Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

I feel like I should plant a seed of normal discussion so here’s one, feel free to ignore it: I’m planning to sell the Smart but I’m not sure when to do it, anyone had experience of selling a soft top on the wrong side of summer? Don’t want to lose my arse.

?
 
Kat's busted intercooler sucks, hope it gets sorted soon.
Go the car back from the shop yesterday and it's all sorted (y)

I was feeling kind of stupid for doing so when i could have in retrospect, taken it to shop class ans fixed it myself, but the abarth subreddit happened to offer an example of how bad it could have gone if I hadn't been paranoid and limped it 40 miles to the reputable dealer.

In other news I have ordered a new skid plate for the bug because the terrible road construction also ripped that off the bottom of the car a couple years ago and the intercooler incident reminded me I should not be taking chances lol.
 
This seems like a good place to draw a line under it and get back to normal automotive discussion, with everyone being a bit more considerate of the direction their post could take the thread and how it relates to the post that started the 'chain' of discussion. Along with that we should try to not take things too seriously and do our best to minimise political content.

There's absolutely nobody here I have personal beef with and given the chance I'd share a beer with all of you.

Kat's busted intercooler sucks, hope it gets sorted soon.

Edit: I feel like I should plant a seed of normal discussion so here’s one, feel free to ignore it: I’m planning to sell the Smart but I’m not sure when to do it, anyone had experience of selling a soft top on the wrong side of summer? Don’t want to lose my arse.

Sold the Turk E36 convertible in winter. Just be confident and put it online for what you would want in summer, and then throw in the summer wheels as a bonus. Or in my case, hide the summer wheels and sell them for another 900€ ?
 
The MX-5 was as cheap as it was partially due to it being sold in January.
 
Sold the Turk E36 convertible in winter. Just be confident and put it online for what you would want in summer, and then throw in the summer wheels as a bonus. Or in my case, hide the summer wheels and sell them for another 900€ ?

What are summer and winter wheels? :razz:

Never drove it in winter so it just has the tyres that are on it, still surprisingly good despite the roadtrip miles. I probably should get the wheel with peeling clear coat swapped out with the spare I’ve had since I bought the thing though.

I suppose it can’t hurt to advertise it, worst case I turn down offers.
 
I also have a useless touchpad between the seats just behind the gearbox selector, allowing me to move a mouse pointer of sorts between the touch targets and do multi-touch swipe to change radio channels, etc. I can also draw letters on it when entering stuff into the satnav. Enter a character, hear the GPS lady confirm it, enter another... no thanks. I'd rather use the on-screen QWERTY.

asians love this feature, entering the chinese written name of city is way easier on such a touchpad than selecting the correct icon from a list of 10000
but for us, it doesn't make sense as you'll have to enter at least 3-4 letters before the correct destination will be selected
 
Edit: I feel like I should plant a seed of normal discussion so here’s one, feel free to ignore it: I’m planning to sell the Smart but I’m not sure when to do it, anyone had experience of selling a soft top on the wrong side of summer? Don’t want to lose my arse.
Aww :(
I would just add that it did sound glorious at the meet.
 
Is it still having issues? What are those worth? I mean that if nothing else, you could try and sell it at the icetrackmeet. From a ditch, obvs.
 
Aww :(
I would just add that it did sound glorious at the meet.

It sounds even better now with a fatter intake hose. I'm having trouble trusting it after the problems, though. I also have other ideas.

Is it still having issues? What are those worth? I mean that if nothing else, you could try and sell it at the icetrackmeet. From a ditch, obvs.

Hopefully they're all sorted now, or rather for now. I paid £3K for the thing, have almost spent that again in a year and a half and would just like to get what I paid for it. No way I'm bringing it to the icetrackmeet, sadly. :p

I will update my PYC thread at some point, the work was finished last weekend but I'm just lazy.
 
The UK more than any other market is particularly susceptible to seasonal variation, basically because we are rather short-sighted as a nation and have difficulty seeing the bigger picture. It's why we voted to leave the EU because of some brown people down the road whose grandparents we invited to come from our former colonies to help boost our workforce following WWII.

It also means that the best time to buy a rufty-tufty 4x4 is May or June and that bargain convertibles can be picked up in January and February.

And the best time to buy a Vauxhall or Peugeot is never.
 
I was feeling kind of stupid for doing so when i could have in retrospect, taken it to shop class ans fixed it myself
Funnily enough my first reaction was "why didn't you just do it yourself" then I remembered how much of a PITA it is to work on such a small car.
 
And the best time to buy a Vauxhall or Peugeot is never.
Peugeot 205 GTi, 106GTi and 306 GTi-6 would like to have a word. :p
 
And Rallye versions of those models, too! (Yes, I'd include the UK-spec 205 Rallye there. I don't think it deserves the hatred it gets from PSA purists.)
 
It sounds even better now with a fatter intake hose. I'm having trouble trusting it after the problems, though. I also have other ideas.
This I can understand. It's terrible to just expect something to fail.
 
Peugeot 205 GTi, 106GTi and 306 GTi-6 would like to have a word. :p

And if ever I find myself with the means to buy and run a decent example I may actually listen to them.

The 205 GTi 1.9 is a car I would love to own, but finding one here that isn't a complete snotter is a tall order. A few years ago I found a minter with 59k miles on it for £6k. Today you're talking £10k for one with 150k miles (240k km) and really good examples double that.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-se...UGEOT&model=205&minimum-badge-engine-size=1.9
 
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And if ever I find myself with the means to buy and run a decent example I may actually listen to them.

The 205 GTi 1.9 is a car I would love to own, but finding one here that isn't a complete snotter is a tall order. A few years ago I found a minter with 59k miles on it for £6k. Today you're talking £10k for one with 150k miles (240k km) and really good examples double that.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=price-asc&radius=1500&postcode=po207nu&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&make=PEUGEOT&model=205&minimum-badge-engine-size=1.9
Oh the prices of 205 GTi's are stupid insane. Finding a pre-catalytic converter 1.9 in good shape is near impossible. I know a lot of sick people... I mean peugeot owners who are constantly kicking themselves for selling these for a few hundred just a few years ago. :D

That said, something like a 306 GTi-6 is a damn good newer equivalent. The engine transmission combo on these is by far one of the best I've ever driven and can be had for a few thousand. Provided you can find one since they're fairly rare these days.

Laughs in supercharged MINI
If you're being held hostage... blink twice. :D
 
That Rallye is a lighter version of the GTI-6, witch in some places was sold as a S16(not to be confused with the older S16 that only had a 5-speed transmisson and a 155 hp engine). The key is that the good one has 162hp and a 6-speed transmission.
 
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