Washing your own car - a dying hobby?

[Doggy]

Great news Sam.

* 406oc collective sigh of relief *

[Doggy]

Sam, have you seen the scrappage scheme? https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/buyin ... on-duster/

[steve_earwig]

Up to a grand? How magnanimous

[Bailes1992]

I've purchased a 12 month old Duster with 4k on the clock for £10,500.

Its a 1.5DCi 4x4 Laureate.

They're about £18k new!

[Doggy]

Sam, you're an amateur!
You could have got a brand new example with the god-awful basic spec, (no radio - I kid you not), for less, giving you a 67-plate to pose beside for a whole 6 months.
What wee you thinking?

[Welly]

I'm assuming the 1.5DCi is no longer a liability? they should've resolved the injector/turbo/pump issues now?

Extra oil changes would be a must i guess.

[Bailes1992]

As far as I can see the modern 1.5DCi is very reliable and even fitted to the current Merc A-Class A180d/A160d.

The Duster will be doing lots of shorter trips however so quality premium diesel and regular oil changes are a must!

Renault specify an ACEA C4 oil for it which I was happy to see as it's a high HTHS oil. However it is low-SAPS which isn't good for long term wear. It's also only available as a *w30 and I'd rather run a *w40 in something like this.

May look at moving over to an ACEA C3 'mid-saps' or an A3/B4 oil with a SAPS of less than 1%. I quite like Mobil1 ESP 5w30 meeting ACEA C3, BMW LL04 and VAG 507. The 5w30 ESP is a thicker *w30 and has a SAPS of 0.6% which is just 0.1% higher than the 0.5% limit of a low-saps oil. Or maybe Castrol Edge 5w40 meeting ACEA C3 and BMW LL04. I will have to be clever with the receipts though for warranty reasons!

I think a few used oil analysis will have to be done to decide what the engine likes best and to decide on an oil change interval. I'm thinking 6 months to start and if any issues are identified by the oil analysis then I will adjust accordingly. The pre-Euro 6 1.5DCi specified an ACEA C3 oil and Mercedes specify a 229.52 oil which is based on ACEA C3. A lot will depend on how much oil the engine burns. If it burns nothing then I won't need to worry about SAPS/ash blocking the DPF and will lean towards an A3/B4 oil for maximum engine protection.

[steve_earwig]

and even fitted to the current Merc A-Class A180d/A160d.

From what I've been hearing about the death star these days that's hardly a recommendation

Nothing wrong with 401 rivets, the Titanic is full of them!

[rwb]

the modern 1.5DCi is very reliable and even fitted to the current Merc A-Class A180d/A160d

Is that really all them nasty little things have in them? Good grief you must have to be desperate for the badge for that to make sense.

[Bailes1992]

the modern 1.5DCi is very reliable and even fitted to the current Merc A-Class A180d/A160d

Is that really all them nasty little things have in them? Good grief you must have to be desperate for the badge for that to make sense.

My Uncle actually bought one about 6 months ago. An A180d AMG-line thingy. He came from a 2011 Hyundai i30 1.6CRDi and he is over the moon with it in general. He got it 6 months old for less than £15k at auction so it was a bit of a bargain. He is a bit gutted about the power though, thinks for a Merc it needed another 40bhp or so.

I did advise him to get a BMW 120d/25d but he never listens.

[Welly]

A Merc with a Renner engine?

Next they'll be saying BMW Mini's have Peugeot engines...oh wait

[Bailes1992]

Had the Dacia for 48 hours now!

I like it. It's a very clean example and suprisingly nice to drive.

The 1.5DCi engine is a much better engine than the PSA/Ford DV6. It's quieter, smoother and much more responsive. It's also far happier driving down low, even as low as 1200rpm where the DV6 would be shaking, grumbling and laboring.

Gearing on the Duster is a bit weird.

1st is very very short and 2nd isn't much longer than your average cars first. I've now adapted my driving so I pull off in 2nd unless I'm facing uphill and even then as soon as I get the car moving I'm straight into 2nd. I suspect the low 1st is for off road and towing use.

6th isn't hugely long either. At 70mph in 6th the engine is spinning at 2600rpm which sounds a lot these days but the engine is so quiet and smooth you can't hear or feel it and it makes the motorway 'pick-up' very effortless indeed.

That means that other than a huge gap between 1st and 2nd every other gear is very close which makes it's quite sprightly generally. In-fact, after driving the 60bhp 1.2 Polo for 2 weeks, the Duster feels like a rocket ship! Obviously this does mean around town you're working the box all the time, the engine is quite happy in 5th at 30mph!

There was a few issues dealer end which I really didn't expect as I was buying from a main dealer, albeit a Mitsubishi dealer.

1st was the car was advertised with 3882miles on the clock. The trip computer has about 6 million different functions and I'm partly to blame as I didn't check myself but when I got the car home and got familiar with the trip computer there was actually 5700miles on the clock.

2nd was the car was advertised with FSH. The dealer told me the car was serviced on arrival and the book was stamped 31st August 2017 by the main dealer. Again, once I got it home I found out the car was purchased on the 8th March 2016 meaning the first service was due 8th March 2017. Over 5 months overdue! Not exactly a FULL service history then.

3rd I'm not even convinced the car was serviced properly. The engine oil was clean for a diesel and there was oil residue around the drain plug also. However, the oil filter on the 1.5DCI's are located under a load of hoses and are a nightmare to access. The oil filter currently on the car is a genuine Renault part, is as dirty as the rest of the engine bay and so tight I cannot undo it. I suspect the mechanic tried to undo it and gave up.

I gave the car another oil change just in case but I'm going to have to get an oil filter socket to change the filter. There is no room for a chain or strap wrench.

But, it seems like a good, low mileage car none the less!

[steve_earwig]

That sounds like the RAV's gearbox, no high/low so they're a compromise. Although the Auto has a 4 speed box with an over... no, sorry, underdrive (que?) so it has 8 or something, I'm not really sure (or even interested)

1st was the car was advertised with 3882miles on the clock. The trip computer has about 6 million different functions and I'm partly to blame as I didn't check myself but when I got the car home and got familiar with the trip computer there was actually 5700miles on the clock.

How terrible, did you storm back to the dealer's and demand a refund? 2,000 miles? That's bugger all in the overall scheme of things.

I think the days when dealer servicing meant anything are long gone.

[Welly]

How terrible, did you storm back to the dealer's and demand a refund? 2,000 miles? That's bugger all in the overall scheme of things.

I think the days when dealer servicing meant anything are long gone.

mmmm, I think i'd have been pissed off about that TBF, probs the dealer didn't even realise the mileage either, chalk it up to experience I guess. Sounds a bit like the mileage display had been left on 'trip' rather that 'total' or something.

Re: 'Renault' I think they get an unfair hard time of it! mostly bought by people who don't give a sh*t about cars, don't service them, and then whinge like hell when the faults start with me now having a Renner in the family I can say it's no better or worse than any other make we've had in fact in terms of the underneath rust protection it's MILES ahead of anything I've had.

Glad you're enjoying it so far Sam, bet you can't wait for some snow

[steve_earwig]

I was just trying to give some perspective, when it's done 75,000 miles it's not going to make a bean of difference. Anyway, while I was reading Sam's post I got a sinking feeling that he was going to say it turned out that, instead of 3,800 miles, it had 38,000 miles SO 5,700 miles seemed quite reasonable really. Then I guess if the ad said it had 38,000 miles and it turned out to have 57,000 miles then he'd have every right to be outraged.