Snowy roads

Yeah, or the head gasket, or ECU, or gearbox, or..........

 

Fix It Again Tomorrow.

Strange thing is that SWMBO's last two cars have been Fiats.
A 1.6 Bravo: only failure in 50000 miles the clutch slave cylinder.
Her current Punto JTD: only failure in 46000 miles so far the radio.

My only experience of oh, so reliable VAG cars:
Battery going flat when less than a moth old, requiring 5 days at the
dealer to sort.
Aircon compressor replaced under warranty.
Gearbox primary input shaft bearings fucked and turbo whistling well at
53000.

As to snowy roads, the best car I ever drove, in terms of getting
through where others couldn't, was SWMBO#1's Fiat 126. Two cylinder
gutless motor right over the RWD. The only thing that stopped it was
really deep snow. Just needed a snow-plough attachment. I can't remember
anything ever going wrong with that either.


--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

It's not the last word in quality, but who gives a ****, it goes well & is
real fun to drive.

Her last car (Audi A3 convertible) was fucking crap, the windows would keep
going up & down for no reason, the gearbox needed constant fucking about
with. The whole car electrics had a mind of thier own.

**** paying for that shite.

The fiat's cheap & cheerful.


--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Honda Transalp XL600V
Yamaha R1
Range Rover Vogue

 

Good lord! You're *not* suggesting that stereotypes can be bollocks?
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS 156 V6 2.5 S2 GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

As if. That would strike at the very heart of the UKRM ethos.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

But that's always the best bit to drive on - never mind 4 or 2 wheel
drive. Nice fresh dry grippy snow.

 

In communiqué <1jb2bpe.1c3zvrs16pm650N%>,

I thought they just bought a car, not something to keep the coal in.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Heh. Same with my 'oh so unreliable' Cherokee. 110k miles & the only
thing that's ever gone wrong with it was the front brakes catching fire
when the dealer fitted the pads to the wrong sides after replacing the
discs on a recall. That was the one & only time it's ever been near a
dealer, which I think is the key to longevity.

 

Only if we didn't know what we were talking about

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS 156 V6 2.5 S2 GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

It's all very amusing until one slides backwards into another car.[1]

[1] No, I didn't but it was fucking fucking close.

 

Well my R36 is living up to the old reputation[1]. Just coming up to
its first service at around 30,000 km and hasn't had a thing go wrong
with it.



[1] Of marketing hype, if you prefer.

 

[..]

We usually used 'Tony'.

That's amazing, the 1.6 engine is regarded as one of Fiat's worst, and
the Bravo/a were the most unreliable of the lot.

Yeah, I'd expect that. Never did understand why VAG have such a good
reputation - they're definitely not that good.

Ah, now, yes, old small cars were their forte really, the old 500 and
126s were pretty solid little things. The basic Tipo was OK too.

 

Indeed.

 

IIRC they're a Dutch company, so considered 'not one of the big boys'
but the Sportrac's usually score well in winter tyre tests.

 

Fucking nightmare getting home tonight.

Twenty-five minutes from Moorgate to Tower Bridge, over an hour all
told to ride 5.5 miles.

Sat for three phases of traffic lights at the foot of King William St.

Couldn't go up the middle, as the slush was no longer slushy.

Tried to turn into a side road, but too icy, so, while negotiating us
back onto the main road, a group of yoofs pelted us with snowballs.

What fun.

Made Linda get off and walk the last 100 yards, and rode home on
tickover.

 

Took a couple of extra minutes to walk through the freezing slush to
Tower Hill. Sat on arse for 40 minutes. Took a couple of extra minutes
to walk down the road from Southfields. Job done.

Don't envy anyone having to walk over it tomorrow, mind. It'll be like
an ice rink.

 

Just so. And remember the old 127? It's a cliche but true: Fiat has
always made decent small cars, very so-so medium ones, and crap big
ones.

 

Genuine LOL

 

I've just got home after four hours (OK on the M25: getting into London
was a nightmare, as they'd closed the M25/A217 exit at J8 and
*everything* was going off at the M23.

Anyway, in Wallington the roads were like glass and I was going *very*
gently, and wondering at all the sheep driving slowly too, but *right up
each other's arses*.

Sure enough, right in front of me: he gently sailed into the back of the
car in front, and they both got out, leaving the cars in situ, to have a
fucking argument. I'd have run them both over.

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

I had a couple of 127 vans - Fiorinos - which were very cheap, very
capacious and very good. I've never been more popular or been bought more
pints. "We've run out of beer," "I've sold my organ (!)"...