Fleet update and new summer smoker (CLK content!)
Discussion
Evening all
Been a while since I've done a fleet update so I thought Id bring you up to date on the driveway contents!
997 C4s
Longest time spent with me is my Porsche 997.1 C4S. I bought this 4 years ago now, trading in a troublesome yet gorgeous Maserati Quattroporte 4.7 with the proper gearbox.
It's a 2007 car in Seal Grey and is now showing 82K miles. Im doing around 3K miles per year in it and I adore it. During my time, I have changed the PASM shocks and put the car on Eibach springs to give it a nicer look and also added some discreet spacers to fill out the arches. Im running Carrera Classic wheels (much nicer than the Lobsters in my view) on sticky Bridgestones.
Despite all the scaremongering, she doesnt use any oil and Im not worried about bore scoring - never had it checked and dont intend to!
Having tucked her up for winter in November, the sun is out and she is now out to play again. Need to get it MOTd this week.
These pics were taken this week after a clean and polish - still scrubs up well!
Took a trip over the Caffeine and Machine on Fri night for a Porsche night - holds her own well!
A7 Black edition
Next up is my daily - its a 2014 Audi A7 Black Edition with the 245hp version of the 3.0 tdi.
I bought this very cheapily from a private owner due to the higher mileage - its just ticked over 162k miles. Its a Quattro version and I absolutely love it as a daily. I do a 80 mile round trip and I am getting 42 mpg average in absolute comfort.
The torque is lovely and its not slow - especially good for overtaking. Leather, electric everything, all sorts of modes - a must have for me were the 21 inch wheels - I had them refurbed soon after I got the car. They are supposed to run on 30 section tyres but I wanted a little more sidewall comfort so went up to 35 section. They also fill the arches a little more.
Its running a DSG gearbox which I hear can be problematic. It had its first wobble a month ago when I selected reverse - yellow gearbox error. Happened twice that day and cleared by restarting the car. I spoke to a specialist who diagnosed (by phone) the mechatronic unit - 2.5k to refurb. Fortunately the issue has now disappeared but I fear I may be on borrowed time!
Summer smoker - CLK W208
Then finally, on to the summer smoker!
I love an old Merc convertible. Last year I had an R129 which I did up and sold on. Year prior I had a W124. I've always wanted to try a W208 as they are a full 4 seater and I thought the kids would love it!
They rust notoriously especially the back arches but I came across a really decent one bodywork wise on an ebay auction. I would have loved the 430 but had to settle for the supercharged 230.
I only paid £620! Reason being the roof didnt work and the MOT failed due to ABS and ESP faults.
As purchased.....
It wasn't bad but those later W209 alloys had to go.....I went shopping on line for some Monoblocs but couldnt find any decent secondhand ones. I then came across a local company selling repro ones with a really nice deep dish and had to have them!
Next job was to fix the hood - after manually raising and lowering a few times, the thing sprang back into life - good voltage is essential on these and I also checked and cleaned the microswitches.
Next - MOT. The OBD2 is not compatible so I had to buy a 38 pin connection from ICarsoft which connects under the bonnet. Turns out i needed a new Yaw Sensor. A bugger to get to as you have to dismantle everything in the boot including a carpeted steel section which house all the hood hydraulics and various sensors. Once back together and driven a mile, all codes and lights were extinguished!
i took it to my friendly MOT tester last week only for it to fail on rear fog lights. Hours of voltage tracing and I found a break in the wires from the boot floor into the rear lights. I let in a new wire and bingo - a clean MOT!
So now she is ready for some summer cruising - the wheels cost more than the car but it's still a sub £1200 car!
I really like it - a great bargain and I think it looks pretty cool on the deep dish wheels. Its not a drivers car at all - pretty wallowy and slow but great for summer cruising!
Future plans? Id like to tidy up the front bumper but can't justify having it professionally repairs - it's a smoker after all! Im going to attempt a DIY spray job!
Next car?
I also just sold my gorgeous S3 Landie - had it for about a year and improved it no end - turned out to be quite a good money maker for me.
Now that I have some cash from the Landy burning a hole, I am looking for a nice but not too expensive L322 Range Rover. I've had the 3.6 before but I want a late 4.4 tdv8.....just looking for the right one! Watch this space......
Been a while since I've done a fleet update so I thought Id bring you up to date on the driveway contents!
997 C4s
Longest time spent with me is my Porsche 997.1 C4S. I bought this 4 years ago now, trading in a troublesome yet gorgeous Maserati Quattroporte 4.7 with the proper gearbox.
It's a 2007 car in Seal Grey and is now showing 82K miles. Im doing around 3K miles per year in it and I adore it. During my time, I have changed the PASM shocks and put the car on Eibach springs to give it a nicer look and also added some discreet spacers to fill out the arches. Im running Carrera Classic wheels (much nicer than the Lobsters in my view) on sticky Bridgestones.
Despite all the scaremongering, she doesnt use any oil and Im not worried about bore scoring - never had it checked and dont intend to!
Having tucked her up for winter in November, the sun is out and she is now out to play again. Need to get it MOTd this week.
These pics were taken this week after a clean and polish - still scrubs up well!
Took a trip over the Caffeine and Machine on Fri night for a Porsche night - holds her own well!
A7 Black edition
Next up is my daily - its a 2014 Audi A7 Black Edition with the 245hp version of the 3.0 tdi.
I bought this very cheapily from a private owner due to the higher mileage - its just ticked over 162k miles. Its a Quattro version and I absolutely love it as a daily. I do a 80 mile round trip and I am getting 42 mpg average in absolute comfort.
The torque is lovely and its not slow - especially good for overtaking. Leather, electric everything, all sorts of modes - a must have for me were the 21 inch wheels - I had them refurbed soon after I got the car. They are supposed to run on 30 section tyres but I wanted a little more sidewall comfort so went up to 35 section. They also fill the arches a little more.
Its running a DSG gearbox which I hear can be problematic. It had its first wobble a month ago when I selected reverse - yellow gearbox error. Happened twice that day and cleared by restarting the car. I spoke to a specialist who diagnosed (by phone) the mechatronic unit - 2.5k to refurb. Fortunately the issue has now disappeared but I fear I may be on borrowed time!
Summer smoker - CLK W208
Then finally, on to the summer smoker!
I love an old Merc convertible. Last year I had an R129 which I did up and sold on. Year prior I had a W124. I've always wanted to try a W208 as they are a full 4 seater and I thought the kids would love it!
They rust notoriously especially the back arches but I came across a really decent one bodywork wise on an ebay auction. I would have loved the 430 but had to settle for the supercharged 230.
I only paid £620! Reason being the roof didnt work and the MOT failed due to ABS and ESP faults.
As purchased.....
It wasn't bad but those later W209 alloys had to go.....I went shopping on line for some Monoblocs but couldnt find any decent secondhand ones. I then came across a local company selling repro ones with a really nice deep dish and had to have them!
Next job was to fix the hood - after manually raising and lowering a few times, the thing sprang back into life - good voltage is essential on these and I also checked and cleaned the microswitches.
Next - MOT. The OBD2 is not compatible so I had to buy a 38 pin connection from ICarsoft which connects under the bonnet. Turns out i needed a new Yaw Sensor. A bugger to get to as you have to dismantle everything in the boot including a carpeted steel section which house all the hood hydraulics and various sensors. Once back together and driven a mile, all codes and lights were extinguished!
i took it to my friendly MOT tester last week only for it to fail on rear fog lights. Hours of voltage tracing and I found a break in the wires from the boot floor into the rear lights. I let in a new wire and bingo - a clean MOT!
So now she is ready for some summer cruising - the wheels cost more than the car but it's still a sub £1200 car!
I really like it - a great bargain and I think it looks pretty cool on the deep dish wheels. Its not a drivers car at all - pretty wallowy and slow but great for summer cruising!
Future plans? Id like to tidy up the front bumper but can't justify having it professionally repairs - it's a smoker after all! Im going to attempt a DIY spray job!
Next car?
I also just sold my gorgeous S3 Landie - had it for about a year and improved it no end - turned out to be quite a good money maker for me.
Now that I have some cash from the Landy burning a hole, I am looking for a nice but not too expensive L322 Range Rover. I've had the 3.6 before but I want a late 4.4 tdv8.....just looking for the right one! Watch this space......
S600BSB said:
That’s a great collection - well done! Not sure I could have let the Landy go though..
I know - it was a lovely looker. Truth it they are truly awful to drive and live with. I resorted to using it for tip runs and trips to the park with the kids (bikes in the back). Off to a good home who was more of an enthusiast than me. Im really pleased I've owned one and loved the look - but just too tractor like!!
Mr Tidy said:
Those new wheels on the CLK look fantastic with that dish!
Have you kept the wheels it came on? It would probably be worth putting them back on when you sell and selling the new ones separately.
Anyway enjoy it over the summer.
Thats a good call but unfortunately I off-loaded the old wheels to a fellow CLK'er!!Have you kept the wheels it came on? It would probably be worth putting them back on when you sell and selling the new ones separately.
Anyway enjoy it over the summer.
Thanks for the nice comments - I look forward to cruising over the summer!
sshenton1975 said:
I know - it was a lovely looker. Truth it they are truly awful to drive and live with. I resorted to using it for tip runs and trips to the park with the kids (bikes in the back).
Off to a good home who was more of an enthusiast than me. Im really pleased I've owned one and loved the look - but just too tractor like!!
I can relate to that! Off to a good home who was more of an enthusiast than me. Im really pleased I've owned one and loved the look - but just too tractor like!!
Years ago a mate who'd got a DR10 on his licence took me and another mate out for the day in his Series 1. It was a miserable experience, bouncy, noisy, draughty, but he really caught the LR bug badly. Admittedly the Series 2 he fitted with a Ford V6 for off-road events was at least entertaining!
That Audi is coming up to exactly the age (11-12 years) where I've found every VAG car just starts s
tting itself over and over and over and over again, with there being absolutely no end in sight until you give up. I speak from bitter experience, 1st hand and 2nd, when I say you should take that to WBAC or similar while it doesn't have a clear fault that means you'll get 50p for it.
They'll do miles very happily without issue, it's entirely age related.
CLK looks great on those wheels, they're getting really rare in any condition now much less without visible rust holes. The successor is a really cheap car now too, but £700 RFL for a lot of them isn't great for a 220bhp CLK320!
tting itself over and over and over and over again, with there being absolutely no end in sight until you give up. I speak from bitter experience, 1st hand and 2nd, when I say you should take that to WBAC or similar while it doesn't have a clear fault that means you'll get 50p for it.They'll do miles very happily without issue, it's entirely age related.
CLK looks great on those wheels, they're getting really rare in any condition now much less without visible rust holes. The successor is a really cheap car now too, but £700 RFL for a lot of them isn't great for a 220bhp CLK320!
Edited by GeniusOfLove on Wednesday 16th April 16:04
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