Marm's Motors: Entering My Prime Era

[Marm Toastsmith]

According to my calculations I'm getting roughly 20mpg out of the Lucida so far, which is somewhat less than I'd hoped. Looking on the bright side, at least it's an incentive not to use it too much - which will hopefully prevent me from ruining it.

I'm kind of hoping I've got my numbers wrong somehow...

[Noel Tidybeard]

is it deffo reading kms or has an adapterer been fitted so counting real units?

[IronStar]

On 01/12/2024 at 13:34, Marm Toastsmith said:

Polished the headlights. See before and after. Used Brasso and a rag. Last time I used Brasso and a rag (on the CR-V) they had dulled within the year. This time I put a coat of wax on them after, we'll see if that helps protect them.

Junior Toastsmih checked the tyre pressures.

Also please enjoy bonus pic of neighbours's pogweaseled *****.

Seal them with UV sealant, ex:

https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/sonax-profiline-headlight-coating

[Marm Toastsmith]

5 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

is it deffo reading kms or has an adapterer been fitted so counting real units?

The same thing crossed my mind. Speedo is deffo in km/h though. If it's miles it's not so bad, obvs!

[Noel Tidybeard]

can't remember the legalities for imports re miles/km/speed

[Marm Toastsmith]

something beginning with P

[Marm Toastsmith]

Thanks to @MrGTI6 (top shiter and lovely bloke) I am now the proud owner of this fabulous low mileage Primera. It's a cracker! Almost too nice for me...but I plan to cherish it. So far all I've done is driven it to the sea and back and fiddle with the radio to try to ascertain why DAB doesn't work. No complaints- I'm counting myself very lucky to find a fancy (but retro-looking) Blaupunkt DAB head unit included - and a proper DAB antenna visible on the windscreen...

It's a lovely car, in really nice condition overall, and I feel I got the better end of the deal...  but hopefully there's some fun to be had with the Smart too.

First impressions are of an almost characterless but highly competent drive. It seems to handle and ride better than Mrs T's Volvo S40 and the 1.6 engine is more than adequate. Clutch and steering are both heavier than expected, but I think I'll get used to them. Not sure about the seats yet but they have loads of adjustments so I should be able to get comfy once I work out what all the knobs do. I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces as I imagine it will grow on me the more I use it. Which seems a shame because it's almost too nice to use.

Great to own one of the last of this style and era of car which seems to me to be almost peak "an car" but a style which was quickly replaced by premium german shite and SUVs. This is neither an Audi A4 nor is it a Qashqai, thank god. It's a large family hatchback - made in Britain, and Japanese engineered. Perfect!

Below: keeping it R***EAL in a car park full of Porsche and Merc.

[loserone]

Proper jealous, I like that car a lot.

[Marm Toastsmith]

27 minutes ago, loserone said:

Proper jealous, I like that car a lot.

You have excellent taste, sir. 

[MrGTI6]

Was a pleasure to meet you today @Marm Toastsmith. The Primera is an absolute gem and I'm delighted that it's found a good home. Though I only had it a few weeks I'll certainly miss it. It's pretty much "peak car" in my opinion; bombproof mechanicals, everything you need, and nothing you don't. Such a well-kept example too!

I never sussed out the DAB function either, though I assumed it was just operator error.

I've not long been back in the Smart. The traffic on the way back was far less kind to me than it was on the way there! 

The Smart is exactly as-described and got me home without any issues. The 1.3 engine is a little cracker. It sips fuel and goes surprisingly well if you wind it up a bit.

While sat in heavy motorway traffic, I fiddled around with the bass/treble settings and managed to drastically improve the rattling in the driver's door to the point where I'd describe it as normal.

PS: I said it before and I'll say it again, some of the hills round your neck of the woods are insane! I can only assume you must get through a hell of a lot of brake pads, because engine braking was having little to no effect at times!

[Marm Toastsmith]

14 hours ago, MrGTI6 said:

PS: I said it before and I'll say it again, some of the hills round your neck of the woods are insane! I can only assume you must get through a hell of a lot of brake pads, because engine braking was having little to no effect at times!

Pah! I don't brake coming downhill - too busy gathering momentum for the forthcoming climb!  

Actually in all seriousness while I do try to limit excessive braking in the car through a combination of planning ahead, taking it easy, and (sometimes) just going for it (easier when you know what's ahead) it's on a bicycle that you really need decent brakes. I rebuilt a 1998 mountain bike a few years ago, new rims, brake pads, and chain. I wore out the rear brake pads AND the rim quicker than the chain! I am a coward though, and 90s bikes are generally happier climbing than descending... but still...

Also I did manage to cook the brakes on the Caddy (probably because the balancing compensator thing wasn't working properly/had fallen off) and the Micra (sticky calipers as noted by MOT tester - I should've sorted them before they caused an issue - you live and learn).

I have learned to love the hills, but yeah.

[grogee]

@Marm Toastsmith - well bought. I had a later one IRONICALLY also with a Blaupunkt DAB. 

Was the DAB not working while you were charging your phone? They don't like USB power supply noise. 

I would say your best bet is to ditch the screen mount antenna and fit a DAB splitter, £10 off Amazon. Your car has a roof mount radio antenna that is not amplified meaning it's perfect for accepting DAB splitter. You need to wire it into ignition or electric aerial feed, OK to use crimps so not hard to do. 

[Split_Pin]

That is absolutely grand. Enjoy.

[AnnoyingPentium]

That looks absolutely brilliant.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 31/08/2025 at 14:29, Marm Toastsmith said:

something beginning with P

eleven!

[Marm Toastsmith]

6 hours ago, grogee said:

@Marm Toastsmith - well bought. I had a later one IRONICALLY also with a Blaupunkt DAB. 

Was the DAB not working while you were charging your phone? They don't like USB power supply noise. 

I would say your best bet is to ditch the screen mount antenna and fit a DAB splitter, £10 off Amazon. Your car has a roof mount radio antenna that is not amplified meaning it's perfect for accepting DAB splitter. You need to wire it into ignition or electric aerial feed, OK to use crimps so not hard to do. 

That IS IRONIC.

I haven't plugged my phone into it.

Current plan is to check everything's connected properly and then try another DAB unit (I have a spare JVC which isn't as tasteful but might actually be more appropriate) and see what's what.

Actually I really wanted a cassette deck in this car, but then I've noticed the armrest storage unit is CD SIZED.

Oh god, what to do? Might have a MEGA SQ SOUND OFF plugging in all my head units and seeing which sounds best.

[grogee]

38 minutes ago, Marm Toastsmith said:

That IS IRONIC.

I haven't plugged my phone into it.

Current plan is to check everything's connected properly and then try another DAB unit (I have a spare JVC which isn't as tasteful but might actually be more appropriate) and see what's what.

Actually I really wanted a cassette deck in this car, but then I've noticed the armrest storage unit is CD SIZED.

Oh god, what to do? Might have a MEGA SQ SOUND OFF plugging in all my head units and seeing which sounds best.

Did anyone ever make a DIN cassette + DAB unit? 

Maybe you don't want DAB but I'm an addict now, even though it's shit. 

I expect DAB reception is terrible round your way what with all the hills and... yokels. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

2 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

eleven!

for the benefit of toast marmsmith

primera P11

[Marm Toastsmith]

27 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

for the benefit of toast marmsmith

primera P11

Oh…yeah…durrrrr

[Marm Toastsmith]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Did anyone ever make a DIN cassette + DAB unit? 

Maybe you don't want DAB but I'm an addict now, even though it's shit. 

I expect DAB reception is terrible round your way what with all the hills and... yokels. 

Actually DAB is pretty useful round here even if all you want is Radio 4, the FM signal dies between Haldon hill and Exeter etc whereas the last time I had DAB in the car the signal seemed to be consistently good. Nice to have 6 music too although I’ve lost touch with the schedule recently and find it a bit hit and miss.

But I do want to have a tape deck in at least one of the fleet.

If I can get the windscreen aerial to work I’ll probably make use of it and stick with DAB & CD, maybe put a tape deck in the Toyota (or the Volvo) instead.

Last time I tried a splitter off the FM aerial (Ford Ka)  it didn’t work at all, the only functional DAB setup I’ve had was in the Caddy which was windscreen aerial which worked well…

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

2 hours ago, grogee said:

Did anyone ever make a DIN cassette + DAB unit? 

Not sure, but I've recently acquired an Alpine unit that does DAB, CD and Sat Nav (from 2003)... buuuuut the CD side won't take discs sadly.

[Noel Tidybeard]

check the aerial is actually making good contact with the metel of the car

[grogee]

3 hours ago, Marm Toastsmith said:

Nice to have 6 music too although I’ve lost touch with the schedule recently and find it a bit hit and miss

I think we've discussed this before but in short I agree. 

I'm sure we're all different but I don't understand what Craig Charles did to get so much airtime, apart from inhaling crack. And Huey on a Saturday morning? That just jars with me. 

On the plus side I think Radcliffe & Maconie can do no wrong, likewise Riley & Coe. 

Re: cassette and DAB. If you can find a Kinetik Digitizor, buy it. It's a DAB receiver that squirts the audio into your FM antenna input, believe me there is zero loss of sound quality. It cleverly uses the RDS signal as the UX so you know what station you're listening to. 

I'm currently using it attached to a late 90s Blaupunkt radio cassette so I've got the best* of all worlds. 

[MrBig]

On 31/08/2025 at 17:34, Marm Toastsmith said:

Thanks to @MrGTI6 (top shiter and lovely bloke) I am now the proud owner of this fabulous low mileage Primera. It's a cracker! Almost too nice for me...but I plan to cherish it. So far all I've done is driven it to the sea and back and fiddle with the radio to try to ascertain why DAB doesn't work. No complaints- I'm counting myself very lucky to find a fancy (but retro-looking) Blaupunkt DAB head unit included - and a proper DAB antenna visible on the windscreen...

It's a lovely car, in really nice condition overall, and I feel I got the better end of the deal...  but hopefully there's some fun to be had with the Smart too.

First impressions are of an almost characterless but highly competent drive. It seems to handle and ride better than Mrs T's Volvo S40 and the 1.6 engine is more than adequate. Clutch and steering are both heavier than expected, but I think I'll get used to them. Not sure about the seats yet but they have loads of adjustments so I should be able to get comfy once I work out what all the knobs do. I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces as I imagine it will grow on me the more I use it. Which seems a shame because it's almost too nice to use.

Great to own one of the last of this style and era of car which seems to me to be almost peak "an car" but a style which was quickly replaced by premium german shite and SUVs. This is neither an Audi A4 nor is it a Qashqai, thank god. It's a large family hatchback - made in Britain, and Japanese engineered. Perfect!

Below: keeping it R***EAL in a car park full of Porsche and Merc.

My dad had one of these in the late 90s, handled and drove way better than it looked like it had any right to.

Looks like the Ness car park? Lovely part of the world.

[Marm Toastsmith]

12 minutes ago, grogee said:

I think we've discussed this before but in short I agree. 

Ah yeah, so we have! Agree with you on all counts.

 

6 minutes ago, MrBig said:

Looks like the Ness car park? Lovely part of the world.

Yes!

[MrBig]

My grandparents lived on the front in Shaldon, spent many a happy summer down there.

[Marm Toastsmith]

22 minutes ago, grogee said:

Re: cassette and DAB. If you can find a Kinetik Digitizor, buy it. It's a DAB receiver that squirts the audio into your FM antenna input, believe me there is zero loss of sound quality. It cleverly uses the RDS signal as the UX so you know what station you're listening to. 

I'm currently using it attached to a late 90s Blaupunkt radio cassette so I've got the best* of all worlds. 

https://ebay.us/m/b2zfED

I just bought one. There's one more left.

May end up with a similar rig, I've got a couple of decent Blaupunkt head units, and a CD changer. Although I might have a play with some of the other units I have - need to go through and test them all at some point anyway!

[Marm Toastsmith]

Compact disc storage

[Marm Toastsmith]

Half an hour to kill while out and about  so attempted to have a look at the radio. Unfortunately the removal tools I brought with me are too big for the slots in the Blaupunkt.

Instead turned my attention to the loose boot door trim. Came off easy - quite a few of the fasteners were loose/missing/damaged so ordered a set of replacements off eBay.

What do they look like?

 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Junior Toastsmith noticed the lovely rubber floor mats were fitted the wrong way round and then insisted on removing these gifferic reflective door protectors. Not sure how the AS fold feel but I kind of agree with him. More importantly it’s great if he wants to help with little jobs on the car.

Then while swapping the mats round I found these bits.