Thanks and maybe goodbye :-/

[gavla cradd]

Hi all.

Just wanted to take a minute to say thanks for all the help getting my vrs back on the road! Especially to Clive (cntuning) and group1 you guys really pulled me out of the crap.

Unfortunately it looks like the M.I.B may be classing my vrs as a cat c write off and as such may be going to Clive as I don't want or need the hassle of sorting out the extra checks needed to get her legal again and trying to sell on at a later date.

I'm pretty bummed about this but as the OH says silver lining etc start looking at other cars. So if I don't get another vrs what cars would you all have instead....it's going to be a case of what's about once I get the cash sorted but I've been thinking

Mazda mps or maybe a megane f1 any thoughts guys and again thank you for the help and getting her back running.

[snow_muncher]

Time for major upgrade

Get an Octavia 4x4

BMW 320d would be a good call for an oilburner

[VRS Mike]

Mazda MPS is in a really high tax group circa £400 unless you manage to get an early one, I looked at getting one but that put me off.

[gavla cradd]

Time for major upgrade

Get an Octavia 4x4

BMW 320d would be a good call for an oilburner

I may yet get another vrs or 4x4 however I want a low mileage vehicle tbh so it will be whatever is available once funds allow.

I thought about a BMW however my brother has a 330 so I think I will always look at his and think mine may be wanting some more horses not to mention paying a premium for the badge.

Thanks for the info about the mps, I didn't know the tax was that much which is food for thought. Any suggestions on other cars guys....civic/accord? Must be a 5 seater car but not to fussed on number of doors really.

Edited 4 March, 2013 by gavla cradd

[VRS Mike]

they are a hard car to replace, I've been looking at replacements for mine, I may end up just getting a MK2 Ocy VRS to replace it, or a golf GT tdi.

[PropWarp]

If you do go for a BMW 320d please for the love of all that is holy PM me for info on them.

If I were you just stick with VAGroup.

Maybe worth looking at an Alfa 156, GT, GTV, 159. Dispel ye olde word of reliability regarding Alfa's, they are really good and stylish and not boring like 99.8% of german boxes. 00.2% Being the M division of BMW, Alpina Tuning GmbH & Mercedes Benz's AMG.

Alfa 156 2.5 V6 24v, tax band K, awesome spec, uber cheap, low mileage, not the biggest eater of fuel. If you can find a 2.5 that is. Alfa Owners tend to hold onto them.................. Why?? because they are so damn good. Not alot needed to keep them in tip top condition. Servicing you can do yourself, it wont kill the value. Best of all you will be a true petrol head and in a stylish motor .

I will get one with you if, I am looking at them at the moment as a weekend car

[snow_muncher]

If you do go for a BMW 320d please for the love of all that is holy PM me for info on them.

What's wrong with them ?

The (potential) power difference between the 2.0L and larger BMW's oilburner engines doesn't seem to justify the reduction in fuel economy - on paper anyway

Being toying the idea of one for a daily

Considering their FWD, Alfa's go round corners goes surprising well - thanks to IRS no doubt

Tried to follow one once (156 2.4) in a vRS - bad mistake

[PropWarp]

What's wrong with them ?

The (potential) power difference between the 2.0L and larger BMW's oilburner engines doesn't seem to justify the reduction in fuel economy - on paper anyway

Being toying the idea of one for a daily

Considering their FWD, Alfa's go round corners goes surprising well - thanks to IRS no doubt

Tried to follow one once (156 2.4) in a vRS - bad mistake

The E46 2.0 and 3.0 diesel block suffered from Swirl flap, turbo, EGR failure. The swirl flaps would break off and destroy the engine, you can remove them but its a PITA. Turbos fail either because nobody knows who to use a turbo (spool down after a drive) and also the pathetic 18000mile interval between servicing. So you end up with duff oil at about 10K anyway but the manufacturers think its fine to keep it in for a further 8??????? wrong if you ask me.

The rear springs would also crack and fail MOT's. I changed mine about 3 times in the 2.5 years I had mine. Wishbones too fail near enough every 8k (lemforder). Its loves brake disks and pads, that block is not light at all. It can eat through tyres, that is all down to the set up for better handling.

The 3.0 Diesel isn't so bad on turbos, lots of natural power, very little stress on the turbo but its a bigger lump and it lives on brake disks.

The latter 2.0 Diesel from about 2007 up too late 2008 beginning of 09 (it depends on month of build) had a timing chain sprocket issue which like the swirl flap BMW wont admit (nothing new there), The sprocket was badly designed and didn't fit the chain quite right so eventually it would snap the chain and destroy the engine. Again swirl flaps are an issue, they had updated the cartridge the flap rotated in and up dated the rod that it attaches too but to no effect, IT WILL FAIL. Turbos are even more prone to failure for reasons unknown, probably too much power running through a lower rate turbo to keep manufacturing costs down.

The 325d, 330d are superb, crisp and precise, the 325d is a detuned 330d that is all, its pushing 197BHP, its smoother than the 330d and by god its much more fruggle and car tax and insurance is a tad cheaper.

If you do go for the E9x 3 series diesel then aim for the 325d, like the alfa 156 2.5 they are not the easiest to find and nor are they the cheapest. Dealers are starting to realize that the 2.5 unit is the hidden gem and will add a premium but it pays dividends.

Any more help I am around

[missingmyvrs]

Don't worry about swirl flaps I machine blanks ;-)

Dude will call you Tomoz to sort it out

[PropWarp]

Get the blanks from anywhere now which is handy.

But E46s are getting on so best avoided like the plaige, they are a ticking bomb.

Do worry about swirl flaps till you have them in the palm of your hand .

Ermm and going by the above posts I do not thing any of us physical own a BMW to have swirls removed???

[Guest BigJase88]

What about a 335d on an 11 plate!? Many issues? Old boys just bought one

[PropWarp]

Ermmm again twice as many turbos twice as likely to fail, that is my logic anyway, I could be wrong.

To be honest the 335d is an awesome feat of engineering and I have not heard anything wrong about them, 1 or 2 things have popped up over time but from what I remember they were pushing 150+ thousand miles.

Only time they do ruin your day is when they get chipped or tuned. Personally I really do not see why you would chip or tune a 3.0 diesel engine with twin turbos.

BMW tune cars just under its limit anyway so why on earth people push them more is beyond me. Its only when you start to purchase 1.6 or 1.8 are they detuned further, till of late when they have actually produced a 1600cc engine..... Anyway I am waffling on ha

Remember with a turbo, let the oil and the engine in general warm up nicely and DO NOT thrash it straight away. When you have arrived at your destination let the engine tick over for 30 seconds to a minute to let the oil and pressures reduce and to also allow the impelor to stop spinning. Turbos run at awesome RPMs near enough 200000 to 700000 RPM, mad I know but they do and that is why they get damn hot. So let it cool and spool down. Failure to let it spool down results in duff bearings and shafts. If the turbo is still running and you shut the engine off you also stop the oil pump and oil circulation and the fan bearing runs on dry and wears out such much fast thus failing. So when people say "oh my turbo failed at 10000" I sit back and think ahh I wonder why.

BMW ECU's are rather clever too, if your turbo exceeds its pre programmed MAX running temp the ECU will shut the vanes on the turbo and shut it off completely until it has cooled enough to operate again. Very very very very rare to happen but it has and does. It took me at least 18 laps around Silverstone before it decided to sod the turbo off. By the way after that track day the oil, coolant, brake fluid, brake pads and disks were changed, and all sus components were swapped to normal road use stuff. I have a friend say no more.

Turbos are not cheap..... LOOK AFTER THEM AND DONT BUY CHEAP OIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diesels need oil and very good oil at that, they will go on and on and on but they are like an instrument, you can play and play and play and you will love it and it will prove to be reliable but unless you care for it and treat it like the head and neck of a new born child it will bite you in the ass and bite hard it will. Go ahead thrash it and not service it afterwards or top the oil up or let it cool but I can assure you it will go pop in a black cloud of diesel hot burning oil smog.

[missingmyvrs]

There good cars but like any car don't look after it and things fail

The swirl flaps was a big design floor but they didn't want to admit it lol

Yeah swirl flap blanks are everywhere but lucky I make my own so cost not alot

Been doing lots of work with a BMW specialist and overall good solid cars with bags of potential just a few things on each model that can be a pita

Electrics on some of the new ones are a pita especially water ingress into boot and battery !!!

In the last 3 moths they have changed on average 2 cars swirls a day !!

[gavla cradd]

Thanks for all the info there guys...loads of food for thought on BMW etc. anyone have any thoughts on the mazda 3 or 6 mps apart from tax and the megane sport (f1) or even honda accord.

Clive no probs give me a bell when ever buddy. Stuck at work at the moment but will be about tomorrow all being well.

[PropWarp]

Glad to be of service

I think the cars thrown out by the VAGroup are really good if only they would change belt to bloody chain..... HEAR US VAG PLEASE WE PRAY EACH DAY FOR IT

[demonufo]

And whilst yer at it VAG, make some decent quality sensors, decent rubber hoses, decent window regulator clips, seats that don't collapse, seat belts that return properly, exhaust brackets that don't rot off, coil packs that don't fail before your next service is due, and other things that stay put where they're supposed to be.

[demonufo]

I was a bit underwhelmed by the Mazda 6 MPS when I tested one around 5 years back, but then to be fair, I had just gotten out of an Evo IX FQ340, which was obviously much more fun (although the wife didn't approve of my driving, she had a real craving for that car). However, we had to rule that out on service costs and economy. Couldn't find anything the wife really wanted so we waited another year and she bought an E92 335iSE instead. Good as gold, totally trouble free.

Whatever I get when my heapbox dies, it will be a diesel. And I'll probably go back to Volvo or BMW - a nice V70 or 5 series estate should do me nicely. I'm done with VAG. Still quite like working on them, just don't like the amount of repairs I've had to do on mine.

[gavla cradd]

I was a bit underwhelmed by the Mazda 6 MPS when I tested one around 5 years back, but then to be fair, I had just gotten out of an Evo IX FQ340, which was obviously much more fun (although the wife didn't approve of my driving, she had a real craving for that car). However, we had to rule that out on service costs and economy. Couldn't find anything the wife really wanted so we waited another year and she bought an E92 335iSE instead. Good as gold, totally trouble free.

Whatever I get when my heapbox dies, it will be a diesel. And I'll probably go back to Volvo or BMW - a nice V70 or 5 series estate should do me nicely. I'm done with VAG. Still quite like working on them, just don't like the amount of repairs I've had to do on mine.

How did you find the comfort of the mazda 6 buddy, handling? Obviously not a Evo but for me I'm thinking the vrs is the most powerful car I've ever owned and the mps has more power plus 4 wheel drive. I'm really open to ideas here but bear in mind I would like

Low mileage sub 80000 miles

Clean car

Hopefully newer than the vrs which is/was early 2005.

Some performance :-).

No rattles from inside the car lol

The only no no is a scooby tbh as I've never been keen on them.

Thanks guys.

Edited 4 March, 2013 by gavla cradd

[demonufo]

Well, everything about it was sort of "okay". I should have driven them the other way around (Mazda first). The seats were nice enough, but compared to the ultimate "huggyness" of what I had sat in only two minutes before, they had me a bit disappointed. The one thing that particularly put me off, was the demonstrator that we drove was on 20,000 miles (we were looking to buy newer) and an awful lot of the trim was tired, and floppy. Handling was good, but it didn't really seem to do anything quite how I felt it should. Perhaps I was expecting too much.

Even worse (much, MUCH worse) on the RX8 we looked at straight after, everything was falling to bits inside. Now THERE was a REALLY underwhelming car if ever I drove one. Or two actually. Salesman made me try both 197hp and 238hp variants. He encoured me to go all the way to the redline to feel the difference between the two. And quite frankly, there wasn't much. The 238hp version sounded a lot nicer and that was about it.

We decided to stick with the crappy 8yr old SLK we'd had from new for another year, since the low and midrange torque was much more impressive than all of them, and it was cheap to run. Except when bits broke of course...

The only thing I like about Subaru's is the sound.... and maybe the blue...

[group1rs]

Hi all.

Just wanted to take a minute to say thanks for all the help getting my vrs back on the road! Especially to Clive (cntuning) and group1 you guys really pulled me out of the crap.

Unfortunately it looks like the M.I.B may be classing my vrs as a cat c write off and as such may be going to Clive as I don't want or need the hassle of sorting out the extra checks needed to get her legal again and trying to sell on at a later date.

I'm pretty bummed about this but as the OH says silver lining etc start looking at other cars. So if I don't get another vrs what cars would you all have instead....it's going to be a case of what's about once I get the cash sorted but I've been thinking

Mazda mps or maybe a megane f1 any thoughts guys and again thank you for the help and getting her back running.

Sorry to here that buddy. If you don't go for Another VRS the Alfa's are stunning or try and find a low mileage accord type R !

[Phil-W]

Another vRS gav, Stage 2 this time!!

[group1rs]

Looks like a tidy low mileage one in the for sale section !

[gavla cradd]

Another vRS gav, Stage 2 this time!!

Lol great minds mate as this was the first thing I said.

I have looked at a couple of gt alfas (not sure on the style but they are different :-) ). Also my Gf still wants to look at mazdas and someone at work really rates the renault megane sport.

I have also had 2 suggestions which were Lexus 220d and ford mondeo st tdci. I like the look of the Lexus but again with the limeted experience I have with cars this could be a long process

[Porkballs29]

My stage 1+ will be going up for sale when I pull my finger out.

Sent from my phone, using my thumb.

[PropWarp]

Could always go for what I used to have.

TVR Cerbera

Power is not the same after driving a TVR