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35206

General Discussion Area / Re: could it be?

« on: 11 March 2007, 19:41:16 »

2nd from the top caught my eye.  0-60 in 6.8, 14 seconds 1/4 mile and "close to" 160MPH from an auto 3.2 MV6?

Or maybe it has got an "uprated engine"?

Kevin

35207

General Discussion Area / Re: price question...elite!

« on: 11 March 2007, 16:49:09 »

Leather was top of my list until I did 2 back to back test drives. A facelift Elite with leather and a facelift MV6 with cloth seats. I bought the MV6.

Probably more to do with the seat design than the covering but I felt "perched on" the leathers and they didn't seem to offer much lateral support. I felt very nicely wedged into MV6 cloth seats in comparison.

It may have a lot to do with personal preference and driving style but out of those two cars I preferred the cloth seats. I'm not sure if the MV6 cloth seats are anything special or the same as the other models..

Kevin
  

35208

General Discussion Area / Re: Freeander 1.8 over heating...

« on: 10 March 2007, 14:05:54 »

BMW where desperate to differentiate the (then upcoming) more expensive X3.

They certainly managed that. Had my first drive in an X3 recently and was impressed (goes to wash mouth out with fairy liquid). It was a bit skittish about the straight ahead position but I soon realised that you didn't have to grit your teeth when approaching corners to quite the same degree as with other chelsea tractors. It was almost like driving a real car.  

Kevin

35209

General Discussion Area / Re: Freeander 1.8 over heating...

« on: 10 March 2007, 00:11:11 »

Only Rover would put a 1.8 engine in something that size!

Obviously the first engine they found lying around when they penned the design

Kevin

35210

General Discussion Area / Re: Freeander 1.8 over heating...

« on: 09 March 2007, 19:00:48 »

But that's where i get confused (easily done  Grin) ... there is not a single trace of Mayo under the oil filler cap! And no trace of exhaust gasses in the coolant header tank  undecided

The K is a wet liner engine, so the only failure mode for the head gasket if leaking from around the bores (where they all fail due to liner movement) is into the coolant jacket. There is no deck on the top of the block to allow the bores to blow into the oil return holes and it's very unlikely that the oil gallery feed into the head, or the oil return holes into the sump, would fail on their own.

I'd get a garage to look for evidence of exhaust fumes in the expansion tank if you're still sceptical.

These are exactly the same symptoms I had on my Rover 214 years ago. Didn't have a clue about cars then and, I'm ashamed to say, I assumed it just needed a flush, did so and then sold it to a mate of mine who had HGF a couple of weeks later! Luckily he wrote it off soon after that so he couldn't blame me for anything else.  

Kevin

35211

General Discussion Area / Re: Freeander 1.8 over heating...

« on: 09 March 2007, 17:34:23 »

Owner now looking for a poper 4x4.

 

These things have to be ragged so mercilessly to even keep up with the traffic with a 1.8K I think HGF is a very common issue.

You couldn't find a more inappropriate engine to put into a 4x4 IMO.

Kevin

35212

General Discussion Area / Re: Land Rover over heating...

« on: 09 March 2007, 16:48:10 »

I've had a sludgey header tank before on a K series and sure enough the head gasket went. There were no signs of contamination of the oil and it ran fine.

Worth a flush and a new thermostat just in case though.

Kevin

35213

General Discussion Area / Re: possible cheap upgrade?

« on: 10 March 2007, 19:22:43 »

Actually the V6 is an alloy block.

Is it really?

I thought it was cast iron. The one here looks iron judging by the rust.

http://www.infohitsystems.ltd.uk/Gallery/Car/P1010040.JPG

Kevin

35214

General Discussion Area / Re: With trepidation . . .

« on: 10 March 2007, 13:54:26 »

Is it less thirsty than a V6 Omega?

Well, combined MPG seems to be about 28 for the auto. IS200. That's about on a par with a 2.2 Omega just looking at the govt. figures. 2.6 Omega isn't far behind.

I guess it depends on the anticipated mileage and the type of driving. The 2.0 Lexus engine is nice though. Feels and sounds like a much bigger engine and it's resonably quick I'd say.

Kevin

35215

General Discussion Area / Re: With trepidation . . .

« on: 10 March 2007, 13:37:48 »

A mate of mine bought an IS200 recently and it seems OK. Pretty solid and looks like it would be easier than the Omega to work on. Correct number of cylinders and correct driven wheels..

Not sure that the running costs are like. He did mention it was a bit thirsty but one man's thirsty is another man's frugal.

Edited to say another mate of mine had an Avensis hire car and hated it. Said it was horrible to drive at speed due to instability and they are so dull to look at. I don't normally worry about looks and image and the like but i'd make an exception for the Avensis I think. Everything about it screams "repmobile".

Cheers,

Kevin

35216

General Discussion Area / Re: James has done something BAD!!!!

« on: 10 March 2007, 19:16:18 »

There are whole petrol stations in the states with no people.

They have them in France too. You roll up, put your card in, it realises you aren't French and spits your card out again  

Try driving down to the Lot region on a Sunday (even less cashiers in petrol stations) when it's pi$$ing down with rain, your car has a very leaky soft top and a range of 120 miles until it's on vapours again. A memorable journey that was!

Still, it was worth it when we got there and the weather cooperated

Kevin

35217

General Discussion Area / Re: Here I go again...

« on: 09 March 2007, 19:13:16 »

A mate of my wife pulled out of a junction onto a main road and got T-boned by a biker doing (in her opinion) an utterly stupid speed. He appeared from nowhere out of a bend not far from the junction. The accident was fully investigated as the biker was injured. It was proven that there was a badly placed sign which restricted her view of the road to the direction from which the bike came and that the biker was doing well over the speed limit but she still got done for dangerous driving and the claim was awarded in the biker's favour.

The court decided that whatever other factors were taken into consideration the bottom line was that the biker had right of way.

There's no room for common sense or judgement in motoring law these days, so it seems.

Kevin

35218

General Discussion Area / Re: Here I go again...

« on: 03 March 2007, 00:13:31 »

Really sorry to hear that. It's bad enough to have your car damaged but like you say it's doubly bad to think about all the insurance hassles that are no doubt ahead. At least no one was hurt. Hope it turns out OK for you.

Kevin

35219

General Discussion Area / Re: We are destroying the world !!!

« on: 09 March 2007, 16:12:08 »

Every so often the Earth's climate changes. Sometimes the change doesn't suit some or all of the species on Earth. Look what happened to the poor old dinosaurs. No matter what mankind does sooner or later we'll find ourselves up the creek without a paddle so why not just enjoy it while we're here? I doubt anything we'll be able to do will delay the inevitable.

If we unilaterally decide to go the way of the lentil we just make ourselves less competitive against China and the U.S. who won't. If climate change turns out to be man-made we'll be shafted anyway because who puts out the majority of pollutants?

Making ourselves independant of the fossil fuel supply situation, on the other hand, would be a very smart political move for many reasons at the moment but, like screwing railway track together properly, having uncongested roads without pot holes, etc.  it requires investment not extra taxation so some hope of that happening!

Kevin

35220

General Discussion Area / Re: How cheap???

« on: 06 March 2007, 22:00:30 »

Looks like a lot of car for that money.

Out of interest, if you don't have a transponder that's paired with the car can you pair a new one using Tech2 and drive off or will it not let you in?

Kevin