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

More likely to head in the Porsche direction tbh. Kind of like German metal. Can’t be arsed with ‘Rarri ownership - I may be a cunt, but I’m not that sort of cunt

so on my 'is it a dead battery or is it more sinister' thing...charged battery overnight and it still wouldnt start this morning. The starter motor is having a go, but the engine isn't firing – if it was my motorbike I'd be looking at spark, fuel and air for the usual process of elimination thing, but that's not so easy in a car. Mainly coz of the ridiculous engine cover VW put on.

A mate is popping round in a bit so I can try his battery. My bike does turn over but fail to fire if the battery is a bit weedy, so hopefully its still that.

Got jump leads?

It’s the battery.

Get a new battery.

Have you got a multimeter to see what the health of the battery is? But in general yes just get a new battery.

If the VW engine cover is the same as Audi - a good tug will get it off (Finbar Saunders is alive and well)

new battery in, still doesn't start. sadface.

Annoyingly if the roads were empty i could push it to my local garage pretty easily. Got RAC At Home cover at least.

Oops.

What’s it doing now? Not turning over at all? Or spinning over but not firing? What car / engine is it?

Turning but not firing, exactly as with the old battery tbh. Mk5 Golf, 1.6 FSI, nothing complicated or fancy. I'll try to get to the plugs and see if theyre just soaking wet now, but i've not been trying to start it a million times

Oh shit. Sorry. It read like it wasn’t turning. Still, a new battery is always a good thing!

I’d call the RAC. There are loads of things it could be, fuel pump, relays, ignition bits. They’ll have the right kit to quickly diagnose where it might take you days of trial and error.

battery was definitely pretty knackered, so yeah new one doesnt hurt

If you want car you can drive now and still expect an ROI, I'd be looking at a 996 turbo.

Also any GT3 car will be a solid purchase, as will a Cayman GT4 if you can get your hands on one.

RAC person started it almost immediate facepalm
turns out its really easy to flood a car if most of the time you just bump it backwards and forwards half a length to move motorbikes around

Ooof, expensive lesson.

Re: battery chat - I replaced mine 3 years ago and have recently noticed the car taking a few more goes than usual to start the engine. Is it likely that recent icy spells have affected the battery performance?

Luckily I have the cover for that stuff anyway, if the renewal is loads I'll move provider. Same bloke came out to look at the clutch in 2020, I don't remember a tangible cost as a result of that either. happy keep believing that either way haha

Hello car gang. Is a <5 year old Kia Sportage a terrible idea for a family car. Plenty of motorway driving, don't live in London. Not a petrol head or rich.. They seem like they are well appointed for the money..

I've driven a few but not owned one and they're okay. I think there were some issues with gearboxes but I can't remember what or which year. Google the gearbox issue and check Honest John online which will help too.

Thanks for the advice, I'll get reading.

B service for the V220, which is major one, slight trepidation as to what it's going to cost - I know I'm already spending £270 on a tyre as the sidewall has been damaged on one of them.

I also found that someone has done me the kindness of putting a big dent in the panel above the front drivers side wheel - anyone with pointless dent removal experience reckon this could be handled that way rather than knocked out, filled and a respray?

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From my limited understanding, that looks ideal for PDR: it's a large area, no sharp pinches/creases in the metal, no paint cracking.

Also. That sucks.

Yeah, from my "guessing based on the pattern of dirt removed" it looks like someone went into the side of the car backwards, quite hard. IDK, the wing mirror was twisted round backwards when I got back home after being away, which is when it happened.

I recon a PDR guy is worth a punt, same reasoning as above. You're lucky it's above the swage line

I’ll try a PDR guy- nothing to lose.

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Spot the difference!

First time visit to Argentina and Uruguay, the cars here are amazingly varied .
I’ve been in some taxis which have so much damage I’m surprised thé door opens , cars driving around Argentinian country side with crumple zone almost all used , making horrible noises .Old fords like cortina’s , Renaults .
I’ve taken a few snaps of some oddities, Uruguay now and they seem better , I’m having to resist stopping at scrap yards to wonder what lies in there
Random chevette estate

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