Davie's french attraction.

[myglaren]

That's a bugger Davie.

[mickthemaverick]

Unlucky Davie, to have it written off as a result of light damage!!

[daviemck2006]

It is worse than it looks. The pole went behind the wheel, busted the brake line, damaged the steering rack and bent the chassis rail a bit, which in turn busted the fuse box which resides on that inner wing. So counting up that lot, and considering it's a 13 year old van with over 200k on it it's maybe not a surprise it got written off. It's OK though, insurance companies have been good to me this year. I had the bonus from a 7 year old extra payment a month or so ago, and I will get quite a bit more for this than I paid for it last year. No complaints from me about insurance companies this year!

[daviemck2006]

6 weeks after saying goodbye to my camper a purchase has been done. I now own a citroen again. It's a 2014 dispatch l2h2 2.0hdi van. That makes it quite rare for a dispatch having the higher roof. It's high enough to stand up in. It's ply lined but nothing else. Good points, it looks rust free, it is the high roof. It is a perfect size to make into a mini camper for myself. It's a 2.0 not 1.6. It's 6 speed. Done 125000 miles, got some service history. Bad points, gear change is very poor, probably needs gear cables, all 3 rear door handles are broken, very common and only 11 quid each off ebay, slight blow in exhaust, was used by last owner solely to take dogs out walkies and looks as if it has never been properly cleaned, a quick sweep out and that's it. Can smell the dogs in it.

So it was very cheap, less than 1/2 the price of similar vans. A small amount of fettling and it should be good. A much better sized van than the relay was. Only thing is my insurance for it is now quite high having had a claim 6 weeks ago. Oh well as the saying goes sh1t happens. I will try not to go pole dancing with it lol

[Hell Razor5543]

Did you also meet up with The Doctor and his Tardis, Davie? It is good to know that Citroen will last for the better part of a millennium!

[CitroJim]

Great to hear from you Davie Welcome back to the fold!

[daviemck2006]

Did you also meet up with The Doctor and his Tardis, Davie? It is good to know that Citroen will last for the better part of a millennium!

Ha ha spotted the typo then. More than I did!

[daviemck2006]

Well the list of jobs needing done to my "new" van.
A big clean
Gear change cables needing replaced
Both sliding door exterior handles needing replaced
Rear door catch needing adjusted
Dpf needing cleaned or replaced
Driveshaft clicking on full lock.
That seems to be about it. I may throw it at a garage to do gear cables and driveshaft and chuck some snake oil in the fuel to see if it will help with the dpf. Otherwise it seems a sound van, it starts on the button, engine clutch and gearbox seems good apart from stiff gear change, and minimal rust. It may get converted into a mini one person basic camper. Being the high roof and able to stand up in it is a massive advantage for that.

[daviemck2006]

I keep forgetting to update this. Tha van has replacement gear cables and replacement door handles so that's fixed. The dpf got removed and "cleaned" and refitted with a new flexi joint. New driveshaft bought but not fitted yet. Then came a visit to my usual mot man, who is retiring and the mot station is closing at the end of October. It failed. Front discs and pads, front springs broken, both of and one drop link. Plus the new clamp holding the front of the flexi on fell off on the way to the test, and the Eolys tank is hanging off the underside. It was 3 weeks ago that it failed, and I attempted to get the struts off but 12 year u touched bolts were not for moving by my depleted body. I ran into the usual here, not one local garage would take it in for 4 weeks. So it's now languishing in my garden awaiting repair. I also bought an elderly golf gttdi 150 needing recommissioning which has now happened and is mot, tax and insured. It's in really good condition, no rust and the motman said its the cleanest mk4 underneath he has seen for many years. It's a pity a previous owner scraped the whole passenger side along the wall marking both bumpers front wing, rear wheel arch and one door. Not particularly bad but bad enough to get a quote of £1500 to fixing. It's not getting fixed this year now, it may get it done in the spring if it's mechanically sound.

[CitroJim]

Good to hear from you Davie

Sorry to hear of all the issues with the van

[Gibbo2286]

When the garage says "Not for four weeks." it might be an idea to have a quiet word with the mechanics to see if any of them do 'foreigners' i.e. top up their pay by working at home.

[daviemck2006]

Gosh, it's awhile since I last posted on here. I see on Facebook that it's 7 years ago today that I bought my last c5. That was the 07 plate white one that got written off for a small bump. IIRC I paid £900 for it. I do not think I would get a similar aged or condition car with a mot for anything like that now! It was a good car, and in some respects I wish I still had a c5 of that vintage or older.

My news now. My daughters car passed mot today with advisories for two tyres being perished. Said tyres were fitted by the seat main dealer she bought the car from. They have done about 15k on the back, still have nearly full tread. They are Avons. It had davantis on the front when s0he bought it, don't know how old they are but they are about 1/2 worn, and no cracking or perishing. So the Avon will get chucked and certainly won't get Avon again.

My Citroën dispatched is only now chucked at a garage to get sorted out and a MOT. I do not know if it will be kept or not.

I have two vehicles which are on the road.

2002 vw golf gttdi which I bought about a year and a half ago as a non runner fixer upper. It's a very high spec car, must have been an expensive one new. I think every option must have been ticked. It took a long time to get it up and running. And far too much money too. However it is now driving perfectly and is now back to standard spec. It needed a starter, then a turbo. It blew the turbo again after very few miles. I got a local, respected remapper to take a look at it, it turns out that it had a rubbish remap on it so he then mapped it back to the standard map. It's the 1.9td 150 engine, and to be honest I do not know how anyone would want or need any more on this car. It has slight turbo lag under 1800 revs, but keep it in the mid range between 1800 and 3000 revs and it's a flyer. No need for more revs than that. It also returns nearly 50mpg consistently. I find myself taking it by choice, as long as my back and legs aren't too bad.

2019 skoda karoq just keeps doing as it should do. It's a boring drive though, the steering is too light with no feel, it's auto with different driving modes which makes absolutely no difference to the driving, it's got auto lights and wipers and stop start and God knows how many other electronics to go wrong as the car gets older. It's due service and mot soon I expect that to be painless.

Me! My health is not great nowadays. I'm only 61 but sometimes I think I must be a lot older. I'm not capable now of twirling spanners, which is why I have the Skoda. I struggle to get in and out of the golf with it's recaro seats and it's too close to the ground. Once in it though it is really comfortable and good to drive, and yes that's not really what most folk think about a mk4 golf! The dispatch would probably suit me better for a spare car, easier in and out. Either the golf or the dispatch will be going in the near future. Once the van is tested I will put a short term insurance on it and run it for a few weeks before I make up my mind. I now qualify for a motability car, but I would rather at the moment keep the skoda as long as it's working well. But as always this being me, all is subject to change!

[myglaren]

Nice to see you posting again Davie.

Re:- your Avon tyres, there are similar complaints on autoshite.

[daviemck2006]

I've had a new to me peugeot boxer for 3 weeks now. It was cheap, it has some minor issues to deal with. First and most pressing was it needing two front tyres. I, and my usual tyreshop could hardly believe they had passed a mot 200 miles earlier. Duly replaced with two correctly rated budget tyres. I don't normally buy budgets but as I have also had a new bathroom fitted money was a bit tight. Oe front brake is sticky, a new caliper is on order. The passenger window is not working, my last relay van had this problem, it was the switch panel on the drivers door that was at fault on it. I shall try the same fix, the panel is not expensive.

I haven't described the van yet. It's a 2016 swb low roof 6 seater window van. It's bought for two specific purposes. I now have a motability scooter as I am unable to walk great distances. It would not fit into the skoda, and fits perfectly in the rear of the van. It will also become my tow vehicle for the caravan. The skoda being auto and only a 1.6td struggles at time with the caravan being fully loaded and 3 adults and two kids in the car. It is OK when I go away myself. So the boxer will be the two car, much more room for the growing kids, mum, dad and granda.

The boxer seems as it has been well looked after, although I have no service history. There's no bashes or scrapes on the body, very little rust. There was another for sale at £2000 more from another seller which was one digit different in the numberplate which had full history. Both were from the same large building company and both just over 106k on the clock. It's abit dusty, but not had big loads in it. Presumably used to ferry builders to the houses they were building. The golf has left my care, I actually loved driving that car, it ended up a well sorted car mechanically, and better to drive than the skoda which is staying. And it averaged 63mpg in my care! However it was a pain in the ass, literally, together in and out of. Driving the van about is good, I love the height and visibility. Pics will be added in the near future.

All other cars in the family doing as they should, including daughter 2s C1, coming upto it's 15th birthday and bought by me as a cat n write-off 7 years ago and only needed a £20 steering tie rod to fix it. There is still slight damage to the wing and don't bumper, and I mean slight. It only exists to take her to work, and kids to school, beach, activities and is rarely out of town. They thought about getting a newer car last wear when it needed a front subframe and the usual c1 sill welds for it's mot, but the price of small city cars up here are ridiculously expensive so they are keeping it until it dies!

[CitroJim]

Excellent Great to hear from you Davie

Good to hear the C1 is still going. I still say they were one of the greatest small cars of the 2000s - truly the spiritual successor of the AX..

Is it Ok to tow with a big white van these days? Back when we had our touring 'van a lot of campsites would refuse entry to anyone towing with a white 'Trannie-type vehicle.

I'm sure without me needing to spell it out, you can determine why. I suppose in our current inclusive climate, such discrimination would now have consequences...