A free car - Clio 1.2 16V Dynamique
Discussion
BJG1 said:
BonjourB1tches said:
I just cannot see why you are putting money like buying gear knobs and wheel centre caps etc. on a cheap 2 year run-around. I appreciate that you may take pride but its neither a special model, neither in good condition. just enjoy it for what it is and use the money to put towards a nicer car or your home, camper, holidays etc.
Sorry if it seems critical but it is PH and unfortunately, there is not even any guides on how your doing it or any mechanical knowledge.
Yeah this. I had one, don't spend any more than you need on the piece of sSorry if it seems critical but it is PH and unfortunately, there is not even any guides on how your doing it or any mechanical knowledge.
t, it's electronics are going to break all the time and cost you a bomb anyway, save your cash for that.I'd have scrapped it back in 2014 rather than pay £836 for a service which costs more than the cars worth.
I spend less on my civic type s gear knob than the one bought here ffs!
£26 for mats too ? I've had my profile halfords ones for around 10 years now.
Downward said:
Seeing the costs of serving and repairs at the main dealer and kwik fit I'm guessing he gets his bangerominc experience from his parents.
I'd have scrapped it back in 2014 rather than pay £836 for a service which costs more than the cars worth.
I spend less on my civic type s gear knob than the one bought here ffs!
£26 for mats too ? I've had my profile halfords ones for around 10 years now.
Worth more than £836! 1 word.. Students.I'd have scrapped it back in 2014 rather than pay £836 for a service which costs more than the cars worth.
I spend less on my civic type s gear knob than the one bought here ffs!
£26 for mats too ? I've had my profile halfords ones for around 10 years now.
Basil Hume said:
Just a little update, now that it's been subject to a little elbow grease and TLC - around 90 minutes with a clay bar, wax and interior cleaner.
This is the "bad" side... from a few paces away, it looks like the £3.50 of touch-up paint was a decent investment:
...and the good side:
Not a big fan of green cars but I must say I really like the colour. Don't think I've seen another Clio in that colour..This is the "bad" side... from a few paces away, it looks like the £3.50 of touch-up paint was a decent investment:
...and the good side:
MuZiZZle said:
visitinglondon said:
Well done - you're married and still being subsidised by your parents ...
I've got a Ford KA from my mum, did I need it? no, did I want it? not really. She couldn't be bothered to trade it in when we bought her new Mii so just gave me it, these things happen, it's not like it's a TVR or something.I love seeing other people keeping spreadsheets of costs. Makes me feel less deranged for keeping one - though I missed one fuel fillup (forgot a number) and can no longer account for every single drop of fuel/penny because that error ruins it all... so I stick to logging everything else.
Edited by wst on Sunday 18th September 01:14
It's good to see that you have a nice base for a car. I admit that now and again I do get a little sentimental about the 'right' car, irrepsective of what the car actually is.
Small wonder than people moan about cars being wrecks under £4k with such an attitude...
But it is a fair shout
. The cost of the £800 service surprised me and a few other things. I these days keep a spreadsheet of the cars now have a new column ; potential labour rate ; I put down a rate of £50/hour in general and now do tend to work faster than I used to on cars. But when I see bills like the above it is an eye opener!
That said, changing a washer pump on a Clio is a pain in the bum. Windscreen wiper assembly out anyone?
This will be a shock for you now, but the two Clios I owned were better than a '02 Lupo I have briefly and an '06 Passat which went so badly wrong I ended up scrapping it after throwing a fortune at it. German is better than French you were saying?
As for what went wrong here is the list:
Steering Column lock (Google B6 Passat Steering Column ; it's a very well known fault and potentially expensive to fix if not a lethal fault to have)
Electric Fan never worked : Fan was fine, but the module went on the piss
Airbag module was defective ; car was HPI clear. I wonder if the broken clock spring may have caused this
Shot bushes everywhere
Camshaft worn to the nub (Google PD Camshaft 1.9 ; You do wonder why it was so easy to change...)
Gearbox blew up ; after this I had enough of the POS after 7 months of ownership.
The Clios? Combined the following was wrong and I owned my 172 for a year :
ABS Rings
Washer pump
Brake discs ; the garage who changed them just before I bought the car didn't clean the calipers well enough ; they were still spot on when I sold the car
Boot leak - about 50p's worth of bungs
Tired Track rod end
General servicing
Crap electrics you were saying?
That said, the above issues do allow me to get a bargain at times. I once bought a Dolly Sprint for £1k because the last owned got sick of going to around 5 garages and parting with £5k in that time. Ouch! I was shocked at some of the faults the car had despite the bills.
ANYWAY!!
Have fun to the OP, but I'd learn to do so bits and bobs yourself unless you want to become a pension scheme for your garage. I say this as some lease deals can be competitive these days once you factor in all of the costs.
Basil Hume said:
Agreed - but it's not £5-600 on tyres!
I'm budgeting that sum to sort the issues like ABS ring (£50-250 depending if just reluctor rings or driveshafts are needed), CV boot and bushes at an assumed £400 - plus 4 tyres at £200 max!
A half decent specialist will charge no more than £80 for the reluctor ring if you can supply the ring for them. The CV boot job will be between £60-170 depending on if a stretch boot is fitted or a proper item. Tyres on that should be no more than £60 each fitted even with something like a Michelin.I'm budgeting that sum to sort the issues like ABS ring (£50-250 depending if just reluctor rings or driveshafts are needed), CV boot and bushes at an assumed £400 - plus 4 tyres at £200 max!
BonjourB1tches said:
I just cannot see why you are putting money like buying gear knobs and wheel centre caps etc. on a cheap 2 year run-around. I appreciate that you may take pride but its neither a special model, neither in good condition. just enjoy it for what it is and use the money to put towards a nicer car or your home, camper, holidays etc.
Sorry if it seems critical but it is PH and unfortunately, there is not even any guides on how your doing it or any mechanical knowledge.
I don't know about you but if a few of my colleagues see a car that is unkempt they won't think twice about whacking a door etc. into it. If it does look tidy they are more willing to be more careful. Indeed, my Clio seem to pick up no real dents and I just kept it tidy. That and I do like to drive around in a tidy car, irrespective of what it is. Yes I could just buy a newer car, but I'd just piss it away on depreciation anyway...Sorry if it seems critical but it is PH and unfortunately, there is not even any guides on how your doing it or any mechanical knowledge.
Small wonder than people moan about cars being wrecks under £4k with such an attitude...
But it is a fair shout
. The cost of the £800 service surprised me and a few other things. I these days keep a spreadsheet of the cars now have a new column ; potential labour rate ; I put down a rate of £50/hour in general and now do tend to work faster than I used to on cars. But when I see bills like the above it is an eye opener!That said, changing a washer pump on a Clio is a pain in the bum. Windscreen wiper assembly out anyone?
BJG1 said:
Yeah this. I had one, don't spend any more than you need on the piece of st, it's electronics are going to break all the time and cost you a bomb anyway, save your cash for that.
I do love cliches and pub talk on the internet.t, it's electronics are going to break all the time and cost you a bomb anyway, save your cash for that.This will be a shock for you now, but the two Clios I owned were better than a '02 Lupo I have briefly and an '06 Passat which went so badly wrong I ended up scrapping it after throwing a fortune at it. German is better than French you were saying?
As for what went wrong here is the list:
Steering Column lock (Google B6 Passat Steering Column ; it's a very well known fault and potentially expensive to fix if not a lethal fault to have)
Electric Fan never worked : Fan was fine, but the module went on the piss
Airbag module was defective ; car was HPI clear. I wonder if the broken clock spring may have caused this
Shot bushes everywhere
Camshaft worn to the nub (Google PD Camshaft 1.9 ; You do wonder why it was so easy to change...)
Gearbox blew up ; after this I had enough of the POS after 7 months of ownership.
The Clios? Combined the following was wrong and I owned my 172 for a year :
ABS Rings
Washer pump
Brake discs ; the garage who changed them just before I bought the car didn't clean the calipers well enough ; they were still spot on when I sold the car
Boot leak - about 50p's worth of bungs
Tired Track rod end
General servicing
Crap electrics you were saying?
JeremyH5 said:
Those maintenance prices in your dad's spreadsheet make me so sad. Everyone needs to put time and effort into finding a reliable independent garage who don't take the p1$$ with prices and unnecessary work. Buying tyres from a main dealer? Sheesh!
IME most indepedants seem more keen to break your car than actually fix it and that includes some garages many people swear by. It's probably one reason (bar the expense) that I do alot of the work on the cars myself and I wouldn't say that I am the best mechanic out there by a long shot.That said, the above issues do allow me to get a bargain at times. I once bought a Dolly Sprint for £1k because the last owned got sick of going to around 5 garages and parting with £5k in that time. Ouch! I was shocked at some of the faults the car had despite the bills.
ANYWAY!!
Have fun to the OP, but I'd learn to do so bits and bobs yourself unless you want to become a pension scheme for your garage. I say this as some lease deals can be competitive these days once you factor in all of the costs
.R8Steve said:
I have an mot fail one of these sitting at a friends house (we bought it very cheap to steal some bits for my track car) so if you need any bits for it let me know. You can have them for free if you cover the postage.
If only I waited another week to buy a new sun roof handle. 
I may be interested in a few parts you may have, could you send me some pictures of inside and out?
Thanks.
AVV EM said:
R8Steve said:
I have an mot fail one of these sitting at a friends house (we bought it very cheap to steal some bits for my track car) so if you need any bits for it let me know. You can have them for free if you cover the postage.
If only I waited another week to buy a new sun roof handle. I may be interested in a few parts you may have, could you send me some pictures of inside and out?
Thanks.
I'm out of the country until the 27th but if you want to send me a list of what you need via pm I'll go round when I'm home and see what they're like for you and get you some pictures no problem.
It's nice to see the tone of the thread take a more positive turn.
We spent the weekend tootling around in the Clio and making light of the comically loud brake squeal that's developed in the last week and the loud "cracking" on steering at low speeds and engaging 1st gear (top mount?).
Neither are terminal for the car itself, but I don't really want to fix them either. We live in a terraced street on a steep hill and I have a very busy job and family life - so, unfortunately, home mechanics isn't practical for me.
The Clio's size and comfort are proving a great fit for the tight urban drives we do, so I'll definitely want to keep a 3.5-3.7m length car in the household - whether it's this one or not.
As someone has pointed out, there are some very competitive lease deals on city cars. £110ish per month is quite achievable, although matching this Clio's spec highlights would take it closer to £150pcm. My spreadsheets tell me that a base spec Fiat 500's overall costs would be c.£400 more per year than the Clio (assuming it lasts that long without a big bill). A potentially deciding factor is the business mileage I could do in a new car.
But - for now - I'm not making any decisions...and just enjoying trying to get my £217's worth from the car.
We spent the weekend tootling around in the Clio and making light of the comically loud brake squeal that's developed in the last week and the loud "cracking" on steering at low speeds and engaging 1st gear (top mount?).
Neither are terminal for the car itself, but I don't really want to fix them either. We live in a terraced street on a steep hill and I have a very busy job and family life - so, unfortunately, home mechanics isn't practical for me.
The Clio's size and comfort are proving a great fit for the tight urban drives we do, so I'll definitely want to keep a 3.5-3.7m length car in the household - whether it's this one or not.
As someone has pointed out, there are some very competitive lease deals on city cars. £110ish per month is quite achievable, although matching this Clio's spec highlights would take it closer to £150pcm. My spreadsheets tell me that a base spec Fiat 500's overall costs would be c.£400 more per year than the Clio (assuming it lasts that long without a big bill). A potentially deciding factor is the business mileage I could do in a new car.
But - for now - I'm not making any decisions...and just enjoying trying to get my £217's worth from the car.
To bring this thread to a close, I've sold the car.
Several of the car's mechanical issues built to the point where they needed doing and I didn't feel it was economic.
I put the £260 I got for the Clio towards another small, green car:
It's a 2012 Cooper with 15k on the clock. I suspect it's been smoked in, but otherwise it's a very sorted example with a decent spec.
Several of the car's mechanical issues built to the point where they needed doing and I didn't feel it was economic.
I put the £260 I got for the Clio towards another small, green car:
It's a 2012 Cooper with 15k on the clock. I suspect it's been smoked in, but otherwise it's a very sorted example with a decent spec.
Hi Ben, 123 is still alive, in my dads garage.
https://instagram.com/p/BOg_72XBdpE/
Kept him since you sold him to me.
https://instagram.com/p/BOg_72XBdpE/
Kept him since you sold him to me.
In a strange unfolding of events, a colleague of mine asked if I'd ever owned a green Clio. It turns out that his daughter had bought the car from a local trader - and was initially thrilled. He couldn't believe the coincidence that I was the former owner on the V5.
Anyway, after 3 weeks' ownership, the car died spectacularly. The engine seized while his daughter was driving in the fast lane - presumed to be oil starvation - and it was uneconomical to repair.
Seems that I dodged a bullet!
Anyway, after 3 weeks' ownership, the car died spectacularly. The engine seized while his daughter was driving in the fast lane - presumed to be oil starvation - and it was uneconomical to repair.
Seems that I dodged a bullet!
Basil Hume said:
In a strange unfolding of events, a colleague of mine asked if I'd ever owned a green Clio. It turns out that his daughter had bought the car from a local trader - and was initially thrilled. He couldn't believe the coincidence that I was the former owner on the V5.
Anyway, after 3 weeks' ownership, the car died spectacularly. The engine seized while his daughter was driving in the fast lane - presumed to be oil starvation - and it was uneconomical to repair.
Seems that I dodged a bullet!
Is the colleague now getting a bit cold towards you?Anyway, after 3 weeks' ownership, the car died spectacularly. The engine seized while his daughter was driving in the fast lane - presumed to be oil starvation - and it was uneconomical to repair.
Seems that I dodged a bullet!
You took good care of that car
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