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

So tomorrow I'm going to go and collect the twin turbo V6......s type Jag. Yep, bq guessed it. Yeah diesel but does have the zf 6 speed autobox. Only been used for short journeys in the last year. No mot for the last 3. But sub 100k and looks clean. Will last to get me back to the house? Or take bets what will break.

TLDR collecting 17 year old car that not been used much and driving 150miles. Will it leave me stranded?

TLDR collecting 17 year old car that not been used much and driving 150miles. Will it leave me stranded?

Need to watch some of the early Vice Grip Garage for proper driving trips.

Why is it daft?

Just in an economic sense, although if the second hand market stays the way it is, it might actually hold a bit of value (only comparable one on autotrader at the moment has 40k more miles on the clock and is £2600 which is what I paid last year).

It’s just the pang of “I should get something sensible, boring and cheap”, rather than gambling on the longevity of an older but nicer car.

DMF is deffo failing - making noise with half depressed clutch, juddery when pulling away and in stop start traffic. It’s a bit of a PITA but nothing too awful. Mate has confirmed it’s deffo DMF when I showed him.

£2600 is not bangernomics to me, it is worth investing in as it is still a valuable car and it will increase the value/sellability (is that a word) with a new flywheel clutch fitted.

I can confirm that you can get two MTB in a Mercedes GLA. Not much else at the same time, mind.

While £2600 is not full banger territory, it’s still a 17 year old car ready to shit the bed in a magnitude of ways that I can’t afford to repair, and I now longer really have the time to work on it myself. I’m already trying to figure out what bits I can squeeze in while the DMF is done, other than the aforementioned diff and gearbox oils. Fuel filter is one I deffo CBA with. Gearbox mount bushings come to mind, I’d assume they’re perishing away.

Clutch, clutch slave cylinder maybe? Any pipework or seals at the back of the engine that you can’t normally get to with the box on?

If the bushings haven't failed, I'd leave well alone. But that is just me.

Currently I need to replace the reverse light switch so I have the parking sensors back. Have bought the switch then replace the clutch fluid as I have done the brake fluid before. Should replace the gearbox oil as it is low. Replace a worn bush on the rear but will do both, as replacing one side seems odd. Need to replace the oil thermostat but at £30 uk and €55 in France it is annoying.

Haven't done anything as yet as it is cold and instead got another car ;)

Had a terrible time getting my key out of the Fubaru's ignition yesterday, had to abandon my shopping trip and drive home... Called Roadside Assist and they said they couldn't do anything as it's probably a proprietary issue, hmmm, OK... Took a punt on driving to get some contact cleaner to squirt into the barrel, did that and it seemed to clear up the problem...

Drove to the chemist to pick up my blood pressure tablets this morning, key came out fine, went back to the car and it wouldn't start, starter turned over but motor wouldn't start... Tried it a few more times and then nothing, not even a click from the engine when I turned the key...

Roadside guy turned up, battery was fine, everything else looked okay, thought it might be a dead key so he drove me home to get the spare, we drove back to give it a go but that didn't solve the problem... He reckoned the immobiliser in the ignition barrel is fuxxored and I'll need it looking at, there's nothing more he can do and I'll have to call Roadside Assist to organise a tow truck, he leaves me stranded to fuck off to another job...

It's market day, it's fucking rammo everywhere, fucking townie wankers all over the shop, there's no way a tow truck is getting in that car park until later today...

And that's where we are now... Waiting for things to die down so the truck can grab my car and drop it outside my place.... I've texted my mechanic, he's happy to have a look but it won't be until next week so I'll have to get a courtesy car in the meantime...

I was planning to write some music today, that's right out of the fucking window... Fubaru, I'm claiming that... Cars are shit...

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Ah fuck. Sorry to hear that. When they go wrong it can be a nightmare. No suggestions on what problem is but I don’t lock the e46 anymore as key/immobiliser wobblies and don’t want to risk being stranded. specialist job to sort most likely but hopefully the mechanic you use can sort

It's more annoying than anything else and it'll force me back on the bike, which is great!!

As I'm not very up on these things, I assumed my insurer would shout me a courtesy car until everything was hunky dory again...

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A quick google of Subaru key stuck in ignition pulls up a ton of results. Shift mechanism for Park apparently + old battery appears to be the most common. Hope it gets fixed soon.

Your Google fu(baru) is much better than mine! Home safe and sound now, just gotta figure out where to take it tomorrow... The local Subaru garage will destroy my bank account, I know this...

Battery is in good health, I think it's the immobiliser in the barrel... We shall soon see!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRGt724BkOo

First result for "subaru legacy key stuck in ignition" - seems like it's common across all the models

I got a new battery twelve months ago, the key thing still kept happening... It happens every six weeks or so, for a day or two then goes away again, I can normally fix it by nudging the car forward or backwards a bit... But still frustrating as fuck...

Yesterday was next level, the key would not come out, I drove around the car park TWICE, nothing... I drove home and actually parked inside the gate as I figured I'd have to leave the key in the car... Of course it came out straight away...

The really fucking annoying thing is this has been happening since I bought it, it should've been fixed by the company I bought it off but they couldn't find a fault to fix so it's on me now...

As the car is now it won't even start, it's totally cactus...

I dunno man, if you have a record of the initial fault, and their inability to fix it. There's liability there.... Was the first incident within 3 months of the purchase?

Great success. Feeling lazy, I couldn’t be arsed jacking the e46 up so thought I’d try it on the ramps at my in-laws. Went on without destroying the front bumper. Jacking it up is the worst part of any job!

How much of a money put is a disco 3? Seems like a lot of car for the money + they tick the roof tent box quite well

S type made it fine. Didn't take it over 50mph. Needs a service as oil hasn't been changed since it came to France.

Looking at the service history no cambelt change recorded....hope it had had one at least.

I don't have any personal experience, but my otherwise rational but inexplicably Land Rover passionate friends will only go as far as Disco 2. Apparently (disco 3) is a frustrating money pit (this is despite the fact the Disco 1/2 is already a money pit as it rusts), and also just generally worse as a vehicle than a Disco 1/2 or a Defender, unless you want an SUV for town, in which case there are loads of better options already. And this is assuming you want a diesel. The V8s are ok but pretty thirsty and the suspension and electrical issues remain.

Guess they're cheap for a reason? But take above with pinch of salt as these Land Rover nerds are pretty opinionated... they wouldn't take a disco 3 for free except to wreck it and actually do use their vehicles off road.

@hoops has / had one…

Any love for an accord....check out the self tapping screws holding the trim on.

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Ah little off roaders ;)

How long is a piece of string?

They have issues off the top of my head air suspension issues bags and pumps.

But there are things to look for on landie websites. But everything of a certain age is going to wear out. Trying to remember if this was in the ford era.

It is ford era so diesels will be PSA/Jag/ ford.

I have one. They are great, as long as you don’t mind giving vast amounts of money to your local Land Rover specialist to fix relatively jovial issues. In the past year I have:
Major service (including cam belt)
New air compressor for suspension
New electronic handbrake mechanism
New BCU board to get air suspension to work properly.
Replaced bushings on rear end to get through MOT (sounds like a very simple job but cost almost £1k as all the bolts were rusted to shit and everything basically needed to be cut off and replaced)

Now the tracking is off and is getting worse, and it’s not possible to fix easily as all the adjustment bolts on the front end are also rusted solid, so will probably have to spend another £1k having the whole front end chopped off and replaced.

I’m thinking of getting rid of it and replacing with Disco 2, but that’s almost as stupid as continuing to spend vast amounts of money keeping the 3 going.