Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Perc said:
My automatic tailgate refused to close the other day after I had thrown my jacket in there, it tried to but stopped after an inch or so. I immediately started cursing modern cars and wondered to myself how expensive this is going to be. Then I realized that the car key was in the jacket pocket. Took it out and suddenly the thing started cooperating again.

That feeling when your car is smarter than you.
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I’ve had this happen with rental cars before. “Why the fuck isn’t it….. ohhhh.” 😁
 
So nice of Harry to just chill with his neighbors. This farmer seems quite witty, the results of a simple life surrounded by good salt-of-the-earth people I think.
 
I'm beginning to feel like 5years is all a new car is supposed to be more or less problem free. Our VW Caddy was built in May 2018 and the last couple of months I've been getting one error message after another. So far nothing too bad (of you don't count the engine management error that dissapeared after a reset) but last weekend it started giving errors about a faulty airbag and front assist being randomly turned on and off.
This one sounds like it could get expensive.
 
In a moment of frustration I took a quick glance at what my other options would be for another family car used or new with at least 6 seats. It shows how f-ed up the current car market is: came across some Caddy's similar to mine but higher milage with asking prices that are higher than what I payed for the car brand new 5years ago...
 
Apparently anything that's remotely van like and could become a camper is still in high demand, not sure why.
 
I'll continue maintaining my Merc until it's declared unsafe for the road if possible. Finding another S211 E-Class at the price i got mine for is not possible. Hell, it was a fluke I got it for what I did, every other e-class wagon of that era is at least 8,000-11,000 depending on specs.

That said, I am eyeing Polo GTI's. Maybe then I can have a certified #ringtool. <3
 
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Matt2000 said:
Apparently anything that's remotely van like and could become a camper is still in high demand, not sure why.
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Because #vanlife. But seriously, I'm not sure why either, although camping with vans seems to be increasingly popular.

Current car prices, traffic and parking situation in Zagreb, as well as general inflation, make me think I won't own a car any time soon. @Redliner explained it in the Random Thoughts thread, and I can't disagree. My reasoning is slightly different, I could use one for some cases, and I've been jonesing for my own car for a good while now; but between parking being a huge problem, low salaries in Croatia (especially for beginners), and the used car market in Croatia generally being shit.

If it's a German car, it's almost certainly going to be a diesel car (an exception to a degree are older Opels), same with most French cars; and if by some wonder it's a petrol car, it's gonna be LPG converted. All Japanese cars are either poorly maintained, rustbuckets, or both. Not to mention all I could afford is probably some shitbox, partly because of beginners' salaries here, partly because people don't maintain cars well here, and partly because everything is so goddamn expensive.

Rant over.
 
Of course yeah, I would've thought #vanlife would've faded now we're past the pandemic restrictions (last week was my first travel out of the country since and there wasn't a hint that it had ever occurred) but apparently not. I saw an LDV Convoy minibus the other day that had been 'converted' to a camper, by converted I mean there was a load of wood inside that might've resembled bed frames and some curtains in the side windows. They hadn't even put a tint or mirror coating on the rear doors.

Nothing wrong with darting about in a little diesel Polo, Up!, Fox, Mii, Citigo or whatever. If I actually needed a cheap little car I'd probably still be looking at a Mk6 Fiesta diesel, I still really like them and it's what I passed my test in. I do keep looking at Range Rovers though, I haven't watched Harry's video as it would most likely be dangerous. Richard Porter is helping to put me off the idea by talking about the issues he is having with his L322 on the Smith & Sniff podcast.
 
Steering wheel buttons stopped working too and there are rattling noises when turning the steering wheel, so I'm 99% sure it's a defective clockspring= a 350-500euro part not fitted :rolleyes:. And there are 2 different types of clockspring used for this type of car/steering wheel and the only two ways to determine which one you need is by either removing it to find the OEM number or by using a diagnostic tester.
 
VW quality eh? When was that actually a thing? The T-Cross rental did feel solidly enough built (I actually thought it was too chunky in a lot of ways - such a fat knob) but it was still crap. Stupid loud parking sensors would come on if you got to the bottom of a sloped road like in an underground car park...
 
Matt2000 said:
Nothing wrong with darting about in a little diesel Polo, Up!, Fox, Mii, Citigo or whatever. If I actually needed a cheap little car I'd probably still be looking at a Mk6 Fiesta diesel, I still really like them and it's what I passed my test in.
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Up!, Mii and Citigo didn't come in diesel variants, although the Fox, surprisingly enough, did (it was the 1.4 three-cylinder TDI, though). Polo would be fine, Fiesta would probably be even better. (I passed my test in a Mk7 diesel, it wasn't even the base model.) But decent Polos (I'm not counting the Mk4 SDI models as decent) would come at about €4000 for a Mk4 Polo 1.4 TDI, whereas the Fiesta would be a bit cheaper, but not significantly.
Up!s and similar start at ~€6000 for decent ones.

There's also the cost of running a diesel car, as the tax is ever so slightly higher, fuel costs the same, but the maintenance might offset any potential savings in fuel economy. This will be heavily dependent on my daily commute, and I will probably still heavily rely on public transportation, as finding a parking spot in Zagreb is a bit of a problem. People park on the road, on the sidewalk, on bus stations, everywhere they can, as there's simply not enough parking spots for all the cars in the city. That's actually probably deterring me from buying a car most, even more than the running prices and buying price.
 
My favorite stupid thing about Volkswagens is some generation of the 2.0 TDI (mk2 Octavia RS to name one particular model) where there are two different clutch kits depending on what brand of flywheel they put in at the factory, and they don't know. You need to split the engine and gearbox to find out before you can order parts.

You can get around that by putting a new flywheel in and you should be doing that anyway if you're doing the clutch, unless you want to do it again next year when the flywheel goes. Have I ever mentioned that torque converter automatics are superior? Yes, I have a dual clutch in the passat. No, I won't be getting another one.

Also for some reason, Mercedes-Benz sometimes gives you like 6-7 different fuel filters for the same car and the MB parts catalog just goes "part number must be determined at vehicle".
 
Matt2000 said:
VW quality eh? When was that actually a thing? The T-Cross rental did feel solidly enough built (I actually thought it was too chunky in a lot of ways - such a fat knob) but it was still crap. Stupid loud parking sensors would come on if you got to the bottom of a sloped road like in an underground car park...
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Hey the clockspring survived for 5 years and 55k km, awesome quality I would say (y) :rolleyes: . It's all my fault probably, I shouldn't have turned the steering wheel so often :unsure:.
I have to be honest: the first 4years and 11 months have been rather problem free and reliable, but pretty much the day it went out of warranty (5years since VW considers Caddy's as a commercial vehicle even when configured as an MPV) it started acting up and throwing errors.
And since the importer for VAG in Belgium now owns the dealership I bought the car from (I think they own most VAG dealerships around here these days), discussions about warranty or filing complaints is basically a waste of time.
 
public said:
J O G G E R
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I can't find anything about it now but after the Dacia Logan got taken out of the 24 hours Nürburgring there was talk of fundraising a Jogger for them to race next year. I really like the Jogger, it looks very much like a Skoda Yeti/Volvo mashup. Still gutted that I couldn't get the Duster rental I wanted.

Tram said:
Up!, Mii and Citigo didn't come in diesel variants, although the Fox, surprisingly enough, did (it was the 1.4 three-cylinder TDI, though).
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I didn't know this, never really cared to look. I suppose they were post-dieselgate cars... Someone down the road has an EV Mii, I like it but they're a bit overpriced.
 
You could/can get the Triplets with factory CNG setup, I think.

Cheapest electric versions are currently at 10k here, but they're nearing 10 years old. In some use cases a perfectly sensible idea with which you can easily amortize the purchase price, as long as you don't need to fix anything anytime soon. https://www.nettiauto.com/en/volkswagen/e-up/13612286

Edit: keep in mind these early cars have a 18kWh battery while newer ones have double that.
 
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