Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

The car we've borrowed (52 plate Punto) has a flat battery (lights were left on it seems) and won't start.

What's the best way to get it going? Buy a jump start thing? Take the battery out and charge it? Charge it in situ with some solar jobbie? It's parked in the street so options for running wires are limited.

I gather it suffers from a flat battery reasonably often so if I have to buy something it would be used more than once.

Thanks

Hmm, car history....
1978 (maybe) corolla wagon. From Grandma.
1986 corolla seca, sadly not the twin cam.
1999 Mitsubishi mirage
Peugeot 306 1.8 3 door... Great car, destroyed with modification and blew the diff on a tight second gear corner. My bad driving.
Peugeot 406 V6 coupe. 1 week, was too nose heavy and I was too young to enjoy its smoothness.

Peugeot 306 xsi, 2001 model, one of the last built. Very nice, 95% of a GTi 6 but with extra doors.
Beautiful Peugeot 505, 1983 STi.... Still miss
Both pugs Sold to move to London.
A Volvo 760, bought for a short trip back to aus.
About 9 years pass, no cars, just pushies.
Then a 2005 ford fiesta 1.8, great handling thing, sat too high though.
2011 Audi A3 1.8tfsi.... good car, solid. Free engine rebuild from Audi. Oil consumption....
Currently is a 2015 Audi A4 Avant 2.0 Quattro A-line.... A wanna be RS....
And my little 2000 China blue Peugeot 306 xsi. Has 267000 kilometres on it and still feels great. After a little spending.

Battery jump starters work well in my experience and are super convenient to have around. I've also used a solar panel plugged in to cigarette lighter, effective as a trickle but not enough to overcome a proper drain.

I have an ebay battery jump start pack which I've never used and a Suaoki one which has been perfect. Handy for charging phones etc too.

Went out to listen to the dawn chorus. Saw this.

2 Attachments

I gather it suffers from a flat battery reasonably often so if I have to buy something it would be used more than once

The alternator needs looking at

Batteries don't last forever, if you open the bonnet and examine the battery, what's the date stamp?

If it's original to the car I'd change it for a new one.

My Mercedes can seemingly last forever when parked up, the 911 will flatten it's battery in two weeks if left to its own devices - it has to have a solar trickle charger plugged in. Guess which one I take to the airport*?

* Or did before C19

Could also be an earth fault or something causing a drain. Or even a cooked battery.

Car history (not long) because I previously drove my parents cars, which is for my mother a 2010 Audi A1 TFSI, and my dad's 2008 Citroen Berlingo:

1. 1994 Peugeot 205 1.7D 60hp, kept it 2 years, purchased from an old lady that had it from new. Greatest car I've been in, truly fun to drive despite the lack of power, indestructible, very very confortable and could go forever in terms of fuel consumption. Nice options to, central locking, PS, electric windows. Sold it to a bloke that crashed it avoiding a deer, huge regret from the moment I let it go. I listened to my parents that said I should not have two cars at once (despite they do) as I purchased the car just below, usually they are right, this time they were not. that's life!
   
2. 1990 BMW E3O 318i, 115hp. Reason why I sold the 205. Bought from an importer that had it imported from Italy. Lovely configuration in my opinion, sedan and steel wheels (so pretty discrete), Diamantscharz Metallic, cloth seats, no catalytic converter, reinforced suspension, short diff (4,10), no PS, no ABS, no AC, only option is power windows for the front. Difficult to park without PS but truly a pleasure to drive. First car I learnt to work on, first car I crashed, but loving it
   

I used to pass a 964 Targa RHD 30k miles Black/Black on the way to work every day. It used to do 8 miles a year to its MOT and was really starting to look neglected. I managed to track the owner down and start up a conversation about eventually buying it. Came back from Holiday and it had gone. Thought she had sold it but messaged her and someone had stolen it! Gutted but tbh she probs got more from the insurance. Mind you two aircooled projects would be an absolute killer on the pockets.

Notice how Peugeot feature in many people's car history, often favourably. Yet since basically 2002 they haven't built anything worth talking about, well until about 2016. And even then, it's just because the contrast to the last decade of cars is so great.

Is there any manufacturer that has built consistently good cars?

I gather it suffers from a flat battery reasonably often

If a car starter battery is drained below a certain voltage (around 10 volts), it messes up the chemistry permanently which reduces its ability to hold a proper charge. And that means it will go flat even more often. Expect a downward spiral until it reaches the point it won't start even though you were driving it an hour or two ago.

Get a decent jump pack (something like this) and carry it with you. The car will probably need a new battery too in the near future.

The alternator needs looking at

If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage at the battery. It should be north of 14 volts with the engine running if the alternator is working.

Only in peoples selective memory, don't think its possible.
Look at Saab, when they tried and means allowed it, they did pretty good, I think most of the stinkers were GM shared platforms/parts bin specials. Had a bunch in the family from 96/99/900/1x 9000/9-3/9-3ss/9-5, usually the top one and then they get some mods. The 9-5s are hilarious, a mid 90's car that was still in production until 2010? Facelifted to death only beaten by the Volga, a soviet era tank, that was a loose copy of something from the US A from the 1950s', that I think was also still in production in this century?
9-5 can be made nice, but don't think I've ever come across a car that squeeks and rattles so much, reason fam has one, driving position is same as a 99/og900, no other modern Euro market car has that position.

So confirmation bias?
I've always wanted a Saab, never taken the leap. It'd have to be a 900 turbo though.

I kind of want to say Porsche, as consistently good... But that's based on motoring journalist reviews.

1. Y reg Ford Focus Mk1 1.8 zetec 3dr.
   Great handling, seemingly indestructible if a little agricultural.

2. 54 reg SEAT Leon Cupra R.
   A lot of fun but ate front tyres at an alarming rate and suspension was somewhat tooth rattling.

3. 55 Subaru Legacy 3.0 Spec B 6MT
   What a car. Still miss it even if it did drink like a fish.

4. 12 BMW 520d Touring F11
   First diesel. Perfectly competent.

5. 67 Mercedes E220d Touring
   Much comfort, very barge. Great apart from really annoying recurring brake juddder (thankfully still under warranty as discs, pads and hubs have been replaced 4 time in just over a year...)

car history

started badly got better

1 skoda 105l ( white most basic skoda you could buy )
2 skoda 120lse my second fave car ( with black vinyl roof, boot spoiler, sunroof and factory stereo / cassette. top of the range model at the time. upgraded to rave mobile status with alpine tape unit, amp and 2 midi system speakers and 2 bass bins, spent a lot of good times in that car )
3 skoda 130gl ( blue 5 gears used it to commute to my first job )
4 triumph 2000 rat rod before ratrods were cool, mallard green with lots of unpainted filler
5 triumph 2.5pi mint condition, ice blue, posted pics of this a few pages back, just the most wonderful car, would love that car back in the condition i bought it in, not the condition i sold it in !

End of an era. RIP Sir Stirling.

Cheers all. So far as I'm aware the battery issue has been looked at and the battery replaced without there being an obvious culprit.

The car can go weeks in between use which is when the issue arises so I suspect it's a slow drain somewhere.

20 years of motoring, pretty scary to think that. Probs missed a few -

1 Peugeot 205 1l - written off in snow
2 Peugeot 205 1.4
3 VW beetle 1300 1970
4 Toyota Corrola
5 Volvo 240 1970 - 2nd car never made the road sold for £50
5 LDV 200 Van
5 Volkswagen Scirocco
6 Triumph Toledo 1500 TC - 2nd car Never made the road
7 Volkswagen Corrado 16v
8 Renault Traffic
9 Volkswagen Caddy pick up - owned a week
10 VW T4
11 VW T4
12 Volkwagen polo GT
13 Nissan Silvia S12
14 Volkwagen Polo G40 - 2nd car Never made the road
15 Volkswagen polo Breadvan x 2
16 Volkswagen Lupo TDi
17 Volkswagen Caddy Van
18 Daihatsu Hijet van - loved this thing
19 Audi A4 Avant
20 Suzuki alto
21 Daihatsu Charade
22 Lotus Elan Plus 2 - 2nd car
23 Peugeot 206 SW
24 Peugeot Partner
25 Porsche 911E 1970 - 2nd car - full resto - Still own
26 Porsche Boxster 986 - 2nd car - Still own
27 Audi A2 1.4tdi 75
28 Audi a2 1.4TDI 90 - still own

IIRC your's is the sporto?

Correct, no plans to change it out for a manual atm.

As long as it worked reliably I'd keep the Sporto as well, adds to the character of the car I think.

Entertainingly my C55 has the same auto box as the 996 911 despite being ten years younger (all other C-Class of the W203 era had a much more modern auto, but the torque of the V8 meant that it alone of the W203 generation couldn't use it, so they used the older box), I think it suits the big V8 very well, and would likely suit a turbo charged 911, but I think it'd really blunt a naturally aspirated one, especially the 3.4 that my early car has.

On that note, looks like we're going to be using ram-tubes with filters to get the first tune on the engines as the engine designer wants to go that route, rather than using the variable-length intake plenum that we had in mind. I take his point that it's going to be much easier to tune, and that it will sound glorious having open ITB's, but I suspect it also blows out any chance of getting on a race-track as it'll be loud at higher rpms.

I managed to borrow a jump starter thing from a neighbour, it was so easy compared to memories of bump starting stuff or using another car to jump start.

As such I think I'll get one for the future. Any suggestions on which to get? It's only a 1.2 so I think I can get away with a fairly cheap one but there are loads of options.

I’m yet to sit in a more comfy seat than in my 95. It beats any bmw, Audi, Tesla, Volvo, vw I’ve ever sat in. Apart from that the car is pretty meh and it sure rattle and squeaks a lot and it costs a fortune to tax.

1984 Citroen Visa GT - my first car. pretty nippy and loads of fun to drive. always felt like anything could go wrong.
1980 Lancia Beta HPE - man would love to have had one of these new. too heavy for the engine but was lovely to sit back in and cruise
1976 Fiat 126 - this car delivers the smiles, though not cut out for major miles. but will keep this one forever
next car will be from 1972 (or thereabouts). And I have my eye on what I will get. Covid 19 might change those plans obvs

Was out on my daily exercise today and saw one of these:

Which got me thinking, in the day it was a shit box but, to my mind at least, it still looks much better than any modern hatchback. I think it's because the designer made the best they could out of the car without any unnecessary embellishments, no pointless creases or "flame" styling. Is this really the case or am I just looking at older cars with rose tinted spectacles? Basically am I right or just getting old? Would be interested to hear others opinions (as long as you're not too mean to me 😉).