Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[bobins]

The trouble with phone and internet banking over good old fashioned cash is - in the very highly unlikely event of a global IT failure that causes all sorts of knock-on effects in the business world - you could be screwed if you haven't got cash in your pocket. But what are the chances of a global IT issue affecting businesses far and wide ?

[myglaren]

The trouble with phone and internet banking over good old fashioned cash is - in the very highly unlikely event of a global IT failure that causes all sorts of knock-on effects in the business world - you could be screwed if you haven't got cash in your pocket. But what are the chances of a global IT issue affecting businesses far and wide ?

Will never happen

It is the fault of The Falcon!*





.not Neil

[Gibbo2286]

Re the radiator problems, we used to send ours to Serck Services where they'd get a full recondition, new core etc are they still around for general work? I note there is Serck Motorsport.

[NewcastleFalcon]

.not Neil

Not this time! Hoping my Windows 10 laptop escapes...doesn't like updates, they always fall over for some minor misdemeanor and I never bother to research how to "get round it" on the basis that the update should be clever enough to rectify missing x,y or z and just work. Never heard of crowdstrike so hope my machine hasn't got it.

Neil

[Zelandeth]

Thanks very much to Jim and Mick for ferrying me over Boston way this afternoon. I am immensely grateful to both of them as it would have been an absolute pig of a journey to make by public transport, despite only being a couple of hours driving.

Reason I was heading over there was to look at and hopefully buy this thing.



Which did indeed appear as advertised, so money changed hands and we headed for home. Glad to report we made it with no issues aside from sluggish traffic the whole way.



Really haven't had a chance to look into things too much more as it was just too hot outside for me. Did snap a couple more pictures once I shuffled cars around though.

Would rather not be parking anything here as the tree drops all manner of gunk, but until we get the driveway extended something needs to go here. I figure it best be something with modern paint that is easier generally to clean.





Backing it in I made the discovery that this car has parking sensors. That's a first for me.



Likewise apparently powered folding mirrors. Oh and xenon headlights. Which do the whole pointing around corners thing. Cool.

Many buttons.



Might need to see if I can get some new knobs for the ventilation controls as they do have a bit of wear - because soft touch plastics of course made sense for items like this. I actually had to set the climate control there as when I had it just set to "cold" it was way too cold despite this nonsense going on outside.



There is apparently a Bluetooth module installed behind the stereo pretending to be the 10-disc CD changer, once I fathom out how to actually pair to it. May need to do some research there.

Overall the interior is quite a pleasant place to be.





Fancy segmented cover on the centre storage compartment.



Electric memory seats. Which apparently can be set up to automatically remember settings tied to different keys.



Only the second car I've ever owned with cruise.



I'm assuming this button signifies automatic wipers.



Let's see if they're any less brainless than any of the VW/Audi/Skoda examples I've seen.

Nice clear instrument cluster, pretty sure this can't be far before they started to get silly.

Overall the interior is a very nice place to be.





If like I was you were curious what the single square warning light at the bottom of the cluster was for - here's your answer.



Seems comfy enough in the back too. Two of the family don't actually know I've bought this yet, will be surprising them when I collect them from the airport on Sunday evening, letting them travel home in style and comfort.







Loads of room in the boot.



The fabric mats are in there too. Dogs should have plenty of room in there. A bit lower for them to get in to than the Partner too.

I think the first thing I really need to do now is read the handbook. Which is possibly the longest non multi-lingual factory handbook I've seen to date. There is a huge amount of "stuff" in this car which I'm likely to either take forever to figure out or even discover the existence of on my own.



Just a bit of paperwork with this one. A big folder like this coming with a car does always seem to give a bit of confidence.



Which includes the original new vehicle order form.



Along with what may well be the brochure the original buyer looked at proof to buying it.



I'll spend a bit more time with it tomorrow hopefully and see what little things I want to do, but my initial impressions are very good. Seats are supremely comfortable. Ride could be a bit more compliant, but it's entirely acceptable and the seats are soft enough that they absorb a lot too. Very quiet, accompanied by the always pleasant gentle thrum of a five cylinder engine. Doesn't seem to hang around either.

Aside from the Pug 107 I bought new, this is the most expensive car I've ever bought. It does feel though like a cut above anything I've ever really considered before.

Looking forward to getting to know it a bit better.

[CitroJim]

Excellent! Great to see you yesterday Zel and it was a tremendous day out

Delighted tie Volvo is all good.. It certainly looks good

[Hell Razor5543]

That appears to be a limousine masquerading as an estate car! It is a shame that Volvo has announced that they will stop making estate cars, which (in my opinion) is a stupid decision, as they are so good at them.

[myglaren]

That all looks very sensible and a workmanlike layout. Shouldn't take too long to get to grips with it.

[bobins]

What with the Rover and now this, I think you just need to just do the sensible thing and order in a 5 gallon vat of leather conditioner

[CitroJim]

That appears to be a limousine masquerading as an estate car! It is a shame that Volvo has announced that they will stop making estate cars, which (in my opinion) is a stupid decision, as they are so good at them.

Amen to that...

[myglaren]

Exactly what my youngest was saying yesterday, she was after swiping some 19 mm, thick plastic sheet that I have here. Her employer has a fleet of hybrid Volvo SUVs and she often transports coffins and corpses in them but complains that they are far from being ideally suited to the transportation of such items and wants to make some hinged flooring of the plastic to account for seat configuration and the load they are carrying. Easier to slide a coffin on the plastic sheet that the carpeting that is currently there. Said a Volvo estate would be far preferable.

She does find them nice to drive in electric mode, almost silent.

[MattBLancs]

Exactly what my youngest was saying yesterday, she was after swiping some 19 mm, thick plastic sheet that I have here. Her employer has a fleet of hybrid Volvo SUVs and she often transports coffins and corpses in them but complains that they are far from being ideally suited to the transportation of such items and wants to make some hinged flooring of the plastic to account for seat configuration and the load they are carrying. Easier to slide a coffin on the plastic sheet that the carpeting that is currently there. Said a Volvo estate would be far preferable.

She does find them nice to drive in electric mode, almost silent.

Errrrm, isn't there a whole segment of, admittedly custom built and I guess expensive, vehicles specifically designed for such cargo!?

[MattBLancs]

Your new car looks great Zel,

Ride comfort: could you swap the wheels (as I'm in the process of doing on my 308 18" down to 16") and gain some nice cushioning sidewall depth?

[myglaren]

Errrrm, isn't there a whole segment of, admittedly custom built and I guess expensive, vehicles specifically designed for such cargo!?

Well yes and they do have such carriages but these are supposedly discreet for transporting coffins from the coffin factory and bodies from hospitals. They don't like to use the hearses for that duty.
Her former employers had a transity van that was ideal.

[bobins]

Can't they sub-contract the job of collection and delivery of the boxes to Amazon Prime ? They seem to have that side of the market fairly well sorted ?