Gaz

I’m staying up on The Wirral at the moment with a friend who has just had her car written off. Looking at cars today, and I’ve just had an hour’s test drive in a Model Y Launch Edition. I have to say I was totally blown away by it. Awesome car, that I struggle to fault at all. It’s certainly made me reflect and reevaluate my views on EV’s, as the test drive was a revelation and thoroughly enjoyable experience. That I can actually afford one (might even be better off) was a real surprise! Gaz

Agree 100% 👍 Skoda dealer not offering a Skoda warranty on an ‘Approved’ car. And then trying to say ‘Yeah, but this warranty’s better’ (until you need to make a claim). Nice try, but it’d be a no thanks from me. Gaz

I had a Brown Water Scorpion on my patio just now: About 2" long. I don't recall ever seeing one before, but looking them up, they're native to North America. As it flew off, that pink under the wing cases is actually quite a vivid red. Gaz

Thanks for the updates - glad to hear it's all sorted 👍 Gaz

XK120 up at Beachy Head this morning: Quite the stunner! 😎 Gaz

Did the new coolant tank come with a new cap? It's either leaking or burning it. If the leak's not obvious, has a sniff test been done to see of you've exhaust gases in the coolant? Gaz

Well I'll be..... Gaz

Have you had a look at the water pump thread?: And does the car display any of the symptoms therein? Gaz

Wowzer, they've seen better days 😱 Certainly worn enough to make a god awful rumble. G

Had a nice meander around the Bluebell walk in Arlington today. It still might be a bit early - another week and it'll be in full bloom I reckon: And this friendly little Robin hopped up right next to me on the back of a seat I was on: Gaz

Saw a small gathering of Ford enthusiasts up at Beachy Head. I was drawn to the Mk1 Fiesta, but then had to admire the time and effort that went into the '71 Mk1 Escort, which was running an ST170 engine on TB's: Chap said it was around the 280bhp mark - it was very, very clean 😎 Gaz

My favourite photo from a visit to RHS Wisley yesterday: Gaz

The kit arrived yesterday: So I set about it this morning, using the provided foam and felt pad. I taped the area so I didn't wander and kept my focus. It's a shame my photography skills aren't up to showing before during and after shots, but I simply couldn't get a photo of the scratches for love nor money. I spent several minutes of enthusiastic rubbing, cleaned it off and buffed. Then repeated this two more times. What seems to happen is that as the product starts to dry a bit, it whitens and shows up the scratches, and then as you buff it they start to disappear. I'm not convinced that I'm actually removing the scratches, but it's more likely the product has fillers in it that makes them not visible. Dunno. What I do know is it was bloody hard work and the bottom of my thumb aches. But I can't see the scratches, so I'll take that as a bit of a win. We'll see how long it lasts 🤞 I got an email the other day from the Carbon Collective who have just started selling their mini polisher again. At £240 it's a bit pricey (for me), but I think it'd probably be a good shout for doing localised areas of polishing, although I probably don't do it often enough to warrant spending the money. We'll see. Gaz

Car had been with them on two previous RR days and was known to be in fine fettle, but they did do a software update while it was with them. No dyne done at the time of the remap - my fault as I neglected to book it at the time of booking the appointment. Gaz

I decided to leave Mrs Gaz to it. I've been down the road of showing her loads (20 to be precise) of cars before, and it's really not worth the effort. So I said for her to let me know when she's found something she likes the look of, knowing her gradual increase in parameters would gradually make her realise the task ahead. But she's found something she thinks she likes: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501037698576?sort=relevance&searchId=74fb65af-7743-4635-8a7c-b48986097e6a&advertising-location=at_cars&colour=Red&make=Mercedes-Benz&model=A%20Class&postcode=bn21%203uu&radius=10&transmission=Automatic&fromsra So she'd be going from a red, five door hatchback...... to a.... errr, red, five door hatchback 🙄 Both on 17" wheels, with 40 AR tyres on the Polo and 45 on the A180 (albeit 215 on the Polo and 225 on the A Class), and going from 192ps to 112ps. Probably a bit better in ride comfort, but I dunno that it'll be all that much? Last time we had such fun, she absolutely would not have 1) a blue car, and 2) anything bigger than her then Golf 3. The car she bought was 1) Blue, and 2) bigger than her Golf 3 🤣 Might go and look at the Merc out of curiosity. Gaz

I had a Revo stage one on my 2015 Mk3 vRS TSI DSG (EA888 G3) and was very happy with it. Had it done at JKM in Portsmouth - who have a dyno. It took it to north of 300bhp (from 217bhp/220ps) and the performance difference was quite noticeable. Jim at JKM said to run it on Momentum 99, which it was in any case. Revo maps seem to polarise people, a lot saying they're quite aggressive. I get where they're coming from, but you do get used to it quite quickly, and moderate your right foot accordingly. Gaz

My previous car (Octavia vRS 220 DSG) was running 300+bhp without any issues. One final thought - it's not driveshaft CV's giving up is it? with the sound transferring up the chain so as to speak. Stranger things and all that. Think you need to be sure what the problem is before you start spending money on replacing things. It's unlikely to be cheap, so worth investing some dosh in finding the actual fault first. If it does come to needing a replacement, it might be worth looking at the second hand market. As in there could be good ones about from rear ended cars. My 2018 GTI's a 230, but doesn't have the trick diff. that's on the 245 PP's, so there'll be other makes that share the same components. Good luck - it'll be interesting to know what the actual fault is - please report back. Gaz

Same here. Sounds more diff/final drive than DSG - to me anyway. Not a good sound though 😟 Gaz

Long day for me today as I went up to Cannock Chase for a day out (424 mile round trip, left at 6:30am, got home at 7pm). My oh my, what a beautiful place. Full of vistas, babbling brooks, and the birds and birdsong were fabulous. I achieved my aim of going to say hello to the tree that inspired Tolkien's Treebeard: And went across the Stepping Stones: But it was just a perfect day, weather wise, and I had a brilliant time. T'was good for the soul! 😎 I'd thoroughly recommend a visit 👍 Gaz

Thanks Lee 👍 I've visited two local windscreen places, both of whom advertise repairs. Neither were interested and said to put up with it, or replace the screen (which funnily enough they could both do 🙄). I've ordered the Ceri-Glass kit, and will see what I can do with that. Will report back. Gaz

My Son and his Wife have gone a slightly different route. They have four kids and find a VW Touran suits them nicely with a third row of seats. Having had an Octavia estate, I'd think three abreast in the back would be doubtful. I've also had a MK1 Superb and three adults in the back was fairly easy - there's a very notable size difference in the back between the two. Gaz

It's got the same engine and DSG (yes it will be the DQ250) as I have in my current 2018 Golf GTI, and the same as was in my previous 2015 Octavia vRS. So it'll also be the EA888 gen 3 engine. I like both the engine and DSG, which have both been robust in my experience. As it has a timing chain, there is no change interval like there is with belted engine (until couple of years ago, belted engine had a much more frequent belt change interval). Autodoc says the timing chain should be changed every 150,000km. The DQ250 DSG should be serviced every 40,000 miles (oil and filter), so you should expect to see evidence of one service at least (Looks like he's had it since June 2020). It looks tidy enough from the photo's, and I'd have said the price was quite reasonable. MOT history looks sound, and unremarkable. What are the tyres like? For servicing, it obviously depends on who serviced it. You could have a chat with the garage that did, or maybe pop into your local Skoda and ask if they have any info on the car. It's normal for there to be no service book - all digital these days I'm afraid. If you want peace of mind, why not have in inspected by a third party. If it helps, had this car been for sale a year ago, I'd have gone to look at it. Gaz

Urgh!! ☹️ Mrs Gaz had a whopper of a bird poo on her Windscreen. She'd said she needed to get it off for a couple of days, but didn't. So I went out with a bucket of water. It was like bloody concrete. Having used copious amounts of water I've still managed to add a few very minor scratches to the windscreen (passenger side thankfully). They're very fine, but Mrs Gaz has spotted them. I've tried toothpaste with a microfibre cloth, several times, and I think it's a bit better, but it might be a placebo effect. Elbow grease, but I think it probably needs a polisher. I've looked online and can see various kits, including the obvious cerium oxide. Can I ask if anyone's found a product or kit that's particularly good? This one comes up on Detailing World: CarPro - Ceri-Glass Kit | Glass...CarPro - Ceri-Glass KitCarpro CeriGlass Kit This is a special glass polishing technique developed by the innovative special ceramic, Cerium Oxide, together with some other nano components. The overwhelming effect of re... I'm sure these scratches will come out and I've got drills that I could use as a polisher. I suppose my other option is to see what the folks at a local windscreen repair place recommend. Ta Gaz

Cough..... errrr.... Glad you got it sorted 👍 Gaz

Agree with Nigel @nta16 - you need to give us more details if you want a knowledgeable(ish) answer. At a guess, I'd say it's petrol, so is likely to be the EA888 gen 3 engine, which is a fairly robust unit. But is it manual or DSG (DQ250?)?, what service history does it have, any out of service repairs, what MOT history, any insurance history? Can you show us the advert? Gaz