The Joy of Running an Old Shed (Vol 2)
Discussion
aaron_2000 said:
Bet it's still in better shape than the Alhambra I went to see today. You could stick an inappropriate amount of fingers into the holes in the chassis rails. The high price of scrap has essentially killed off the price point I used to buy at (up to £400). Off to see a Sharan 1.8T Carat tomorrow if the price is right
...well it isnt brilliant.
Joey Deacon said:
We hired a car a couple of years ago and when we went to collect it it was a Renault Captur with the three cylinder petrol engine. Now don't get me wrong, my family all drive Renault Megane/Scenics with the 1.5 DCI engine so I am in no way biased against French cars.
But as soon as I pulled away I hated it, if I had been taking it for a test drive I would have got out there and then and handed back the keys. It wasn't the car as such I just absolutely hated the engine. First of all, as you say the engine was unrefined and gruff and I found it very difficult to change gear smoothly. It has absolutely zero power off boost so is difficult to pull away and then the turbo just starts to kick in when you change gear.
The ECO button was a joke, it was virtually undriveable with it on. 3 up on a dual carriageway on a slight incline with my foot welded to the floor in 5th it literally would not accelerate. It is not even as if you get decent fuel economy in return for a gutless engine, I think it struggled to get 40MPG when I can easily get 60 to 65 with the 1.5 DCI.
But as soon as I pulled away I hated it, if I had been taking it for a test drive I would have got out there and then and handed back the keys. It wasn't the car as such I just absolutely hated the engine. First of all, as you say the engine was unrefined and gruff and I found it very difficult to change gear smoothly. It has absolutely zero power off boost so is difficult to pull away and then the turbo just starts to kick in when you change gear.
The ECO button was a joke, it was virtually undriveable with it on. 3 up on a dual carriageway on a slight incline with my foot welded to the floor in 5th it literally would not accelerate. It is not even as if you get decent fuel economy in return for a gutless engine, I think it struggled to get 40MPG when I can easily get 60 to 65 with the 1.5 DCI.
Earlier this month I needed to hire a car to get me from Glasgow to Falmouth, around Cornwall for a week, then back to Glasgow - about 1800 miles all in. All I could get was a well used Citroen C3 Aircross - 1.2 3-cylinder engine. Makes an awful noise between 65-75mph, but discovered the tone is easier to listen to if you travel at 85mph, at that point you are doing 4000rpm and that's not pleasant for a 550 mile motorway journey. Funnily enough it's not good for fuel economy either.
It also had this strange foible where it seemed to blip the revs every time you dipped the clutch, ensuring every gearchange sounded horrendous.
Made me glad to hear my clattery 14yr-old 1.9tdi again.
magpie215 said:
aaron_2000 said:
Off to see a Sharan 1.8T Carat tomorrow if the price is right
Not sure if that a good engine option...dont they suffer from oil starvation issues?In other news grotrod has gone....im now officially shedless for the first time in about a decade.....
yellowbentines said:
Earlier this month I needed to hire a car to get me from Glasgow to Falmouth, around Cornwall for a week, then back to Glasgow - about 1800 miles all in. All I could get was a well used Citroen C3 Aircross - 1.2 3-cylinder engine. Makes an awful noise between 65-75mph, but discovered the tone is easier to listen to if you travel at 85mph, at that point you are doing 4000rpm and that's not pleasant for a 550 mile motorway journey. Funnily enough it's not good for fuel economy either.
It also had this strange foible where it seemed to blip the revs every time you dipped the clutch, ensuring every gearchange sounded horrendous.
Made me glad to hear my clattery 14yr-old 1.9tdi again.
I do building work and restoration stuff so always buy a shed, run it into the ground in a few years and then get another. Best by a long shot has been my trusty 2006 xc 90 - what an awesome shed. I even bought it dented on every panel including the roof so I really don’t have a care for it. Super comfy too. Boot is huge and the rear seats fold absolutely flat. Love it ! Had a couple of Jeep Grand Cherokees but I never got more than 18 months out of them before the electrics started playing up . . Volvo every time !
swanseaboydan said:
I do building work and restoration stuff so always buy a shed, run it into the ground in a few years and then get another. Best by a long shot has been my trusty 2006 xc 90 - what an awesome shed. I even bought it dented on every panel including the roof so I really don’t have a care for it. Super comfy too. Boot is huge and the rear seats fold absolutely flat. Love it ! Had a couple of Jeep Grand Cherokees but I never got more than 18 months out of them before the electrics started playing up . . Volvo every time !
Very close (one way train ticket bought) to getting one of these, but then bailed at the last minute due to fear of the famous geartronic box melting 3rd gear, bought the cheapest x5 on the internet instead...
magpie215 said:
aaron_2000 said:
Bet it's still in better shape than the Alhambra I went to see today. You could stick an inappropriate amount of fingers into the holes in the chassis rails. The high price of scrap has essentially killed off the price point I used to buy at (up to £400). Off to see a Sharan 1.8T Carat tomorrow if the price is right
...well it isnt brilliant.
waynecyclist said:
magpie215 said:
aaron_2000 said:
Off to see a Sharan 1.8T Carat tomorrow if the price is right
Not sure if that a good engine option...dont they suffer from oil starvation issues?In other news grotrod has gone....im now officially shedless for the first time in about a decade.....
Anyone able to offer some shed advice? I've found a Saab 9-3 estate for sale locally really cheap, the add states it's had the "DPF mapped out" and "EGR blanked off" as well as a "swirl flap delete", I'm tempted to get this as a run about for my parents but worried it wouldn't get through an MOT, would this require a "friendly MOT tester"?
Drezza said:
Anyone able to offer some shed advice? I've found a Saab 9-3 estate for sale locally really cheap, the add states it's had the "DPF mapped out" and "EGR blanked off" as well as a "swirl flap delete", I'm tempted to get this as a run about for my parents but worried it wouldn't get through an MOT, would this require a "friendly MOT tester"?
Anything thats had the DPF etc tampered with, I'd avoid with the largest of bargepoles. R50 BPS said:
Anything thats had the DPF etc tampered with, I'd avoid with the largest of bargepoles.
How come? More likely to have been abused? I've heard a few people do it to bypass all the emissions gubbins and get a bit more power, it's only £800 so if I could get 1 MOT out of it I'd be happy... Drezza said:
R50 BPS said:
Anything thats had the DPF etc tampered with, I'd avoid with the largest of bargepoles.
How come? More likely to have been abused? I've heard a few people do it to bypass all the emissions gubbins and get a bit more power, it's only £800 so if I could get 1 MOT out of it I'd be happy... 
Digby said:
No no no no! You can’t just say that, put up two photos and not give us more info..! Where does it live between winters, mileage, condition, any recommissioning activities/costs?
Because that looks way too nice to be a shed..!
Turns out there is reason that I couldn't find anything at the back end of the Pug, it's because the problem is actually at the front end it just sounded like it was knocking at the back, so shed will live to fight another MOT as its a track rod end at one side and a bottom arm on the other side, both cheap, happy days.
R50 BPS said:
Drezza said:
R50 BPS said:
Anything thats had the DPF etc tampered with, I'd avoid with the largest of bargepoles.
How come? More likely to have been abused? I've heard a few people do it to bypass all the emissions gubbins and get a bit more power, it's only £800 so if I could get 1 MOT out of it I'd be happy... 
Drezza said:
Anyone able to offer some shed advice? I've found a Saab 9-3 estate for sale locally really cheap, the add states it's had the "DPF mapped out" and "EGR blanked off" as well as a "swirl flap delete", I'm tempted to get this as a run about for my parents but worried it wouldn't get through an MOT, would this require a "friendly MOT tester"?
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