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

Left it parked at event this eve and assumed they'd go off after a minute but they didn't and nearly drained the battery. Back home now and they still won't go off despite much fiddling. There's an alert sound when I open the driver door which I guess is telling me it's still switched on

Are the lights off and you aren't indicating? Well indicator stalk not in a position.

Is it an auto and is it in park?

Thanks. Must have been fiddling and took it out of auto-light mode. Started it up, fiddled, turned it off again and seems to have done the trick. Less exciting was the passenger side mudguard flying off and threatening to chop off the legs of pedestrians as I drove home. There was damage (photographed) when I picked it up but I could hear as soon as I turned hard left it just popped it off. Fucking hate cars. (Obvs stopped and popped it back on and just drove very gingerly home avoiding any sharp turns)

Excellent, I'm glad that the 45 fucking minutes of trying to figure it out on another car helped someone.

No one has ever cared for a hire car....ever.

Hmm, ok. Maybe a bit concerning! I'm guessing "chose to live with them" is the reason for sale and an eye watering quote to fix. I guess you'll already be doing this but search owners forums etc for clues. Is it a haldex awd system?

As a side note, I hear more and more that newish cars are needing new steering racks. I wonder who the supplier is and what corners they cut now.

new steering racks. I wonder what corners they cut

Boom!

Skoda back. 2 grand lighter but sounds and drives completely differently. Hope it'll do me another few years but I feel like driving like a grandparent for now.

Yup, the TSI. He literally just listened to it try and turn over for a minute. No symptoms before. The problem I'm currently facing is trying to find a mobile mechanic who will come out or a garage who will come and collect. No-one seems the slightest bit interested.....

I thought I'd have a look at leasing.

A Honda Shuttle 1.5G, specifically. The model offered by the leasing company is a 2021, they don't mention mileage, but this is probably pretty close.

For reference that's $105,800 to purchase with 20k miles on the clock.

The leasing deal I've been offered is 48 months at $2,289/month for a total payable of $109,872.

That does include insurance and road tax - I don't know what insurance would be but the road tax is just under $700 per year.

My understanding of leasing was that you paid the depreciation plus a bit, as the leasing company got the car back at the end of the lease and could flog it for whatever it's worth.

Obviously a bit of a Hail Mary, but if we look at a 2017 Shuttle we get examples like this at $58,800.

What that suggests to me is that to run one for four years would cost (leaving tax and insurance out of it) $105,800 - $58,800 = 47,000, or $11,750 per year.

That contrasts with the $27,468 that the leasing company are asking. Seems like a lot of profit in there - am I right to be a bit surprised, or have I misunderstood how the leasing lark works?

Never seen one of those before - very nice (from a boring dad practical viewpoint). Looks like a taller civic estate.

Sure, but it's not "give leasing company sixty grand profit" nice.

Oh no. But then again it’s just another point on the long list of things I couldn’t handle about Singapore!

In this case I just feel like I'm missing something - the cost of using my own money doesn't get anywhere near the cost of leasing, it's an order of magnitude out, which makes me feel that I can't be right.

With the car system being the way it is - prohibitively expensive - I can only assume it’s some quirk whereby there’s no incentive for leasing to be cheaper. Or like in the Netherlands where you can’t rent a property you don’t own outright for any more money than the cost of the mortgage - I wonder if there are restrictions on the minimum lease amount vs value.

It's mandated by the government that you need to put down 40% of the open market value of the car you intend on purchasing in order to get a loan, so maybe the leasing rates are basically taking advantage of this.

So the old Merc passed another MOT today…after another mad dash to replace the plugs and leads yesterday. it was registered March 1984, so am I right in thinking it can be registered as a classic from Jan 2025 or is it earlier ? Either way it’s off to my parents for then next year at least (damn ULEZ)…

I now have a couple of responses from checkatrade for mobile mechanics who would attend. I assume I want the electrical diagnostics to flag any timing chain issues, but one person is offering a 'compression test' - will this help identify whether any damage caused from potential slipping/worn timing chain?

Any input greatly appreciated!

Hey I'll answer later, I'll get to a computer as phone use is annoying for old people like me.

Ulez, MOT and tax free from next year. Might be worth hanging on to

Not sure a compression test would tell you anything about the timing. Unless a valve has dropped an been smashed into the piston... But that would be very noisy and obvious when cranking.
Maybe a cam position sensor has gone and the car won't fire without a good signal from that.

This is why I hate car maintenance! I just have no idea what anything means. The mechanic's logic was that the compression test will show if the timing chain dropped and fucked the engine valves. That feels like something I want to know. He also has electronic diagnostic stuff which would run alongside. Is there any sense to this proposal or should I sack him off?

I remember when you just rang the mechanic and told them my cars fucked, come and fix it and they did.

Sounds reasonable.

Ooooooof.

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Uk had it the opposite way around, personal leasing usually offered best value, way better than in many other countries. Singapore is a mad place for vehicles, possible that average Jo (well not so average, using a car there is a rich man's game) just doesn't have much capital after all other costs are said and done (sg has that ten year registration limit thing?). Imagine it's the same for lease companies assets after x years they depreciate to less than zero as the cost to renew register on a vehicle is so high.
Any worth gong to Malaysia and getting something from there if your in sg less than a year?