Hedgehog Motors - The ̶L̶e̶x̶ Rex Files

[davehedgehog31]

I've had various threads on the go for different collections this year, but thought I'd condense my threads into one manageable thread to document my ham-fisted tinkering.

At the turn of the year I was driving a nice, dependable, modern 2011 Peugeot 407 and no other vehicle. It was nice enough, but boring as feck. I'd bought it after a series of disastrous heaps in the awkward age bracket of being new and valuable enough to worry about but old enough to be fucked. The 407 was just too new, too bloated and dull. I had a hankering for old metal, my Mineral Oil withdrawal pangs were strong.

From January I started looking, there were eBay bids, missed reserves, wasted trips from Gumtree and other such nonsense. I happened on an automatic Rover 216 GSI with one giffer owner from a year old. The chap was giving up driving at 93 years old and his grandson was moving it on. I bid, and failed. It was in London though, about 420 miles away so I wasn't all that bothered. Of course when he offered it to me for my losing bid after the winning buyer was a no show I said yes. I was on the Megabus down to that London overnight for about £15. I hung about in Liverpool Street station like a mad shivering jakey until my train out to the suburb for my first sight of the new steed. It was battered outside but had been well looked after. A frankly insulting amount of cash changed hands and I was away up the road.

We had many adventures together, it was dependable and it whet my appetite for interesting old motors again and proved that the very bottom end of the market was navigable if I had the patience to wade through the sea of shit to find the odd pearl.



The 407 was still on the fleet at this point but I was covering a lot of miles in the Rover, with a long commute though the fuel economy wasn't ideal. When a friend's mother was looking for a new diesel saloon to replace the faithful old Xsara she had a scheme was concocted. I sold the 407 to her and was on the hunt for an interesting replacement.

When I was growing up my dad had a succession of hopeless shitters, indeed I was brought home from the hospital as a newborn in a brush painted Skoda Super Estelle. The best car he had was a red XUD Peugeot 405 with air conditioning and electric windows. So when I found a 1994 GTXD advertised by someone who could actually compose a car advert in the fashion you would expect of a human being educated to a Primary School level, I pounced.

Of course I couldn't buy a car just down the road so it was on the train to Birmingham. First class no less. I stayed in an absolute flea pit of a hotel and drove up the road the next day. This was a proper bit of nostalgia and a really practical borderline classic car. It had been fastidiously maintained by the previous owner. Apart from there being a hole where there was once a stereo and the lack of working air con it was a pleasant drive home.

Given their relative scarcity and how dependable this one has proven so far, it's a keeper, I'd struggle to part with it.



Two cars just wasn't enough to worry about, so this Citroen C1 was acquired. Pure Aleppo spec. A camel can go for weeks, or months without stopping at a watering hole, the C1 has a similar thirst for Motor Spirit. Man maths were employed and worked out that it would easily* pay for itself.




There have been further movements, I'll recap them shortly. I should probably do some work.

[Belfast Gipsy]

Sod work - more pics/tales please!

[davehedgehog31]

So the arrival of the C1 brings us up to September.

 

I hadn't bought a car for about two months and had itchy feet. Monsieur Shadow of this parish, man of mystery and purveyor of bargain basement autos posted an advert for a miserly 2003 Suzuki Alto. Now, for some unknown reason this was a vehicle I'd long fancied a shot of. They were bargain basement cheap when new (as the sales invoice from December 2003 for £5095 will attest) and were universally panned by the motoring journos. It probably speaks of wanting to cheer for the underdog. 

 

So, south to Tebay I went as Shadow set off from sunny Bolton for a rendezvous. The Rover headed south with him and I was the proud owner of this;

 

 

I spent a bit of time tidying it up and rinsed it back and forth to work for a few weeks. It wasn't a particularly capable car, it wasn't fast, comfortable or refined but it was about as cheap as motoring could get really. It filled the same niche as the C1 though whilst being miles off it in every regard apart from initial purchase price. So it was moved on the day after the latest arrival joined the fleet. 

 

One glorious Wednesday in October there occurred a triple jeopardy roffle bonanza. I had various horses across three races for varyingly quick and sizable cars. All three would have been expensive luxury beasts when they sat on a forecourt in the early 2000's. Two Swedish steeds and a Bavarian coupe. As the balls dropped (fnar fnar) one by one, none of mine came out, my odds were strong as the bonus ball teetered. No dice. However, the seed had been planted and with my history to date comprising mainly PSA and Japanese cars of limited performance the want for something different had long lingered. A Nordic beast could be just the ticket. 

 

As luck would have it, SierraMikeHotel of this forum was looking to move his 9-5 on. It was in the best colour, heated seats, 275bhp, more torque than I would know what to do with and being sold by a trusted shiter. What's not to like?

 

Without wishing to reveal my particulars on a public forum I am older than 26 but younger than 28. I thought insurance would be astronomical, so I gazed longingly for a while thinking "maybe one day". Out of interest I phoned the insurer and the hike in premium was less than one months tax for the 405 which I was thinking of SORNing for winter anyway. This was obviously perfect justification and the man maths added up. A PM was sent and days later I was on a flight to Gatwick. 

 

As documented elsewhere the ole' switcheroo took place, I headed back to the frozen North in my new steed and SMH was on a train out of Gatwick. 

 

So the same day the Saab got home, the little Suzuki left the fleet and equilibrium was restored at a fleet of three with one in winter hibernation. That brings us up to the present day. 

 

 

I like to think this will represent a settled fleet for quite some time, but I know what I'm like. The cars all fill their niche, sort of....

 

The C1 is the white good, a reliable and efficient workhorse that runs back and forth to work, while my commute is as long as it is, it will probably remain, if I move job and can get public transport or drive a short distance, I reckon it would be surplus.

 

The 405 as mentioned before, it's a good un and also pretty reasonable to run, it's tax band aside. I have complete faith that it will start and drive anywhere at any time. There's emotional attachment there as it was my favourite car of my youth.

 

Time will tell with the Saab. Is it infatuation for something new? Certainly at the moment I can see it being around for a long time. 

 

However, I used to say two cars would be one too many, then that three would be one too many. I say the same about four cars just now, but I have no doubt I'll have an itch to scratch again some day in the not too distant future. This is why I've started a type of blog thread for my various tinkerings as there will certainly be collection capers and the like to come and I'd rather not clutter up the main board each time!

[davehedgehog31]

This is worth the money alone...

 

https://youtu.be/LpSarPQxtPA

[davehedgehog31]

Yet more enthralling video content. Took a video of the 405 starting from cold when moving into its winter lodgings. It starts well for an old XUD!

 

https://youtu.be/14K7NV-hRd0

[Ohdearme]

This is worth the money alone...

 

https://youtu.be/LpSarPQxtPA

Of course you’d never need to do so in the UK but I also like how when in night panel mode things light up as you need them, e.g. the faster section of the speedo lights up if you keep your foot in

[davehedgehog31]

Of course you’d never need to do so in the UK but I also like how when in night panel mode things light up as you need them, e.g. the faster section of the speedo lights up if you keep your foot in

I'll need to find a private test track in order to check it's function.

[davehedgehog31]

 

A colleague drives this rather nice 9-3 Aero three door, a good photo opportunity together.

[Split_Pin]

Like you, I was used to more modern cars up until 2016 when my Corsa became unreliable and I popped my cherry with the Megane. Although I kept if for a year and a half, I am now always looking for the 'next' car!

 

Looks like the 405 is a keeper though

[davehedgehog31]

Like you, I was used to more modern cars up until 2016 when my Corsa became unreliable and I popped my cherry with the Megane. Although I kept if for a year and a half, I am now always looking for the 'next' car!

 

Looks like the 405 is a keeper though

I think we're very similar in that regard. There's always cars being shuffled in my head. 

 

I like driving and messing about on different things and get bored quite quickly but I do think the trio at the moment are about as settled as it's been, or likely to be. 

 

I have a wedding to go to in March, it's in some stately home with a gravel driveway. I'm not driving up there in a luminous green/yellow C1 with no wheel trims and the 405 will still be in hibernation so I'll just need to keep the Saab til then I guess? 

[davehedgehog31]

Found a previous ad for the Saab, good to piece a wee bit more of it's history together.

 

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=186711

 

 

 

Rear rose bushes - replaced with febi bilstein ones, all 4. 4 Wheel Alignment was carried out after.

Subframe bushes - replaced with poly. At the same time the subframe was coated in hammerite. (Wishbones are also Poly)

The 9-5 is fitted with Bilstein Dampers (B8) all round, on H&R springs. 

[SierraMikeHotel]

Found a previous ad for the Saab, good to piece a wee bit more of it's history together.

 

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=186711

Excellent, that's the ad I bought it from. Couldn't find it when I was writing mine and I couldn't remember the specs of the suspension! That fills in some of the gaps, good find.

 

He was right at the time in saying the SID was only missing a few pixels, it got worse very quickly and was basically dead except for the clock when I took it to bits.

[davehedgehog31]

Been driving the Saab almost exclusively since I got it... I really am taken with it. It's crazy that you can buy such a comfortable and capable machine for so little money nowadays. 

 

I came out the house this morning, it was cold and dark and the C1 needed petrol. I of course got in the Saab and drove 40 miles to work. That is something that will have to stop given I'm probably looking at just under 30mpg from this tank. Not too bad given there have been a few childish instances of mashing the loud pedal to the carpet, it's ridiculous but the rush of power is quite addictive. 

 

I've been working on a detailed review of the Citroen C1, I've had a few of them and covered a lot of miles so probably well placed to give a write up on them, will hopefully put it up this evening. They've always had strong second hand values due to the "new driver tax", but they're now falling firmly within banger money. 

[Split_Pin]

A hot 9-5 or 9-3 is on my bucket list for sure!

[dome]

That 9-5 looks TEH SEX. Bring it to a Scotoshite soon please! 

[davehedgehog31]

That 9-5 looks TEH SEX. Bring it to a Scotoshite soon please! 

It shall be there at the end of this month! 

[SierraMikeHotel]

I came out the house this morning, it was cold and dark and the C1 needed petrol. I of course got in the Saab and drove 40 miles to work. That is something that will have to stop given I'm probably looking at just under 30mpg from this tank. Not too bad given there have been a few childish instances of mashing the loud pedal to the carpet, it's ridiculous but the rush of power is quite addictive.

 

You've done well to get 30mpg but then I mostly drove it in traffic - hopefully your commute is a little faster than that.

 

I felt exactly the same about all that powaaaaah - like yourself I'm generally a very sensible driver but when the road opens up ahead of you it's a real rush when you bury the loud pedal.  Really, really fun.  Childish, yes, but fun.

 

I opened up the Merc for the first time yesterday and was a bit disappointed that I didn't have to concentrate on physically keeping my head upright.

[davehedgehog31]

Some quality* interior repairs.

 

A bit of the wood trim was artfully held together with sellotape, thusly;

 

 

 

I peeled the tape off and it broke into it's constituent parts, I glued them back down leaving this;

 

 

A colouring in the white glue with a brown pen will leave an invisible* repair.

[davehedgehog31]

The verdict is in on the Saabs fuel economy, 30.8mpgs.

 

That's not too terrible, about half of those miles have been clear motorway, the rest of them mixed across traffic and country roads. I have also booted the arse off it on more than one occasion, including tonight joining the M73, my good lady and I had just been for dinner, she was complaining it made her feel like her belly was in the back seat and she called me a fanny. Fair.

 

A more disciplined tankfull beckons...

[davehedgehog31]

Shite Review - 2007 Citroen C1 1.0 Vibe

Introduction

 

Howdy, I’ve recently acquired my second Citroen C1. I reckon these cars are absolute nailed on future shite, values are now dipping within the shiter’s reach. Against a landscape of vehicles becoming ever more bloated, complex and heavy this car stands out as reliable, clever and very cheap transport and is charming for it.

 

The review will focus on the Citroen C1, but almost everything can be considered identical for the Toyota Aygo and Peugeot 107.

 

I am blatantly biased and I’m a huge fan of these little cars, but will try to offer a balanced view. My review is based on the car as a 11 year old sub £1000 runaround, not a showroom fresh example.

Overview

 

The Citroen C1 was born out of a joint venture between French automotive monster PSA and Toyota. Christened the “B-Zero” project, the aim was to produce a low cost small city car. Three cars were born, aforementioned C1, the Peugeot 107 and Toyota badged Aygo. All three are identical cars, save for minor cosmetic differences on the exterior and differences in equipment and trim levels.

 

 

The mainstay powerplant of the trio was the Toyota 1KR-FE engine. It was developed by Toyota subsidiary firm, Daihatsu. This was to be it’s first deployment although it has since appeared in a number of other small vehicles, mainly badged Toyota or Daihatsu. It is a three cylinder petrol unit with four valves per cylinder. Peak power of 67bhp is achieved at 6000rpm with the maximum torque figure of 93N.m being available at 3600rpm.

 

In addition to this, all three models could be had with a 1.4 HDi Diesel engine supplied from the French half of the joint venture. An 8 valve, four cylinder naturally aspirated diesel engine, this was not a strong seller. Both “on paper” and real world performance was behind that of the petrol unit according to early reviews, this along with the petrol engine still offering very strong fuel economy figures and a lower list price meant the DERV option never really took off.

 

A compact car, available in both three and five door configuration. The additional doors do not add anything to the overall dimensions of the car. These similarities between models will become a theme of this review. The car was designed in such a way that the minimum number of unique components were required between RHD and LHD, 3 and 5 door and different trim levels. Driver and passenger seats are the same for instance and the interior was designed so that the minimal number of separate plastic castings were required between RHD and LHD vehicles.

 

Kerbweight of the petrol vehicles is quoted at around 800KG, one of the lightest cars on sale in the UK throughout the entire production run.

Timeline

The triplets went on sale in the UK through their respective dealers in 2005. My car featured in this review wears the first generation face.

 

In 2009, the C1 underwent it’s first facelift. This was minor and featured a restyled front bumper and grille along with changes to trim levels and introduction of a few special edition models.

 

A second, slightly more extensive facelift was made in 2012, this comprised amongst other updates, daytime running lights, new style steering wheel and another restyled front end. More significantly, the more spartan trim levels disappeared from the range perhaps in an effort to help the car appear more appealing when pitched alongside the rival VAG group UP!, Citigo and Mii range which had been introduced a year previously.

 

In 2014 the car was superseded by a new C1, again sharing it’s platform with it’s Peugeot 108 and Toyota Aygo siblings.

 

Exterior

The subject of the review is my car, registered in October 2007 it is a base spec petrol C1 “Vibe” in fetching yellow with three doors.

 

 

 

The car is short with minimal overhangs and a high roofline. The three door’s doors are reasonably long for the size of car, allowing extremely easy access for front occupants, unless you’re parked tight against anything.

 

At the rear of the car there is no metal hatch, instead only the glass piece opens, meaning the loading aperture is somewhat small and the lip is high.

 

 

The front windscreen is large and raked back at a shallow angle. Unusually it has a single 26 inch pantograph wiper. Bulbous headlights are high up on the front of the car and the stubby bonnet allows easy access to the usual under bonnet check items.

 

Interior

 

When entering the interior, the first thing that’s noticeable is the depth of the dash. Unusually for a city car, the dashboard is quite deep, you sit a fair way back from the base of the windscreen which is fairly large and steeply raked back. The A-Pillars do impact on visibility in certain situations due to their shallow angle.

 

The seating position is very neutral, the driver seat does not adjust for height on any model. You do not feel perched up high like in some of it’s rivals. The pedals are nicely spaced out and are not offset. There is plenty of knee and elbow room thanks to the clever central dash stack and the door cards which are deeply cut into the door void. The steering column adjusts for reach and rake, the instrument binnacle is perched on top of this and moves with the steering wheel to maintain visibility. This space for the driver combined with the deep dashboard do give the impression of being seated in a larger car.

 

The dashboard materials are mainly hard plastics.The doors internals have large areas of exposed body coloured metal. The seats are simple affairs with a one piece back, they are trimmed with plain cloth and are quite flat. This Vibe model comes with manual windows and mirrors. This all adds up to a car that feels spartan and it’s quite noticeable when you first sit in it.

 

 

With the above said, the areas that you touch are all nicely tactile and ergonomics are excellent. The steering wheel is trimmed in softer, textured material. The air vents are very straightforward spheres which rotate in all directions and can be closed off by rotating them through 180 degrees. The column stalks are chunky items with a very definite click without feeling brittle. Switches are have a reassuring click, the money has been spent on these items you touch and not on soft touch plastics on the dash top.

 

As mentioned, ergonomics are superb. The main controls are centred around the main centre console. The radio is at the top of this pod, it has an 3.5mm auxiliary input and also integrates the clock. It is clear and unfussy. Sound is acceptable, if tinny through the two dash mounted speakers, these can be easily upgraded to any other off the shelf 4 inch speaker. At the bottom of this central area of the dash are the heater controls, the two vertical sliders control heat on the right hand side and direction on the left with a central knob for fan speed. Again, these are simple, fall to hand easily and can be controlled easily taking your eyes from the road for the minimal time required. The pod is nicely lit with a soft orange at night.

 

The main criticism of the interior would be the seats, these are identical for passenger and driver and do not adjust for height. They are flat and have little support, this makes it an easy car to jump in and out of, but they lack support on longer journeys. They also do not have any memory function when letting passengers into the rear quarters which is frustrating.

 

Slim seats and clever packaging mean that rear occupants do have a reasonable amount of room, adults will fit without issue, again the seats are shapeless and spartan in the back, there is a lot of pillar and the windows do not open so they might not want to stay there too long. Even five door models only get 80’s style pop out glass.

 

The boot is accessed through the simple glass hatch. Owing to this the load lip is high. The boot capacity is 134 litres and in the form of a deep well. Split folding rear seats are only standard on higher spec models, the Vibe trim only has a single folding back. There is however a spare wheel and jack instead of the can of silly string included in many of it’s rivals.

 

 

Driving

 

Behind the wheel the engine is the start of the show. A turn of the key and the three pot in the engine room thrums into life. Some three cylinder roughness can be detected at idle. When underway however, the engine loves to be revved, it pulls smoothly up to the higher reaches of it’s rev range and never gives you a sense that you are overworking it. The accessible rev range and low kerbweight means that the real world performance of this car is much better than the figures would suggest, you can certainly keep up with the flow of traffic on all types of road. The standard exhaust has a pleasing rasp to it when pressing on, like half a Porsche!

 

Gearing is well matched to the engine, the fifth gear is tall for the size of car and on A and B roads, you may find yourself in fourth for the bulk of the time with fifth being reserved for motorway work. This adds up to a car that doesn’t feel as stressed as city cars of yore on the motorway and it will happily cruise at the speed limit.

 

As much as the drivetrain is excellent, this is ultimately a small, lightweight and cheap car so it does have its limitations. Around town the steering is light and perfectly suited to urban driving and navigating tight car parks. At speed, it remains light and lacks feel. Crosswinds can also be keenly felt due to the flat sides and low weight. The small 155 section tyres can follow ruts in the road.

 

The ride is firm but is only really unsettled by larger potholes. The lightweight construction does mean there is a reasonable amount of noise at motorway speeds. Interior rattles are common and disrupt the calm, mainly from the passenger seat and trims around doors.

 

Even with the mentioned limitations, it still adds up to a characterful driving experience. The car feels taut and remains fun on a twisting section of road, it certainly can be pressed on and raise more of a smile than the sum of its parts should allow!

 

Equipment

 

In “Vibe” spec, the C1 is an extremely basic car. There is no central locking, windows are wind down, there is no rev counter and even the recirculating air option is deleted. On cars without central locking, the bootlid can only be released with the key.

 

Even the most basic model comes with a CD player with 3.5mm auxiliary input though, which is always a nice feature to have these days. Driver and passenger airbags are also standard.

 

As you step up through the trim levels equipment is a bit more generous, with electric windows, Air Conditioning, rear headrests, split folding rear bench, rev counter, alloy wheels and plusher seat fabrics. The Aygo was available with an inbuilt sat nav system, it is basically a portable unit though and feels like a bit of an afterthought.

 

It is worth noting that the car is very modular in design, items such as the rev counter can easily be added to a base model car with minimal fuss.

 

Costs

 

Almost everyone who buys one of these cars will be doing so with an eye on costs.

 

The cars have enjoyed strong residuals, probably due to the demand from new and young drivers. At the bottom end of the market early cars with short test still command around £700+ but there are plenty of tidy examples sub £1000.

 

After the purchase price, your ongoing costs will be about as low as you’ll find anywhere. The road tax from release was £20 P/A and then free of charge on later cars as they dipped below the 100g/km CO2 threshold. Regardless of trim the cars all sit in the very lowest of insurance groups.

 

In terms of fuel economy, petrol variants were quoted at 61mpg. You will do well to get below 50mpg regardless of conditions if driving half considerately. In ideal conditions it’s possible to exceed the manufacturers figures and I’ve seen as much as 68mpg over a tankful of regular unleaded.

 

Problem Areas

 

Clutches were modified in the 2010 model year after high levels of premature failure. Check for slippage. Noisy release bearings are commonplace but don’t seem to be a particular indicator of imminent problems with the clutch function. Replacement kits are available from the C1 Owners Club Shop for around £70 and fitting time is around two to three hours for a garage. The clutch is cable operated and sensitive to correct adjustment.

 

Water pumps can be weak, but are an easy DIY swap, many were done under warranty.

 

Water ingress into the boot can occur from vents beneath the plastic rear bumper and the lights.

 

There don’t seem to be any particular corrosion issues.

 

Very sensitive to tyre choice, probably due to small contact area, look for good rubber.

 

TL;DR - Nice wee motor, would buy again.

 

[Broadsword]

Excellent, very detailed post. Great job. These are very good cars. Definitely worth getting one just below £1000 instead of a total dog of one for only slightly less. Had two of these, a 107 and a C1. Did the water pump on the 107 in like 30 mins in the dark, whilst raining on a driveway. Very, very easy to work on, which is what we like!

[davehedgehog31]

Excellent, very detailed post. Great job. These are very good cars. Definitely worth getting one just below £1000 instead of a total dog of one for only slightly less. Had two of these, a 107 and a C1. Did the water pump on the 107 in like 30 mins in the dark, whilst raining on a driveway. Very, very easy to work on, which is what we like!

Cheers Sir. 

 

Yeah, they're dead easy to work on, can tell there was some thought went into the design. Some good videos on YouTube as well for most jobs.

[Broadsword]

The bonus bit is that since they do not suffer from real rot, you can risk buying one with short ticket and that way make quite a low bid. I did that with my C1 and got £300 off. I think I needed one rear brake cylinder to pass the MOT but that took 15 mins to fix. They don't fail MOTs on much.

[clayts450]

Have to confess I'm very partial to the "angry" front end of the newer Aygo.

 

Good review, very thorough, wd recommend 11/10

 

[davehedgehog31]

Have to confess I'm very partial to the "angry" front end of the newer Aygo.

 

Good review, very thorough, wd recommend 11/10

 

toyota-aygo-359-235.jpg

Me too, they have been christened the X-Aygo.

 

I wonder if their seats fit in the first gen C1, the high spec Aygos come with some nifty looking heated leather articles. I've seen a few for breaking on eBay as well

 

The Aygo X-Clusive starts at an eye watering £13,880.

[Matty]

C1 for me please with windy up windows. Like the look and sound of them and the c1 just looks right out of the 3 choices. Less fussy somehow

[spartacus]

Good write-up dhh, I'd agree with pretty much all of that. Mrs Spart has one and rags it to death, it's done about 160,000 miles and the management light is a permanent feature but it's ace, parts are cheap, it's easy to work on and there's not much to go wrong. I'm told that the high 5th gear means that 80mph is a more comfortable cruising speed than 70mph, but I wouldn't know myself.

14.6/10 would read again.

[dome]

Good writeup!

 

We had one of these at my old work for delivering and collecting bikes. It was a 107 XSi so sporty*

 

Here it is with a random starting problem getting rescued by my old XJ40. I forget what the issue was, possibly battery

 

 

Was a cool wee thing to drive and took the abuse of ham fisted delivery drivers very well. It was interesting driving it loaded with 4 bikes on a windy day though!

[Supernaut]

Wait... where the fuck do FOUR bikes go in / on one of them?

[SierraMikeHotel]

 

 

...my good lady and I had just been for dinner, she was complaining it made her feel like her belly was in the back seat and she called me a fanny. Fair.

Just showed this to Mrs H because the familiarity amused me and she said, "I think I called you a wanker, didn't I?"