My Clio Collecting Road Trip, by Cheggers (age 46)

[Cheggers]

Hi All,

 

You may recall me wittering on last week about about my bargain-tastic £9 fare from London to Colne, Lancashire...well, yesterday I went "oop north" to collect a Clio 1.4S for darling daughter. The plan was simple enough - Mrs Chegg to drop me at Heathrow, tube to Kings Cross, Bus to Colne, drive home. Simples.

 

So, at:

 

 

I arrived here:

 

 

Thanks to the fog the airport was absolute carnage with no flights in or out. Fortunately the tube seems immune to the fog, if only it were so good with snow, leaves, rain, sun, industrial action & plagues of locusts

 

I arrived at Kings Cross at 8:45, more than enough time to find where the Megabus leaves from. After 20 minutes of wandering aimlessly, I gave up & called their *ahem* "customer service". The oh-so-polite chap pointed out that it's a mixed train/ bus ticket "which is marked clearly on the confirmation, anyone can see it is". I've emailed him (and their CEO) a copy of my confirmation asking where it's marked and, surprise, surprise, no response. I then found my way to the Megabus rep at the appointed platform. When I mentioned my conversation with Customer Service he apologised, agreed it's not marked anywhere on the ticket and described his own customer service folks as "as much use as tits on a fish"

 

So, I boarded the train for East Midlands Parkway:

 

 

And 2 hours later I boarded this:

 

 

In case you were thinking of it as a holiday destination, East Midlands Parkway is positioned slap bang in between a huge power station and fuck all. There then followed a 4 hour (surprisingly pleasant) journey, with stops at Huddersfield:

 

 

Halifax, Bradford & Colne.

 

Sometimes, ans iPod set to shuffle manages to get it just right:

 

 

Once the bus has spat me out in Colne, I had a 2 minute walk to collect this:

 

 

A very pleasant surprise, considering it was a blind eBay purchase. First impressions were good - it even had white clocks, which 17 year-olds seem to like:

 

 

The 230 mile drive home was gloriously unremarkable, punctuated with a couple of super spots...one car:

 

 

and one bike:

 

 

I arrived home 13 hours after setting off, tired but happy. The car behaved well and seems pretty economical, just a few bits to sort out:

 

New battery in remote key thingy

New passenger side window switch

Slight hesitancy on acceleration (I suspect lambda probe issues, but will check using an OBD reader later this week)

Desperately needs an oil change

Need to get a radio code (anyone able to help??)

 

Sorry it's not more exciting, but Emily's happy with the car and that's good enough for me

[dollywobbler]

Looks good. Interesting trip but can't complain about the price!

[R9UKE]

Reminds me of my first car

 

Renault dealerships don't HAVE to charge for radio codes, they just do it. I have two local dealers, one charges a tenner, the other just doesn't - so try your dealer first!

[HillmanImp]

If you google Renault Radio Codes there are hundred of places that do it nor naff all.

 

Is that an MG Xpower thingy? How many of them were made?

[DSdriver]

Thanks for a great story, very amusing. It has brightened up a day where gluten has knocked the stuffing out of me.

Try electrical contact cleaner on the window switch before investing in a new one - it sorted out my Volvo windows.

[ashmicro]

Wee Clio looks good. There's a Renner radio code calculator out there somewhere.

 

That is indeed an MG SV (or SVR), nee Qvale Mangusta.

[Albert Ross]

Also check throttle body wiring in cases of hesitation.

[trigger]

I enjoy threads like this, It feels like i went on the trip with you (which you wouldn't want as i fart a lot). Thanks for sharing.

[barefoot]

In case you were thinking of it as a holiday destination, East Midlands Parkway is positioned slap bang in between a huge power station and fuck all.

 

East Midlands Parkway is just about the bleakest place on the entire planet, but sadly it will cause the closure and/or running down of the glorious Victorian Railway Stations* either side of it, Loughborough & Long Eaton.

 

*see how I wrote Railway station & not train station - that's because I'm not a retard.

[RENOMAD]

Hi All,

 

You may recall me wittering on last week about about my bargain-tastic £9 fare from London to Colne, Lancashire...well, yesterday I went "oop north" to collect a Clio 1.4S for darling daughter. The plan was simple enough - Mrs Chegg to drop me at Heathrow, tube to Kings Cross, Bus to Colne, drive home. Simples.

 

So, at:

 

 

I arrived here:

 

 

Thanks to the fog the airport was absolute carnage with no flights in or out. Fortunately the tube seems immune to the fog, if only it were so good with snow, leaves, rain, sun, industrial action & plagues of locusts

 

I arrived at Kings Cross at 8:45, more than enough time to find where the Megabus leaves from. After 20 minutes of wandering aimlessly, I gave up & called their *ahem* "customer service". The oh-so-polite chap pointed out that it's a mixed train/ bus ticket "which is marked clearly on the confirmation, anyone can see it is". I've emailed him (and their CEO) a copy of my confirmation asking where it's marked and, surprise, surprise, no response. I then found my way to the Megabus rep at the appointed platform. When I mentioned my conversation with Customer Service he apologised, agreed it's not marked anywhere on the ticket and described his own customer service folks as "as much use as tits on a fish"

 

So, I boarded the train for East Midlands Parkway:

 

 

And 2 hours later I boarded this:

 

 

In case you were thinking of it as a holiday destination, East Midlands Parkway is positioned slap bang in between a huge power station and fuck all. There then followed a 4 hour (surprisingly pleasant) journey, with stops at Huddersfield:

 

 

Halifax, Bradford & Colne.

 

Sometimes, ans iPod set to shuffle manages to get it just right:

 

 

Once the bus has spat me out in Colne, I had a 2 minute walk to collect this:

 

 

A very pleasant surprise, considering it was a blind eBay purchase. First impressions were good - it even had white clocks, which 17 year-olds seem to like:

 

 

The 230 mile drive home was gloriously unremarkable, punctuated with a couple of super spots...one car:

 

 

and one bike:

 

 

I arrived home 13 hours after setting off, tired but happy. The car behaved well and seems pretty economical, just a few bits to sort out:

 

New battery in remote key thingy

New passenger side window switch

Slight hesitancy on acceleration (I suspect lambda probe issues, but will check using an OBD reader later this week)

Desperately needs an oil change

Need to get a radio code (anyone able to help??)

 

Sorry it's not more exciting, but Emily's happy with the car and that's good enough for me

 

Get me the full chassis number--I'll have the code for you FOC in a few minutes

[autohausdolby]

Check for oil in the bottom of the plastic inlet manifold as well for hesitation. *requires some dismantling.

[Cheggers]

Cheers RM...PM sent