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1

General Car Chat / Re: R50 Bini

« on: Today at 21:00:22 »

Should add, quite fun to drive. ……

My Mrs must have had every derivative going of the R50/R56 Bini, from the Cooper S to the diesel. I’d defy anything to go around a corner or roundabout as quick as a Mini, they are like a go kart.    I had immense fun in hers when she wasn’t in it. 
The only issue was steep hill starts. Too little revs and it would nearly stall and too many revs resulted in a fifty yard wheel spin like a boy racer.    Very difficult to catch it just right and this is where the diesel was the much better choice, as it just plodded away at hill starts with no drama. 

Our old Rover 25 was like that, but only on Pirelli P6000 tyres, which went out of production.  Next best of all the ones I tried on it were one of the Kuhmos, but they had no feedback, so never sure when its gonna put you in a ditch

Me and said colleague with the Cooper Coupe never, ever raced home from work. Nope, never. Honest guv.  They weren't far off each other really, his just had the edge on acceleration (certainly initial acceleration), I seemed to be a bit more stable hard braking into corners

2

General Car Chat / Re: R50 Bini

« on: Today at 20:54:21 »

Should add, quite fun to drive.  Although the seats are incompatible with my poor back.

That was a concern, but it's actually pretty reasonable in that respect. Obviously nowhere near as comfortable/adjustable as what we're used to, but it's a very different car.

It's defo an issue for me - 10 miles in a ONE will set my back off for a week, but I know I have long standing issues with my poor back.  My colleague's old Cooper coupe thing was better, but still unsuited - shame, it was a hoot.

3

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: Today at 20:49:06 »

oh yes, and door latches. But they are definitely a service item on JLR. Guaranteed to last beyond (just) the warranty period

4

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: Today at 20:40:47 »

Yodel. I accept delivering to Brackley is hard for many couriers for reasons I can't grasp, but after a week of it not moving from their national hub, accept you've lost it, or give some kind of guess. Not just "it will arrive when it will arrive".

The seller is also gonna get shitty feedback for being so stupid to use Yodel.

5

General Discussion Area / Re: Lawnmowers

« on: Today at 11:05:59 »

LOL, how spooky is that, I just had to find this thread again, as less than 30s after adding the last post, I've just heard the doris over the road start up her electric mower, and listening to it struggling to cut the grass.

Petrol all the way!

6

General Discussion Area / Re: Lawnmowers

« on: Today at 11:03:58 »

First cut! the idiot next door has been cutting his for over a month, he cut it on Friday and again today. I think he uses a laser line for the stipes and measures the grass with a Vernier--------

I think I'm on my 6 or 7th cut.  The constant sun-rain-sun-rain has made mine go mental.

7

General Discussion Area / Re: Lawnmowers

« on: Today at 11:03:02 »

diagnosed correctly as a gunged up carb. I spent £30 on genuine Briggs and Stratton carb kit and service items. It's been right as rain ever since. 

I think knackered diaphrams are common on B&S, as I'm sure YZ250 will testify.  Genuine diaphrams are around a five, for under £20 for the B&S service kit including primer bulb, plug, air filter etc....

...and when you get stuck, phone YZ250 and he'll tell you what you've done wrong

8

General Car Chat / Re: Motor Factors?

« on: Today at 10:49:44 »

Not many independent factors left, ECP have taken over the world.

I'd definitely avoid Starline - in fact my MOT man is always ranting at ECP when I go in, because they sent him Starline when he said any brand but Starline

If its a bastid job, sometimes branded is worth the extra to reduce the risk of having to do it again in 2 months...

9

General Car Chat / Re: R50 Bini

« on: Today at 10:45:51 »

Should add, quite fun to drive.  Although the seats are incompatible with my poor back.

10

General Car Chat / Re: R50 Bini

« on: Today at 10:45:00 »

Obviously round these parts they are common, probably because all used car places are full of them, given the proximity to Oxford, and the number of employees buying them as 2nd cars on the factory schemes.

They seem to suffer quite badly from niggly engine faults that can get expensive to fix - on the later ones, the EML often signifies a very expensive engine rebuild - gearbox failures on early ones, and power steering problems across the board.  In fact I know of several people who bought brand new ones and due to issues, were given another brand new one several months later due to constant recurring issues with the steering.

Corrosion is high on older ones, though suspect more due to lack of owner care rather than the car.

11

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: Today at 10:36:45 »

Went to look at and bought a temporary car pending fixing the S Class properly.

Working MK1 facelift Bini Cooper with almost 6 months MoT.

Needs a few bits addressing, but actually drives quite well for what it is.

 Is owing a Benz,, the new Omega something needs fixing weekly.

Nah, that's a Jaaaag.  In the year I've had it TB has had to dismantle his engine twice.

Mainly due to not being able to get the other cam cover quickly enough when I did the first side. And oppsed if I was fitting a pattern part to such an arsehole to get to component.  And its only a cam cover, so you'd think it was a s trivial as a Omega

I'd wager I've spent less time working on mine in the last year then you have .

In reality, the Big Black Pussy has been pretty good on that front, though has been on a low loader twice due to stupid little issues.  One was down to a silly design, the other gave me plenty of warning before I took it on holiday in the form of bearing noise, but I was busy every weekend helping my holiday buddy fix the suspension on his ash tree, so he could take that away with us, and "would sort the noise on mine when I got back".  Sadly, he still took his Peugeot instead, and my noise meant it was about 250 miles short of making it home!


I do despair at some of the silly decisions on the Pussy, particularly around the plastic welded components that have internal pressure (turbo boost or coolant pressure) that are guaranteed to fail, and the mongrel who decided to use far longer than necessary bolts to hold the injector rail in place needs stringing up bu their knackers, but overall its hard to fault the reliability* of it.  Obviously, its a Jaguar so has a reliability stigma to it, but no better or worse than any other car really.


*Reliability needs to be compared to other luxury, complicated exec cars, as there is more to go wrong.  That said, ignoring wheels and tyres, the only non service items I've had to do are:
Both cam covers
Throttle body
Coolant outlet
Alternator
Battery (at about 9yrs old, so guess should be classed as service)
Some infotainment bits - mostly due to my own fault
ATF change (I guess should be classed as service, even though its the usual sealed-for-life)


Not too bad in 7? 8? years of ownership....

12

General Car Chat / Re: It's okay to buy a RR now

« on: Today at 10:20:54 »

I suspect if you ware willing to dump down £100k (I think all FFRRs are over 100k now?), and paying all the luxury car tax and so on, teh insurance is insignificant?

Additionally, is £2k to insure a new, £100k car that outrageous?  And being clickbait, I bet that is worse case scenario.

13

General Discussion Area / Re: If HS2 falls through.....

« on: 07 May 2024, 20:44:40 »

I doubt HS2 could build a bridge, they would talk about it for decades, then move soil around for another decade....

On a similar subject they are having to build tunnels where they don’t even need tunnels now.    You could be forgiven for thinking that the HS2 developers know what they’re at, but I don’t believe that they do.
In the Vale of Aylesbury the proposed route of HS2 through Hartwell was deemed to run too close to the Fairford Leys sports ground and play park, so HS2 tried to move it over a bit. The land on the opposite side of the proposed track would be ideal so they tried a compulsory purchase. The land concerned belongs to Hartwell House, a Grade 1 listed property. Yeh, good luck with that one. 
Having failed miserably to acquire the National Trust land it was back to square one, so both the National Trust and the sports ground have insisted on a land tunnel to protect the sports ground from the train and to minimise noise disruption to Hartwell House. 

Surely yet another London to Birmingham line is more culturally important than some old house in Stone

Honestly, they are incompetent mongrels.

14

General Car Chat / Re: Frontera 3.2 V6 key / immobiliser issues.

« on: 07 May 2024, 20:39:19 »

If you're talking remote fob rather than immobiliser, the fobs need to be exactly the right ones.

15

General Car Chat / Re: Frontera 3.2 V6 key / immobiliser issues.

« on: 07 May 2024, 14:29:11 »

Possible the immobiliser ECU has been swapped out, so the carpass is no longer valid.

Can't really think how anyone could knacker an immobiliser through repair TBH.