December 4th

 

hold on to your hats people!

here we go!

this is going to be big!

 

I have......

 

...filled up with fuel!!!

 

I know crazy aren't I!

 

Fuel - £56.12 - MPG - 45

 

Has taken a bit of a nose dive of late but then the car has actually been used in a spirited fashion of late rather than just sitting still either in traffic or in the garage

still not exactly a numbe to groan about is it!

December 5th

 

Have only just noticed how filty the car actually is. It really does not a wash.

Damn you winter.

Think once it is clean i'll decide if i'm going to stick with gold wheels for 2014.

I'm sorely tempted to plastidip the Leon wheels white but would do so while they hold track rubber and am concerned about how plasticdip will stand up during being handled by tyre monkeys

December 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9,th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, & 23rd

 

In case you hadn't all noticed the winter of nothing eventful continues.

Literally nothing worth putting down in writing has happened.

The car has faithfully despatched me to work and back everyday with little more than a grumble, and completed any weekend running around with ease.

It has started turning over with a little less enthusiasm than normal but i just put that down to the cold weather and my impatience in the mornings to let the glow plug light go out.

 

Other than that it's had a wash (I KNOW!!), another application of rain repellent, and 60p worth of air and that's about it.

I think the tyres are getting worse though.

The leaky refurbed one that's always slowly deflated seems to now deflate faster than ever, and has been joined by a couple of part worns on the front which also seem to have a matching ability to drop PSI over time.

I'm pretty sure one of the fronts has a piece of wire or the like stabbed into the rubber in one of the tread grooves which could be the culprit - thinking about it i'm sure that tyre was flat when i tried to use it on the car as a track wheel at Oulton so that could do with replacing.

 

This puts me in a quandry over what to do.

I could do with new fronts (to replace the part worns) as could Mrs Pasty having now done 15,000 miles onhers in litle over 12 months .

so i'm tempted to put 4 brand new uniroyal rainsport 3s on my Leon wheels, plastidip them white, put them on my car, and then take my decent rear rainsport 2's and put them on the front of Mrs Pasty's car.

Only fly in that plan is that i'd quite like Mrs Pasty's car to have the new rubber given her much larger mileage.

 

oh choices choices

December 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, & 31st

 

The festive period so the car has been holed up in the garage doing absolutely nothing.

 

So the year has ended not so much with a "bang" but with a quiet understated "phfutt"

 

at least with the car garaged it has avoided all of the winter storms that ploughed across the country at this time of year.

I have gone out and got fuel today a further £49.48 and 47.5mpg according to fuelly.

 

Did also have to put 20p in the air machine to bring the increasingly flat tyres back to healthy PSIs.

instead of 34-34-32-32 i had 24-19-16-30... i guess at least one tyre is holding air ok

 

that's pretty much made my mind up on buying new rubber in the new year.

all i need to do now is find someone local that can get hold of RainSport 3s or will give me a decent price for fitting them following a purchase from Camskill.

 

Full yearly review and cost analysis coming shortly.

So here goes time to sum up 2013 for the Pasty Wagon.

Um.

Er.

Fine i guess

 

no in all seriousness it's been great.

I've had some large bills but they are bills i've expected/been waiting for for quite some time that have happened to fall in to this year.

 

In monetary terms my car, it's running, general up keep, associated purchases and "events", have cost me just over £2600.

This does ignore any depreciation which to be honest i'm not sure my car has now!

Having hit 130,000+ miles i think it's value has pretty much bottomed out.

Used prices seem to be holding firm and what my car lacks in perfection it gains in a few choice mods.

 

Fuel account for just over £1000 of that grand total and allowed me to cover 7723 miles and giving an average of 47.5mpg over the year.

Given that that includes flat out sessions at both Castle Combe Action Days, a short lived flat out How Fast event at Bedford Autodrome and a full day flat out around Oulton park I don't think that is bad at all!

High points being commute home of over 70mpg, and a tank average of just under 55mpg, while the Oulton park track day dropped a tank and a half to a 31mpg average i reckon bottoming out on track in the mid-teens.

 

Essentials come in at almost £1300 for the year but that includes both tax (£120) and insurance/breakdown (~£350) and given the years costs include refreshing the front suspension (~£200) and a blown turbo (~£500) i fully expect 2014 to be a much smaller figure - although it will probably include new tyres.

 

Extras then account for the remaining £300. Again given that this figure includes a set of alloys and tyres, a new custom fit Recaro interior (ok maybe new is the wrong word but you know what i mean) and the trackdays/events mentioned above I feel it's been money incredibly well spent.

 

So to sum up.

 

Don't be scared of high mileage Fabias. If you look after then they can run and run with next to no extra cost.

Yes things will need refreshing, but that's the case with any 100k+ car.

 

All in all the car has cost me approx 34p per mile to drive and if you remove the "extras" and factor out the blown turbo then that reduces to nearer 24p

 

To sum up my Fabia is ace and 2013 was a good year.

Here's to another fruitful and successful 2014!

fair play Cliff thats some great statistics there! This year should be better for you! touch wood

While I appreciate it's not always been an action packed roller coaster of an experience to read, I think it truly is interesting.

Given everything involved with running a car is spread out over period of time you never really get to see a clear picture of what stuff costs.

Did I know it cost £50 to fill up with fuel? Yes.

Did I realise it added up to over a grand on fuel a year? Nope.

Did I have any idea what it was costing me to go places? Nope.

Did I realise it cost me a couple of quid a day just to go to work? Hell no

Did I realise it cost me a further couple of quid to get home? Of course not.

I've enjoyed doing it and I hope the info provided helps people in some way shape or form

http://www.tsl-timing.com/ccrc/2013/131468ccs.pdf

Fastest time was a 1:14!!!

Slowest a 1:34

A 1:24 would have put him on the pace with Anne King.

A 60 year old woman woman driving an MG ZR 190

that day it didnt get above freezing all day.  so the tyres didnt get any heat. 

Just to rub salt in to the wounds you'll need to find about 13 secs to be on par with her now  

 on Slicks she can do a 1m18.7 and on Championship tyres her best was a 1m20.2