and today i have mostly been...

[trufflehunt]

I'd go for Option 2, and take the refund.

Italian and modern American cars are not bywords for build quality, and neither is Fiat Chrysler.
Why go for an older one of the same if the newer one self destructs ?

[steve_earwig]

Yeah, I thought that was a brave move when I saw it in your sig. John Cadogan really loves* them, endless reports of lemons, huge repair bills for simple parts, dealers not giving a toss etc. The diagnostic guys love them too, they give them plenty of work, especially the TIPMs (totally integrated power module - think of a BSI that's nothing but dry joints). Ok, they don't always go wrong but you'd be banging your head against a wall if it did.

[steve_earwig]

I done gone an bought me a akshun kammerrer
bnENMm7wLzY

[Welly]

Hey them cats are distracting them kids from learning that English!

Bailes I also think perhaps Option 2 'the refund' and a rethink. My fear with a Jeep brand would be it depreciating too fast?

We* still haven't decided what to replace the C4 with, it's a mine field out there, prices are stupidly high and the choice of small pez turbo's is poor considering most people want to avoid dizzlers and hybrid's aren't really 'there' yet.

[Bailes1992]

Gone with option 3, picking the new Jeep up tonight. Wish us luck

Interestingly, same engine block as the early BMW Mini's but with a 16v head. Wonder how easy it would be to swap the Cooper S bottom end over and feed the engine some extra air.

[steve_earwig]

And give it more reasons to spit it's clutch out at the lights... I hope this one proves us all wrong!

Hey them cats are distracting them kids from learning that English!

Not that they need much of a reason Even t'wife lets the conversation wander sometimes, often when I listen I don't hear a word of English for ages and I think of how these kids parents are paying for them to talk about football or something. Still, she has a good relationship with the kids and this can sometimes prove useful, e.g. jumping the queue at the airport because one of her former students is on the check in desk next to us

[Doggy]

Don't give the kids too hard a time, I can only begin to imagine how difficult learning totally illogical English must actually be.

And give it more reasons to spit it's clutch out at the lights... I hope this one proves us all wrong!

+1 hoping this one's clutch doesn't bail on you, as it were.

In other news, the C5 MOT saga has had a few further twists & turns:
Asked the garage that have done some good work for my eldest and her partner - "No problem - be about £200.
Dropped it off on Friday morning bright and early, waited patiently for news........
Gave up waiting. "Who said the springs are broken", perplexed mechanic asked. "They look OK, but the dampers are shagged".
Turns out the "eyes" that screw onto the top of the damper rods, (where a strut top bearing would be on the front), have bushes that are, well, bushed.
Our man can't locate replacement dampers, (or doesn't want to spend the potentially un-billable time searching).
Upshot, I'm getting a pair of dampers from Citroen c/w the 'eyes' on Wednesday for about £160, our man's already got the springs, "about £40 each" and is now set up to do the lot on Thursday, including both front outer cv boots.

Just hoping I can still afford it, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Vladimir Putin and Rushi Sunak notwithstanding.....

WCPGW?

[Bailes1992]

Well Renegade N°2 didn't go ahead.

Externally the car was immaculate, but when I opened the door I was hit by a strong smell of fags. After the salesman insisting they don't sell cars that have been smoked in, I showed him the collection of tobacco and fag ash in the drivers door and he started to back peddle. I then noticed the car didn't have it's first service till it was 2 years old with 16k on the clock, service intervals on the e.Torq are 1 year or 10k. Every other service includes spark plugs and the air filter, under the engine cover there was no hand prints in the dirt on the plug leads and the air filter screws don't look like they've ever been touched since it left the factory. It was a no from me!

Just requested a refund.

[steve_earwig]

Ah well, it's probably for the best. I reckon the fag smell was its worst defect, even if they replaced the engine (ha ha) they always stink of fags, even if you steam clean the interior leave it in the sun for a few hours and it'll be back.

Btw what happened to that Dacia thing?

Don't give the kids too hard a time, I can only begin to imagine how difficult learning totally illogical English must actually be.

Tell me about it, it's only when you see people struggling with all the bizarre pronunciations, all the different past, future and present tenses, all the stuff that you've just got to know, do you start to realise what a bloody mess it is. Then again, Croatian might be phonetic but it has 7 cases (English just has 2, er, sometimes), uses 1 word for 100 things yet has 20 words for 1 thing and, no matter how hard I look, I can't find any genitalia on any of the furniture...

[Bailes1992]

Ah well, it's probably for the best. I reckon the fag smell was its worst defect, even if they replaced the engine (ha ha) they always stink of fags, even if you steam clean the interior leave it in the sun for a few hours and it'll be back.

Btw what happened to that Dacia thing?

Which one? Our 2016 Duster 4x4 we had for two years held onto it's value remarkably well, to the point where after two years we lost just £1200 in it. It meant that we could 'upgrade' to a brand new Sandero for just £1700.

Unfortunately the Sandero decided it didn't like spark plugs and would destroy a set regularly. Unsurprisingly little 900cc turbo engine was smoother, faster, significantly more economical and just an all round nicer engine when run on super unleaded. Now and again super unleaded wasn't available or my Wife just filled up with 95RON and the engine would knock heavily and it would take a good 50miles+ to start pulling timing. I never got to the bottom of if the knock sensor was faulty or if it was a programming issue, but after 4 sets of spark plugs Renault offered to give us a full refund.

Around the same time I had not long bought my ST220 for a weekend toy and my Wife decided she would daily that for a little bit until she decided what she wanted next. A 'little bit' turned into 8 months and it was getting a battering so I purchased a £400 2007 Saab 95 in December with a few mechanical issues for her to drive. I did the timing belt, replaced a leaking water-pump, serviced the gearbox and put it through an MOT. The Saab owed us £700 and my Wife daily drove that for 9 weeks before deciding it was too 'old-man' for her.


Roll in the Renegade...

[Welly]

What's all this?

A brand new car that needs 'servicing' ~~~~~~~ "we bought a new car because we were fed up with all the 'repair' bills" ~~~~~~~~

Our Citroen had 'sort of' been smoked in, the MIL used to sit in it with the door/window open and smoke (was somewhere to sit and have a fag when they were out somewhere). I used enzyme-based cleaners and I guess after maybe 6 weeks the smell went, I've also got some Gtechniq anti-bac surface treatments which are brilliant none of our cars use air fresheners (I personally hate the smell of them) so I treat the interiors with odor eliminating products and the cars have no scent at all - just kinda zero smell.

Top tip: don't eat or drink anything in your car, vacuum regularly.

I quite like the idea of running around in previously expensive older cars (sub £1k) as apposed to financing some new euro shitbox. Bailes did you sell the SAAB privately?

[Bailes1992]

I quite like the idea of running around in previously expensive older cars (sub £1k) as apposed to financing some new euro shitbox. Bailes did you sell the SAAB privately?

We part-exchanged it for the Renegade. Got £1,500 part-ex for it so couldn't moan too much.

Problem with older cars is finding time to repair/maintain them. At the moment with a young family and working 12 hour days, I don't have a lot of time.

[steve_earwig]

That's fair enough if you have the income

There are loads of Dusters around here, I should really have a sit in one but I suspect they're a bit too small (as is the RAV).

Interesting about the knock sensor, you'd have thought Renault would have had it on a diagnostickery and be able to tell you straight away.

Our Citroen had 'sort of' been smoked in

I think you got away with that, usually the smoke's got into the upholstery, the headlining, the dash, the sound deadening, trim... never get rid of it. Still, I've heard of worse, a decomposing corpse will definitely write a car off

This appeared in my youtube feed thing earlier:
xIhdl8ArLb0
Looks like young Frank is having a good time

[Doggy]

Refund sounds like the best option, Sam.
I expect it's gonna be a buyer's market for some time. (My lad's just copped £7.5k off a new Merc coupe).

I quite like the idea of running around in previously expensive older cars (sub £1k) as apposed to financing some new euro shitbox.

Speaking of which, My bro just bought himself an 09-plate Merc 220 CDi 'elegance' estate, which I drove back from Bootle this afternoon. Now it wasn't in the sub £1k bracket by quite some way, but still cheap for what it is/was. Virtually unmarked inside and out, 147k miles but with a new clutch, dmf, alternator and a/c compressor. Pretty much couldn't fault it in the 150-odd miles home.
Not a fan of the foot-operated handbrake and the one stalk for everything except cruze is a bit odd, but you'd get used to it soon enough.

I iz tempted.....

[Welly]

Lol at Frank's video his editing skills are excellent too

Doggy - [new clutch, dmf, alternator and a/c compressor] someone's just spent nearly £2k on that surely? why on earth would you sell it? oh well it's your Bro's gain