What Shocked You Today

[StevenRB45]

Looking at it, first MOT it had done 140k so it's only slowed down slightly.

Also last service was July this year, it's done 12k since then

An oddity for sure.. especially given there would absolutely have been an equivalent diesel car available.

One has to wonder if it's the original engine..but at the same time given the mileage has always been intergalactic it would have been out of warranty in less than 18 months and also not really worth enough to justify paying 5k or so for a new one.

That and if it's still on the original wet belt

 

[AndyRKett]

Looking at it, first MOT it had done 140k so it's only slowed down slightly.

Also last service was July this year, it's done 12k since then

An oddity for sure.. especially given there would absolutely have been an equivalent diesel car available.

One has to wonder if it's the original engine..but at the same time given the mileage has always been intergalactic it would have been out of warranty in less than 18 months and also not really worth enough to justify paying 5k or so for a new one.

That and if it's still on the original wet belt

Barring any catastrophic failure it is almost certainly on the original engine. I am sure the cambelt will have been changed

If you use a car like this and it is just running up and down on the same route at the same speeds day in day out, then the engine will do that very well.

I talked to an aircraft engineer not that long back and we were talking about the engines in light aircraft that chug along at 1700rpm for 95% of the flights they do. The rest of the time is spent on idle, or increased revs during climb out, but basically they last extremely well and for very long times without failure because staying at a constant speed is not taxing at all, its the changing in engine speed jerky gear changes, Changing demands on the engine caused by the gear changes and lots of braking/engine braking that takes it's toll and stresses out a car engine.

If you just drove a car up and down a motorway all day at 70mph then the engine would be just as good at 150k miles as it was at 10k miles (once it's had a chance to loosen up) at over 40k miles per year that car has had to have been used all day every day nearly non stop.

Maybe at 250k miles they've decided that it needs changing, its not that old a car and they have used it for a long time and kept on top of servicing as required. so it may now be showing signs of engine wear or that a lot of parts now need changing as suspension, bushings, shocks, and CV joints may now all be wearing out.

When my brother had his taxi that needed a lot of repairs on the running gear once it pasted 200k miles despite still being a relatively new car. that was a 2007 Octavia and he stopped using it as a taxi in 2013/14 so it lived a similar life to this car. perhaps this car was used as an Uber car as not being a 4 door its not a typical taxi.

 

[bugsymike]

If you just drove a car up and down a motorway all day at 70mph then the engine would be just as good at 150k miles as it was at 10k miles (once it's had a chance to loosen up) at over 40k miles per year that car has had to have been used all day every day nearly non stop.

I bought some Perkins diesel spares from an old guy , who it turned out had been involved in the design of the original Perkins 4.108 diesel and he was saying when used for marine purposes at a constant load they would last for ages as long as the oil was changed regularly. He said road use was less "good" due to stopping and starting, cold oils, differing loads and revs etc.
I had a Bedford CF and a Mk1 Ford Transit with that engine in, on a run top speed was around 65mph but returned 38mpg which for those days in non turbo form was quite good. I also got a later version of the engine from a Hydravane road compressor used to operate pneumatic drills, I fitted it to a boat and was well pleased with it.

 

[AndyRKett]

I bought some Perkins diesel spares from an old guy , who it turned out had been involved in the design of the original Perkins 4.108 diesel and he was saying when used for marine purposes at a constant load they would last for ages as long as the oil was changed regularly. He said road use was less "good" due to stopping and starting, cold oils, differing loads and revs etc.
I had a Bedford CF and a Mk1 Ford Transit with that engine in, on a run top speed was around 65mph but returned 38mpg which for those days in non turbo form was quite good. I also got a later version of the engine from a Hydravane road compressor used to operate pneumatic drills, I fitted it to a boat and was well pleased with it.

My 86 Range Rover was a VM diesel which as I understood was designed off the back of a Perkins design, the original VM engine had long been removed and replaced with a 3.1td from a Vauxhall montarey. The problem with the VM was it was a boat engine design and with individual head gaskets for each cylinder, if one went they all needed replacing which meant reskimming 4 cylinder heads so people using just scrapped them. But they were not under the same loads when fitted to a boat and so virtually never went wrong when used in boats. Which all makes sense

 

[StevenRB45]

Assuming similar gearing to the engine in ours (it's a 110 with a 5 speed so in theory the same, although PSA could have broken the habit of a lifetime and used bespoke ratios..but I'd doubt it)...70 is about 2.5k.

It's also pointless revving the thing out..so good chance it's spent most of its life rowing along between 1500 and 2.5k, even if they liked to cruise at 90..that's barely cresting 3k.

So a for a small engine it's probably also not done that many revolutions..the none turbo spins at 3700 at 70 so even sitting side by side at a constant speed you'd imagine one would wear out faster.

But yes it will absolutely had very few short trips..it's still an impressive distance for 1.2 petrol to have racked up and still be running.

 

[vexorg]

I tend to find that the more a car is used then the happier it is long term - as long as the basic maintenance is done.

 

[AndyRKett]

Some people just use a car like the tool it is. They look after it to make sure it keeps working as expected and they just get in day after day and drive it with very little thought.

If something breaks and it is not important to the main function of the car, ie getting you from A to B they don’t really care and it’s of little consequence if it gets stone chipped, scratched or bits of trim fall off.

The fact that it is such a young car is in its favor as of you had a 10 year old Citroen with the same mileage I think the added addition of time would have killed it much sooner.

 

[bugsymike]

Some people just use a car like the tool it is. They look after it to make sure it keeps working as expected and they just get in day after day and drive it with very little thought.

If something breaks and it is not important to the main function of the car, ie getting you from A to B they don’t really care and it’s of little consequence if it gets stone chipped, scratched or bits of trim fall off.

The fact that it is such a young car is in its favor as of you had a 10 year old Citroen with the same mileage I think the added addition of time would have killed it much sooner.

Years ago when working at a Dealership we had a customer with a Ford Granada Estate who bred Pyrenean mountain dogs, every Mot he had to buy a full set of seat belts to pass the test. It was a very uncomfortable car to sit in as there was no material anywhere, seats, door trims, headlining!
He came in one day looking like he had done ten rounds with Mike Tyson, he wasn't a big chap but had bravely separated some of his dogs that were fighting, sooner him than me!

 

[AndyRKett]

Years ago when working at a Dealership we had a customer with a Ford Granada Estate who bred Pyrenean mountain dogs, every Mot he had to buy a full set of seat belts to pass the test. It was a very uncomfortable car to sit in as there was no material anywhere, seats, door trims, headlining!
He came in one day looking like he had done ten rounds with Mike Tyson, he wasn't a big chap but had bravely separated some of his dogs that were fighting, sooner him than me!

This is why I find it so funny that people get so emotional about car brands and them having to have the best brand as there choice of car is the best and only option that anyone should consider and nothing else will do…..

It’s just a car, rubber plastic, metal and glass, one is much like another and if you sell it or it ends up scrapped then it really doesn’t matter all that much, and though I might look fondly back at some cars, I’m not one to go rebuying cars iclve had in the past to re-live something.

I would hate to know what that car smelled like….

 

[StevenRB45]

I would hate to know what that car smelled like….

Never mind that...the police have to scrap their dog vans reasonably young because the urine rots the floor through inside out. Although from the sounds of it it was least hose out...once the dogs had finished with it.

Although it being a Ford of a certain era it may have been a race as to which direction the rust came through from.

 

[bugsymike]

Never mind that...the police have to scrap their dog vans reasonably young because the urine rots the floor through inside out. Although from the sounds of it it was least hose out...once the dogs had finished with it.

You would have thought the driver would have got out to go.
Reminds my of an old London lorry driver I knew, we were talking about a vintage lorry I had at the time with wooden boards for floor and he said when stuck in traffic in the City centre he used to pee through the floorboards.

 

[AndyRKett]

Never mind that...the police have to scrap their dog vans reasonably young because the urine rots the floor through inside out. Although from the sounds of it it was least hose out...once the dogs had finished with it.

Although it being a Ford of a certain era it may have been a race as to which direction the rust came through from.

Not just urine, I have been assured again by my aircraft engineer contacts the human… erm “fluids” from war zones causes serious damage to the helicopters used to evacuate the injured.

 

[bugsymike]

Not just urine, I have been assured again by my aircraft engineer contacts the human… erm “fluids” from war zones causes serious damage to the helicopters used to evacuate the injured.

I was just going to buy a second hand Apache

 

[AndyRKett]

I was just going to buy a second hand Apache

You’ll be fine with one of those, they don’t evacuate anyone…. They don’t leave survivors

 

[AndyRKett]

Every so often the army or RAF would bring their helicopters to our airfield to play, obviously they only bring the helicopters as we only have an 800 ft runway

We’ve had chinooks as well, this particular Apache broke down so stayed a couple of days

 

[vexorg]

Trump!!
@Cheest what is wrong with you people???

 

[Cheest]

Trump!!
@Cheest what is wrong with you people???

Jeez, don't mention my name alongside that of the Orange Stain.

That said, we are seeing the results of the cuts and the changes to our education system, along with the cancellation of the Fairness Doctrine, during the Reagan years.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Orange Stain? haven't heard that before. Over here the colour orange is more synonymous with an environmental protest group called "Just Stop Oil" https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/29585449...dkEsOggVqfqxxc6Bv995M1mF9SsNCswxoC6UEQAvD_BwE They are very proactive and run onto sports fields etc disrupting the action by covering stuff in orange stain.

From a complete outsider's perspective, the possibility of Trump being elected president again really scares me and makes me feel insecure but then again I really don't understand American politics. I've mentioned before that my sister has lived in rural Connecticut most of her adult life - Married an American - and my daughter was in Southern Maryland for a number of years, consequently we've made friends with a number of "the locals" on our visits over to your side of "the Pond". I don't know of one of them who supports Trump. In fact the general reaction when you raise the question is just like your's Cheest. So why is he so popular?

 

[vexorg]

We have a friend in north carolina, and she is a bit older and a die hard trump supporter.
He says all the things the good ol' gun toting bible bashers want to hear. It's not difficult to be popular if you pander to the mass moron level of 'make america great'. Then all the conspiricy nutters and Qanon folk think he's the one as he's not controlled by the system.
Basically, a perfect storm of idiocy.

Even still, you do wonder how???

 

[Cheest]

Even still, you do wonder how???

Lack of knowledge on how the three branches of our government; Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, actually work. Lack of a basic understanding of the Constitution beyond the 2nd amendment; the right to bear arms. A 24 hour cable news cycle that editorializes without rebuttal, that panders to the lowest denominator, and puts viewership numbers and profit above the truth.
The Orange Asswipe tells these people what they want to hear, revels in their ignorance and narrow world view, plays on their unjustified fears, and plays the victim so they send him money. They think he is their Messiah who is going to save them from the "God hatin' libs that want to take away our guns, our bibles, our way of life." None of which is true.