Best smoker barges 1-5 large [vol11]

[Lowtimer]

twoblacklines said:

r129sl said:

Drive. Even if you're coming from Land's End it's probably quicker than flying

I used to go from Cornwall to Liverpool. Driving would take 6-8 hours.

Flying however, even including the 30 min drive SOUTH to the airport (Newquay) would take less than 2 hours combined.

Do you just pluck theses "facts" out of thin air or something?

Good trick considering the scheduled flight time is an hour on FlyBe and the last check-in in 30 mins before scheduled departure. Still, it's perhaps theoretically doable assuming that your final destination is, in fact, Liverpool airport arrivals hall.

However, Land's End to Liverpool centre is about 375 miles and there's no way I could do that in less than six hours regardless of time of day or night

Edited by Lowtimer on Tuesday 28th February 12:06

[JF87]

Also need to factor in r129's preferred motorway cruising speed, which appears to be around that of a turbo-prop.

[0a]

Sir Snaz said:

Chaps ..... I'm thinking of diving into the 1-5 club ......probably nearer the 1-2 end if I'm honest as I just need something as a back up .........just wondered what peoples view was on insuring cars this cheap .....do you tend to go just 3rd party fire and theft route?

I would just sit down and try some actual plates on one of the comparison websites. I used money supermarket out of laziness because it seems to take the least amount of time if you set up an account. When I started looking my first barge a few years back I had zero no claims (I had lived in central London for a few years) and the w124 came out cheaper than a fiesta. Anything BMW was a lot more. Now most things are insurable but there are still weird variations.

[Krikkit]

Lowtimer said:

twoblacklines said:

r129sl said:

Drive. Even if you're coming from Land's End it's probably quicker than flying

I used to go from Cornwall to Liverpool. Driving would take 6-8 hours.

Flying however, even including the 30 min drive SOUTH to the airport (Newquay) would take less than 2 hours combined.

Do you just pluck theses "facts" out of thin air or something?

Good trick considering the scheduled flight time is an hour on FlyBe and the last check-in in 30 mins before scheduled departure. Still, it's perhaps theoretically doable assuming that your final destination is, in fact, Liverpool airport arrivals hall.

However, Land's End to Liverpool centre is about 375 miles and there's no way I could do that in less than six hours regardless of time of day or night

Edited by Lowtimer on Tuesday 28th February 12:06

Agree both ways!

Driving, using St.Austell as your departure and centre of Liverpool, by car it's 5h44 according to Google, assuming 1.5h of stops that takes you to a shade over 7h without delays.

For flying from Newquay I'd expect 30 min journey, 15 mins to park up and get to the terminal, arrive 45m-1h before for safety, 1h flight time, 15 mins taxi and fiddling to the gate/getting off etc, optional 15-30 mins to reclaim baggage, 30 minute cab ride into the centre of the city. ~4h all told, without delays.

[anonymous-user]

Krikkit said:

Agree both ways!

Driving, using St.Austell as your departure and centre of Liverpool, by car it's 5h44 according to Google, assuming 1.5h of stops that takes you to a shade over 7h without delays.

For flying from Newquay I'd expect 30 min journey, 15 mins to park up and get to the terminal, arrive 45m-1h before for safety, 1h flight time, 15 mins taxi and fiddling to the gate/getting off etc, optional 15-30 mins to reclaim baggage, 30 minute cab ride into the centre of the city. ~4h all told, without delays.

When I take farty little flights from regional airports I never arrive more than 30 mins before boarding and it's never backfired. Even for the little Jimbo FlyBe planes they seem to take 30 minutes of screwing around once the gate opens so you have loads of time

Even with that in mind I found that when I had to get from Stafford to Linlithgow every other weekend it took 4 hours to drive, 4 hours on the train, or 4 hours door to door on a plane. The longer the journey the greater advantage the plane can achieve of course. That said the flights were disrupted or cancelled far more often than trains, and I rarely had traffic issues.

Edited by dme123 on Tuesday 28th February 13:49

[r129sl]

twoblacklines said:

r129sl said:

Drive. Even if you're coming from Land's End it's probably quicker than flying

I used to go from Cornwall to Liverpool. Driving would take 6-8 hours.

Flying however, even including the 30 min drive SOUTH to the airport (Newquay) would take less than 2 hours combined.

Do you just pluck theses "facts" out of thin air or something?

Yes. But the point is valid. Flight time is not a significant part of the journey time. There's the journey to the airport. There's the parking. There's the journey from the car park to the terminal. There's the hanging around, especially if you check luggage. Then there's the hanging around at the gate. Then the flight itself. Now waiting to get off. Waiting for baggage. Picking up the hire car. Finding the hire car. Taking the hire car back because it is broken. Finding the new hire car. Driving from Inverness to the destination. It is a time-consuming total ball ache, especially if you want to take any luggage or small children. Which there is every chance they will lose (the luggage, though I wouldn't put it past them to lose the children).

[MJK 24]

0a said:

Sir Snaz said:

Chaps ..... I'm thinking of diving into the 1-5 club ......probably nearer the 1-2 end if I'm honest as I just need something as a back up .........just wondered what peoples view was on insuring cars this cheap .....do you tend to go just 3rd party fire and theft route?

I would just sit down and try some actual plates on one of the comparison websites. I used money supermarket out of laziness because it seems to take the least amount of time if you set up an account. When I started looking my first barge a few years back I had zero no claims (I had lived in central London for a few years) and the w124 came out cheaper than a fiesta. Anything BMW was a lot more. Now most things are insurable but there are still weird variations.

My fleet:

W124
Old Scirocco
Elise
10 year old Fiesta for winter duties

Fiesta premium is more than double that of the Germans and half as much again as the Lotus. 11 years protected NCB. Fiesta's are obviously high risk!

[JF87]

The "aye catcher" purple CL500 has been dropped to £2199! MOT history isn't too pretty though.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-CL-5-0-/28...3sAAOSw44BYmRr4

[W00DY]

JF87 said:

The "aye catcher" purple CL500 has been dropped to £2199! MOT history isn't too pretty though.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-CL-5-0-/28...3sAAOSw44BYmRr4

MOT history is in the past. That stunner comes with 11 months ticket to the life you want to live.

[deeen]

W00DY said:

JF87 said:

The "aye catcher" purple CL500 has been dropped to £2199! MOT history isn't too pretty though.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-CL-5-0-/28...3sAAOSw44BYmRr4

MOT history is in the past. That stunner comes with 11 months ticket to the life you want to live.

Bookmarked, will check down the back of the sofa later.

[twoblacklines]

Krikkit said:

Agree both ways!

Driving, using St.Austell as your departure and centre of Liverpool, by car it's 5h44 according to Google, assuming 1.5h of stops that takes you to a shade over 7h without delays.

For flying from Newquay I'd expect 30 min journey, 15 mins to park up and get to the terminal, arrive 45m-1h before for safety, 1h flight time, 15 mins taxi and fiddling to the gate/getting off etc, optional 15-30 mins to reclaim baggage, 30 minute cab ride into the centre of the city. ~4h all told, without delays.

Newquay was strictly drop off when I last did it. So that knocks off your 15 mins. You can arrive half an hour before fight not 1h, so there's 45 mins. Didn't take baggage minus another 45 mins there's 1 and a half hours knocked off your estimate already. And it doesn't take 30 minutes to get from Liverpool airport to Liverpool City Centre, it is practically in the city centre. 10 mins via Uber.

So more like
30 min drive to Newquay
30 min wait for flight.
1 hour flight
5 mins in terminal
10 mins drive to drop off
~2:30 maximum.

Much shorter than your big 6+ hour drive and you aren't knackered when you get there.

I used to fly up early. spend a few hours in City then fly home and be back for a late dinner. Cheaper than fuel too

Edit: why does it even take an hour to get baggage? Even on huge family holidays to somewhere like Naples, Italy, it never took more than 20-30 mins to get ALL baggage from the carousel.

Edited by twoblacklines on Tuesday 28th February 19:04

[Bargista]

Chaps, I don't want to clutter the thread up but would aporeciate your combined (and individual) wisdom...


Thanks to this thread, I own a 2001 BMW 540i touring auto, non sport model but spec'd with sport suspension.





It had 201k when I bought it  and now shows 205k. It runs beautifully. I love its wafty grunt!

Last MOT was an advisory for rear discs and my ever pragmatic MOT man took a power feed from one rear fog light to the other to easily, cheaply and temporarily circumvent a light control module issue. 

In its favour:

Overall it wears its miles well. It will pass the 'country house hotel test'.


It's had the rear axle mounts, alternator and waterpump done recently-ish before I bought it.


But:

It has a battery drain when left for more than 3 days

It has e39 shimmy under braking between 60 and 50 mph

Its suspension creaks like a galleon but has no obvious play.

As of this week, dash lights (all) aren't working: Most likely a light control module issue.


It owes me:


£1,450 purchase price

A £100 battery

A set of conti tyres at £300 ish.

An oil and filter change (engine oil, air, oil and cabin filters (£100 ish)


So its been an enjoyable and pretty cheap 4,000 miles of V8 wafting.


So do I keep it, and, with me doing the work, spend the following...?

Identify and sort the battery drain: cost unknown

New discs and padsall round: Genuine £320 from BMW Direct

Front and rear suspension refresh: Lemforder parts: £450 front,  Lemforder/ Meyle £375 rear

Light control module repair £150 ish


So then I'd have a nicely fettled but still high mileage c.16 year old V8 BMW estate.


My 'inner womble' likes the idea of making good all the issues but am I silly to sink over £1k into it?

I'll have a little more disposable cash in the summer so could 'upgrade' but a bit of me thinks not.

Thoughts welcomed and appreciated.

[W00DY]

Sounds like a shed, I'd take the first £1000 someone offers you. In fact I could help you out there


Seriously it sounds like a nice car and not too much to bring it back to really lovely.

[sparks_E39]

JF87 said:

The "aye catcher" purple CL500 has been dropped to £2199! MOT history isn't too pretty though.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-CL-5-0-/28...3sAAOSw44BYmRr4

Christ what awful advert. Does he actually want to sell it?

[cat220]

Bargista said:

Chaps, I don't want to clutter the thread up but would aporeciate your combined (and individual) wisdom...


Thanks to this thread, I own a 2001 BMW 540i touring auto, non sport model but spec'd with sport suspension.





It had 201k when I bought it  and now shows 205k. It runs beautifully. I love its wafty grunt!

Last MOT was an advisory for rear discs and my ever pragmatic MOT man took a power feed from one rear fog light to the other to easily, cheaply and temporarily circumvent a light control module issue. 

In its favour:

Overall it wears its miles well. It will pass the 'country house hotel test'.


It's had the rear axle mounts, alternator and waterpump done recently-ish before I bought it.


But:

It has a battery drain when left for more than 3 days

It has e39 shimmy under braking between 60 and 50 mph

Its suspension creaks like a galleon but has no obvious play.

As of this week, dash lights (all) aren't working: Most likely a light control module issue.


It owes me:


£1,450 purchase price

A £100 battery

A set of conti tyres at £300 ish.

An oil and filter change (engine oil, air, oil and cabin filters (£100 ish)


So its been an enjoyable and pretty cheap 4,000 miles of V8 wafting.


So do I keep it, and, with me doing the work, spend the following...?

Identify and sort the battery drain: cost unknown

New discs and padsall round: Genuine £320 from BMW Direct

Front and rear suspension refresh: Lemforder parts: £450 front,  Lemforder/ Meyle £375 rear

Light control module repair £150 ish


So then I'd have a nicely fettled but still high mileage c.16 year old V8 BMW estate.


My 'inner womble' likes the idea of making good all the issues but am I silly to sink over £1k into it?

I'll have a little more disposable cash in the summer so could 'upgrade' but a bit of me thinks not.

Thoughts welcomed and appreciated.

None of what you describe above is critical in the sense that it all needs done now. You could do a bit at a time over the next year to ease the financial pain. I'd definitely hold onto it, at least you know what needs doing, which is half the battle.

[Motorrad]

Bargista said:

But:

It has a battery drain when left for more than 3 days

Hedgehog was the cause of this on my car- 25 quid and an easy self replacement. Let's hope it's this and with a set of new lemforder control arms for your shimmy you'll have it fettled for under 200 quid.

[SimonTheSailor]

JF87 said:

The "aye catcher" purple CL500 has been dropped to £2199! MOT history isn't too pretty though.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-CL-5-0-/28...3sAAOSw44BYmRr4

Exactly how did they make 'history in the automtive world' or whatever he said ?!

Full Mercedes service history and an MOT ?...........

[0a]

I left my desk in Scotland at 10 to 4 this afternoon and am now enjoying a beer in a bar in Krackow having checked in and had a nice walk about. Not too bad


20:48 datestamp - could have been 45 minutes earlier.

t's a slight advantage when you work at the airport...

Edited by 0a on Wednesday 1st March 00:47

[defblade]

Motorrad said:

Bargista said:

But:

It has a battery drain when left for more than 3 days

Hedgehog was the cause of this on my car- 25 quid and an easy self replacement. Let's hope it's this and with a set of new lemforder control arms for your shimmy you'll have it fettled for under 200 quid.

Yes, battery drain 95% certain to be the hedgehog (although I'd go BMW OE @ £80ish myself).

I think a replacement LCM will need to be coded to your car and mileage, as IIRC it stores the back-up "check" version of the mileage.

E39 shimmy can be a never ending hunt so unless it's dreadful, I'd just live with it

[E24man]

Bargista said:

Chaps, I don't want to clutter the thread up but would aporeciate your combined (and individual) wisdom...


Thanks to this thread, I own a 2001 BMW 540i touring auto, non sport model but spec'd with sport suspension.





It had 201k when I bought it  and now shows 205k. It runs beautifully. I love its wafty grunt!

Last MOT was an advisory for rear discs and my ever pragmatic MOT man took a power feed from one rear fog light to the other to easily, cheaply and temporarily circumvent a light control module issue. 

In its favour:

Overall it wears its miles well. It will pass the 'country house hotel test'.


It's had the rear axle mounts, alternator and waterpump done recently-ish before I bought it.


But:

It has a battery drain when left for more than 3 days

They all do that Sir

Bargista said:

It has e39 shimmy under braking between 60 and 50 mph

They all do that eventually Sir, it'll be the control bushes.

Bargista said:

Its suspension creaks like a galleon but has no obvious play.

They all do that eventually Sir.

Bargista said:

As of this week, dash lights (all) aren't working: Most likely a light control module issue.

They all do that Sir, best check the battery voltage first though.

Bargista said:

It owes me:


£1,450 purchase price

A £100 battery

A set of conti tyres at £300 ish.

An oil and filter change (engine oil, air, oil and cabin filters (£100 ish)


So its been an enjoyable and pretty cheap 4,000 miles of V8 wafting.


So do I keep it, and, with me doing the work, spend the following...?

Identify and sort the battery drain: cost unknown

New discs and padsall round: Genuine £320 from BMW Direct

Front and rear suspension refresh: Lemforder parts: £450 front,  Lemforder/ Meyle £375 rear

Light control module repair £150 ish


So then I'd have a nicely fettled but still high mileage c.16 year old V8 BMW estate.


My 'inner womble' likes the idea of making good all the issues but am I silly to sink over £1k into it?

I'll have a little more disposable cash in the summer so could 'upgrade' but a bit of me thinks not.

Thoughts welcomed and appreciated.

Since I started writing this others have suggested the hedgehog as the battery drain but forum5 experience suggest a buggered hedgehog will drain a battery overnight. Check the battery condition first, it may also sort the LCM issues