MikeT's Rescue C3 1.4hdi

[MikeT]

I've now got the quote down to just over £200, pretty much inline with the C5 premium. And again, the top quote (least cost) is my own insurer.
Amazing what a difference (almost £100!) a day makes, eh?

[GiveMeABreak]

Also - you want to watch the timing Mike - if you were to leave the insurance start date for at least 1-2 weeks (better 2), then do your search the prices all miraculously come down. I got caught like that 2 years ago when my MOT, TAX and Insurance got out of synch - and I realised my insurance was due to expire in a day. The previous quote I had from the comparison sites has expired and when re-run, the bu**ers raised the premiums about £60-£70.

So I wasn't desperate and decided to keep her off road for a fortnight - re-ran the quotes and the price came right back down to where it was supposed to be. Profiteering again - but not out of me!

[MikeT]

Exactly that Marc. One of the money expert sites says to get your quote in about 3-4 weeks before renewal.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, I did that - but for some reason getting the MOT done earlier one year threw everything out - and when I went to retrieve the quote - they said it had expired! Yeh, right!

[MikeT]

After calling them, seems like I've got myself a multi-car policy as from tomorrow!
Not sure how that will pan out come renewal time but it got the premium down to an agreeable level (ie, less than the C5).

[MikeT]

So today (I got the car in August!) I finally got to drive it! Since the MOT owner offered to buy it off me, I've been itching to have a go.

There were a couple of niggling doubts due to the charging issue mentioned above and wondering if I was going to get a tug off an ANPR car (if the MID hasn't updated yet) but it was an all round ok experience. Obviously a different beast to the C5, down on power but more agile around the twisties.

Initially, I felt the seat was more comfortable but as the drive progressed, I was slowly changing my mind. It's also not so well sound-proofed and the radio struggled to make that any better.
I don't know what the CD is in it, but I'm not surprised it doesn't want to come out because I certainly won't be putting it back in!!

The brakes are, um, crisper? I haven't tried an emergency stop yet, mind. The handbrake barely needs moving to apply. The gear shift is a bit vague but I haven't mis-shifted yet. Clutch bite is higher but the gearing is good as it showed an indicated 72mph in 5th at 2Krpm.

In my mind, the torque is flatter, there's no noticeable push like the C5 when floored but with less weight it accelerates ok-ish for 40 less horses. There was no obvious smoke when booted though at night might be a different story. I cleared down the Excessive EGR Flow fault to see if it returns and as if to contradict that, Lexia was showing live data of 5% OCR while copy reported 0%. Might be sticking?

Two of the injectors were also reporting 105% correction which sounds a bit off? Perhaps a shot of Millers might improve that. The air filter is very new-looking as I had cause to remove it yesterday but no idea if the fuel filter got replaced as well, or the oil/filter. I also don't know if it's had a new timing belt, at 92K and 14 years old I hope so! As mentioned above, it's had new brake fluid, the coolant looks bright and fresh and there's quality screenwash in the bottle. All good indicators ime.