Thanks Mark - I will survive - tell you what the car stood up really well to the impact :-) His bull bars are pushed back in.

Only had car 2.5 weeks!!

Ouch , bet he is gutted

Not him, me - I have car 2.5 weeks and yes I am gutted but the bumper done the business and absorbed alot of the shock on impact!

Oh right sorry mate. Well at least its not too bad . Is the starting issue still playing up or have you resolved it again.

Well alot better starting when cold. Usually a couple of quick turns of engine and off we go! Warm engine can be such a hit or miss affair. Will either fire up quickly or may take a number of turns of the engine - if I have difficulty and I keep cranking over the engine for about 6 seconds or more then the glow light warning light comes on and the engine management light comes on. BUT then if I am able to start the car fair easily after about a dozen attempts during the day, the glow plug warning light goes out and so does the engine management light goes out! So what i try and do is if it down start after after 3 cranks of the engine then I turn of engine and start again. I try and turn ignition key as quickly as possible rather than leave it until lights go out. Seem to have a better success rate.

The start motor was replaced by former owner in 2010 and battery has been tested and is OK. Although it is Bosch I am wondering whether its the right battery although the battery centre aid it is. By the looks of it there are batteries with higher cranking output and I wonder if thats the problem. It will never fire first time.

Seems odd but i do know they need to turn over quite quick on diesels in comparison to petrols before they will fire so could be that i suppose. Best way to find out would be to hook a booster pack up or maybe hook up some jump leads to another motor.