost for wheel alignment, and you're not paying. Cheeky fuckers - name and shame

[Yoss]

16 minutes ago, grogee said:

Thanks for your postie efforts in these challenging times. It can't be easy. We are blessed with a lovely post lady who is very friendly and helpful. She got a bottle of wine for Xmas from us but now I feel bad that no-one in the depot got anything!

Cheers, like I say most of us do our best. There are a few try to do as little possible and seem to get away with it, but probably no more than in any other large organisation. I do alright at Christmas so I must be doing something right. 

[Zelandeth]

10 minutes ago, grogee said:

Get to fuck! Wheel alignment my ass. 

I think with this sort of thing an electronic hiccup can knock all those things out, but the first course of action is pull codes - record - clear codes - test drive. But that is of course not chargeable. 

I'd be saying that's an outrageous cost for wheel alignment, and you're not paying. Cheeky fuckers - name and shame

Sadly as it's a company car telling them to do one and take it elsewhere isn't an option.  This is the same main dealer which "repaired" a broken seat adjuster (the handle snapped off the first time we tried to adjust the backrest) on a TT a few years ago simply by gluing it back on rather than replacing the part.  Twice.

[Sunny Jim]

The only good thing about getting up in the dark at this time of year is seeing a sunrise like this on the way to work.

[wuvvum]

Wow!  That is spectacular!

[Sunny Jim]

Here's the shiter's shot

[HMC]

Ongoing use of the s type r as the main car. Fun, quite discrete and practical (photo taken during pizza collection, earlier )

[wuvvum]

How many sets of rear tyres have you got through so far?

[HMC]

25 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

How many sets of rear tyres have you got through so far?

You have clearly understood my relationship with this car 😂

[loserone]

54 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

Here's the shiter's shot

Too late for a calendar entry ?

[grogee]

Promising call re: job this afternoon. The nice thing about it was I sent a CV this morning, then a Person who works there called me for a friendly and informal chat this afternoon. There was no HR bollocks and I'm guessing my CV hadn't been computer-filtered. 

Interview next Thurs apparently. I need to buy a shirt. 

[GMcD]

5 hours ago, SiC said:

"New" car has just been delivered. Bought in the wet and delivered in the wet. Never actually seen it in the dry, so hopefully it's ok! Its the most I've ever spent on a car and much rather not have spent this much. But with the crazy market and needing a car, needs must.
Our dead A4 is due to be taken away on Thursday all being well.

I do like these a lot. Good choice 🙂. 

[Angrydicky]

2 hours ago, HMC said:

Ongoing use of the s type r as the main car. Fun, quite discrete and practical (photo taken during pizza collection, earlier )

Nice '63 Lincolnshire plate on that, did it come with the Jag?

[adw1977]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

While sitting stationary in a traffic jam, the traffic jam assist, adaptive and standard cruise, collision avoidance system and park assist all announced on mass that they were out of order

Getting rid of all that sounds like an improvement to me.

[GMcD]

Sno Kaos.

[Yoss]

The news feed on my phone gave me a link to an Express story about the mail delays. I clicked on it to see if Southampton got a mention. It did but one of pictures they used was this. 

I didn't realise the delays were that bad. 

[adw1977]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

I didn't realise the delays were that bad. 

I looked up GUC96W

Untaxed since it was just under 9 years old, pretty typical I suppose.

But wait:

Could it still be out there, waiting to be the next OMGBARNFIND?

[Tenmil Socket]

On 1/5/2022 at 6:22 PM, cort1977 said:

My very nice neighbour just gave me a load of mountain bike parts and a frame.  I only asked him if he had an old 26" wheel.  He said he doesn't have 26" wheel bikes any more, couldn't be doing with trying to sell bits and I could have them.  Amazing. 

Will have to buy him several cases of beer.

I have a 26" front wheel you can have. What parts did he give you?

[cort1977]

7 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I have a 26" front wheel you can have. What parts did he give you?

That's very generous, thank you.  I have actually got a wheel now so all sorted.

He gave me a Specialized Rockhopper hardtail frame that has been upgraded with various expensive parts such as Race Face cranks and a high end Rock Shox fork.  He also gave me another fork, another wheel, various tyres and loads of little bits.  My neighbour has several bikes and likes to upgrade them so his older parts get moved down to this hardtail.  He has now sacked off 26" wheels altogether and has a Santa Cruz ebike so all the old stuff he has given to me.  

[Ghosty]

 you've done alright there! 

[Tenmil Socket]

1 minute ago, Ghosty said:

 you've done alright there! 

What he said 👆

[vulgalour]

A smidge over 100 miles completed in the Princess since head gasket replacement and no issues have presented themselves.  That probably means I've fixed it, right?

[somewhatfoolish]

On 1/5/2022 at 9:54 PM, Yoss said:

As electric vans still seem a distant dream for us poor posties, at least at our office, I've been cultivating my own moss gardens in the scuttle of our Pug Partner to reduce our carbon footprint. 

So imagine my delight yesterday when I noticed we have a tiny mushroom in there too. 

So not only do we offset the carbon from all the diesel we use but we now have our own food supply. I'm hoping the two separate gardens in each corner will spread to become one big one right across the scuttle. Should be able to grow enough to be self sufficient then. 

If it's anything like mine there are big foam rubber seal things at the rear corners of the bonnet which after a year or so become porous and function as growth medium; mine are so far along they're being reduced to soil.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

11 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

A smidge over 100 miles completed in the Princess since head gasket replacement and no issues have presented themselves.  That probably means I've fixed it, right?

No.  You are now its prey.  It is stalking, waiting to lull you into a false sense of security until it leaves you on the inside lane of a smart motorway in a blizzard.

[Lankytim]

The local garage were too busy to remove these tyres so I had a go myself. I broke the bead by using a 10 ft metal box section tube balanced under the V70 tow bar and pushing a very robust garden hoe thing into the bead. It actually worked very well although after removing the tyres with tyre levers and washing up liquid I’m absolutely knackered! 

[Zelandeth]

Q5 is back from the dealer, apparently now fixed.

I've had a crawl under the front and if the tracking has been touched then I'm the king of England.  No visible clean spots on any of the locknuts or threads on the adjusters themselves.  No way that's been touched.  Of course no printout of the settings before/after.  Our wallet is £132 lighter for it though...

Robbing gits.  We're very glad that the next company car is a Skoda rather than another Audi as they have proven far less prone to problems, and the only one we did have they sorted politely and efficiently.

[richardmorris]

2 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Q5 is back from the dealer, apparently now fixed.

I've had a crawl under the front and if the tracking has been touched then I'm the king of England.  No visible clean spots on any of the locknuts or threads on the adjusters themselves.  No way that's been touched.  Of course no printout of the settings before/after.  Our wallet is £132 lighter for it though...

Robbing gits.  We're very glad that the next company car is a Skoda rather than another Audi as they have proven far less prone to problems, and the only one we did have they sorted politely and efficiently.

Don’t the company pay all the bills?

[Zelandeth]

Just now, richardmorris said:

Don’t the company pay all the bills?

The tracking being out is allegedly classed as damage, so would be dealt with via the company insurer.  The excess however is £250, so straight out of our pockets.

[richardmorris]

Just now, Zelandeth said:

The tracking being out is allegedly classed as damage, so would be dealt with via the company insurer.  The excess however is £250, so straight out of our pockets.

What a pain, especially if it’s just a sensor error.