Kholektzun Thr34d

[grogee]

PC: 0

Am having a lie-in, don't have to be there until 2. 

Haven't had any breakfast yet but drinking cup of tea #1.

[goosey]

very nice,
 

One of my regrets is not going for 2 windows when we had our loft conversion 

[grogee]

It's a holiday cottage, temp rental. It's alright but bloody freezing. 

Brunch consumed: 2 brown toast, 3x bacon rasher (unsmoked unfortunately), 2 oefs, tinned tomatoes, mushrooms, 2x hash brown. Americano, milk no sugar.

No more poos, but I did change the cat's litter which strictly speaking requires breathing apparatus. Probably possible to strain it and use it as urea in modern diesels.

First mode of transport: Mrs Grogee's Alfa.

[grogee]

M40.

PC: still 0, I'm a bit backed up. Sorry.

Mrs Grogee just ran a red light, but I didn't agree it should be red, so that's ok. 

[grogee]

Pez shot

[Bren]

Which engine?

[grogee]

Datsun diesel. 150 ponies, feels like less though. That's good because Mrs Grogee needs slowing down. 

Standard squeaks and rattles. All the electric windows and mirrors seem to work. Key is dodgy but we've budgeted for 2 new ones.

It seems alright so far, I discovered it has cruise, which our old one didn't. 

The nav voice is male; not sure how I feel about that. 

[RoverFolkUs]

Have you heard the nice* lady yet or is that only 'goona II's 😛

*bing bong bing* 

"Fuel injection system FAULTY, consult your Renault dealer" etc 😂

[grogee]

2 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Have you heard the nice* lady yet or is that only 'goona II's 😛

*bing bong bing* 

"Fuel injection system FAULTY, consult your Renault dealer" etc 😂

I think they deleted that particular surprise and delight feature for the MKIV, instead such messages appear on the blue LED info display next to speedo. 

I did check for fault codes before putting a deposit down, and apart from some spurious low voltage/voltage out of range codes it was surprisingly code-free.

Having driven it home, I am reasonably confident it's a good'un. No incidents to report and it sailed back serenely declaring an average of 42mpg.

At one point the radio cut out for half a second and the lights flickered; I'm calling loose connection or iffy alternator. Neither too much of a problem to fix.

The nav and radio is controlled by a single DIN unit which is a bit fiddly but I wonder if there's a remote control missing (nothing apparent in the many storage bins). Something to investigate via the Rennow fora.

As well as this I need to investigate an update for the navi, as it didn't recognise a few things on the way home. And see if there's an aux input we can pipe in some tunes to.

To drive they really are quite effortless. Light clutch and steering, smooth ride and very quiet. Great visibility out of the big windscreen and you're high up like an SUV without being an environmental terrorist.

Just feels like it would happily lope to Scotland without any bother. (Master Grogee took this pic).

[artdjones]

Any car with the a/c controls on the door card is good enough for me.

[cort16]

These are brilliant cars if you can get one that's holding together.

[r.welfare]

Loping is a great way to describe how these drive on an open road.  I had a 2-litre petrol (normally aspirated) which taught me a lot about conserving momentum.  

[artdjones]

A lot of them are new enough to have avoided the worst of Renault's reliability dark ages.

[grogee]

@artdjones I've been thinking about this. There's 'reliability' measured in how many visits to dealer for warranty fixes. This is what prompts the chattering classes to write to Honest John, and it taints a make/model forever.

Often what's really going on is a combination of poor manufacturer to dealer communication, poor parts supply, guesswork by dealer who can't diagnose for toffee, and no aftermarket parts support.

Later in life, these teething issues are sorted, and independents learn the necessary work-arounds to keep customers on the road. Troublesome parts are supported by aftermarket who offer fixes and upgrades.

Our 2007 Espace was pretty well behaved really (same engine). Certainly no worse than any other diesel bus of that era. The Nissan engine helps - I wouldn't be touching the 1.9, 2.2 or V6 dizzle, and auto is out of the question also.

That's why I feel reasonably confident that an 85,000 miler with full history has a chance of behaving itself. And if it doesn't, there's money in the bank to fix it.

£2500 isn't a lot for a 7 seat diesel with low(ish) miles, and it's about half what I'd pay for an equivalent Galaxy. I'm sure the Galaxy is a nicer car but I'm mainly concerned with getting a versatile bus that will help with our house move shenanigans, and transport 6'2" Master Grogee Sr without too much moaning.

[Matty]

6 minutes ago, grogee said:

@artdjones I've been thinking about this. There's 'reliability' measured in how many visits to dealer for warranty fixes. This is what prompts the chattering classes to write to Honest John, and it taints a make/model forever.

Often what's really going on is a combination of poor manufacturer to dealer communication, poor parts supply, guesswork by dealer who can't diagnose for toffee, and no aftermarket parts support.

Later in life, these teething issues are sorted, and independents learn the necessary work-arounds to keep customers on the road. Troublesome parts are supported by aftermarket who offer fixes and upgrades.

Our 2007 Espace was pretty well behaved really (same engine). Certainly no worse than any other diesel bus of that era. The Nissan engine helps - I wouldn't be touching the 1.9, 2.2 or V6 dizzle, and auto is out of the question also.

That's why I feel reasonably confident that an 85,000 miler with full history has a chance of behaving itself. And if it doesn't, there's money in the bank to fix it.

£2500 isn't a lot for a 7 seat diesel with low(ish) miles, and it's about half what I'd pay for an equivalent Galaxy. I'm sure the Galaxy is a nicer car but I'm mainly concerned with getting a versatile bus that will help with our house move shenanigans, and transport 6'2" Master Grogee Sr without too much moaning.

Bloody hell @grogee. 6 foot 2? How old is he, 30? 😄

[stuboy]

5 hours ago, grogee said:

had one as company car.. was ok.. heating controls on the door were fiddly

[artdjones]

28 minutes ago, grogee said:

I'm sure the Galaxy is a nicer car

Probably not, really. Renault really upped their game after 2005, and my experience is that most of their cars after then have been pretty reliable.

[grogee]

45 minutes ago, Matty said:

Bloody hell @grogee. 6 foot 2? How old is he, 30? 😄

It's ridiculous, he's 16 and not showing any signs of slowing down. Popular when playing football for his team as he's pretty quick despite a diet of Pepsi Max and crisps

[grogee]

1 hour ago, r.welfare said:

Loping is a great way to describe how these drive on an open road.  I had a 2-litre petrol (normally aspirated) which taught me a lot about conserving momentum.  

I didn't know there was a 2-litre pez but makes sense I suppose as half of it is Laguna anyway. 

Had I known there was one I'd have sought one in an attempt to slow Mrs Grogee's leadfoot.

[r.welfare]

You really don’t.  It’s desperately slow and thirsty, I don’t think I bettered 28mpg day to day.  I can get 50mpg under the same conditions in my 1.9TDI Touran.

Also it broke in a number of unamusing and expensive ways, which defeated the point of choosing the engine/gearbox/spec combo offering the lowest probability of doing so.  That said, I sold it to a bloke up the road 5 years ago and he’s still running it, which tells me he’s ultimately benefitted from my drained wallet.