Chris' latest project 2006 Smart ForFour Brabus

[Chris]

Garage is going to take the turbo off and see what the damage is. They are hopeful it can be repaired rather than forking out for a whole new turbo!

[Chris]

£702 for a new turbo. Ordered. :-(

[theezenutz]

I went for the 0.7 turbo. Tuning is hard to do as no one in the UK remaps them and all the parts are difficult to get hold of..HKS not mainly but its £££ and it has to be imported.

For a remap it may be worth contacting these guys. http://www.fusion-motorsport.co.uk/services-overview/customers-cars

 

The guy who owns it is called Ed. Over on the Pulsar forum he has a very good rep and if he couldn't do it, i'd of thought he would know someone who can or wether it's possible or not.

[Chris]

Good news! The car is back together and running as it should!! Just waiting for a couple of clips and should be good to go tomorrow!

Dreading the bill!

[Chris]

Got it back yesterday. Got about 30miles in traffic before i realised that although the turbo was spooling I still had no power. I was going away for the night so kept going in the hope it was just me not being used to having so little power.

I came back today and was convinced it was still broken, then the engine management light came on so it has gone back to the dealer.

They've just called and said its ready to pickup so hopefully it will be second time lucky. I reckon it was a pipe incorrectly fitted or something and it won't cost me anymore.

[Wardy]

Double bad luck! Fingers crossed for you

[Chris]

Pipe popped off, all fixed apparently and at no cost hopefully get it tomorrow or Saturday

[mdk1]

Hope its all sorted now for you to enjoy, any pic's yet?

[Chris]

Picked it up this afternoon. YAY its working! It's an absolute hoot to drive. I've been and given it a proper good jet wash just so I could see the paintwork/body a bit better as it was pretty grubby. All in all its not too bad, it needs some attention but no rust that I can see and the wheels are all wrecked but I had planned for replacements anyway. On the plus front it does have brand new tyres (matching on all 4 corners) and it dosen't leak when it rains (jet wash!) 

 

A few pics:-

 

[mdk1]

Very nice.

Also a full width No plate, most have an off centre Square one.

[Chris]

Yeah, its on the list to change. Much prefer the square version.

[Wardy]

Yep, square works better I reckon. Glad it's all back & working.

[Chris]

Its just awesome. No other word for it..point and squirt

[Coops]

Very nice.

Also a full width No plate, most have an off centre Square one.

 

Although it's not even in the middle, centre square one will look better.

[Chris]

Brought it to work today and the staff have been all over it and the customers asking what it is and stuff. Never really had it with a car before! Its just crazy!

£30 to fill the tank and it lasts for ever!

[Chris]

Bought another car today..just need to sign the paperwork. This is in addition to the Copen but replacing my S-Max.

Hopefully pick it up before the weekend. And no..its not a Skoda unfortunately. :-)

[sigarland1987]

Do tell?

[Chris]

Well,

I really wanted a Jag/Audi barge but the costs involved were just too much for me to handle. So I began looking around at the more standard stuff, insignias, BMW 3 series, new Mondeo but nothing really floated my boat.

I then remembered Kia do the optima. I had a look round and saw it had recently had a facelift. Found that my local dealer had a white '3' spec one so went and had a look. 1.7 diesel isn't massive and it worried me but on the drive I found it perfect for my needs, enough power when needed and never "slow."

The spec is staggering:-

-Full leather heated seats front and rear plus cooled upfront.

-Infinity 12 speaker stereo, nav, Bluetooth with streaming.

-White

-18in alloys

-self parralel parking

-blind spot monitoring

-lane change assist

-7 year warranty.

Sure there's more but the spec is staggering!

Photos to follow. Pick it up Friday!

[Coops]

Seen them around, not many of them though - do look quite menacing with their DRLs.

 

Nice spec list.

[Wardy]

Sounds nice. Is it brand new/pre-reg? 

 

Haven't seen any about, so just wondering if they're offering tempting discounts to try and shift them.

[Chris]

Its a November 2014 ex dealer principal car. RRP is around 27k. I'm paying considerably less that than with 7.5k miles on it.

I bought it as it is different. I didn't want a car that when I turned up to meetings I parked alongside another.

I only wanted a white one though and it must have been fate as the local dealer had exactly what I wanted in the exact spec.

[Wardy]

Result then 

[V5-Steve]

Nice, they do look different to the jelly mould ford/vauxhall etc etc

[fordfan]

Just before the Copen was launched in the UK, the importers sent a Japanese spec one out to do the rounds of the dealers.  We got a few funny looks driving that around town.

 

We had one in a while back with boot opening problems, which means that the roof doesn't work.  Two new side latch sensors cured it, but there was a bit of alake in the boot close to the roof and window control units.

[Chris]

Told the wife about the optima last night..it went better than expected. I'm still alive and still inside the house.

Still haven't had the courage to tell her about the copen I'm keeping in storage...the optima was going to be hard to hide as the S-Max was going.

Happy days!