Prezafab

My dad wanted a Renault Fuego but the 2 doors killed that idea, so he was keen on a 20TL/TS until he found out about rust issues. He had been bitten by a couple of fantastic but early-rusting Alfas. I think all the French makers were innovative in the 60s and 70s and prepared to try things rather than copy.

1 is yes and, not sure 2 is I didn't bother putting it back on and it's fine. It's hardly ever -10 in England these days !

My sister's was yellow with a nice brown nylon cloth interior ...

I used to drive my sister's 1977 Polo L with 895cc, 40hp and a manual choke. Solidly built and I once got it up to an indicated 94mph downhill with the speedo needle vibrating wildly ! It was so sluggish but at least it prevented me overtaking anything.

I still find it mad that legislators allow a) A big central touchscreen out of your eyeline for the road; b) More and more functions to be put in menus on them. I think Audi got the ergonomics right with the MMI wheel then Virtual Cockpit combined with steering wheel controls. Even they have given in now to automotive trends, but they are at least trying to blend the screen into a 'dashboard' rather than lobbing a tablet screen at it and seeing where it sticks. Re white Teslas, there's an 'end of the world' type drama on Netflix with a scene where hundreds of white self driving Teslas are piling into each other on a US highway. Maybe it's a metaphor for a disposable society...?!

My old school music teacher had a white 1.3 coupe which shook, rattled and rolled. No pun intended,much. Was the 1.8 beefed up over the 1.3 ?

Can you imagine how a Marina would cope with travel tracks - bits would have been dropping off !

I don't blame you. In a previous life 20 years ago I managed upset British Mercedes-Benz customers breaking down abroad. France was the worst ! Credit card to get off the Autoroute, customers abandoned, car towed to Merc dealer who might have a look in a couple of weeks...

As above, I can't speak for the pre-facelift cars, but our 2015 4x4 had no wheel well to put anything in. Our 2017 4x4 has basically a raised floor to accommodate the fitted factory spare. Our dog knows we've changed their Yeti.

No, and no wheel-well so you have to store at the side. My Audi 4x4 came without a spare but has a lined wheel-well so I bought all the bits myself. Just had to cut a slot through the lining that was above the thread hole that was precut into the boot floor. Also tried a couple of plastic retainers for the spare wheel centre before it held ok.

You said it - lots of fsi engine pitfalls ...

The vast majority of dealers are part of groups. All are in it to make money. Many of the 'specialist' (e.g. 'VAG specialist'), independent garages were set up by ex-dealer mechanics / technicians/ mastertechs who do it cheaper and have the retained experience that people want. I have an old Subaru which I take to a garage that's a 3 hour round trip away because they know the older cars inside out still. They are the same price as a 'big city dealer' but know what they are doing.

So You have the Citigo solution already. Or she could drop you at work. Or get another job. Ta ta !

Take the Citigo if you still have it ?

Eh?

I tend not to get involved in debates on forums about additives because it gets a bit ridiculous, based on previous Subaru and Audi, Vw discussions over the years. It gets all a bit polarised. 'However' at 14 years old and short trips ahead, I would consider a pro clean of the system. Then, if you use additives I have found Miller ECO power max diesel good on lots of diesels and I still use it. Never had a DPF or EGR issue. Bye, out of here now...

There's two ways of looking at the whole Omen and Fate dilemma. 1) Thank goodness you had an issue, and another Yeti came available a day later, that was better. Or 2) It turns out to be an absolute 'belter of a car' and was worth sticking at getting it. I've had both scenarios more than once. I've had true bargains despite 7 hour train journeys, and absolutely lying sons of their fathers despite asking all the right questions and doing all the checks. Good luck either way !

Back to basics. Buy it cheap, take the normal gamble on a cat S, and permanently seal the sunroof.

The osrams are fine, and we've bought the Philips ones for our latest Yeti (but not fitted yet as lights are pretty good now). The Philips ones were highly rated when I looked into them.

Best to have a look at one of the bulb web sites for choices (eg. Powerbulbs.co.uk) and then source in Italy? We had Osram upgrades on the Yeti, but they weren't at the extreme end where there can be drawbacks and life can be affected. Once fitted they were fine for the 4 years we had it.

I think you can probably see where this is going ? We looked into this with our previous 2015 Yeti with halogens. In the end we just got some better bulbs and accepted the standard headlights limitations. Our 2017's lights are definitely better (+30%??) and we could also upgrade the bulbs to give another 10%, but the (UK) passenger side is a fiddle to do so I'm not bothering.

Well, Febi is an excellent brand, and his Labour rate is very fair these days.

Worth having the system professionally blasted out ?

I doubt that I am more patient, but since moving to Yorkshire I automatically try to keep money in my pocket. Strange, that. 😃

Well, for £25 for the screen plus the right smaller screwdrivers (£5), it doesn't sound like you can do much damage if it's knackered anyway. A lot of places would want you to unplug and post to them ? It's not really a 'car thing' apart from unplugging it. A recommended place in my county wanted £195. I was in the same boat and found a YouTube video that was really helpful and step by step. Probably took an hour being careful and keeping rewinding the video to re-check what to do.