SierraMikeHotel's chod: SMH goes above plodding pace SHOCK

[artdjones]

One of the suppliers sells a bit that will solder all the connections at once.AK Speedo is the name,I think.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Got frustrated and put the tip of the soldering iron onto the ribbon cable, which sure enough just immediately melted.  I don't think this idea works.  Rubbish.

[loserone]

Liked because that's exactly what I would have done

[SierraMikeHotel]

Liked because that's exactly what I would have done

Thanks buddy. I feel like a bit of an incompetent right now so that's good feedback!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Are you using multicore solder? An 18w iron with a simple point tip should be able to do a tack solder spot on each contact.

[Stinkwheel]

We're up to about 2004 now.

 

Good news!  I got a job.  An actual real one, not a week's contract.

 

Bad news!  The office is miles away from public transport so I need wheels, fast.

 

Good news!  There's a GSA available with tax and test.

 

Bad news!  It's really terrible.

 

Actually, that's a bit unfair - it was as advertised, and it was very, very cheap. It was less bad than the mousey blue GSA and I don't recall any FTPs.  However none of the accessories worked and after the first (and only) time I washed it, a load of water poured in through the glovebox the first time I went round a corner.

 

delays.jpg

 

The job was selling advertising space in a business-to-business magazine and I was really shit at it.  This is the only time I've lost a job through my incompetence rather than the company going bust underneath me and it's also the only time I've been happy to lose a job.  I was let go after two weeks of not selling anything.

 

I sold the car a few days before the MoT ran out for a tenner and it ended up at Chevronics.  Rob will generally restore a car if he can but there wasn't enough of this left.  I believe it did contribute a pattern to the GSA floor pans that he now sells so if you've ever done major body repairs to a GSA, you're welcome.

 

 

Just catching up on your thread. Absolutely brilliant reading and I think all too familiar to a lot of us.......

At this point, I must 'fess up and admit to being the awful person that sold you the black GSA.  I was young and foolish and I'm really sorry.  But at least it did its job for a while.

[SierraMikeHotel]

It did me a good turn for a very small amount of money so don't feel bad!

[Stinkwheel]

It did me a good turn for a very small amount of money so don't feel bad!

 

 

In all honesty, you should have seen it when I got it. It was really, really knackered then. The cambelts flapped when I took the front apart to change them. (and I'd just driven it 70 miles home from enfield at that point,with hand sized holes in the sills)

[SierraMikeHotel]

For the first time in my life I actually have a little cash to spend on a car.

 

My grandmother passed away in January and left us rather more money than anyone expected, mostly because of my late grandfather's wise investments.  He generally drove very utilitarian cars (Escorts, Pug 309s etc) but later in life he decided he deserved a bit of luxury and his last two cars were brand-new Rovers.

 

I'm not going to go nuts - most of the money will go into the mortgage - but I could, if I wanted, get something half-decent for a change.  My eye keeps getting drawn to dreadful old chod though!

 

With that in mind, I'm getting into the Saab and going shopping today.  Updates to follow!

[320touring]

*excites*

[New POD]

I have sent you inheritance heinsight investment fuck ups.

[SierraMikeHotel]

So, there's this. 114000 miles, base spec as far as these go. Very straight indeed.

 

Not exactly quick though, with the 1.8 turbocharged petrol... Or have I been spoiled by the fast Saab?

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Thirsty and slow with a propensity for stretching their timing chains supercharged, not turbo.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Now this is a bit more Autoshite. 125000 miles, beautifully giffer maintained.

 

I loved it but I think I'm out: I hadn't noticed quite how high the boot lip is on these and I think the dog would struggle to jump up into it. There doesn't seem to be any fixings for a dog guard either.

 

It looked great though, and drove impeccably well. If anyone's interested I'll pass the seller's details on.

 

 

It struck me how much more substantial cars have become over the last twenty years: the doors seemed really thin compared to moderns! Never would have thought a Volvo would feel flimsy.

 

These drive so nicely, I did enjoy having a go in it.

[SierraMikeHotel]

No picture of the third car because I pretty much walked away from it after ten seconds.  Another W203 estate, 200CDI on a 55 plate.  The photos in the advert obviously flattered it because it was a shed: all four alloy wheels had gone all bubbly and there were rust bubbles just starting around all four wheelarches, around the bumpers, and on the bootlid.  I didn't even start it and drive it.

 

I thought he'd priced it a bit optimistically at £3,000 and I was planning to beat him down a bit if I liked the car, but I do not expect to see visible rust and knackered wheels on a three grand car.

 

So a worthwhile day out even though the last bit of it going to see the third car was wasted.

 

I really liked the W203 but the one I saw this morning is the wrong spec: slow or thirsty I can bear, but not both.  So I guess I'm looking for a diesel - anything to be especially scared of with these?

 

I really enjoyed driving the Volvo but unfortunately it is out.  There are practical issues - the boot lip is very high for a dog to jump over, and there's nowhere obvious to anchor a dog guard so I'd have to get one of those ugly ones that fits to the rear headrests.  Also it just felt really old-fashioned...  I don't remember feeling that way about my old one, which is a bit weird, but then it is a 20 year old car.

 

If you're in the London area and after a well looked after cheap estate from a very pleasant seller I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it,

 

I can afford to have something nicer at the moment and you know what? I think I will.

[RobT]

How much was the Volvo out of interest? I should probably get a winter beater ASAP as the heater in the Cavalier is shit, and that one is classic insurance friendly.

[SierraMikeHotel]

How much was the Volvo out of interest? I should probably get a winter beater ASAP as the heater in the Cavalier is shit, and that one is classic insurance friendly.

 

Advertised at seven hundred of your English pounds and it would be an awesome winter beater.  You could probably haggle on that.

[SierraMikeHotel]

New car ACHIEVED.

 

And yes, we are now *that* household.

 

 

(More pics when it's not shitting down with rain.)

 

So, what does three thousand pounds get you these days? A 2007 Mercedes W203 estate with 95,000 miles on it. It's not perfect: the interior has some small signs of wear including a broken load cover, but they all seem to be like that. It's an Avantgarde but there weren't many boxes ticked on the options list, not that that bothers me. Driving it feels great: no funny noises or odd habits and it's a really relaxed ride, which is just what I was looking for. Nowhere near as fast as the Saab, obviously, but also nowhere near as thirsty. It's got a very slight pull to the left so it wants the alignment looking at.

 

I love the big glass area and the clean, uncluttered dash. It's a very pleasant place to be.

 

It's surprisingly similar in character to the modern one but feels like a smaller car (because it is) - cars have just grown a lot in the intervening 10 years.

 

I never would have thought of a Merc before but we both really like the modern one, and when I was running searches for automatic estates under £3k (for those were my criteria) these just kept popping up.

 

Is it shite? Well, despite being really quite nice, I think it is. It's over 10 years old (sorry guys, 2007 was a long time ago now) and although £3k is a lot for me to spend on a car, it's still going to be the cheapest car on most forecourts and we can definitely say that it's done most of its depreciating.

 

My intention is to sort the little niggles and keep it fairly long-term. I normally get bored with cars quite quickly but assuming nothing goes catastrophically wrong with this I would hope to run it for a long while yet.

 

Sort out a disagreement for us - I reckon Mrs H's one is wankier because it's a brand-new AMG-Line, but she reckons mine is wankier because it's got a gunsight on the bonnet.

[drivewaymyway]

The new one has those eye killing hideous headlights that show just how German car drivers really do think they own the road,, Sadly there are more and more of these blinding LED / HID type headlamps out there, the roads are becoming a dangerous place.. 

[SierraMikeHotel]

I tend only to have a problem with 4x4s, where the lamps are aimed straight at your eyeline.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Hold on - the roads are more dangerous because headlamps are better now than they used to be? And the owners of German cars are to blame?

 

That makes absolutely no sense.

[artdjones]

It's hard to drive safely when you can't see anything because 2 searchlights are shining in your eyes.I blame German car makers as we as the drivers of the cars they make.

[Pillock]

I tend only to have a problem with 4x4s, where the lamps are aimed straight at your eyeline.

Also vans. Bastards bloody vans three foot off your back bumper on the M40 at 6am.

 

I don't think it's a problem with the brightness of the light, just the height and angles. I do use a lot of dark country lanes so I'm not gonna ask for dimmer headlights please.

[Pillock]

Also, nicely bought. We never considered a Mercedes before but thankfully got ideas above our station at a car supermarket and realised that a 3 year old B Class was only a few quid more than a two year old Ford/Vauxhall/VW that looked four years old inside. I love it, really well designed and build quality is what premium cars used to be.

 

(I've got an identical age BMW to compare it with, and the MB is streets ahead in terms of door clunk and squeaks and rattles)

[SierraMikeHotel]

Thanks dude, that's exactly the conclusion I came to from AutoTrader - why have an Astra or a Focus if you can have a Merc for similar money? The C Class really is a nicely designed, nicely built thing.

[chaseracer]

Never would have thought a Volvo would feel flimsy.

 

Because it is a Mitsubishi (absolutely lacking in) Carisma.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Because it is a Mitsubishi (absolutely lacking in) Carisma.

I know, but I thought my last one felt quite solid and substantial. It shows how your perceptions change over time!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Thanks dude, that's exactly the conclusion I came to from AutoTrader - why have an Astra or a Focus if you can have a Merc for similar money? The C Class really is a nicely designed, nicely built thing.

 

 

Please tell me it's a diesel! 

[mat_the_cat]

I don't think it's a problem with the brightness of the light, just the height and angles. I do use a lot of dark country lanes so I'm not gonna ask for dimmer headlights please.

 

There is also the (big) effect of the condition of the windscreen you're looking through...

 

I've noticed a big improvement whenever i get a new screen, as you no longer have all the tiny scratches which seem to scatter the light and increase the dazzle effect.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Please tell me it's a diesel! 

 

It is indeed: a C220 CDI.

 

Petrol or diesel is not an easy decision to make at the moment.

 

If I were buying a new car I'd struggle to choose a diesel.  The current evidence all seems to say that they are more harmful than we were led to believe... however during all that time petrol technology was neglected, with the outcome that was rightly pointed out above - the C180 and C200 petrol Kompressors of this era were both thirsty and slow, which is obviously unacceptable.

 

I suspect the tax regimes around diesel will change very rapidly, but governments have generally shied away from making historic tax changes - so it's unlikely that owners of older diesel cars will be affected.

 

There may well be city centre bans, but I rarely drive to city centres anyway - why on earth would you?  City centres have lovely bus/metro/train services.

 

There is also the (big) effect of the condition of the windscreen you're looking through...

 

I've noticed a big improvement whenever i get a new screen, as you no longer have all the tiny scratches which seem to scatter the light and increase the dazzle effect.

 

Exactly that.

 

Plus, actually, when you're driving along you get blinded by one vehicle in every 20 (ish, at a guess).  I don't think that ratio's changed, down the years.  There's always someone with no mechanical sympathy who hasn't noticed the problem, or who is so blissfully unaware that he thinks everyone's flashing just to say hello.