Well I did my first test drive today, which was a bit of a nerve wracking experience The lady at the dealers was friendly and helpful, which was a good thing, because I had pretty much no idea what I was doing, so she suggested I sit in it, then have a look under the bonnet, although there was some insulation material by the firewall that looked like it had been pulled about (by rats or something, I don't know). There was also a problem because she said that when they serviced the car (they'd only had it a week) some water must have got into the electric window switches, so they wouldn't go down. That meant that I had to get her to adjust the wing mirrors because the controls for them were a bit dodgy too!She said they'd get all this fixed, but it wasn't a great beginning.I was probably almost more nervous than when I did my driving test, but fortunately I wasn't too bad with the clutch control when I went for a little pootle around some local back streets (although there's barely enough room to get down them with cars parked either side!), fortunately I managed to avoid hitting anything and got us back to the show room safely.I've decided to have a think about it and if the car is still there in a few days I might give it another try and go out on the A27 to get a better feel for it, also I can check if they've fixed the problems with it.Oh, and I was so out of sorts that I managed to leave my driving licence there, so I'm going to have to pop round and pick it up on Monday...
Well, I've put down a deposit on a 2010 Fabia 1.2 2 HTP which has done 118,000 miles and is priced at £2245. I rode to the dealership (pretty much just a gravel area on a farm that is next to another dealers/ workshop) although it wasn't until I was halfway there that I realised I'd not brought my driving shoes but I found that if I just undid the zips and velcro on my riding boots, I had enough freedom of movement to control the car. I had a bit of a chat with the dealer first, then took it for a test drive (he didn't even ask for my driving licence, but I was hardly likely to leave my bike there and vamoose with the car!)It was a little tricky to drive to start with as the height of the brake pedal was much greater than what I'd got used to in the Corsa I'd learned on and, of course, the clutch feel was different, but I drove it around (mostly on 30 and 40 mph roads) for several miles. The only real problem I had was on a single lane hump backed bridge with traffic lights at the top. I had to stop, so I figured I'd be able to practice a hill start, unfortunately I got the clutch/ accelerator balance wrong the first time and stalled it, much to the annoyance of the BMW driver behind me who decided beeping his horn was the correct way to help...Anyway, the second time I got it right and then I tried some reversing in a car park which went pretty well and on the way back I got onto a 50mph road and tried out 5th gear. From my (very limited!) experience, there weren't any nasty noises, although the Check Engine light was on, however I was told that it was an issue with a filter that they were going to fix. There was also a "clunk" when I tried a hot start, but (supposedly) that was a loose exhaust bracket which, again, would be fixed. Once they say they've sort those out, I'm going to pay for an RAC inspection and the dealer has signed up to the AA Car Standards code. It will come with free AA cover that actually makes no difference to me as I have Any Vehicle RAC cover, but WTH! Also the MOT runs out in September, so they're going to do a new one for me. The tyres are only about a year old and barely worn, so that's ok.One thing I have discovered is that the Fabia needs the Timing Chain, Tensioner and Water Pump replaced every 60k miles, so I guess someone decided to flog it off before they needed to pay for between £500 and £800 of work, however, on further reflection, even including that, it still bring the car in at a maximum of £3,100 so that's well in budget for me. It comes with a 3 month guarantee, so fingers crossed everything goes smoothly...
I hope you'll search for the list of possible cause for the check light to come on.
I can understand getting a pre-MOT check on a car, because there's things that may not be obvious, eg the bushing mentioned, but it's not like a Check Engine light is easy to miss and simply checking if the lights work is not rocket science!
I remember chatting with an RAC guy who said that, these days, for anything more complicated than a flat battery or tyre, it was becoming almost impossible to do roadside repairs any more...
Yeesh! That's worrying on two counts: Firstly that someone would be stupid enough to cover up warning lights on safety critical systems and secondly that it could get through several MOTs before someone noticed that the lights weren't coming on when they should...!
Have you got your car yet Grahamm?
Quote from: robbo on 16 July 2023, 02:38:54 pmHave you got your car yet Grahamm?Not yet. The Dealer wasn't sure how long it would take to get the things I mentioned previously fixed as local garages are pretty busy at the moment, so I booked the RAC inspection for the 24th (ie a week tomorrow)But what I'm going to do is call the RAC again and see if they've got an earlier date and, if that's available, check if the car's back from the garage and try to move the inspection up a few days.
Quote from: Grahamm on 16 July 2023, 11:41:16 pmQuote from: robbo on 16 July 2023, 02:38:54 pmHave you got your car yet Grahamm?Not yet. The Dealer wasn't sure how long it would take to get the things I mentioned previously fixed as local garages are pretty busy at the moment, so I booked the RAC inspection for the 24th (ie a week tomorrow)But what I'm going to do is call the RAC again and see if they've got an earlier date and, if that's available, check if the car's back from the garage and try to move the inspection up a few days.Lol - I maybe joining you in the hunt for a suitable vehicle (only this one is for the wife). Her SAAB died spectacularly a week or so ago and I don't really have the time to spend repairing it)