The new news 24 thread

[Pat Earrings]

Did a buy the other day. Chuffed with it, but it’s basically a posh Passat.

C5 A6 with the PD130 engine. 114k on the clock and absolutely a peach of an engine with a comprehensive history. Really fantastic condition too. Dealer plates and sticker indicate it was a mobility car early in its life and it’s clearly been loved. Few minor odd jobs to do but it drives excellently.

[Carlosfandango]

Ply applied to walls of new workshop in advance of tool board, shelves etc. 

Looking forward to getting back to doing actual car schtuff as opposed to fucking moving everything.. 

 

CFD 

[artdjones]

I had a look at a 2012 Astra 1.6 hatch  today for a friend. It's an Opel on the logbook, so the first thing that worried me was that it had Opel steering wheel and hubcaps but the odometer in miles and all the outside badging as a Vauxhall. And it was first registered in a certain border county where a lot of people use political activity as a front for straight criminality. So I resolved to give it a hard look...

Sure enough, the boot mat was wet, and looking under the boot trim revealed some sealant application that didn't look factory. So obviously it had had a bump up the back at some time. We took it for a drive, and it was ok up to 100kph, but when you put your foot to the floor it only gathered speed very slowly, so slowly that I couldn't get it past 115kph. It ran smoothly with no rattles or EML, so the cause is a mystery. We left it where it was. The owners seemed nice people, so maybe whoever they bought it from ripped them off.

[Ghosty]

The 416GTI has been picked up by a bloke I know that some may recognise, and has ended up being named after me: 
 

It seems to have found the right home, I'm glad. 

[Bren]

Took the vectra battery back. It was dead. Could have had straight replacement but paid extra £15 for a yuasa item with a 3 year guarantee. Only after coming home have I realised the pointlessness of my decision - it is unlikely the car will be on the road in three years.

[SiC]

14 hours ago, artdjones said:

We took it for a drive, and it was ok up to 100kph, but when you put your foot to the floor it only gathered speed very slowly, so slowly that I couldn't get it past 115kph.

Was it the N/A 1.6? If so, then the Astra J is quite a heavy car and that engine is a pretty wheezy unit which has been progressively strangled by emissions over the years. So could well be normal. I'd expect it needing hammering to get it properly moving.

[Soundwave]

Due a visit from Autoshite Santa Ceri later on! He's bringing me a tedious lump of 90s bland Frenchness which probably should have been scrapped 15 years ago. Excitement!

[omegod]

Just sat pondering how great my Fiesta has been since buying it new in 2004, realisation then dawned that it's never had and work to the rear brakes and has covered 138000 miles ........ I'm guessing there's no friction material left but it stops nice and quietly.  

[Soundwave]

2 hours ago, Soundwave said:

Due a visit from Autoshite Santa Ceri later on! He's bringing me a tedious lump of 90s bland Frenchness which probably should have been scrapped 15 years ago. Excitement!

 

Update: it's here! 

 

[andy18s]

There's quite a few Lagunas on the road here in Bulgaria,which is surprising with their reputation of being a bit fragile..

Well bought

[artdjones]

The mk1 Laguna is pretty durable, especially the 1.8 petrol pre facelift models.

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, SiC said:

Was it the N/A 1.6? If so, then the Astra J is quite a heavy car and that engine is a pretty wheezy unit which has been progressively strangled by emissions over the years. So could well be normal. I'd expect it needing hammering to get it properly moving.

It didn't feel rough in any way, but it felt like it would top out at 120 kph, which is basically the performance of a 1960 Victor, so I think something was wrong, it may be wheezy, but it's supposed to have 115hp.

[SiC]

6 minutes ago, artdjones said:

It didn't feel rough in any way, but it felt like it would top out at 120 kph, which is basically the performance of a 1960 Victor, so I think something was wrong, it may be wheezy, but it's supposed to have 115hp.

Quick check on parkers specs, it says that age Astra J 1.6 is 1578kg. 

For comparison, a 2008 Vectra C 1.8VVT is 1335kg.

Farking hell, how did GM get it so lardy?

[sierraman]

7 hours ago, Bren said:

Took the vectra battery back. It was dead. Could have had straight replacement but paid extra £15 for a yuasa item with a 3 year guarantee. Only after coming home have I realised the pointlessness of my decision - it is unlikely the car will be on the road in three years.

This. You could blow however much on quality parts but lose sight of the bigger picture.

[reb]

I got a phone call while I was still asleep this morning about a job I'd forgotten I'd applied for. I was still half asleep for most of it but the general gist of it is I have an interview on Teams next Wednesday! It's WFH and starts at £10/hr. I've never heard of the company so I'm off to do my research now!

[artdjones]

57 minutes ago, SiC said:

Quick check on parkers specs, it says that age Astra J 1.6 is 1578kg. 

For comparison, a 2008 Vectra C 1.8VVT is 1335kg.

Farking hell, how did GM get it so lardy?

Don't know, it doesn't feel particularly solid, and my Mégane estate weighs 1308kg so over 250kg less than the Astra and is 150mm longer and  200mmwider as well.(According to Parker's).

The Astra's weight is frankly ridiculous.

[Bren]

All that weight with a normally aspirated 1.6? It will be a plodder.

[Bren]

2 hours ago, Soundwave said:

 

Update: it's here! 

 

The 8 valve petrol engines are pretty good. I had a 2.0 RT - it was auto - as you can imagine the box was troublesome.

[wuvvum]

On 1/25/2022 at 3:12 AM, mitsisigma01 said:

Bumhats, just found out my brother his binned his Maxus recently, not sure who to or when or even where ... whereabouts are you ? ...was it East Anglialand area ...if so it might not be far from your area 

Yep, Norfolk.

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, SiC said:

Quick check on parkers specs, it says that age Astra J 1.6 is 1578kg. 

For comparison, a 2008 Vectra C 1.8VVT is 1335kg.

Farking hell, how did GM get it so lardy?

Lordy...the unladen weight for the Caddy is 1235kg, and that's with all the gubbins for the dropped floor, a wheelchair ramp, the associated lashing points *and* a diesel engine up front...I know the Astra is bigger than a 6N Polo, but even so that seems ludicrously heavy.

The V12 XJ-S weighs in at 1700kg, which puts it in perspective a bit I think...

[mitsisigma01]

5 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Yep, Norfolk.

I'll be calling him tomorrow or Friday 👍🏽

[Jazoli]

10 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Lordy...the unladen weight for the Caddy is 1235kg, and that's with all the gubbins for the dropped floor, a wheelchair ramp, the associated lashing points *and* a diesel engine up front...I know the Astra is bigger than a 6N Polo, but even so that seems ludicrously heavy.

The V12 XJ-S weighs in at 1700kg, which puts it in perspective a bit I think...

You cannot compare modern cars to older stuff, modern vehicles have so much more crash protection built in, plus they have things like abs pumps, multiple ecu's etc etc, FYI the new 'E'  Berlingo weighs 2.4 tons.

[artdjones]

The 2015 base Astra weighs less than 1200kg. So I don't think it was inevitable that the previous model weighed so much.

[captain_70s]

Speed*.

[Crackers]

6 hours ago, Jazoli said:

You cannot compare modern cars to older stuff, modern vehicles have so much more crash protection built in, plus they have things like abs pumps, multiple ecu's etc etc, FYI the new 'E'  Berlingo weighs 2.4 tons.

I believe the phrase rhymes with "Clucking Bell". That's as much as a Rolls Royce Wraith/Ghost. I wonder its GVW is - I bet a bag of peas in the boot would max it out.

 

Edit: Google suggests it's true kerb weight is around 1800kg. Perhaps 2440kg is actually the GVW and they've mistaken it for kerb weight (however you fancy defining kerb weight!)

[barefoot]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:32 AM, barefoot said:

Took the Scirocco to be tracked up yesterday. This morning I have 2 turns of the steering wheel to the left, but only one & a half to the right as I discovered when driving into next door's hedge.

Took it back yesterday to have it sorted...

Sorted it is, by means of a 'new O/S/F TRE replaced due to thread worn'. As any fule knows, Sciroccos never had TRE's on both sides, so it should say 'O/S/F  TRE fitted because we didn't know what we were doing'. That's a new garage I was trying. After being treated like I floated down the River Trent on a cream cracker it looks like I won't be going back.

[mitsisigma01]

18 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Yep, Norfolk.

He scrapped it with ASSingtons in Sudbury about a week ago . He said it was pretty fkd .

Clutch gone .

Side door hanging off.

Drivers door electrics hanging out 

[junkyarddog]

Just been offered a low mileage classic Ford....

Trouble is it's a recently retired hearse.

🙄

[grogee]

4 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Just been offered a low mileage classic Ford....

Trouble is it's a recently retired hearse.

🙄

I don't know how I'd react to this, pretty sure I wouldn't be able to say no ☠️

[chodweaver]

Just been offered a low mileage classic Ford....
Trouble is it's a recently retired hearse.

That really shouldn't be a problem