The grumpy thread

[richardmorris]

On 26/03/2025 at 16:37, bramz7 said:

Getting a bit fed up of running old bangers to work and back. 

Having impure thoughts of finance but the thought of having a car on tick makes me feel gross. I also am considering sinking £2500 into something better but everything looks a bit so-so and the sellers all seem to have personalities of people I'd actively avoid. 

Not even sure what cars are actually worth buying either. 

I’m sure people here will be able to recommend something suitable.

door requirements ?

fuel type

transmission 

mpg needs

Manufacturer 

etc.

 

i alternate between old and new cars for daily use. Cx to C5 to w124 to TIPO. 

 

[loserone]

The age old problem is that spending twice as much doesn't get a car that's twice as reliable.

[sierraman]

On 26/03/2025 at 16:37, bramz7 said:

Getting a bit fed up of running old bangers to work and back. 

Having impure thoughts of finance but the thought of having a car on tick makes me feel gross. I also am considering sinking £2500 into something better but everything looks a bit so-so and the sellers all seem to have personalities of people I'd actively avoid. 

Not even sure what cars are actually worth buying either. 

£2,500 might get you into something ok, still a bit hit and miss, double it and you’ve a bit* more certainty. Even at that money there’s still money to spend on catch up work like belts etc, unhelpful I know but they all cost money. If you want something that just works, Astra, Focus, Fiesta, Kia whatsits name (Cee’d?) even I would say a Megane 1.6 petrol or 1.5 DCI. Late model Laguna 3 are surprisingly reliable but totally unwanted as it’s ‘Fuckin French SHIT!!!’ Even if it’s a bit older buy on condition, don’t be one of these that’s looking for the newest car for £3000. Forget anything with ‘status’ or German junk. 
 

Sometimes you need something you can just get in, go and get on with going where you need to go. Waiting a fortnight for a suspension arm to come from Latvia just adds unnecessary stress to your life. Great for a hobby where you can shut the doors and fuck off back indoors. No good when you need to get to work. 

[bramz7]

I don't care about status or how new the car is, I just want it to be comfy and mildly interesting to drive. I've tried plain porridge and it's not for me. 

Giuliettas do appeal to me as they made them for so long they are in decent supply, the engines are mostly good. However, finding a good one that's nearby and not at a dealer at a bomb site or who has used flowery AI to describe it is tough. 

Laguna is too big to commute in, the Mégane is better. A good Mégane would be fine actually. 

[Zelandeth]

14 minutes ago, bramz7 said:

I don't care about status or how new the car is, I just want it to be comfy and mildly interesting to drive. I've tried plain porridge and it's not for me. 

Giuliettas do appeal to me as they made them for so long they are in decent supply, the engines are mostly good. However, finding a good one that's nearby and not at a dealer at a bomb site or who has used flowery AI to describe it is tough. 

Laguna is too big to commute in, the Mégane is better. A good Mégane would be fine actually. 

My default suggestion for someone looking for something that's a bit quirky, more fun than it should be by all rights and does anything you could ask of a car is a Partner/Berlingo.

[sierraman]

46 minutes ago, bramz7 said:

I don't care about status or how new the car is, I just want it to be comfy and mildly interesting to drive. I've tried plain porridge and it's not for me. 

Giuliettas do appeal to me as they made them for so long they are in decent supply, the engines are mostly good. However, finding a good one that's nearby and not at a dealer at a bomb site or who has used flowery AI to describe it is tough. 

Laguna is too big to commute in, the Mégane is better. A good Mégane would be fine actually. 

£2,500 should easily get you a 1.6/1.5 dci. Good safety spec and common enough to get the parts anywhere. I quite like the interior on them as well. At that money it’s probably going to be a bombsite outfit I’m afraid, not many established garages will get involved with £2,500 cars. Buy it with your eyes and take it as you find it. 

[gm]

25 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I don't care about status or how new the car is, I just want it to be comfy and mildly interesting to drive.

I'd say that the Volvo c30 d5 I got from davehedgehog fits those criteria - it must be doing something right as I've owned it for almost a year now, the longest I've managed to hold onto a daily for a long time. and I'm still happy with it, commuting is comfortable and the autobox wafts along on a wave of torque, 40mpg for a diesel might not sound amazing but compared to the bini cooperS that preceded it, I'm quids in  

 but i'm not planning to sell it. so go find your own !

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Finding a car magazine to read on a journey. How hard could it possibly be…

What Car… would be fine if I needed to be sedated for four hours reading about BiK figures by people that find charging points for electric cars interesting. Four pages in to that and you could probably remove all my limbs without anaesthesia. So I browse what Car Mechanics has to offer, a £10.99 bag with a magazine in and a bloody diagnostics manual for a range of cars. What fucking use is that to anyone apart from a garage proprietor who probably knows all that anyway. So I looks at Craptical Plastics, £6.50 to fund some middle class folks write about chequebook restorations and speculative price indexes of how much you could make on your investments. No thanks…

I’ve gone home and rooted out an old copy of something readable from 20 years ago under the stairs and kept the money in my pocket. 

Penthouse? 🤣

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Remspoor said:

Anyone with a simple education understands m2 and cm 2 I cannot change the measurement s as they are dictated by the website. So it is in cm x cm

(translation)

Width

Height

Depth

You have too much faith in people. 3D is hard for many to grasp.

[New POD]

4 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

UK went to a nominal 230V in 1993 as part of European harmonisation. In reality it's 230V +/- 10%, meaning the voltage could range from 207V to 253V. I thought you'd appreciate the geekery. 😄

 

Always thought it was 240 +/- 10% 

[Sunny Jim]

2 minutes ago, New POD said:

Always thought it was 240 +/- 10% 

Not quite sure what to do with this information except reply,

"Well you were wrong then."

[New POD]

2 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

Not quite sure what to do with this information except reply,

"Well you were wrong then."

Usually am. 

[High Jetter]

7 minutes ago, New POD said:

Always thought it was 240 +/- 10% 

Used to be right, years ago. Like me,  usually.

[Sunny Jim]

Following the Electricity Supply Act of 1925 UK voltage was standardised at 240V +/- 3%. Mainland Europe was 220V hence the 230V harmonisation in 1993.

[High Jetter]

110 in the USA tho? 

[Sunny Jim]

Yup, US is 110V at 60Hz whilst Europe is 230V at 50Hz.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Sunny Jim said:

Yup, US is 110V at 60Hz whilst Europe is 230V at 50Hz.

well if we are going to be pedantic  actually its 120V/240V split phase in the US for most residential households, 120V/208V 3 phase for older industrial complexes/larger buildings/apartment complexes, and 277V/480V 3 phase for modern industrial/office stuff etc (and Canada has 347V/600V 3 phase as well)

although I I do wonder if at at one point the US might of been nominally 118V/236V? as not only are a lot of old US stuff rated for those 2 voltages, a lot of the ANSI standards for fluorescent tubes etc, still use those voltages for the reference test setup (similarly a lot of the IEC specifications for fluorescent tubes use 127V and 220V for reference test setups and 240V on the British origin tubes)

1 hour ago, Sunny Jim said:

Following the Electricity Supply Act of 1925 UK voltage was standardised at 240V +/- 3%. Mainland Europe was 220V hence the 230V harmonisation in 1993.

thats what I was going to reply with, that although the "official spec" is 230V they loosened the tolerance so the *actual* voltage did not actually have to change

 

although even after the voltage was standardised to 240V all those years ago, it took many years for the voltage to actually be that across the board, depending on how your house/village was supplied, your actual voltage could be of quite a wide band, and so back in the old days before the mid 1960's or so they sold lightbulbs (and often other household appliances) in voltages of steps of 10V from 200V to 260V 

 

so if you where far away from a sub-station your voltage might be 200V/210V or if you where right next to one it might be 250V/260V 

 

although anecdotally  I have noticed in general I have found and seen more 200V/210V lightbulbs then I have 260V lightbulbs, I think the latter only really found uses in industrial applications where a large factory had its own substation etc

https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-lightbulbfuns-invacar-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-survivors-lists-on-pages-24134-adgecutlers-invacar-mk12-restoration-from-page-186-onwards-still-harping-on/page/208/#findComment-2347867

im not actually sure I own any 260V lightbulbs, but @Wack has one

https://autoshite.com/topic/33156-the-lightbulbfun-thread/page/11/#findComment-1963003

(and this is one of the things that makes me a little bit grumpy about the whole "230V but loose tolerance" thing since things like lightbulbs are *very* sensitive to voltage variations, so IMHO they should of just kept the official 240V spec as it is...)

 

[sierraman]

4:45 this morning the wiper fell off, fortunately there was a service station 2 miles down the road. I think Ive grossly misunderstood what the function of a service station is/was, you’d think they’d stock emergency items for the motorist. No… a £15 Easter egg but no oil/wipers/coolant etc. 

[comfortablynumb]

Problem with most motorists these days @sierraman, is that even if they understood that they needed to buy a wiper, they'd probably spend the next half hour desperately trying to jam it into the washer bottle 🙄

[New POD]

4 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

Problem with most motorists these days @sierraman, is that even if they understood that they needed to buy a wiper, they'd probably spend the next half hour desperately trying to jam it into the washer bottle 🙄

Surely they'd phone the RAC and wait 27 hours on the side of the M1 in the rain, in the dark without turningbthe hazard lights on, with 3 disabled kids and an incontinent granny who hasn't got her life saving tablets and spend those 27 hours posting about it on Facebook. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

On 24/03/2025 at 23:02, High Jetter said:

Ooh, have a delivery scheduled on Wed from them, could be interesting

Arrived today

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Arrived today

 

Glad you got it. My order was shipped in 2 parcels. One arrived on Tuesday, tracking showed the other still with the sender. After much hassle with sender the other arrived on Thursday. Not sure if that's Yodel's fault or not.

[cobblers]

Dogs escaped the garden somehow, been up and down the back lane and eaten a load of dog shit (dirty bastards don't pick it up). Then come back in the house and puked it all over the sofa. Then tried to eat it again. 

 

I think I'll probably just burn the house down and start again from scratch. 

[EspenO]

Sorry, but I ROFL’d

[nev_jr]

I get speed awareness courses are punishment, but fuck me they’re tedious. 

For clarity, I am on standby IT support for my 80 odd year old nan.

Doesn’t help that the bloke running it thinks he’s the next Brucie. Just a coincidence that he is called Bruce. 

As I’m typing this the break has started, and she uttered the words “this is fucking bollocks” as she waddles to the loo. 
 

Happy Friday everyone. 

[Jazoli]

Ffs as usual I buy a mint car and soon after something happens

‘no mate I wasn’t on my phone’

Cunt! Told him to fuck off after getting his details as the bumper was hanging off his car, managed to get the heat gun on it and pop it out, still a crease on the bumper but I can’t be fucked claiming.

I’ll let him sweat for a bit though

 

[BorniteIdentity]

14 hours ago, sierraman said:

4:45 this morning the wiper fell off, fortunately there was a service station 2 miles down the road. I think Ive grossly misunderstood what the function of a service station is/was, you’d think they’d stock emergency items for the motorist. No… a £15 Easter egg but no oil/wipers/coolant etc. 

Like all businesses, they're there to make money.

Fill a shop full of confectionary, energy drinks, vape juice and 'rhythm magazines' and it'll make money.  Fill it with bulbs, wiper blades and tow ropes and it will not.  I had a similar moment a couple of weeks ago when I needed a tail light for the Sierra.  Tried two garages; gave up and went home with the fogs on.  

[sierraman]

10 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Like all businesses, they're there to make money.

Fill a shop full of confectionary, energy drinks, vape juice and 'rhythm magazines' and it'll make money.  Fill it with bulbs, wiper blades and tow ropes and it will not.  I had a similar moment a couple of weeks ago when I needed a tail light for the Sierra.  Tried two garages; gave up and went home with the fogs on.  

I suppose you are right, all those truckers buying wank mags must be better trade than me passing at 5am wanting a 26 inch wiper. 

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

I suppose you are right, all those truckers buying wank mags must be better trade than me passing at 5am wanting a 26 inch wiper. 

Garages have been selling wank mags for a long time , definitely since 1982.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Metal Guru said:

Garages have been selling wank mags for a long time , definitely since 1982.

I haven’t bought one for 25 years. My father in law ‘stumbled’ on some in a lay-by a while back. I’m calling bullshit on that though.