The last two years, winter here in UK had been abnormally "harsh". For several weeks, snow blankets covered large parts of the country, and much of the traffic was at a standstill or only moved slowly. So how will it be this winter? Could this be a part of the general climate change, or were these winters just freak random events, which will be compensated by this years record-warm winter?
The press had made wild predictions about another snowy winter, but they have really no clue - weather cannot be predicted for a longer period than 3 days, and in recent weeks I have even got my doubts about the ability of weather forecasters for this short period. Nobody knows. But this year, I am actually less worried. Why? This year I got winter tyres on my car.
These past winters I just had the same summer tyres on my vehicle for the whole year. And yes, the car did slide all over the place on those un-cleaned side roads with their snow-covered ice. Nobody here in the UK drives with winter tyres: there is usually no necessity to put on winter tyres for those two days of some wet snow drizzle. But the last two winters have shown that winter in UK can also be different. When I lived in Germany, we did have lots of snow in winter, and I always had put on winter tyres because they really provided better traction, cornering, and stopping. Now since recently, it is actually compulsory in Germany to put on winter tyres. These tyres in general really work already better in any condition from below 7 deg C, so this should be fine on many days in the UK winter too.
Since October, there has been some awareness campaign by tyre retailers to convince customers to buy winter tyres. The only problem is: there are almost no winter tyres available anywhere. I did check the major tyrer retailers, and they do have either no winter tyres at all, of maybe one single noname brand of which I never have heard from before. Even doing an online search did show that most tyre dealers did not sell any winter tyres. But then I found one online retailer: www.mytyres.co.uk. They have all possible tyre manufacturers, from cheap tyres at around £ 40 up to £ 90 per tyre. In my opinion, the tyres from Dunlop, Goodyear, Continental, Michelin are the best (as tested by the ADAC). But for myself, I opted for a lower-cost tyre, which including fitting cost £ 60 per tyre: Debica Frigo 2 (made in Poland). Should be good enough for my cheap vehicle. The test results on TyreTest (actually submitted by owners of the tyres) appear to be much more lenient than the ones by the ADAC, but at least the Debica did fare better than some of the other low-cost tyres.
Quite interesting, how the URL of the Tyretest page has the German word "pkw_winterreifen" in it... and the German connection goes even further: Turns out that the company mytyres.co.uk is part of the German company Delticom AG. The tyres, after I ordered them online, would have been sent to my home in Leeds directly from their supply depot in Germany! But instead I chose them to be delivered to one of their recommended fitters here in Leeds. Shipping is for free, and the fitting added about £ 15 per tyre for fitting, so the total price including the fitting came to £ 60 per tyre. Yesterday on Saturday, I did the fitting, and now I am ready for any snow storm here in Leeds! The weather report for Monday already predicts some chance of snow flurries - I am prepared, and I am looking forward to the strongest longest winter ever!
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Car Insurance - Get Comprehensive!
My annual car insurance premium was due recently. Premiums were rising, so despite me not having any claims, I would have to pay more.
As every year, I did a search using the comparison web site GoCompare. In the past years, I did have good experiences with them, and I always found the best price through them. I did also contact some insurances directly which were not among their offerings, but I very often found that those insurances were still more expensive than the cheapest listed in GoCompare, except once when my renewal and staying with the same insurance was the cheapest option.
I again tried GoCompare, because in an experiment two years ago, I concluded that they did offer the best capture of my data, relevant to my situation as a non-UK driver with EU license. The other competitor comparison sites did have some trouble with that. And now I am also too lazy to try those out again - takes a lot of time to enter all the data, and GoCompare already has them stored from my last years of searching.
Of course, if I would base my choice on the commercials which these comparison sites run, then I would definitely take Compare The Meerkat, aeh, I mean Compare the Market - these commercials are really good and not as annoying as the singing tenor or the confused cartoon lady.
When I tried this year to get a car renewal quote for the insurance with the least features (just 3rd party), I got only quotes which were the same or more expensive than what I already had. Disappointing. For fun I selected then "comprehensive" - and the quote was about £ 200 cheaper! This is quite surprising, that an insurance which would provide more cover, would cost less. Has probably to do with the average comprehensive client, who drives maybe more carefully.
The same was confirmed for another renewal - saving £ 150 then. So it appears to be well worth choosing a comprehensive insurance, if you want to save money on the insurance fee.
If you do not like to go through comparison web sites, then you may try directly with SwiftCover - in both cases they were the ones with the lowest premium (naturally, they try to sell additional items on the insurance, but these can be unchecked). They operate mostly web based, so no postal mail is sent - better back up your data and the policy then! But this approach appears to make them quite efficient. Of course I had no opportunity yet to test how they are when a claim should be filed... but I hope that I will not need to do this anytime soon.
As every year, I did a search using the comparison web site GoCompare. In the past years, I did have good experiences with them, and I always found the best price through them. I did also contact some insurances directly which were not among their offerings, but I very often found that those insurances were still more expensive than the cheapest listed in GoCompare, except once when my renewal and staying with the same insurance was the cheapest option.
I again tried GoCompare, because in an experiment two years ago, I concluded that they did offer the best capture of my data, relevant to my situation as a non-UK driver with EU license. The other competitor comparison sites did have some trouble with that. And now I am also too lazy to try those out again - takes a lot of time to enter all the data, and GoCompare already has them stored from my last years of searching.
Of course, if I would base my choice on the commercials which these comparison sites run, then I would definitely take Compare The Meerkat, aeh, I mean Compare the Market - these commercials are really good and not as annoying as the singing tenor or the confused cartoon lady.
When I tried this year to get a car renewal quote for the insurance with the least features (just 3rd party), I got only quotes which were the same or more expensive than what I already had. Disappointing. For fun I selected then "comprehensive" - and the quote was about £ 200 cheaper! This is quite surprising, that an insurance which would provide more cover, would cost less. Has probably to do with the average comprehensive client, who drives maybe more carefully.
The same was confirmed for another renewal - saving £ 150 then. So it appears to be well worth choosing a comprehensive insurance, if you want to save money on the insurance fee.
If you do not like to go through comparison web sites, then you may try directly with SwiftCover - in both cases they were the ones with the lowest premium (naturally, they try to sell additional items on the insurance, but these can be unchecked). They operate mostly web based, so no postal mail is sent - better back up your data and the policy then! But this approach appears to make them quite efficient. Of course I had no opportunity yet to test how they are when a claim should be filed... but I hope that I will not need to do this anytime soon.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Car Adventure
When owning a car that costs less than £ 1000, one thing is for sure: there will always be some interesting stories to tell. Such a low-cost car is not like those brand-new cars with their never-failing-no-break-down life, but instead provides a lot of material for heroic stories of overcoming challenges. And with such a car, I get to make good use of my AA breakdown cover...
On Saturday I had driven with the Renault Megane Scenic, which I had bought 3 months ago, across the Pennines, on a snowy motorway M62. The front wheel drive worked great, and I travelled in the right-most lane, overtaking the two queues which began to slow down on the left. The rear-screen wiper worked fine, wiping away the wet snow.
Next day, driving again through cold winter weather, the car runs great. But when I try the rear screen wiper, only the cleaning fluid comes out, but the wiper remains motionless. Well, this is now the first thing of all the things that will eventually break at this car, the problems of the Ford Granada which I had from 2005-2007 also started with the rear wiper...
Today I had to run a brief errand, which I wanted to do during the daylight in the late afternoon. When I returned back to Uni for a planned evening session of software work, I got into the evening traffic in Headingley. The cars moved slowly forward. Suddenly I noticed that the windows began to fog, for no apparent reason. I put the ventilator on max, but the fogging continued. I had to wipe the front screen clear. Why was that happening? Did I bring too much snow with my shoes into the car? When I looked out to the front, it seemed to me as if some vapour was coming from the engine department. But it could also be the exhaust of the preceeding car. The temperature appeared to be fine, so I continued, but I decided I would stop at the next petrol station and have a look.
When I stopped the car at the BP petrol station on Otley Road, I noticed clearly that there was some vapour coming from the motor. I opened the bonnet (US-american: hood), and yes, there was some steaming and some water dripping. Damned. Where was the leak? Then I saw the thermostat loosely lying on the engine. I immedialely recognised this part, as 10 years earlier I have had a lot of trouble with that 1971 Plymouth Fury Custom Suburban Station Wagon, which had constantly trouble with the cooling system, and I had done a few thermostat changes on that car myself.
I looked for the place where that loose thermostat could have come from, and I found it: on the side of the engine where the cooling hoses lead into the engine, there was the thermostate case. I could lift the upper part - it had no connection to the lower part. The whole piece had just broken. No wonder, it is only made of plastic! The thermostat case of the Plymouth had been made of full metal.
So what to do now? I got petrol, and also bought two liters of antifreeze coolant. Poured one liter into the reservoir, but while I filled it, the steam came again out. Not good. I decided to drive the short distance up to the University campus and wait there for the AA to pick me up.
The coolant in the engine had probably all gone. But the temperature still had been reasonably in the middle, and even now when I slowly drove out of the station, it was fine. Only when I drove up on Churchwood Ave, the needle began slowly to move up. I made it into the campus, with the temperature needle now being at 45 deg angle instead of the usual horizontal direction. Parked the car at the road between Caedmon and Metceno where AA could easily pick it up. 17:00 now, I had hoped I could get some food for the wait, but the campus food shop closes now at 17:00. I go to my office, call first KwikFit, asking if they repair thermostates. No, they do not, but the guy there recommends Nationwide. I call there, yes, I can drop off the car. Then I call the AA breakdown service. They tell me that I will have to wait about 2 hours. Is fine with me, since I am in my office and can do some work as planned anyway.
18:30
I receive a txt message from AA that in 10 minutes their service vehicle will be there. I slowly pack things and walk down.
18:40
The AA van arrives. I tell the guy the situation, and he concludes that he cannot fix it here but that I need a towing to a repair shop. Since there is a thick flattened snow coverage on the road, he is concerned that he will not be able to pull my car from where it stands now. Instead he drives forward until he reaches the downward sloping road along the Acre. Since my car in principle can still run, he asks me to drive behind his van so that he can setup the towing.
This van has a built-in device for towing; with several motors the towing axle comes out of the rear of the van, and the driver assembles it and sets it up. It takes about 30 minutes to set up the towing. Since my Megane has an automatic transmission, it cannot be towed by a simple towbar, but its frontal axis needs to be lifted for the towing.
19:15
Everything is ready, the Megane is affixed properly to the towing axle, the additional rear lights are affixed, we are ready for driving. Slowly downwards the slippery road along the Acre. Some sliding around the left-hand curve into the exit road, towards St. Chads Drive. The driver does not want to go down directly through St. Chads Drive, because he considers this too steep and too slippery. So instead he wants to turn right to Batcliffe Drive, then down to St. Anne's Rd. When exiting the Uni campus, the roads are not as much cleaned: a thick snow cover has been flattened by cars driving on it, creating a slippery road surface. Exactly at the exit of the campus, a taxi van wants to enter at the same time. It partly blocks the access road, so we cannot immediately make a right turn but have to drive around it. During the turning-right maneuvre, the AA van appears to slip, and slides slowly onto the opposite side of the road while still turning to the right. We make the curve, but are now very much on the left side of the road, with the left wheels digging into the deeper snow at the side. And then we stop - stuck. This was a short ride.
19:20
An AA van with a car behind it now stuck at the snowy road curve. The driver makes several attempts, but mostly the left front wheel just spins freely. He tries to rock the vehicle. letting it roll back, then trying again to speed up towards the front. But it always gets stuck at some icy patch. Finally the van appears to get some grip, and slowly inches forward. We made it. Allright. Now forward uphill on Batcliffe Drive. I tell the driver about my recent experiences with driving on snow, but he appears to be very concentrated on moving forward. As the slope becomes steeper, we are loosing momentum, and finally we stop - again the left front wheel is spinning, while the whole van with its appendix stands still and only slides a bit about. We are now actually blocking the road, having slid onto the right side of the road. Other cars squeeze into the relatively narrow gap on the left between us and the cars parked there. An SUV graciously overtakes us on the right - by driving completely off the road onto the sidewalk and the side lawn. Currently there is no visible difference between the road and the side - all covered by snow. How will we get out of this stuck location?
19:28
The AA driver decides that we have to unload my car, drive up the hill separately, and then tow again downhill St. Anne's Road. Ok, if there is no other choice... he tries a few more times to drive out with the whole assembly, but it does not work. So he reverses the whole procedure for affixing my car.
He drives the van uphill, but the van still does not get a good grip on the surface. He asks me to push the van. What a situation: I am pushing the AA van which I had called for help! But it works: I push on the right back side of the car, always weary of the towing axle which dangerously follows from behind me; the left front wheel still keeps spinning, but it helps to move the van uphill. When on top, the driver decides to move even further forward, until the downward slope begins. This is reasonable, because even on the horizontal road stretch it would be difficult to start towing my car. I walk back to my car, start again the engine. The cold air should be able to cool it sufficiently, even without any liquid coolant! The Megane drives without any problems up the hill, then towards the van.
19:45
Same procedure again as before: affixing the car to the towing equipment.
20:02
Done. We continue down St. Anne's Road. The van slides a bit, but holds the track reasonably well. We even stop properly at the red traffic light. From now on the driving is smooth, as the roads are relatively free of snow.
20:20
Arriving at the Nationwide Repair Centre. There is already another car parked in the back. While the driver releases my car from the towing equipment, another AA van comes along, towing another car - also a drop-off at the repair station. And their driver tells that earlier he had brought the car which is already parked there! Tomorrow this Nationwide Repair Centre will make a very good business.
When I drove the Megane into its parking position, I operated the screen wipers. And surprise, surprise - the rear wiper was working again! That is the nice thing about such an inexpensive car: full of surprises (good ones and bad ones).
I just hope that the thermostat repair is not very expensive.
On Saturday I had driven with the Renault Megane Scenic, which I had bought 3 months ago, across the Pennines, on a snowy motorway M62. The front wheel drive worked great, and I travelled in the right-most lane, overtaking the two queues which began to slow down on the left. The rear-screen wiper worked fine, wiping away the wet snow.
Next day, driving again through cold winter weather, the car runs great. But when I try the rear screen wiper, only the cleaning fluid comes out, but the wiper remains motionless. Well, this is now the first thing of all the things that will eventually break at this car, the problems of the Ford Granada which I had from 2005-2007 also started with the rear wiper...
Today I had to run a brief errand, which I wanted to do during the daylight in the late afternoon. When I returned back to Uni for a planned evening session of software work, I got into the evening traffic in Headingley. The cars moved slowly forward. Suddenly I noticed that the windows began to fog, for no apparent reason. I put the ventilator on max, but the fogging continued. I had to wipe the front screen clear. Why was that happening? Did I bring too much snow with my shoes into the car? When I looked out to the front, it seemed to me as if some vapour was coming from the engine department. But it could also be the exhaust of the preceeding car. The temperature appeared to be fine, so I continued, but I decided I would stop at the next petrol station and have a look.
When I stopped the car at the BP petrol station on Otley Road, I noticed clearly that there was some vapour coming from the motor. I opened the bonnet (US-american: hood), and yes, there was some steaming and some water dripping. Damned. Where was the leak? Then I saw the thermostat loosely lying on the engine. I immedialely recognised this part, as 10 years earlier I have had a lot of trouble with that 1971 Plymouth Fury Custom Suburban Station Wagon, which had constantly trouble with the cooling system, and I had done a few thermostat changes on that car myself.
I looked for the place where that loose thermostat could have come from, and I found it: on the side of the engine where the cooling hoses lead into the engine, there was the thermostate case. I could lift the upper part - it had no connection to the lower part. The whole piece had just broken. No wonder, it is only made of plastic! The thermostat case of the Plymouth had been made of full metal.
So what to do now? I got petrol, and also bought two liters of antifreeze coolant. Poured one liter into the reservoir, but while I filled it, the steam came again out. Not good. I decided to drive the short distance up to the University campus and wait there for the AA to pick me up.
The coolant in the engine had probably all gone. But the temperature still had been reasonably in the middle, and even now when I slowly drove out of the station, it was fine. Only when I drove up on Churchwood Ave, the needle began slowly to move up. I made it into the campus, with the temperature needle now being at 45 deg angle instead of the usual horizontal direction. Parked the car at the road between Caedmon and Metceno where AA could easily pick it up. 17:00 now, I had hoped I could get some food for the wait, but the campus food shop closes now at 17:00. I go to my office, call first KwikFit, asking if they repair thermostates. No, they do not, but the guy there recommends Nationwide. I call there, yes, I can drop off the car. Then I call the AA breakdown service. They tell me that I will have to wait about 2 hours. Is fine with me, since I am in my office and can do some work as planned anyway.
18:30
I receive a txt message from AA that in 10 minutes their service vehicle will be there. I slowly pack things and walk down.
18:40
The AA van arrives. I tell the guy the situation, and he concludes that he cannot fix it here but that I need a towing to a repair shop. Since there is a thick flattened snow coverage on the road, he is concerned that he will not be able to pull my car from where it stands now. Instead he drives forward until he reaches the downward sloping road along the Acre. Since my car in principle can still run, he asks me to drive behind his van so that he can setup the towing.
This van has a built-in device for towing; with several motors the towing axle comes out of the rear of the van, and the driver assembles it and sets it up. It takes about 30 minutes to set up the towing. Since my Megane has an automatic transmission, it cannot be towed by a simple towbar, but its frontal axis needs to be lifted for the towing.
19:15
Everything is ready, the Megane is affixed properly to the towing axle, the additional rear lights are affixed, we are ready for driving. Slowly downwards the slippery road along the Acre. Some sliding around the left-hand curve into the exit road, towards St. Chads Drive. The driver does not want to go down directly through St. Chads Drive, because he considers this too steep and too slippery. So instead he wants to turn right to Batcliffe Drive, then down to St. Anne's Rd. When exiting the Uni campus, the roads are not as much cleaned: a thick snow cover has been flattened by cars driving on it, creating a slippery road surface. Exactly at the exit of the campus, a taxi van wants to enter at the same time. It partly blocks the access road, so we cannot immediately make a right turn but have to drive around it. During the turning-right maneuvre, the AA van appears to slip, and slides slowly onto the opposite side of the road while still turning to the right. We make the curve, but are now very much on the left side of the road, with the left wheels digging into the deeper snow at the side. And then we stop - stuck. This was a short ride.
19:20
An AA van with a car behind it now stuck at the snowy road curve. The driver makes several attempts, but mostly the left front wheel just spins freely. He tries to rock the vehicle. letting it roll back, then trying again to speed up towards the front. But it always gets stuck at some icy patch. Finally the van appears to get some grip, and slowly inches forward. We made it. Allright. Now forward uphill on Batcliffe Drive. I tell the driver about my recent experiences with driving on snow, but he appears to be very concentrated on moving forward. As the slope becomes steeper, we are loosing momentum, and finally we stop - again the left front wheel is spinning, while the whole van with its appendix stands still and only slides a bit about. We are now actually blocking the road, having slid onto the right side of the road. Other cars squeeze into the relatively narrow gap on the left between us and the cars parked there. An SUV graciously overtakes us on the right - by driving completely off the road onto the sidewalk and the side lawn. Currently there is no visible difference between the road and the side - all covered by snow. How will we get out of this stuck location?
19:28
The AA driver decides that we have to unload my car, drive up the hill separately, and then tow again downhill St. Anne's Road. Ok, if there is no other choice... he tries a few more times to drive out with the whole assembly, but it does not work. So he reverses the whole procedure for affixing my car.
He drives the van uphill, but the van still does not get a good grip on the surface. He asks me to push the van. What a situation: I am pushing the AA van which I had called for help! But it works: I push on the right back side of the car, always weary of the towing axle which dangerously follows from behind me; the left front wheel still keeps spinning, but it helps to move the van uphill. When on top, the driver decides to move even further forward, until the downward slope begins. This is reasonable, because even on the horizontal road stretch it would be difficult to start towing my car. I walk back to my car, start again the engine. The cold air should be able to cool it sufficiently, even without any liquid coolant! The Megane drives without any problems up the hill, then towards the van.
19:45
Same procedure again as before: affixing the car to the towing equipment.
20:02
Done. We continue down St. Anne's Road. The van slides a bit, but holds the track reasonably well. We even stop properly at the red traffic light. From now on the driving is smooth, as the roads are relatively free of snow.
20:20
Arriving at the Nationwide Repair Centre. There is already another car parked in the back. While the driver releases my car from the towing equipment, another AA van comes along, towing another car - also a drop-off at the repair station. And their driver tells that earlier he had brought the car which is already parked there! Tomorrow this Nationwide Repair Centre will make a very good business.
When I drove the Megane into its parking position, I operated the screen wipers. And surprise, surprise - the rear wiper was working again! That is the nice thing about such an inexpensive car: full of surprises (good ones and bad ones).
I just hope that the thermostat repair is not very expensive.
Friday, November 06, 2009
And Selling a Car
When I had decided buying that Renault Megane, I naturally HAD to sell the Citroen. Since it only had 2 months left before the MOT was due I felt that I could not ask for a large price. It has more than 189k miles, 12 years old. Still running strong, so I considered a price of £ 350 was reasonable. Posted an ad in the Autotrader for £ 9.99 which would run for 2 weeks. Already one day later the first phone call came. A few more calls came in before the first caller actually wanted to see the car. So I prepared and cleaned it a bit.
Night fell, and the potential buyer still had not shown up... I was wondering if I should reschedule the appointment. But then he came with his wife, in a taxi that drove off after they had gotten out. Seems they were really determined to buy the car. After a short test drive in which he commented on the relatively hard suspension (must be because of that hydraulic leak that happened two years ago, some of the suspension-air must have gotten lost), he offered to buy it; obviously the car was irresistible (or maybe it was the price...). He paid cash, and after filing the formalities they drove happily away with the Citroen.
Night fell, and the potential buyer still had not shown up... I was wondering if I should reschedule the appointment. But then he came with his wife, in a taxi that drove off after they had gotten out. Seems they were really determined to buy the car. After a short test drive in which he commented on the relatively hard suspension (must be because of that hydraulic leak that happened two years ago, some of the suspension-air must have gotten lost), he offered to buy it; obviously the car was irresistible (or maybe it was the price...). He paid cash, and after filing the formalities they drove happily away with the Citroen.
Buying a New Car - And First Repairs
I did not really plan to buy a new car, but the need to replace the Citroen Xantia eventually became more evident: only two months left until the obligatory annual MOT. Since the car did currently not have any problems, I was confident it would pass this test. But what if it would not? I would have then the choice to put again a few hundred pounds in it for repairs, or would have to scrap it. Which would be a pity, since is really drives well, is quite economical in its diesel consumption and someone still could put this car to good use.
Originally I had thought about this already months ago, and selling the car in summer would have been good. But time went by so fast, and now it already was autumn, the time for the MOT deadline approaching fast. My friend Clive who now works at a car dealership, offered me to have a look at the cars he was selling. Most of them in the mid-range mileage around 50k miles, with good life left in them. Price range between £s; 2000 and 3000. But since I would not use this car much, I thought it would be a waste to spend so much on a car that would mostly stand: for all the daily driving I use the small Smart car, which runs economically, reliably, and always finds a parking spot. But there are occasions when a larger car is needed: for driving a bunch of friends, or for bringing the odd Billy bookshelf from IKEA. So for these occasional drives, I came to the conclusion that I would not want to spend more than £ 1000 on a "new" car. It would be nice if the car would have an automatic transmission: I am already sick from that constant left-hand switching the gears, while I was brought up using the right hand for this (which now has nothing to do, only can lean out of the right car window).
So around the end of September I decided to have a look at Clive's selection in his car shop, and I also began to browse in the Autotrader. And there online I found it: A metallic-red 1999 Renault Megane Scenic RXE, with automatic transmission and two sunroofs, for £ 950. Quite a high mileage: 130k. I decided to have a look and drove to Dewsbury, where the seller lived. The car looked very good. A few scratches, but nothing serious. I test drove it around a few streets, and it appeared to drive smoothly. The radio did not work and there was no luggage cover. Otherwise the car seemed to be in a good condition. So I decided quickly - and bought it for £ 950.
On Friday afternoon I took a train to Dewsbury, picked up the car and drove it back to the university, just in time before heading out again for an external evening meeting. This time was the first time I drove the Megan on the Motorway, M62 to Pontefract. The car ran great. There was a construction on the motorway, speed limit to 50 mph, I could smell the fresh tar. But strangely the construction did actually not have any new road surfaceing... I realised that the tar smell came from my car. What could that be? Some oil getting hot? When I left the motorway, I noticed some faint smoke coming from under the car. The cooling temperature seemed fine, so what was the problem? Some oil dripping onto a hot part? I had noticed that the automatic transmission seemed to switch a bit hard sometimes. The smoke went away as I was driving more slowly, and when I arrived at my destination it was gone completely. But the smell of hot oil (tar-like) remained. I decided to watch it on the way back. But this time there was no smell or smoke at all.
Now I got worried. I decided to have the transmission checked in a workshop before I would go on any longer travel tour with this car. So on Monday I brought it to Leeds Transmission Services. The diagnosis cost £ 45. The result: several things failing. New solenoids are needed (what are these for in a transmission?) - would cost £ 350. Also a rebuild of the transmission might have to be done - would cost £ 650. So these repairs would cost more than I had paid for the car. This was not what I had wanted... I asked what simply changing a complete transmission would cost: between £ 250 and £ 350. They might search for a transmission, or I could find one myself.
Now the next few days the car actually seemed to work fine. I drove for a longer distance in the Yorkshire Dales, and except for the faint tar smell of burning oil there appeared to be no problem with the transmission. But after 2 weeks, I noticed that the indicator light of the automatic transmission did flicker when in "D": it flickered between "D" and "N", although it was clearly latched into "D". When then driving outside the city, I noticed that the gearbox did not switch up into a higher gear than 3. The gearbox had 5 gears, so this was now a problem when driving at a higher speed.
I began to search on the Internet; found the site 1stChoice, where I could make a search for any car part. This site sends out queries to all members of its network, and then back come the quotes for the requested part. One quote came back from a dismantler located not far from Goole. He had this transmission from exactly a 1999 Megane, but was not sure if the specific type would be correct. So on one Saturday I drove to there. (Fortunately I had renewed my AA breakdown cover, so I was not worried about the car breaking down.) I kept away from the motorway, because the transmission would not switch higher than the 3rd gear. I noticed that leaving it for a while idling in "P" before driving did help - for about 10 minutes the transmission worked fine all the way up to gear 5. But then the indicator again began to flicker, and the gears kept switching between 3, 4 and 5. No, this had to be fixed. Fortunately this transmission from the dismantler was the right type. That car had an accident at 56k miles, but all of its engine parts were still functional. I decided to buy the transmission and have it shipped to Leeds Transmission Services, where they put it in.
This was the cheapest option to fix the car - I had also asked at a Renault dealership for an estimate, and they came up with several 100 £ more. I hope that this repair now lets the car run fine for the next 2 years or so.
And now I can finally take it out again for a longer ride. The smoke smell appeared to have gone - this could mean that this burning oil smell was related to the transmission and not, as I had originally suspected, from a leaking valve cover gasket or even a cracked engine. The engine looks quite clean, no oil traces there. But I guess I will get a confirmation of this only when I will take the car for a longer ride out on the weekend.
Originally I had thought about this already months ago, and selling the car in summer would have been good. But time went by so fast, and now it already was autumn, the time for the MOT deadline approaching fast. My friend Clive who now works at a car dealership, offered me to have a look at the cars he was selling. Most of them in the mid-range mileage around 50k miles, with good life left in them. Price range between £s; 2000 and 3000. But since I would not use this car much, I thought it would be a waste to spend so much on a car that would mostly stand: for all the daily driving I use the small Smart car, which runs economically, reliably, and always finds a parking spot. But there are occasions when a larger car is needed: for driving a bunch of friends, or for bringing the odd Billy bookshelf from IKEA. So for these occasional drives, I came to the conclusion that I would not want to spend more than £ 1000 on a "new" car. It would be nice if the car would have an automatic transmission: I am already sick from that constant left-hand switching the gears, while I was brought up using the right hand for this (which now has nothing to do, only can lean out of the right car window).
So around the end of September I decided to have a look at Clive's selection in his car shop, and I also began to browse in the Autotrader. And there online I found it: A metallic-red 1999 Renault Megane Scenic RXE, with automatic transmission and two sunroofs, for £ 950. Quite a high mileage: 130k. I decided to have a look and drove to Dewsbury, where the seller lived. The car looked very good. A few scratches, but nothing serious. I test drove it around a few streets, and it appeared to drive smoothly. The radio did not work and there was no luggage cover. Otherwise the car seemed to be in a good condition. So I decided quickly - and bought it for £ 950.
On Friday afternoon I took a train to Dewsbury, picked up the car and drove it back to the university, just in time before heading out again for an external evening meeting. This time was the first time I drove the Megan on the Motorway, M62 to Pontefract. The car ran great. There was a construction on the motorway, speed limit to 50 mph, I could smell the fresh tar. But strangely the construction did actually not have any new road surfaceing... I realised that the tar smell came from my car. What could that be? Some oil getting hot? When I left the motorway, I noticed some faint smoke coming from under the car. The cooling temperature seemed fine, so what was the problem? Some oil dripping onto a hot part? I had noticed that the automatic transmission seemed to switch a bit hard sometimes. The smoke went away as I was driving more slowly, and when I arrived at my destination it was gone completely. But the smell of hot oil (tar-like) remained. I decided to watch it on the way back. But this time there was no smell or smoke at all.
Now I got worried. I decided to have the transmission checked in a workshop before I would go on any longer travel tour with this car. So on Monday I brought it to Leeds Transmission Services. The diagnosis cost £ 45. The result: several things failing. New solenoids are needed (what are these for in a transmission?) - would cost £ 350. Also a rebuild of the transmission might have to be done - would cost £ 650. So these repairs would cost more than I had paid for the car. This was not what I had wanted... I asked what simply changing a complete transmission would cost: between £ 250 and £ 350. They might search for a transmission, or I could find one myself.
Now the next few days the car actually seemed to work fine. I drove for a longer distance in the Yorkshire Dales, and except for the faint tar smell of burning oil there appeared to be no problem with the transmission. But after 2 weeks, I noticed that the indicator light of the automatic transmission did flicker when in "D": it flickered between "D" and "N", although it was clearly latched into "D". When then driving outside the city, I noticed that the gearbox did not switch up into a higher gear than 3. The gearbox had 5 gears, so this was now a problem when driving at a higher speed.
I began to search on the Internet; found the site 1stChoice, where I could make a search for any car part. This site sends out queries to all members of its network, and then back come the quotes for the requested part. One quote came back from a dismantler located not far from Goole. He had this transmission from exactly a 1999 Megane, but was not sure if the specific type would be correct. So on one Saturday I drove to there. (Fortunately I had renewed my AA breakdown cover, so I was not worried about the car breaking down.) I kept away from the motorway, because the transmission would not switch higher than the 3rd gear. I noticed that leaving it for a while idling in "P" before driving did help - for about 10 minutes the transmission worked fine all the way up to gear 5. But then the indicator again began to flicker, and the gears kept switching between 3, 4 and 5. No, this had to be fixed. Fortunately this transmission from the dismantler was the right type. That car had an accident at 56k miles, but all of its engine parts were still functional. I decided to buy the transmission and have it shipped to Leeds Transmission Services, where they put it in.
This was the cheapest option to fix the car - I had also asked at a Renault dealership for an estimate, and they came up with several 100 £ more. I hope that this repair now lets the car run fine for the next 2 years or so.
And now I can finally take it out again for a longer ride. The smoke smell appeared to have gone - this could mean that this burning oil smell was related to the transmission and not, as I had originally suspected, from a leaking valve cover gasket or even a cracked engine. The engine looks quite clean, no oil traces there. But I guess I will get a confirmation of this only when I will take the car for a longer ride out on the weekend.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
2nd Day in Pervolia
The morning seminar takes also place on Sunday. I realise that I have missed the evening session yesterday - for some reason I had thought there would not be one, but this is an "Intensive Program", so no free weekends are allowed. Again, the students present their abstracts and their concepts of their planned PhD thesis. Graham will leave today, so he gives his farewell remarks.
The morning seminar usually goes until 13:00. The start time has been set to 9:00, but due to the warm weather and the holiday atmosphere, this beginning slides a few minutes towards a later time. This time it gets a bit later, as there is much to be discussed.
I also have an opportunity now to use the printer in the office of the bungalow village, so I can get my voucher for the car rental.
Afterwards I use the time to catch up on my software for the MScape on my mobile phone.
I had reserved the car for 15:30, so that I would pay for exactly 3 full days when returning it to the airport. Now I take a taxi to the Larnaca airport. The car rental office is only reachable through the arrivals area, I have to pass a guarded entry where people come out from their planes.
CarHire3000 is only a broker; my car rental will actually be from AVIS. No problem there. But I have to pay the gasoline in advance, will be able to return the car empty. This is a bit annoying, as I will then have to plan exactly on how much gas to spend.
I mention the free upgrade to an A/C, which is noted nowhere on the voucher but which had been announced on the web page. Naturally, they agree that without an A/C, driving in this heat would be murder...
Now I finally have a car, and I enjoy the increased mobility. I first head to Larnaca, just to see what is there. In the city there are a few sights marked, and I follow the brown signs to the relevant points of interest. There is an archaeologigal dig, some ancient tombs under a church. I pass the Lazarus church where I had been a few months ago. While driving I see a glimps of a mosque, but the maze of one-way streets does not allow me to go there directly. Using GPS and instinct, I drive around a while in circles / spirals, until I finally approach the mosque from the other side. There is a relevant orthodox church nearby too.
Again, in the side streets there are many delapidated houses, ruins, broken. One can only imagine the stories of horror and dispair which must have happened in 1974 and before. Of course I only see the results here on the Greek side; I assume the same would be on the Turkish occupied side.
I try to find the ruis of Kition which are mentioned; the road signs are a bit misleading, often I miss a vital turn. But I finally find the site. Is closed, only open until 14:30. Maybe one of the next days...
I head now along the coastal road, further towards East. I want to reach the ultimate point in the South-East of this island. Passing a power plant. I do not go to Agia Napa, but pass it on the moterway. Then I reach Capo Creco. Large antennas from a British military installation. A large rock at the corner, a few 100m high. The road becomes now a dirt road, the main road would make a turn here towards north, to Famagusta. But I have no time anymore to explore further north.
Then I head back. Through Agia Napa. Now this is a real touristy town! Young crowds head for dinner, the primary mode of transportation appears to be quad bikes. Around Larnaca there is suddenly a stop-and-go traffic; it is all traffic which turns up north towards Nicosia. Today is the European Soccer Championship final game: Germany-Spain.
Before going home I head to the Internet cafe, to check emails and do some work. The game already starts when I leave. I watch the remaining game in my bungalow, with a desperate commentary in German from the ARD.
The morning seminar usually goes until 13:00. The start time has been set to 9:00, but due to the warm weather and the holiday atmosphere, this beginning slides a few minutes towards a later time. This time it gets a bit later, as there is much to be discussed.
I also have an opportunity now to use the printer in the office of the bungalow village, so I can get my voucher for the car rental.
Afterwards I use the time to catch up on my software for the MScape on my mobile phone.
I had reserved the car for 15:30, so that I would pay for exactly 3 full days when returning it to the airport. Now I take a taxi to the Larnaca airport. The car rental office is only reachable through the arrivals area, I have to pass a guarded entry where people come out from their planes.
CarHire3000 is only a broker; my car rental will actually be from AVIS. No problem there. But I have to pay the gasoline in advance, will be able to return the car empty. This is a bit annoying, as I will then have to plan exactly on how much gas to spend.
I mention the free upgrade to an A/C, which is noted nowhere on the voucher but which had been announced on the web page. Naturally, they agree that without an A/C, driving in this heat would be murder...
Now I finally have a car, and I enjoy the increased mobility. I first head to Larnaca, just to see what is there. In the city there are a few sights marked, and I follow the brown signs to the relevant points of interest. There is an archaeologigal dig, some ancient tombs under a church. I pass the Lazarus church where I had been a few months ago. While driving I see a glimps of a mosque, but the maze of one-way streets does not allow me to go there directly. Using GPS and instinct, I drive around a while in circles / spirals, until I finally approach the mosque from the other side. There is a relevant orthodox church nearby too.
Again, in the side streets there are many delapidated houses, ruins, broken. One can only imagine the stories of horror and dispair which must have happened in 1974 and before. Of course I only see the results here on the Greek side; I assume the same would be on the Turkish occupied side.
I try to find the ruis of Kition which are mentioned; the road signs are a bit misleading, often I miss a vital turn. But I finally find the site. Is closed, only open until 14:30. Maybe one of the next days...
I head now along the coastal road, further towards East. I want to reach the ultimate point in the South-East of this island. Passing a power plant. I do not go to Agia Napa, but pass it on the moterway. Then I reach Capo Creco. Large antennas from a British military installation. A large rock at the corner, a few 100m high. The road becomes now a dirt road, the main road would make a turn here towards north, to Famagusta. But I have no time anymore to explore further north.
Then I head back. Through Agia Napa. Now this is a real touristy town! Young crowds head for dinner, the primary mode of transportation appears to be quad bikes. Around Larnaca there is suddenly a stop-and-go traffic; it is all traffic which turns up north towards Nicosia. Today is the European Soccer Championship final game: Germany-Spain.
Before going home I head to the Internet cafe, to check emails and do some work. The game already starts when I leave. I watch the remaining game in my bungalow, with a desperate commentary in German from the ARD.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Test Report: SMART
This time I had decided to rent a Smart. I was considering buying one, as this small vehicle would be perfectly right for my daily commute to work. It would offset some of the carbon footprint which I had accumulated in the past years through lots of flying and driving those 1971 Plymouth and 1974 Cadillac cars..., but before I would buy one, I wanted to test drive it, to see how it feels and handles. AVIS had a great deal: a 3-day rental would cost 75 pounds, which is quite reasonable. Since I would travel alone, I would not need much cargo space - I planned to put my suitcase on the passenger seat.
At the AVIS counter, I was offered a brand-new Smart CDI convertible, with just 145 km driven! Exactly the model which I would buy: diesel-powered for higher efficiency, and a convertible roof for letting the sun and air in.
As I approached the car at its space in the rental pick-up area in the Frankfurt underground garage, I noticed that the doors seemed huge - very convenient to enter the car. The trunk behind the seats is small, but I actually could fit my suitcase in. There seems to be enough width for cases of drinks. As I shifted the suitecase in, it seemed that the door of the trunk, which opens from the top under the rear window, was a bit small - I had to twist the suitcase around to fit in. Later I realised that the upper half of the rear - which is part of the convertible roof - could be opened towards the top, hereby increasing the trunk opening to a convenient size.
Sitting in the car, it feels like a real full-size car. Enough leg room, nice space for armrest in the door.
As I want to start the engine, I look for the key lock. Only after a while I realise that it is in the center of the vehicle, next to the gear shift.
I always have trouble with these electric window switches - to me it is not intuituve which way the window opens. Here in the Smart one needs to push for open and pull for close. But since this is a forward push and a backword open, there is no logic in it for translating it into up-down.
The acceleration is reasonably fast - feels quite speedy. And this is the Diesel version which actually has the slowest mobility values - similar to the pace of a 1975s Mercedes 200 D. But the Autobahn, I can easily catch up with the trucks and overtake. Above 120 km/h it feels a bit shaky and susceptible to side winds. I can go up to 140 km/h - the speedometer goes up to 160 km. But I feel safer at around 120 km/h (70 mph), and the evening rush hour traffic does not permit a higher speed anyway.
I was wondering about the set of two buttons in the center, with an iconic picture on them that looked as if they would open the hood. When I finally tried them, a motor began to pull the roof back! That is how the roof opens - very convenient! When driving with open roof, it gets quite loud. But at lower speeds it is ok.
The tiptronic style manual shift works great - who needs the clutch anyway? It takes a bit to get used to, just to tip the gear shifter either forward (for higher gear) of back (for lower gear). A few times I do the opposite of what I intend to shift, but the Smart lives up to its name here: it just does not switch when the result would be an unreasonable RPM of the engine.
If need be, the automatic can be engaged by pushing a button at the side of the shifter: then the gears are switched automatically. For my personal style, the automatic seemed to be too much on the low RPM side, making the engine growl, causing some not so pleasant vibrations, and reducing the possible acceleration. Also, the shifting seeme to cause some jerking. From reports I have read that this was a much larger problem in the previous version of the Smart, and in this version it would be much better. Nevertheless, my old Granada had done a much better job at shifting gears - of course the larger car mass helps in mitigating those gear changes.
Overall, I got the impression that this is a very nice car, and when I have the money for it, I will get one. The mileage during the 520 km I drove on one single tank was 4.7 l / 100km, which is about 50 mpg. Not as exciting as I would have hoped for, but quite reasonable - afterall I drove in mixed traffic, city, and Autobahn. If I would have kept it going always around 80 km/h, the mileage would probably have been better.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Big News: A new car!
It was about time. The Ford Granada was no longer attainable: as a consequence of the burnt relais in the fuse box, the front lights stopped working. No low beam, no high beam, not even the stand / parking light, nothing. The rear lights were ok, also the interior illumination. But somehow the electric wiring to the front lights must have gotten damaged. Maybe the whole fuse box would have to be changed...
And another problem popped up briefly: when putting the gear into "Drive", usually the engine gets a slight boost, to idle smoothly. A few days ago, this boost was gone - the engine just idled at low RPM while in D, but not high enough, so that on a hill the car started rolling backward. This would not be good... the MOT is due soon, and I would have to pay a lot to get everything fixed and make the car safe again.
So I decided that it might be better to get another car, and probably sell this one. Autotrader was again the web site of choice for searching. I wanted again an estate (station wagon, "Kombi"), and this time I wanted a Diesel, to get a better economy. Automatic transmission would be nice to have, but not mandatory. I am now more confident driving in the UK, and I think I can manage switching gears and driving "on the wrong side". I had my mind set on a Citroen - I wanted to try how this active hydro-pneumatic suspension. I would have liked to get one of the old DS from the 1960s/70s, maybe as a station wagon. But these cars are very rare. More realistic seemed the XM, or the Xantia. The C5 is too new, which means too expensive. I did again not want to spend much money, but I was willing to go up to 2500 Pounds.
It was hard to find the combination Estate/Diesel/Automatic... the closest one would be 150 miles away near London, and I would not drive so far just for a car. So I searched for a non-automatic, and yesterday there was one for sale, 17 miles from here, a 1997 Xantia, with 179k miles. So I called, then drove to Harrogate. A test ride, and then I had to make decision: buy the car, or wait for a better opportunity. I decided to go for it. The dealer offered me still something for the Granada, meaning he reduced the purchase price of the Citroen Xantia from 595 to 450 pound, and to me that sounded reasonable. The high mileage was a bit of a turn-off, but the car really drove well. No rust, no oil leaks, a quite good condition. A hadshake sealed the deal.
And so I drove today again to Harrogate, with 350 pound in cash in my pocket (to pay the rest after the 100 pound deposit). The last ride of the Ford Granada, at 144k miles. Then back with the "new" car. It drives nicely. Was a bit dusty, so the first thing I did was to clean it a bit inside and take it to a car wash. Now it looks ok, after I vacuumed the floor and brought the dashboard to a shine. Amazing how one can bring back that "new car look" so easily, with just a few wipes of some "shiny armor" liquid. If car dealers would do that, they immediately could charge more for their used vehicles, as the pure look would impress potential customers.
Now the car has to prove itself in the daily drive. The suspension is great: I put it on a high level when entering the steep driveway of the cottage. The lowering is nice too - allows better access to the motor. A few things do not work: the rear wiper does not move - might be a cable or the fuse. The left rear door lock does not operate with the remote, needs to be opened and closed manually. And at one point the warning light for the airbag began to blink - not sure what this means, it stopped now and seems fine.
And another problem popped up briefly: when putting the gear into "Drive", usually the engine gets a slight boost, to idle smoothly. A few days ago, this boost was gone - the engine just idled at low RPM while in D, but not high enough, so that on a hill the car started rolling backward. This would not be good... the MOT is due soon, and I would have to pay a lot to get everything fixed and make the car safe again.
So I decided that it might be better to get another car, and probably sell this one. Autotrader was again the web site of choice for searching. I wanted again an estate (station wagon, "Kombi"), and this time I wanted a Diesel, to get a better economy. Automatic transmission would be nice to have, but not mandatory. I am now more confident driving in the UK, and I think I can manage switching gears and driving "on the wrong side". I had my mind set on a Citroen - I wanted to try how this active hydro-pneumatic suspension. I would have liked to get one of the old DS from the 1960s/70s, maybe as a station wagon. But these cars are very rare. More realistic seemed the XM, or the Xantia. The C5 is too new, which means too expensive. I did again not want to spend much money, but I was willing to go up to 2500 Pounds.
It was hard to find the combination Estate/Diesel/Automatic... the closest one would be 150 miles away near London, and I would not drive so far just for a car. So I searched for a non-automatic, and yesterday there was one for sale, 17 miles from here, a 1997 Xantia, with 179k miles. So I called, then drove to Harrogate. A test ride, and then I had to make decision: buy the car, or wait for a better opportunity. I decided to go for it. The dealer offered me still something for the Granada, meaning he reduced the purchase price of the Citroen Xantia from 595 to 450 pound, and to me that sounded reasonable. The high mileage was a bit of a turn-off, but the car really drove well. No rust, no oil leaks, a quite good condition. A hadshake sealed the deal.
And so I drove today again to Harrogate, with 350 pound in cash in my pocket (to pay the rest after the 100 pound deposit). The last ride of the Ford Granada, at 144k miles. Then back with the "new" car. It drives nicely. Was a bit dusty, so the first thing I did was to clean it a bit inside and take it to a car wash. Now it looks ok, after I vacuumed the floor and brought the dashboard to a shine. Amazing how one can bring back that "new car look" so easily, with just a few wipes of some "shiny armor" liquid. If car dealers would do that, they immediately could charge more for their used vehicles, as the pure look would impress potential customers.
Now the car has to prove itself in the daily drive. The suspension is great: I put it on a high level when entering the steep driveway of the cottage. The lowering is nice too - allows better access to the motor. A few things do not work: the rear wiper does not move - might be a cable or the fuse. The left rear door lock does not operate with the remote, needs to be opened and closed manually. And at one point the warning light for the airbag began to blink - not sure what this means, it stopped now and seems fine.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Car Problem
Saturday late afternoon, getting into the Ford Granada after a short hike in Harewood. The weather had briefly shown its pleasant side - the rain had stopped on Saturday afteroon, and sun came out on a cloudy sky.
As I turn into the main road between Harrogate and Leeds, I notice a slight smell of burnt plastic. I do not see any smoke outside. Sometimes people burn here weeds or agricultural waste, but I do not see where the fire could be. I drive on, the smell gets stronger. Then I see from the car ventilation light smoke coming into the car passenger compartment.
Immediately I stop the car at the side, turn the engine off, take the ingition key out. Must be a short circuit somewhere. When I open the hood and remove the cover of the fuse box, I see the culprit: smoke comes from one of the relais. Not much that I can do - I start the engine again, and it seems to run fine. All electrical devices seem to work ok, at least the ones I need for driving. So I continue to drive home, window open to let the burnt smell go out. It still seems to create those fumes, but I do not see any smoke coming anymore. Made it home safely.
Then I removed the faulty relais: it was the one for the interval wishes/wiper. The bottom is completely melted, I had a hard time getting it out of its socket. Not sure if I can just plug in a replacement... so for now I drive without interval wiper. That had been not working anywaw since I bought the car, so nothing is lost.
I think it is time to consider getting a new car, before something else breaks.
Anyone wants to buy a 1993 Ford Granada with a few issues? I offer it for just
250 Pounds (ono = or nearest offer).
As I turn into the main road between Harrogate and Leeds, I notice a slight smell of burnt plastic. I do not see any smoke outside. Sometimes people burn here weeds or agricultural waste, but I do not see where the fire could be. I drive on, the smell gets stronger. Then I see from the car ventilation light smoke coming into the car passenger compartment.
Immediately I stop the car at the side, turn the engine off, take the ingition key out. Must be a short circuit somewhere. When I open the hood and remove the cover of the fuse box, I see the culprit: smoke comes from one of the relais. Not much that I can do - I start the engine again, and it seems to run fine. All electrical devices seem to work ok, at least the ones I need for driving. So I continue to drive home, window open to let the burnt smell go out. It still seems to create those fumes, but I do not see any smoke coming anymore. Made it home safely.
Then I removed the faulty relais: it was the one for the interval wishes/wiper. The bottom is completely melted, I had a hard time getting it out of its socket. Not sure if I can just plug in a replacement... so for now I drive without interval wiper. That had been not working anywaw since I bought the car, so nothing is lost.
I think it is time to consider getting a new car, before something else breaks.
Anyone wants to buy a 1993 Ford Granada with a few issues? I offer it for just
250 Pounds (ono = or nearest offer).
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Bio-Diesel - good or bad?
As I am considering buying a new car - not sure that the Granada will pass the next MOT test, and I will have the choice of investing in it or selling it -, I am playing with the thought of getting a Diesel this time. The main reason is fuel economy: gas (petrol) is very expensive in the UK, as everywhere in Europe, compared to the US. With a Diesel I could probably safe half of the fuel costs.
My family always had a Diesel, back in 1970-1990. But I never liked it: the slow acceleration, the stinky smell of the exhaust. And then there was always the dilemma of the question, if the Diesel is more or less environmentally friendly than a Petrol car. Diesel puts out less NOx, does not need a catalytic converter - so in the 1980s it was considered to be better. But then came the discussion about toxic cancerogeneous particles, and suddenly the Diesel fared less well.
So when I bought cars, I never had a Diesel. Nowadays however, many problems of the Diesel have been solved: acceleration is much better (for example, TDI engines are quite agile), and there are particle filters in many Diesel vehicles. Remains the fuel consumption advantage, which reduces cost - and CO2 output. But Diesel still stinks... no matter how many particle filters are put in, the Diesel smell of the exhausts are just not very pleasant - one can really feel how the cancer gets stimulated into growth.
Still, the consumption and CO2 advantage are very good reasons to buy a Diesel. In addition, I recently came upon an article about conversion of Diesel engines to run on vegetable oil. Now this sounded really interesting, and I was already on the lookout for a good pre-owned Diesel car.
But then I found the other side of the coin, as discussed in this article by Lester Brown (actually I found the article on Spiegel Online from 27. March 2007 (not sure why Lester simply chose to translate his old article instead of making a new one, with newer data). The quintessence: bio-fuel leads to a competition of human vs. machines, food vs. fuel. The large conversion programs (bio-diesel, also ethanol) create a large demand for oil-producing crops - hereby increasing the price. And somehow this is not right, to grow plants which are used to feed machines instead of humans, as long as there is still a large hunger problem in the world.
So, now I have to decide what to do... maybe just get a small petrol car which also is fuel-efficient.
My family always had a Diesel, back in 1970-1990. But I never liked it: the slow acceleration, the stinky smell of the exhaust. And then there was always the dilemma of the question, if the Diesel is more or less environmentally friendly than a Petrol car. Diesel puts out less NOx, does not need a catalytic converter - so in the 1980s it was considered to be better. But then came the discussion about toxic cancerogeneous particles, and suddenly the Diesel fared less well.
So when I bought cars, I never had a Diesel. Nowadays however, many problems of the Diesel have been solved: acceleration is much better (for example, TDI engines are quite agile), and there are particle filters in many Diesel vehicles. Remains the fuel consumption advantage, which reduces cost - and CO2 output. But Diesel still stinks... no matter how many particle filters are put in, the Diesel smell of the exhausts are just not very pleasant - one can really feel how the cancer gets stimulated into growth.
Still, the consumption and CO2 advantage are very good reasons to buy a Diesel. In addition, I recently came upon an article about conversion of Diesel engines to run on vegetable oil. Now this sounded really interesting, and I was already on the lookout for a good pre-owned Diesel car.
But then I found the other side of the coin, as discussed in this article by Lester Brown (actually I found the article on Spiegel Online from 27. March 2007 (not sure why Lester simply chose to translate his old article instead of making a new one, with newer data). The quintessence: bio-fuel leads to a competition of human vs. machines, food vs. fuel. The large conversion programs (bio-diesel, also ethanol) create a large demand for oil-producing crops - hereby increasing the price. And somehow this is not right, to grow plants which are used to feed machines instead of humans, as long as there is still a large hunger problem in the world.
So, now I have to decide what to do... maybe just get a small petrol car which also is fuel-efficient.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Getting life organised - car
Monday I joined the AA and phoned in for an insurance quote. Arranged everything over the phone. Tuesday I returned the rental car, and now I am on my own. No more safety net - now I really have arrived.
Now the trouble starts...
Wednesday, I play with the electric windows; then the rear right window does not move up anymore. In the evening I remove the door panel to access the interior parts of the window mechanism, but no use - I cannot lift up the window manually.
On weekend I find the equivalent of the US Pep Boys: Halfords. What a relief - now I can browse for all these car goodies. I find a few things: voltmeter, wires, clamps. Fully equiped, I now tackle the electrical issue. Turns out that the motor of the window works fine. I am able to wind it up again by connecting the motor directly to the electric power. Then I disconnect it - I will tackle this problem at a later time and repair the window switches then. For now, the right rear window is simply just disabled.
A few other things do not work at this car: some of the switches on the dashboard do not have a background illumination - so at night I do not see some of the settings there. The right mirror motor does not pull the mirror in the vertical direction - I have to adjust that by hand. The interval wiper setting does not work: the front wipers do not operate at all in the interval setting, and the rear wiper does something weird, whenever it thinks it should - and then stays in an arbitrary position. No huge problems, just minor annoyances - and I am willing to deal with them, for that great price.
Now the trouble starts...
Wednesday, I play with the electric windows; then the rear right window does not move up anymore. In the evening I remove the door panel to access the interior parts of the window mechanism, but no use - I cannot lift up the window manually.
On weekend I find the equivalent of the US Pep Boys: Halfords. What a relief - now I can browse for all these car goodies. I find a few things: voltmeter, wires, clamps. Fully equiped, I now tackle the electrical issue. Turns out that the motor of the window works fine. I am able to wind it up again by connecting the motor directly to the electric power. Then I disconnect it - I will tackle this problem at a later time and repair the window switches then. For now, the right rear window is simply just disabled.
A few other things do not work at this car: some of the switches on the dashboard do not have a background illumination - so at night I do not see some of the settings there. The right mirror motor does not pull the mirror in the vertical direction - I have to adjust that by hand. The interval wiper setting does not work: the front wipers do not operate at all in the interval setting, and the rear wiper does something weird, whenever it thinks it should - and then stays in an arbitrary position. No huge problems, just minor annoyances - and I am willing to deal with them, for that great price.
Monday, September 05, 2005
Getting life organised - buying a car
An important issue for settling in to a new place is transportation, how to get around to places. In Leeds there is a very extensive inner-urban bus network and a nice commuter train connection to the outer towns, but for going shopping or exploring the countryside, one needs a car. Since I had 4 suitcases + a box when I arrived at Leeds-Bradford airport (LBA), I already had reserved a rental car - no way that I would be able to deal with these luggage pieces on a regular bus.
But car rental is expensive, and although I planned on using the rental car for the first days, I intended quickly to get a car, so that I could return the rental car as soon as possible. Also, this rental car has a stick shift transmission - which is a bit of a problem for me. Not that I cannot use it - I learned to drive on a stick shift, and one can drive much more sporty with it. But here in the UK driving with a stick shift is one additional hazzle: driving on the left side, after I had driven the past 24 years on the right side, is a bit difficult. This also means that the gear shifter is on the left instead of on the right - and my have to swap my complete behavior pattern in terms of what each hand is doing while I stear the car. And third, I am not yet familiar with the Leeds traffic and road network - so I am constantly looking at traffic signs and directions. This all adds up to making driving quite difficult, and I could not wait to return the rental car and get a car with an automatic transmission, which made cruising so enjoyable while I was in the US.
Thanks to the global connection through the internet, I already had explored the possibilities of a car purchase on the web. The site Auto Trader offered a nice overview on used cars, from private owners and from dealers (trade). My price rance was not yet determined, but to save valuable cash which I would need before my first salary arrived, I intended to set a quite low limit.
I had a few criteria that I would like to be fulfilled:
- the car should be British. This is because I want to "dive in" and get the full experience of living in Britain. In the US, I had my monster US classics, and was very happy with them. I thought that I would be able to apply all my acquired mechanical knowledge in dealing with possible unreliabilities...
- the car should be a Diesel. Gas prices in Europe and the UK are more than double as what they are in the US, where now everyone is complaining about 3$ per gallon. In the UK, gas prices approach 1 British Pound per litre, which is about $6.50 per gallon at the current US conversion rate. Diesel engines have a very good mileage of usually around 50 mpg, so that would keep the operating cost down.
- it should be an automatic. Although I am able to drive stick, it bothers me to take constantly the hand of the wheel, take that stick, and move it forward or backward. And this with the left hand which never had to do anything before (when I was driving in cars with steering wheel at the left side).
- it should be a station wagon or hatchback (or estate, as they call them here), because I often carry a lot of stuff with me.
- it should have a sun roof. A convertible does not seem feasible because of the climate here.
- it should be cheap.
When looking on the web for cars that would fulfill these conditions, I realized that it would be hard to find one that satisfies all of them. Especially the combination Diesel-automatic was hard to find, so I decided that I would have to be a little less discriminative.
I finally found one that would satisfy 5 of these 6 conditions: a 1996 Rover 820 Fastback. Automatic, a hatchback, British, with sun roof and a few other luxury extras, and a reasonable price of 575 GDP. Yes, I really aimed at quite a low price.
When I called, I hardly understood the heavy Yorkshire dialect of the seller. But I managed to arrange for a meeting. Calling the next day, however, I learned that in this particular car the gear box had broken. What a shame. But the same dealer offered a few other cars, and so I decided to stop by. I test drove another Rover, but that was not a hatchback. Then they also had a 1993 Ford Granada stationwagon. I drove it, and it felt ok. 350 cash. I decided to take this, although this would not be the unique British car experience that I had sought. So on Sunday afternoon, 5 days after my arrival in the UK, I became proud owner of my first car in the UK.
A bit rust around the wheels, but the engine seemed ok. I immediately started cleaning the interior from the dust.
But car rental is expensive, and although I planned on using the rental car for the first days, I intended quickly to get a car, so that I could return the rental car as soon as possible. Also, this rental car has a stick shift transmission - which is a bit of a problem for me. Not that I cannot use it - I learned to drive on a stick shift, and one can drive much more sporty with it. But here in the UK driving with a stick shift is one additional hazzle: driving on the left side, after I had driven the past 24 years on the right side, is a bit difficult. This also means that the gear shifter is on the left instead of on the right - and my have to swap my complete behavior pattern in terms of what each hand is doing while I stear the car. And third, I am not yet familiar with the Leeds traffic and road network - so I am constantly looking at traffic signs and directions. This all adds up to making driving quite difficult, and I could not wait to return the rental car and get a car with an automatic transmission, which made cruising so enjoyable while I was in the US.
Thanks to the global connection through the internet, I already had explored the possibilities of a car purchase on the web. The site Auto Trader offered a nice overview on used cars, from private owners and from dealers (trade). My price rance was not yet determined, but to save valuable cash which I would need before my first salary arrived, I intended to set a quite low limit.
I had a few criteria that I would like to be fulfilled:
- the car should be British. This is because I want to "dive in" and get the full experience of living in Britain. In the US, I had my monster US classics, and was very happy with them. I thought that I would be able to apply all my acquired mechanical knowledge in dealing with possible unreliabilities...
- the car should be a Diesel. Gas prices in Europe and the UK are more than double as what they are in the US, where now everyone is complaining about 3$ per gallon. In the UK, gas prices approach 1 British Pound per litre, which is about $6.50 per gallon at the current US conversion rate. Diesel engines have a very good mileage of usually around 50 mpg, so that would keep the operating cost down.
- it should be an automatic. Although I am able to drive stick, it bothers me to take constantly the hand of the wheel, take that stick, and move it forward or backward. And this with the left hand which never had to do anything before (when I was driving in cars with steering wheel at the left side).
- it should be a station wagon or hatchback (or estate, as they call them here), because I often carry a lot of stuff with me.
- it should have a sun roof. A convertible does not seem feasible because of the climate here.
- it should be cheap.
When looking on the web for cars that would fulfill these conditions, I realized that it would be hard to find one that satisfies all of them. Especially the combination Diesel-automatic was hard to find, so I decided that I would have to be a little less discriminative.
I finally found one that would satisfy 5 of these 6 conditions: a 1996 Rover 820 Fastback. Automatic, a hatchback, British, with sun roof and a few other luxury extras, and a reasonable price of 575 GDP. Yes, I really aimed at quite a low price.
When I called, I hardly understood the heavy Yorkshire dialect of the seller. But I managed to arrange for a meeting. Calling the next day, however, I learned that in this particular car the gear box had broken. What a shame. But the same dealer offered a few other cars, and so I decided to stop by. I test drove another Rover, but that was not a hatchback. Then they also had a 1993 Ford Granada stationwagon. I drove it, and it felt ok. 350 cash. I decided to take this, although this would not be the unique British car experience that I had sought. So on Sunday afternoon, 5 days after my arrival in the UK, I became proud owner of my first car in the UK.
A bit rust around the wheels, but the engine seemed ok. I immediately started cleaning the interior from the dust.
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