The Joy of Running an Old Shed

[CDP]

Joey Deacon said:

I have had my "temporary" Megane DCi for three and a half years now and I can agree with this. I paid £1200 and aside from oil and filters it has had a set of tyres, a set of glow plugs, a battery (the original one was 14 years old) and front brake pads.

It seems to be that if a French car suffers from something minor like a broken window regulator then it is "french crap". If a German car with it's thin veneer or quality suffers from massive oil consumption (Audi), stretched cam chain (All of them), Injector Issues (BMW petrol) or requires big end bearings replaced (BMW M cars) then this is just accepted.

There still seems to be this myth of "German Reliability" even though there is no end of stories on the internet of German cars suffering catastrophic engine failures at under ten years old.

Give me a heavily depreciated second hand Renault any day.

I really don't rate German or Japanese reliability to be better or worse than British or French. Most of them are buying components from the same (small) batch of suppliers these days.

Some of the cheaper cars have interiors that wear faster and some aren't as well protected against rust.

[anonymous-user]

CDP said:

Joey Deacon said:

I have had my "temporary" Megane DCi for three and a half years now and I can agree with this. I paid £1200 and aside from oil and filters it has had a set of tyres, a set of glow plugs, a battery (the original one was 14 years old) and front brake pads.

It seems to be that if a French car suffers from something minor like a broken window regulator then it is "french crap". If a German car with it's thin veneer or quality suffers from massive oil consumption (Audi), stretched cam chain (All of them), Injector Issues (BMW petrol) or requires big end bearings replaced (BMW M cars) then this is just accepted.

There still seems to be this myth of "German Reliability" even though there is no end of stories on the internet of German cars suffering catastrophic engine failures at under ten years old.

Give me a heavily depreciated second hand Renault any day.

I really don't rate German or Japanese reliability to be better or worse than British or French. Most of them are buying components from the same (small) batch of suppliers these days.

Some of the cheaper cars have interiors that wear faster and some aren't as well protected against rust.

I think this myth came about because back in the day Mercedes Benz especially used tried and tested technology in their cars that was known to stand the test of time. Then around the early to mid nineties the accountants decided the cars were needlessly over engineered and lasted too long and that was no way to run a profit making business so instead let's trade off the past glories of superbly engineered machines and sell inferior products with the same badge.

The result from all that is what we have today, largely big, complex, cheaply made showy saloons and 4wd that have the appearance of past glories but scratch beneath the surface and you will, find that in quality of engineering integrity they are no better than any mainstream manufacturer and because of the complexity in a lot of cases worse.

Sure if you move in certain circles the first questions that are asked are what do you do for a living and what car do you drive, if the answer is Mercedes, BMW or Audi then you belong. If as Jaguar Steve says you have reached the point of getting past all of that then you can quite happily run a shed without a care in the world as to what others think.

[Jaguar steve]

giblet said:

I keep looking at old V8 sheds as I do very little miles these days. It’s the faff of selling my current car that puts me off

I have a old petrol V8.

I'm so accustomed to 65MPG and not giving a toss about dirt or dents or worrying about where I park with my shed that I hardly ever use it.

[giblet]

I used to have a X308 XJR as a daily, usually managed 16mpg on a good day and a lot lower on a bad day. Would have another in a heartbeat but sadly they have skyrocketed in price.

Also owned a few larger 5.0 V8s in the form of two different Lexus ISFs and a very thirsty modified Evo X so I’m familiar and comfortable with heavy fuel costs

[Majorslow]

James_N said:

So I have a slow puncture (goes flatish every few weeks to around 8PSI) on one of my rear 1,000 old budget tyres. But have a good electric 12 volt pump in the boot. A few mins with that sees it right.

Is it wrong to just keep putting air in it for now (especially given my covid very low mileage!)

Could be a nail/screw in it. take it off and have a really good look at it. I had similar a couple of years ago and found a broken off nail in mine, hence really slow release of air

[James_N]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Mate of mine works in the local tyre place so I'll pop in one afternoon and get him to have a look

[psi310398]

SidewaysSi said:

Do you crash for fun?!

I’ve driven tens of thousands of miles since 1981 (many on the wrong side of the road IYSWIM) and have only been in five accidents in that time, only one of which was down to me.

I’ve been hit by two pissed up French people, one Italian and one Brit.

But, on balance, I’d rather avoid playing dodgems as I really don’t like funding insurance companies any more than I have to

[Truckosaurus]

James_N said:

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Mate of mine works in the local tyre place so I'll pop in one afternoon and get him to have a look

Even at non-mates rates it is cheap to repair a tyre, saves faffing about with a pump every few days, let alone the safety aspect.

[Captain Answer]

giblet said:

I used to have a X308 XJR as a daily, usually managed 16mpg on a good day and a lot lower on a bad day. Would have another in a heartbeat but sadly they have skyrocketed in price.

Also owned a few larger 5.0 V8s in the form of two different Lexus ISFs and a very thirsty modified Evo X so I’m familiar and comfortable with heavy fuel costs

Think I was lucky to hit 14MPG as a maximum on my XJ12 - I stopped working out the MPG shortly after getting the car

SAAB 9-3 Aero with Stage Three tune would bit between 14 & 20 MPG, had same engine in a 9-5 Auto running a stage one which got around the same but that was LPG so that helped a bit

[giblet]

Captain Answer said:

Think I was lucky to hit 14MPG as a maximum on my XJ12 - I stopped working out the MPG shortly after getting the car

SAAB 9-3 Aero with Stage Three tune would bit between 14 & 20 MPG, had same engine in a 9-5 Auto running a stage one which got around the same but that was LPG so that helped a bit

XJ12 has been on my lost of cars to own for years. My 9-3 aero has managed a dire 25mpg over around 11k miles. Might have to Noobtune it at some point

[cedrichn]

Joey Deacon said:

I have had my "temporary" Megane DCi for three and a half years now and I can agree with this. I paid £1200 and aside from oil and filters it has had a set of tyres, a set of glow plugs, a battery (the original one was 14 years old) and front brake pads.

It seems to be that if a French car suffers from something minor like a broken window regulator then it is "french crap". If a German car with it's thin veneer or quality suffers from massive oil consumption (Audi), stretched cam chain (All of them), Injector Issues (BMW petrol) or requires big end bearings replaced (BMW M cars) then this is just accepted.

There still seems to be this myth of "German Reliability" even though there is no end of stories on the internet of German cars suffering catastrophic engine failures at under ten years old.

Give me a heavily depreciated second hand Renault any day.

Agree with that. But don't tell it too much, otherwise they will go up in prices !

After, you also need to take into consideration that BMW and Mercedes are much more "driver's cars" with longitudinal engines and being RWD. French are front-heavy, with often non-precise gearbox linkages, let alone the automatic gearbox always being 10 years older technology than the German's. But if you have a toy aside or drive more comfy than sporty, then they are great. But chuuuuuut

[cedrichn]

James_N said:

So I have a slow puncture (goes flatish every few weeks to around 8PSI) on one of my rear 1,000 old budget tyres. But have a good electric 12 volt pump in the boot. A few mins with that sees it right.

Is it wrong to just keep putting air in it for now (especially given my covid very low mileage!)

Just got the same on mine ! On the back axle, where I have one old and one new tyre from PO. "hopefully", it is on the new tyre, so:
- I drive with the spare wheel - which is the age of the car / looks new - because IT IS a real tyre and wheel (yes I know, old rubber is crap...)
- I ordered a puncture repair kit on internet to (hopefully) fix it myself for £14 (tools + several rubber band, so "hopefully" will be re-used)
- "Hopefully", the kit will not arrive soon, so I have a great reason to run the spare wheel with the old tyre, and when the old tyre will be scrapped, I can just bought one tyre to match the "new one which is flat" and get a new set of tyre for the price of only one tyre !

But... the OH uses the car sometimes, so this theory might not work too long... Can't let her going to work with an old rubber and one black wheel with yellow safety stickers on it :/

Edited by cedrichn on Wednesday 3rd March 10:58

[mercedeslimos]

I bought a manual tyre changer. Think it was about 55 quid off eBay. For me, that's only 11 punctures or tyre swaps. For anything 16"+ I've got a buddy who works in a tyre centre about 30 miles away and he does all my tracking and my "nice" wheels.

The machine is great for steelies, have a set of 16" balloons for (most of the) winter and the roads are too bad to run my 18" winter alloys. eBay tyre repair kits (haven't had to use them yet), washing-up-liquid as tyre lube instead of the solid soap, and an unregulated flow from the compressor to seat the beads (I use a blow gun with a tyre nozzle mounted to it). I don't bother to balance steelies and they generally run OK, the roads are like the surface of the moon in winter as it's so wet here anyway. I have it mounted to a corner of the drive and I bought a few 2' tyre bars in the army surplus shop. I can do it single-handedly with 3 tyre irons and it's a free and easy service, my local town is 15 miles away. Also, I keep a stash of the tyre repair foam cans (2/3 quid in Lidl - or the quid ones from Poundland) for anything that needs some help - one of those is still helping my parents' set of summer wheels hold air (though they are off the car in the shed for now) after a pothole bent the rim ever so slightly.

When I move house to a forever home (and build a large-enough shed) I'm going to buy a secondhand single-phase changer and balancer, so I can do all my wheels, you can pick up the set for about a grand, and for me, it's the satisfaction of having every single thing I need for the upkeep and repair of my vehicles at home.

[Captain Answer]

giblet said:

XJ12 has been on my lost of cars to own for years

Great car to waft about in, not so much the costs on getting them fixed or filling with petrol

That said I would have another or maybe a newer XJ (358 or 251) but a saloon wouldn't be suitable for me currently

I did view 2 X-Types last year but both were pretty gone in the sills with rust

Definatly do get your SAAB tuned by Karl at Noobtune, top bloke and makes a huge change to the car

[magpie215]

Mot imminent for mk2 Galaxy...now christened Mr Grumbly due to the noisy DMF.

Its a bit of a balancing act deciding on what is a sensible amount to spend on it to get it through the test.

There are a couple of ticking time bombs the DMF and also no history of when the cambelt last got done.

[sbarclay62]

sbarclay62 said:

Ladies and gents

Going to be given a Toyota Yaris. 55 plate, 110k on the clock, 1.3l colour collection VVT-I.

My mums had it 2.5 years but fancies something bigger for the grandkids.

Needs a tyre, there's a hole in the exhaust and MOT due and i'll probably get an oil and filter change.

What do you think is the most I should spend on it? I'm thinking £500 seeing as the car is not costing me a penny. Not advisories on the MOT and hardly moved in 11 months 'cos of covid although don't know if thats good or bad.

Would this be economically viable do you think?

I've never MOT'd a car or ran anything older than 3 years as previously all cars were company ones.

Edited by sbarclay62 on Tuesday 9th February 10:01

£485 for a new battery, oil and filter change, 2 new tyres, front exhaust pipe, MOT cert and the work to get it through the MOT. Wee pot of touch up paint for a tiny bit of rust and a good scrub inside and out and sorted. Really happy with that.

[ooid]

sbarclay62 said:

£485 for a new battery, oil and filter change, 2 new tyres, front exhaust pipe, MOT cert and the work to get it through the MOT. Wee pot of touch up paint for a tiny bit of rust and a good scrub inside and out and sorted. Really happy with that.

Enjoy that cheeky Yaris now for the next 5 years without any hassle.

[CDP]

mercedeslimos said:

I bought a manual tyre changer. Think it was about 55 quid off eBay. For me, that's only 11 punctures or tyre swaps..

While I can understand the convenience I think a manual changer (and balancer) is taking the DIY a bit too far.

[anonymous-user]

cedrichn said:

Joey Deacon said:

I have had my "temporary" Megane DCi for three and a half years now and I can agree with this. I paid £1200 and aside from oil and filters it has had a set of tyres, a set of glow plugs, a battery (the original one was 14 years old) and front brake pads.

It seems to be that if a French car suffers from something minor like a broken window regulator then it is "french crap". If a German car with it's thin veneer or quality suffers from massive oil consumption (Audi), stretched cam chain (All of them), Injector Issues (BMW petrol) or requires big end bearings replaced (BMW M cars) then this is just accepted.

There still seems to be this myth of "German Reliability" even though there is no end of stories on the internet of German cars suffering catastrophic engine failures at under ten years old.

Give me a heavily depreciated second hand Renault any day.

Agree with that. But don't tell it too much, otherwise they will go up in prices !

After, you also need to take into consideration that BMW and Mercedes are much more "driver's cars" with longitudinal engines and being RWD. French are front-heavy, with often non-precise gearbox linkages, let alone the automatic gearbox always being 10 years older technology than the German's. But if you have a toy aside or drive more comfy than sporty, then they are great. But chuuuuuut

What exactly does the term "drivers car" mean? It annoys me as much today as it did the first time I heard some pubescent motoring journalist spew it from his mouth years ago.

If it means a car that is continually ragged within an inch of its life every journey then the focus should be on the driver more than the car and there are many adjectives that I could use to describe such an individual.

Coining terms like "drivers car" , "corners like its on rails" and the like are advertising slogans designed to hook the aspirational and gullible.

[200Plus Club]

Happy days as the old Corrolla returns to the fold. Bought back the 1.6 auto petrol for £220 for my elderly aunt. Runs perfect, 5 month mot, needs nothing doing. Was serviced when I sold it 7 months ago. I'd say it's got another 5 years at least left in it given it's still only done 85k from new and she does maybe 4k a year !
Tax for year was more than cost of car but she's very happy as it's really easy to drive and was freshly valeted too!