The new news 24 thread

[RoverFolkUs]

4 hours ago, grogee said:

There's a petrol  Connect? Every day's a school day. Is it a 1.6 NA? 

I really really like the Connect. Seems very no-nonsense. 

They did it with LPG too, for added 00's emmisions control nostalgia

[RoverFolkUs]

19 hours ago, Lankytim said:

VW FOX COLLECTIONED
 

Some cack collected today from an old work mate. No collection thread as I don’t think modern dross like this warrants one. It didn’t go without incident though. I drove the 15 miles or so to my friends house and realised I’d randomly forgotten my detachable tow bar, drove home to get it, hoofed it back and hooked up the A frame then realised I’d left the extension lead to my trailer board at home too! Honestly, I think I’d forget my balls if they weren’t attached to me! 

By the time everything was hooked up, money had changed hands and tea had been drunk  it had gone dark so I towed the new purchase home with the engine running and the lights on without event. 

This little Fox is in pretty good shape despite being parked up for 18 months. The battery is totally knackered but I don’t think it will need much for an MOT. 1200cc and 3 cyl! 

I think these VWs were built in Brazil and the Fox was a stopgap model in Europe as the Polo had got too fat and they needed a new small car in the lineup. 

OBV it will just sit around for another 18 months before I fill it with random scrap and weigh it in. 
 

Do like a fox to be fair, if it works. Currently look after one with 150k on the little 1.2 6v unit. Everyone says it should have ceremoniously died about 100k miles ago as they all seemed to do, but it still chugs along. 

The engines are definitely not bulletproof. And power steering modules do go. But other than that, not bad

The 1.2 6v is stupidly low insurance group as well which makes them quite popular 

[dozeydustman]

Spent the day ripping the old rotten giffer-made workbench out of the garage along with clearing a lot of shite we put in there in storage but got ruined by damp.

Did 2 runs to the only tip which doesn’t need a booking (which comes of an end early February). Moved my Lidl no-bolt shelves to where the workbench was, and I’m almost ready to use the garage for actual car parking and car maintenance.

What’s left without a place to live needs to go in the shed. Which is full, so I’ll have to clear that after work tomorrow (I’m doing a half day of overtime) to accommodate the stuff displaced from the garage.

[wesacosa]

On 12/11/2023 at 20:05, wesacosa said:

6 weeks in from the Mayor's and TFL's beacon of numskullery by making a main stretch of the South Circular 20mph (yet keeping the following narrower section of road with parades of shops 30) I wonder how it's going

Aaah 

oops its not going well, Sadiq.  10mph next?!

[grogee]

Went to BiL's house today for a family gathering. He rents his garage out to a mate who is a car dweeb like us and previously there was some JDM saloon in there that he's now done up and sold. 

Now he's got this Celica GT-4 which has just been in for bodywork and it looks the bollocks. I'd love one of these. 

[Spottedlaurel]

/\ Nice!

On a related note, anyone walking past out house this morning would have been treated to this sight:

All run essentially the same 2-litre engine, and between them they've done around half a million miles.

The Carina E continued to do a fine job of being my weekend transport. As appropriate to my middle-age, yesterday it took me to an optician's appointment for new varifocals, and today it was used for a trip out to the garden centre.

[hairnet]

friends dad still runs carina II from almost new

apart from unobtanium exhaust its no problem (and he works for toyota)

[lesapandre]

Potholes - and they wonder why people buy 4x4's with decent suspension.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67957584

"The AA said it dealt with 631,852 pothole-related incidents related to tyres, wheels, steering, and suspension last year - another five-year high according to the organisation". Sounds a very high number of 'incidents'.

Apparently robots and making the roads out of plastic is the answer. 

Must be a slow newsday - and another free advert for the AA.

[Metal Guru]

13 hours ago, wesacosa said:

oops its not going well, Sadiq.  10mph next?!

I read somewhere they ( or possibly another anti car council),  wanted to go to 15mph but were advised that as speedometers are not accurate at that speed , convictions would be unlikely.

[beko1987]

34 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Potholes - and they wonder why people buy 4x4's with decent suspension.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67957584

"The AA said it dealt with 631,852 pothole-related incidents related to tyres, wheels, steering, and suspension last year - another five-year high according to the organisation". Sounds a very high number of 'incidents'.

Apparently robots and making the roads out of plastic is the answer. 

Must be a slow newsday - and another free advert for the AA.

Part of the reason I plod along with the Xsara despite being bored of it is it's lovely 15" steels, £30 tyres and cheap suspension components! 👌

I'm sure I've knocked my tracking back out since having it done in September 😡

[EyesWeldedShut]

37 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Potholes - and they wonder why people buy 4x4's with decent suspension.

and then stick 22" ultra low profiles on them  

[Lankytim]

Drove over to the in-laws today and gave the FOX a very quick going over with a bucket and sponge. It hasn’t been washed in a couple of years and was pretty green. First of all I swapped the battery for a fully charged one. What’s with this stupid plastic cage on top of the battery? I couldn’t figure how to remove it and it ended up breaking. No doubt a YouTube video would demonstrate how easy it is to remove in 10 seconds or something. The engine bay itself looks like it belongs to a car that’s been parked up for decades, lots of ally corrosion and cobwebs.
 

With a fresh battery the FOX started first time. Everything seems to work, electric power steering, brakes, windows etc and nothing is seized. Cleaning it showed it to be in pretty good shape with a few small thumbnail dents on one rear quarter and the the odd scratch. Very good for its age. Interior looks very good with nothing broken or badly worn. The paint is a weird pewter grey colour that used to be popular a while back, a good polish should bring it up very well. I think it might’ve had one of those ceramic treatments dealers used to offer as there doesn’t seem to be any oxidisation. 

One tyre is badly perished (Michelin obv) but the spare has a new tyre fitted so will get swapped over. 

Despite being very smoll the Fox is pretty tall and my 6ft1 frame fits behind the wheel with no issue. The rear seats are pretty comfy too although it’s strictly a 4 seater rather than 5. 

It deffo seems too good to crush. Should I give the Laguna a break for a few months  and experience some South American minimalist motoring?  

[grogee]

22 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

old rotten giffer-made workbench out of the garage

We had one of these when we got keys to current house. 

Estate agent asked if we wanted a 'workbench' in the garage, so I said yes please, expecting, well, a workbench.

What I discovered was not a workbench, it was a hot mess of 2x4, ply, no more nails, screws and some distinctly non-compliant electrics as the icing on the cake. 

The guy was an absolute bodger, he'd wired up the (metal) shed with a fluorescent tube supported by cable ties. 

We're still discovering little surprises he's left for us around the house. Twat. 

[grogee]

52 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

With a fresh battery the FOX started first time. Everything seems to work, electric power steering, brakes, windows etc and nothing is seized. 

 

I liked these when they came out. The muttering rotters were a bit dismissive about its 10/10ths handling, completely missing the point as usual. 

What appealed to me was the low-tech robust design suited to Brazilian roads, ie long travel suspension and good ground clearance - something the average Brit still doesn't understand when they moan about buckled alloys on their new Audi with 21" rims. 

RoverFolkUs has said that a few of the 1.2s have escaped from valve trouble, maybe by being ACTUALLY SERVICED as opposed to the usual shopping car neglect. 

The one thing I didn't like was the spec seemed to be quite basic unless you forked out for 'Urban' or the like which pushed the price into Polo territory anyway. 

Probably brilliant as a WBOD as I bet that little engine warms up quickly. 

[dozeydustman]

11 minutes ago, grogee said:

We had one of these when we got keys to current house. 

Estate agent asked if we wanted a 'workbench' in the garage, so I said yes please, expecting, well, a workbench.

What I discovered was not a workbench, it was a hot mess of 2x4, ply, no more nails, screws and some distinctly non-compliant electrics as the icing on the cake. 

The guy was an absolute bodger, he'd wired up the (metal) shed with a fluorescent tube supported by cable ties. 

We're still discovering little surprises he's left for us around the house. Twat. 

The garage wiring is definitely non-compliant, so I’m not running anything over 1kW power in there. Mainly lights and occasional power drill.

 

[Lankytim]

4 minutes ago, grogee said:

I liked these when they came out. The muttering rotters were a bit dismissive about its 10/10ths handling, completely missing the point as usual. 

What appealed to me was the low-tech robust design suited to Brazilian roads, ie long travel suspension and good ground clearance - something the average Brit still doesn't understand when they moan about buckled alloys on their new Audi with 21" rims. 

RoverFolkUs has said that a few of the 1.2s have escaped from valve trouble, maybe by being ACTUALLY SERVICED as opposed to the usual shopping car neglect. 

The one thing I didn't like was the spec seemed to be quite basic unless you forked out for 'Urban' or the like which pushed the price into Polo territory anyway. 

Probably brilliant as a WBOD as I bet that little engine warms up quickly. 

I did notice the high ground clearance, it’s quite utilitarian. On the V5c it’s listed as an URBAN FOX 55, I’m guessing that’s why it’s got electric  front windows. 
 

Googling these 1200 3cyl engines gives mixed reviews. Many have had timing chain problems. I guess it’s the nature of the market segment that these cars get neglected and impending issues get ignored until it’s too late. 

[dozeydustman]

Today has been busy. I did a half day this morning due to lack of supervisors. 04:00 - 09:00. Then did 800m in the swimming pool.

At the weekend @Scrap’s Saab 9-3 (ex @CaptainBoom) managed to hoover up some water in the air intake, thankfully no damage caused and a new air filter sorted out the rough running. Old one was drenched. I also showed Scrap how to do an oil change. Couldn’t be bothered to get all the undershields off, so I popped my vac-pump cherry.

Glorious* carpet. The Saab now sounds a lot better with clean liquid dinosaurs running around its internals, and it’s a lot easier to get to the filter than the poxy Fiat lump in mine.

After this I cleared out the remaining old shite in the garage that is either destined for the shed or tip, assembled to table saw I won on eBay for £30, and parked the Citroën under cover.

Still some shed stuff in the garage, but once I put some hangers and hooks in the shed I can clear the deck. Yes, the wiring is terrible, but it’s one of my next projects.

Yes, I have installed a garage door opener. Does this make me a tosser?

[grogee]

8 minutes ago, dozeydustman said:

garage door opener

Tosser. 

Not really, I bet it's very useful and I'd like one. 

[dozeydustman]

7 minutes ago, grogee said:

I'd like one

This was a universal one I got on eBay for about £140, since gone up in price.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113812043157

[artdjones]

2 hours ago, Lankytim said:

Drove over to the in-laws today and gave the FOX a very quick going over with a bucket and sponge. It hasn’t been washed in a couple of years and was pretty green. First of all I swapped the battery for a fully charged one. What’s with this stupid plastic cage on top of the battery? I couldn’t figure how to remove it and it ended up breaking. No doubt a YouTube video would demonstrate how easy it is to remove in 10 seconds or something. The engine bay itself looks like it belongs to a car that’s been parked up for decades, lots of ally corrosion and cobwebs.
 

With a fresh battery the FOX started first time. Everything seems to work, electric power steering, brakes, windows etc and nothing is seized. Cleaning it showed it to be in pretty good shape with a few small thumbnail dents on one rear quarter and the the odd scratch. Very good for its age. Interior looks very good with nothing broken or badly worn. The paint is a weird pewter grey colour that used to be popular a while back, a good polish should bring it up very well. I think it might’ve had one of those ceramic treatments dealers used to offer as there doesn’t seem to be any oxidisation. 

One tyre is badly perished (Michelin obv) but the spare has a new tyre fitted so will get swapped over. 

Despite being very smoll the Fox is pretty tall and my 6ft1 frame fits behind the wheel with no issue. The rear seats are pretty comfy too although it’s strictly a 4 seater rather than 5. 

It deffo seems too good to crush. Should I give the Laguna a break for a few months  and experience some South American minimalist motoring?  

Nice find. As regards the battery cage, that's typical VAG. Everything made of pointless and intricate plastic mouldings that have no obvious way of dismantling without the full factory workshop manual. But it looks so neat!

[barefoot]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

I liked these when they came out. The muttering rotters were a bit dismissive about its 10/10ths handling, completely missing the point as usual. 

What appealed to me was the low-tech robust design suited to Brazilian roads, ie long travel suspension and good ground clearance - something the average Brit still doesn't understand when they moan about buckled alloys on their new Audi with 21" rims. 

RoverFolkUs has said that a few of the 1.2s have escaped from valve trouble, maybe by being ACTUALLY SERVICED as opposed to the usual shopping car neglect. 

The one thing I didn't like was the spec seemed to be quite basic unless you forked out for 'Urban' or the like which pushed the price into Polo territory anyway. 

Probably brilliant as a WBOD as I bet that little engine warms up quickly. 

I had one of these as a courtesy car for a week and it was fine. As you say, a bit basic but not the worst thing I've ever driven. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

OMG AN FOX WOT ISN'T RED SHOCKER

[Back_For_More]

Local garage lads seem to keep finding these unmolested crackers as side projects...... the bastards 😁

Was garaged 2014 by giffer owner apparently 

Has a couple of garage storage dents and dings..... 

But looks to be a corker - obviously I put in a hopeful 'is it available' query but I'm not holding my breath. 

[dozeydustman]

1 hour ago, Back_For_More said:

Local garage lads seem to keep finding these unmolested crackers as side projects...... the bastards 😁

Was garaged 2014 by giffer owner apparently 

Has a couple of garage storage dents and dings..... 

But looks to be a corker - obviously I put in a hopeful 'is it available' query but I'm not holding my breath. 

That looks a real peach. Hopefully they get back to you

[egg]

Thought this was interesting from the home of the automobile

[Rust Collector]

'following standard budgeting advice, which says you shouldn't spend more than 10 percent of your monthly income on car-related expenses'

[Spottedlaurel]

That 10% figure of monthly income is interesting. Even if I forget the years when I had finance to buy something, I suspect that tax, servicing, insurance etc was never very often below that amount.

[camryv6]

21 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

Today has been busy. I did a half day this morning due to lack of supervisors. 04:00 - 09:00. Then did 800m in the swimming pool.

At the weekend @Scrap’s Saab 9-3 (ex @CaptainBoom) managed to hoover up some water in the air intake, thankfully no damage caused and a new air filter sorted out the rough running. Old one was drenched. I also showed Scrap how to do an oil change. Couldn’t be bothered to get all the undershields off, so I popped my vac-pump cherry.

Glorious* carpet. The Saab now sounds a lot better with clean liquid dinosaurs running around its internals, and it’s a lot easier to get to the filter than the poxy Fiat lump in mine.

After this I cleared out the remaining old shite in the garage that is either destined for the shed or tip, assembled to table saw I won on eBay for £30, and parked the Citroën under cover.

Still some shed stuff in the garage, but once I put some hangers and hooks in the shed I can clear the deck. Yes, the wiring is terrible, but it’s one of my next projects.

Yes, I have installed a garage door opener. Does this make me a tosser?

I read that as you did 800 miles in the swimming pool, i presume i read that wrong ? lol

[dozeydustman]

Just now, camryv6 said:

I read that as you did 800 miles in the swimming pool, i presume i read that wrong ? lol

800 metres. Which in miles would register at 0.5 or thereabouts. Haven’t swum that sort of length since I was 11!

[BL Bloke]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

That 10% figure of monthly income is interesting. Even if I forget the years when I had finance to buy something, I suspect that tax, servicing, insurance etc was never very often below that amount.

Last year I spent 13.5% just on tax and insurance. If I add in servicing, repairs, fuel and garage rent it went up to over 30%. 😲 Time for a clear out, I think.

In other news, I was on the A456 in Halesowen earlier and saw a Class 09 diesel shunter on the back of a low loader, not something you see every day.