Davie's french attraction.

[daviemck2006]

So today Gabby got two Vredestien wintrac extreme 205/50x17 on the front. My mate bought them new last year and never even got them fitted. He now has a different car and they were no use to him. He paid £186 for them. He has more money than sence, he was going to put them on gumtree for £50. I handed over the £50 even though I didnt need tyres. £20 to fit and balance them. I know all the arguements about only two winters and two summers, but the uniroyals on the back are still like new, the fronts were half used having been on the front of the activa previously.

Tomorrow I am expecting a parcel which should help me diagnose bigpug. She has sat neglected for weeks now. Ive not even thought I have been missing her, so good is gabby.

[bxzx16v]

Hope you get Bigpug sorted Davie.

Mark

[Fake Concern]

Bargain tyres!
Hope you have more luck with the Lexia than I have Davie!

[daviemck2006]

Im expecting that it will be monday before I play with lexia. Tomorrow I need to investigate the heater fan on Gabby, Im hoping its just the big brown plug slack, as not having the fan is not good, carrying hot food when its cold and at town speeds it mists up rapidly and the fan gets a lot of use, Saturday is a full day every week for me, and Sunday I will be watching the grand prix. Plus its meant to be seriously cold and wintery here.

[daviemck2006]

So Shaun is having to learn the hard way. When he bought the mx5 he was out for a spin after the v5 was sent away and before he taxed it. Ping went an ANPR so he got a £110 fine. So the car was taxed twice for October as well as a fine. DVLA money-making, but it’s his own fault, he knows the rules even though those rules are crap. He came home tonight having got nicked again. Since I’ve had Gabby I have not been in the 107. He has had a headlight out for more than a week, and he reversed into a fence and broke a back light. Local copper stopped him, two £60 tickets. It’s his own fault, I have stopped sorting him out, he is old enough to sort himself. And I have no sympathy for him, if a headlight bulb fuses you replace it. If you break a back light at least bodge it with lens tape until you get a new light, selling on eBay for a tenner! He is lucky there’s no points for these offences, as long as he pays up within the time and gets a garage to stamp a ticket saying it’s fixed. I have a very silly son who abuses his cars. I am not caring now, he is 23, knows about cars so he needs to stop being so bloody lazy. Had we still be sharing the 107 then O would have replaced the bulb and light, not now!

[Michel]

I have a very silly son who abuses his cars.

You've also got a local police force who do themselves no favours in handing out fines to youngsters rather than a bollocking and telling them to get it sorted asap. For example, I got stopped for "making time" two Sunday mornings ago, in the ST on the A404. Put it this way, while I was getting a bollocking, I was working out in my head that the money for the remap would be spent on a fine instead, and also working out how to get to work while I was banned..

"It's your lucky day sir, it's a nice car, but slow down... have a nice day.."

I suspect being a beardy 44 year old was not what he expected to find driving such a thing, not one coming home off a night shift still wearing a work security pass..

[daviemck2006]

The lexia has not arrived on Friday as expected so mo playing with it.

I thought that Gabby had abs. Turns out she hasnt. How do I know? For the first time in my driving carreer, 36&1/2 years I locked up the wheels and ran up the arse of another car. I was just about stopped, and just knocked the numberplate off and cracked one of the bits between the headlight and bumper. The other car, an Alfa 147 just the black bumper insert unclipped, and pushed back in. Had gabby had ABS I would have stopped. Still I am annoyed with myself though.

[CitroJim]

Sorry to hear that Davie... No, gabby is a rare non-ABS model and I used to value her for that as fewer bits to go wrong. Shame it caused some minor damage though

My first Xantia had duff ABS (and a bypassed light) and I found out just how easily you can lock all four wheels... My view then was that ABS was almost essential on a Xantia if it was driven with any degree of verve...

Latterly, it was never a problem as I didn't drive fast enough, far enough or hard enough to ever need it... Never once when I had Gabriel did I come even close to locking her up under braking despite some quite heavy (by my standards) applications in semi-emergency conditions...

[daviemck2006]

It was 100% my fault, not concentrating. It just shows even folk with a commended advanced driving qualification can lose concentration and make mistakes. I must be human after all!

[CitroJim]

I must be human after all!

Davie, that was never in doubt; not even for a split pico-second

[daviemck2006]

The Lexia has not turned up yet, I am offically pissed off. Big pug is an expensive ornament sitting on the street. Gabby has been doing all my mileage for the last few weeks, apart from one day I had lilpug out. She started first kick and ran beautifully. Gabby doing about 500 miles a week! She is now at 213000, so thats 3500 miles I have done in her in total reliability and comfort. Thats probably a whole year of Jims motoring! I recall Jim was going to do the clutch and heater matrix. The clutch is still perfect, if has actually lightened up since I took charge of her, and is nice and smooth and progressive. And its getting hard use, as most mileage is stop start stuff. The heater is working fine, just an occasional whiff while warming up, but she uses no coolant. The heating fan played up but must have been just a loose connection on the brown plug, a thump restored it, and an inspection revealed nothing amiss. She is a bloody good car, much better than her age and mileage suggests. The weather here has been crap for weeks, cant get anything done outside so its as well Gabby is so good. My lock up has no power or light and not big enough to do anything in, it is just a lock up. The bad weather is affecting me badly, Im feel far older and decrepit than gabby is, just really managing to do my three x four hours work a week, which is incredibly busy, and not much else.

[CitroJim]

Davie, excellent news on Gabby Yes, 3500 miles is very much my annual mileage across all my cars

[daviemck2006]

Gabby is going to be painted, I dont know when, but the paint has just been ordered. There will not be a xantia the same in the whole world

[CitroJim]

Gabby is going to be painted, I dont know when, but the paint has just been ordered. There will not be a xantia the same in the whole world

Wow! Excellent! She's very much worth it

I shall be waiting with great excitement to see what colour that is

[Hell Razor5543]

I wonder if she will be anything like CGAT?