Spiny Norman's Comfortable Runabout Vehicle

[Spiny Norman]

I have a Mercedes SLK, it's a fine car in many ways; Fast, stylish, corners on rails, roof comes down at the touch of a button, lots of good points. Ride comfort on Glasgow's horrendous roads isn't one of them unfortunately and frankly neither does it score highly on me getting out the car, especially when some bozo parks close beside you and you have to crawl out a tiny door gap in a most undignified way.

So... Something a buit more crater friendly was required. I spent ages looking for something I liked but even stretching the budget like I've never stretched it before I couldn't find anything I wanted in the new-ish car department so I gave up looking at 4-5 year old cars and reverted to type and today went and collected a 2001 reg car I investigated on Saturday. I hadn't expected much given the age of the thing but a lifetime spent in Canterbury and a mileage of just 56,000 has had a profound effect on its condition, it must be one of the best preserved examples of one of these left on the road.

So what is it? Well there's no epic collection thread because the seller was 8 miles away so the journey was completed by Uber.
(Rattly 72 plate Toyota Verso with only 90k on it, very disappointed)



Presenting...

[Spiny Norman]

I had one of these about 9 years ago and really liked it so when I saw this one advertised on Auto Trader last week I had to go and have a look. It's got a few giffer dings and the paint is flaking off the plastic bumpers but crucially underneath is sound and there isn't even any rust on the usual spots these always used to go on the front wheelarches.
It's so comfy and easy to drive, it's one of the best AN CARs I've ever driven and so far at least everything I've tried seems to work. With the exception of the stereo which hasn't been wired up correctly and doesn't hold its memory when you switch off.

The seats are covered in that wonderfully velourious stuff they used in the 90s and are immaculate, as it the rest of the interior. So far so good. 😛


 

[Agila]

7 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

hasn't been wired up correctly

Swap the red and yellow wire would be my guess.

[Spiny Norman]

Aye that sounds right, I'll dig it out the dash and investigate later.

[320touring]

Our parents used to have a mk2 one. Great if a bit slow and wallowy.

Engine was ACE but was coupled to a 3 speed auto.

Big side walls, decent articulation. Ideal combat vehicle for Glasgow's mean streets - enjoy!

[cort16]

That looks very tidy you can tell it's not been in Scotland for long. Does is come with the optional Shower?

[SRi05]

 

3 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Our parents used to have a mk2 one. Great if a bit slow and wallowy.

Engine was ACE but was coupled to a 3 speed auto.

Big side walls, decent articulation. Ideal combat vehicle for Glasgow's mean streets - enjoy!

I've had one of these for 3 years now and love it. They are ace despite their wallet draining thirst for petrol.  I'd like to find a nice face lift model one. 

Nice buy OP.  I'm sure those seats are the same ones I had in a Civic aerodeck years ago

[beko1987]

Nice! My good mate @gnomeot had one for years on a v plate! Paid a grand for it, was a 2.0 auto and it did him well.

We had to put an exhaust on it and I think he had some bushes replaced like any other car but he lived in Maidenhead at the time, and we work in Marlow and the best way between the 2 is awful back roads. 

He flew over them, big fat tyres and high suspension it didn't notice the huge craters, was more annoying having to brake and slow down for rhe cars in front to slow themselves 😂 If you ignored the fuel consumption it was bloody rapid, and cornered fairly well too, especially after he'd driven the same road twice a day for 8 months and got really used to it, I thought I was going to fall out the window... 

Fucking mega comfy too. If I didn't have sporadic long journeys where the fuel would be an issue I'd consider one. 

Does yours have the fold up picnic table under the boot floor? They had an optional shower attachment for camping too 

[2flags]

That looks proper tidy. Just what you need. Not wallet emptying to buy, I would imagine 'reasonable' tax and fuel consumption in the mid to late 20's? Being a Honda, hopefully it will last a while.

[Spiny Norman]

2 hours ago, 320touring said:

Our parents used to have a mk2 one. Great if a bit slow and wallowy.

Engine was ACE but was coupled to a 3 speed auto.

Big side walls, decent articulation. Ideal combat vehicle for Glasgow's mean streets - enjoy!

The one I had years ago was an auto and that really seems to blunt the performance, this one feels far nippier than it has any right to, it's quite low geared and picks up even in 5th at 40mph. As for handling, definitely on the soft & squidgy side, I took the roundabout I take every day at SLK speed on the way home and while it hung on well enough, I haven't felt body roll like that since my Renault 5 days,  I nearly fell off the seat! 😛

[Spiny Norman]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

Nice! My good mate @gnomeot had one for years on a v plate! Paid a grand for it, was a 2.0 auto and it did him well.

We had to put an exhaust on it and I think he had some bushes replaced like any other car but he lived in Maidenhead at the time, and we work in Marlow and the best way between the 2 is awful back roads. 

He flew over them, big fat tyres and high suspension it didn't notice the huge craters, was more annoying having to brake and slow down for rhe cars in front to slow themselves 😂 If you ignored the fuel consumption it was bloody rapid, and cornered fairly well too, especially after he'd driven the same road twice a day for 8 months and got really used to it, I thought I was going to fall out the window... 

Fucking mega comfy too. If I didn't have sporadic long journeys where the fuel would be an issue I'd consider one. 

Does yours have the fold up picnic table under the boot floor? They had an optional shower attachment for camping too 

This one's got a new exhaust and radiator along with all the suspension parts that end up going rattly on them so it's nice and tight, it even does U-turns without the rear diff moaning. And yes, I did check and it does still have a driveshaft.

70 profile tyres really are FTW in Glasgow, it was one of my main criteria for a car that it had, or could be fitted with sidewalls ideally about 6 inches deep which this does and what a difference it makes. Out of mechanical sympathy and habit on familiar roads  I was still avoiding the big craters but the general ride comfort is so much better than the Mercedes.

AFAIK they all had the picnic table and this one still has it, looks like it's been used as a decorating table because it's covered in paint spills but someone's had use from it at least. No shower though, I think they were a fairly expensive option.

[gm]

that’s a cracking looking crv - i’ve been casually looking for a decent mk1 for a long time but had pretty much given up  

here’s the only pic i have of my old one, annoyingly ruined by photofucket (taken at knockhill btw)

i was always impressed by how ‘car like’ it drove, but was very capable on the rough stuff and in a decent scottish winter  

give us a shout if you think of moving it on, i’d give it a good home 

[Spiny Norman]

1 hour ago, gm said:

that’s a cracking looking crv - i’ve been casually looking for a decent mk1 for a long time but had pretty much given up

I hadn't realised just how rare they'd become until I looked for others to compare this to. Across all the usual outlets (AT/Scumtree/eBay etc) I found 4 for sale in the entire UK.

There are still a few about on the Facebook CRV groups, I suspect people who have decent ones tend to hang onto them, and I can see why.

This isn't my first one, I had an auto version about 10 years ago. I liked the auto but the manual feels like it's got another 30bhp!

[bigfella2]

I wonder if it's still got the original cat on it, as these are worth decent coin, so are a target for cat thefts.

[Spiny Norman]

Haven't looked as far back as the cat, but the rest of the system is new,. Can't imagine a cat lasting 23 years?

I mean one of our 4 legged ones did but apart from that....

[Spiny Norman]

Well this is a bit of a shocker...
How on earth is this 2001 car ULEZ exempt,  I thought the cut off date was around 2005/6?

[AnnoyingPentium]

48 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

Well this is a bit of a shocker...
How on earth is this 2001 car ULEZ exempt,  I thought the cut off date was around 2005/6?

It seems that the LEZ is allowing most things on Y-plates or newer much like London. For example, @PicantoJon's Vectra is a 51 plate and LEZ compliant.

[Agila]

On 31/05/2024 at 17:48, Spiny Norman said:

decorating table because it's covered in paint spills

Well, you hope it's paint spills.

Doggers favourites these, got told that by a man in a car park.

 

[2flags]

Both my Y plate Renault Megane and my 51 plate Jag are both ULEZ compliant. Shame my diesel Rover 75 isn't. Still, can't have everything. 😀

[Spiny Norman]

My 04 Mercedes SLK isn't Glasgow LEZ compliant, but is in London. Odd.

[SRi05]

38 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

My 04 Mercedes SLK isn't Glasgow LEZ compliant, but is in London. Odd.

Same with my MK2 CRV. I've sent a certificate of conformity to the mob that run the checker but haven't had a reply in two attempts 😂

[Spiny Norman]

So a couple of weeks have passed since this came to live at Norman Towers and touch wood, nothing's gone bang so far.
Normally when you buy (or certainly when I buy) a used car no matter how clean it looked and how well it behaved on the test drive, after a day or two you start to discover the reasons the PO got shot of it but so far with one very minor albeit potentially  mishap this has been fine. No nasty noises, no puddles underneath, no rust holes I missed on the initial inspection, nothing much to report at all.

Except the stereo, which I'm surprised hadn't set fire to to it.
Remember earlier I mentioned it lost all its settings like it was wired up wrong? Well when I pulled it out and fixed the wiring it became obvious very quickly that it was gubbed in other ways because the bottom of the metal casing  became way too hot to touch after it had been on for only a few minutes,. Luckily I hadn't been using it because it was too much of a faff to do the full initial set up every time I got into the car so it hadn't melted a hole in the dash but it got fucked into the bin. Fitted another radio I had lying around (the joys of plug'n'play ISO connectors) and now there is sweet music in the car.

I'm really happy with how it drives, there's something 'peak car' about Jap stuff from the late 90s. They're modern enough that you don't feel like you're driving a relic but not so new that you need to take it to a dealer to recode the ECU for new windscreen wipers. It is old enough to feel really low geared though, 80 is nearly 4000rpm in top which I haven't been used to for a few years. Other random things I notice are the thin-ness of the steering wheel rim after the chunky leather wheels on the Volvos, Saabs and Mercs I've been used to recently, and the wonderful velour seats which make up for being quite shapeless and not holding you in on corners by acting like Velcro on my trousers. I reckon if I wore cords I could put the thing on its roof and stay in the seat...


Cool new radio, think it came from the Toyota Paseo I had a few years back.

[Spiny Norman]

And the finishing touches, new number plate and obligatory sticker. 😎
Edit: That was clean on Saturday, black cars are a PITA...

[horriblemercedes]

On 02/06/2024 at 00:27, Spiny Norman said:

Well this is a bit of a shocker...
How on earth is this 2001 car ULEZ exempt,  I thought the cut off date was around 2005/6?

All Euro 4 petrols will comply and some Euro 3 (like your car) will meet Euro 4 NOx standards and therefore comply. 

 

Basically, some (most, actually) 2000-2005 petrol cars will comply. Some 1997-2000 petrol cars will also comply (Euro 2) but those will definitely need a certificate of conformity to be recognised as compliant

[Dave_Q]

I believe it's some time in mid 2001 that they started putting NOX on logbooks, if the number is on there and it's below the magic number (0.15g/km is it?) then it's compliant even if not euro 4.

Your 04 Merc is probably still euro 3 but might be above the limit on the logbook.

Or the checker sites are run by people/machines with minimal competence and churn out incorrect results regardless.

[horriblemercedes]

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

I believe it's some time in mid 2001 that they started putting NOX on logbooks, if the number is on there and it's below the magic number (0.15g/km is it?) then it's compliant even if not euro 4.

0.08g/km for Euro 4 petrol. 0.15 is for euro 3 petrol 

My Euro 3 Maserati is 0.147g/km for example, so no chance of getting that through 

 

I've seen 0.081g/km on a V5 for a Mazda. No go. Not compliant. 0.08 is a hard cutoff 

[2flags]

I am pleased to say both my 2001 Jaguar 3.0 X Type [51 plate] and my Renault Megane 1.6 convertible [Y plate] are both ULEZ compliant. 

[beko1987]

I have a friend who has a 2004 BMW x5 v8 who lives in Central London. 

It's ulez exempt and he says it doesn't matter how uneconomical it is when your only doing 20mph everywhere, it being exempt suddenly makes the costs a bit different

He bought it up to me up the m40 a few times and said he hit 22mpg once. The 2nd time the header tank split. He brings his dad's petrol fiesta now to give it a good run and warm up

[grogee]

Good An Car. 

Like the Rav4 this era Honda CRV has a peppy petrol engine but they are both strangely unsuitable for off-roading with all the grunt coming at 4000rpm (VTEC yo). 

I guess both Toyota and Honda realised customers never actually went off road but did like a bit of pep off the line for tarmac driving. 

[Spiny Norman]

They're no Range Rover that's for sure but I spent an hour or so the other night going down the CRV off road YouTube wormhole and with some knobby tyres they're better than I'd imagined especially in mud and snow.

I didn't buy it for its marginal off road ability, I bought it because I had one before and liked it, and my back's getting a bit too fucked for a low slung sportycar to be a pleasant everyday companion, it's a relief to simply be able to walk into and step out of it. I'll certainly  not be going all OLLI in it but it should give me half a chance compared to an SLK when winter comes.