The Night Mail

[DaveF]

I had 3 Citroen ZXs , 2 petrol, 1 diesel.  The diesl was economical but not as nice to drive.

 

I drove both the petrol ones to Switzerland on holidays, the first time was when they had only just been introduced.  I stopped at a Citroen dealer in Switzerland to buy petrol and most of the staff came out to look at the car, it was the first one they had seen on the road.

 

A couple of years later I had to go to the Citroen dealer in Chur as I lost reverse gear while taking photos at Filisur on the Rhätische Bahn.  It turned out that a few weeks before I left the UK I had a headlight replaced and one of the retaining clips had broken when they changed it, part of it had landed on top the of the gear box and eventually got caught up in the connection from the gear lever to the box.  It only took them a few minutes to sort out.

 

It was quite amusing to see the mechanic getting in to the left hand side of the car and then realising it was right hand drive, fortunately he saw the funny side of it.

 

I found them all comfortable and pleasant to drive.  When I sold the last one I bought a Subaru for a change.

 

David

 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

We’ve just had a strange event with Jill’s VW Golf; when she unlocked the car and the wing mirrors opened out the glass fell out of the one on the driver’s side. I’ll shortly be taking it to the local garage but what’s the betting that it means a whole new mirror assembly at £££s ?

 

Dave

 

I had something similar with the windows* on a Skoda Fabia, turned out to be one of the car computer modules on the blink.  Even then it cost a bit to have it fixed...

 

* Not quite the same as a defenestrating wing mirror, but a window that kept resetting to fully down wasn't a good security feature!

[New Haven Neil]

3 minutes ago, Hroth said:

but a window that kept resetting to fully down wasn't a good security feature!

 

A friend's Golf used to do that, usually when parked in the rain.  It was known as the 'Crazy Golf'.  It did other odd things too.  Eventually he Px'd it as the dealer seemed unable to fix it, so let them have the problem!

[jamie92208]

We had a ZX which we liked then bought a Xantia which was great.  The ride height control that was great for getting an elderly aunt in and out of the car.  You hardly needed a jack to change a wheel. 

 

I loved it. 

 

Jamie 

[jjb1970]

The bit that tends to be taken for granted is the transmission, yet the gear ratios make a world of difference. Many cars had widely spaced gears to game fuel and emissions tests, but made engines feel lifeless and in the real world probably increased fuel use as people revved the nuts off engines to try and bring them to life. We had a VW 1.6TDi (?) with a 5 speed manual box like that, it felt dead yet the same engine with a six speed and tighter ratios felt pretty lively. 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

A friend's Golf used to do that, usually when parked in the rain.  It was known as the 'Crazy Golf'.  It did other odd things too.  Eventually he Px'd it as the dealer seemed unable to fix it, so let them have the problem!

 

On the Fabia it was something called the "Comfort Module" which seemed to deal with all the fancy addons.  Of course this was the old Mk1 Fabia, introduced after VW took over and started updating the Skoda lineup.

 

[GMKAT7]

Good afternoon folks,

 

I bought a new Skoda Fabia estate in 2015, having previously owned various Fords (Sierra/Fiesta/Fusion diesel) and can honestly say it's the best car I have ever had.

 

The build quality is good (The VW influence?) and it does all I need it to.

Comfortable on the M1/A1M going to/from Durham to drop off or collect the boy from uni, but just as good doing local driving.

It's only a 1200cc engine but revs freely and is economical too. It is the SE-L model, so has cruise control, etc but I never use the toys.

 

However, just this morning I have noticed the driver's side window squeak. Hope its not terminal!

 

Cheers, Nigel.

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

Try ebay - lots of replacement stick-on mirror glass; I got one once when some silly b1tch smashed Ricky the Rover's door mirror glass cos' she was on the wrong side of the f.road on a country lane 🤬

Ah, THE BEAR beat me to it!

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good afternoon folks,

 

I bought a new Skoda Fabia estate in 2015, having previously owned various Fords (Sierra/Fiesta/Fusion diesel) and can honestly say it's the best car I have ever had.

 

The build quality is good (The VW influence?) and it does all I need it to.

Comfortable on the M1/A1M going to/from Durham to drop off or collect the boy from uni, but just as good doing local driving.

It's only a 1200cc engine but revs freely and is economical too. It is the SE-L model, so has cruise control, etc but I never use the toys.

 

However, just this morning I have noticed the driver's side window squeak. Hope its not terminal!

 

Cheers, Nigel.

 

I do like Skodas, good build quality and less expensive than an equivalent VW, despite using identical mechanical components.  After the Fabia, I had an Octavia and then a Yeti, which is now over 12 years old and still ( fingers crossed ) going strong.  Don't remember the model designation of Yeti, but it's the 4x4 2 litre 170hp diesel version, and averages high 40/low 50 MPG, which isn't too shabby.

 

[J. S. Bach]

17 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Is that a bust of Napoleon with his collar pulled up facing away from the camera?

 

Dave

It is an electrical insulator (the real subject of the photo shoot, the car was just a backround); and, the only one that I own that is olive drab in color.

 

Napoleon with his head shrunken down into his collar:

 

 

Edited July 22 by J. S. Bach
To correct a typo

[Dave Hunt]

7 hours ago, polybear said:

Try ebay - lots of replacement stick-on mirror glass; I got one once when some silly b1tch smashed Ricky the Rover's door mirror glass cos' she was on the wrong side of the f.road on a country lane 🤬

 

Thanks Bear but I took the Golf into the local garage this morning and they can get a replacement glass OK. They aren't ripoff merchants so the cost should be bearable.

 

Dave

[bbishop]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

I do like Skodas, good build quality and less expensive than an equivalent VW, despite using identical mechanical components.  After the Fabia, I had an Octavia and then a Yeti, which is now over 12 years old and still ( fingers crossed ) going strong.  Don't remember the model designation of Yeti, but it's the 4x4 2 litre 170hp diesel version, and averages high 40/low 50 MPG, which isn't too shabby.

 

I'm another 12 year Yeti owner, mine is bottom of the range - 1.2 litre, petrol, manual gearbox.  Less to go wrong.  It does 38mpg in an urban area.

[Dave Hunt]

I've got a 13 year old VW Passat 2.0 diesel estate that hasn't given me any trouble and regularly gets 63 plus mpg on a long run and in the mid to high 50s on general running about. I was going to get the Skoda Superb version but at the time the 2.0 engine wasn't available and that was the one I really wanted so the VW it was. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep it but I'm hoping it will be a good few years.

 

Dave   

 

 

Edited July 22 by Dave Hunt

[GMKAT7]

Good evening Sqdn Ldr,

 

An acquaintance of the Boss (SWMBO) has got a Skoda Superb estate and it came with an umbrella fitted into the passenger door at the front.

Colour me impressed.

 

Not sure if the VW Passat does the same?

 

Cheers, Nigel.

[Northmoor]

9 hours ago, SM42 said:

And a rather strange issue with the radio. 

It would switch itself off, but turn the wipers on, it would cone back on. 

 

There must have been an Italian automotive electrician working at Citroen.

[Northmoor]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The bit that tends to be taken for granted is the transmission, yet the gear ratios make a world of difference. Many cars had widely spaced gears to game fuel and emissions tests, but made engines feel lifeless and in the real world probably increased fuel use as people revved the nuts off engines to try and bring them to life. We had a VW 1.6TDi (?) with a 5 speed manual box like that, it felt dead yet the same engine with a six speed and tighter ratios felt pretty lively. 

There was a fashion in the 1980s-90s for giving small cars 5th gears too high for them to accelerate in unless downhill, but which gave spectacular mpg@56mph figures to impress the gullible.

[figworthy]

10 hours ago, SM42 said:

I must admit to having a soft spot for Citroens. 

 

Always a little bit quirky. 

 

I've only ever owned one though. 

 

Andy

 

Dad had a BX as a company car many years ago.  Although it was a (leased) company car, he looked after it as though he owned it.  He was more than a little surprised to find that it was going to cost more to get it through its first MOT than it was worth.  No surprise that the leasing company decided to scrap it instead.

 

Adrian

[Dave Hunt]

54 minutes ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good evening Sqdn Ldr,

 

An acquaintance of the Boss (SWMBO) has got a Skoda Superb estate and it came with an umbrella fitted into the passenger door at the front.

Colour me impressed.

 

Not sure if the VW Passat does the same?

 

Cheers, Nigel.

 

Not in mine but I don't know about more recent ones. One of the things I did like about mine was that it had a proper spare wheel, not one of those stupid things that they substitute for them. It also had three years' free servicing as well as a dog cover for the rear seats and a decent bottle of whisky with it courtesy of the dealer.

 

Dave

[Northmoor]

24 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Not in mine but I don't know about more recent ones. One of the things I did like about mine was that it had a proper spare wheel, not one of those stupid things that they substitute for them. It also had three years' free servicing as well as a dog cover for the rear seats and a decent bottle of whisky with it courtesy of the dealer.

That would swing my opinion on a number of issues.....

 

The consensus on here would seem to confirm every other story about Skoda ownership; no-one who has owned one is critical of them (even long after they've disposed of them, so it can't be excused as "justifying" a flawed purchase).  The only people who it seems would refuse to drive one are those who don't so much drive their cars as wear them.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

There was a fashion in the 1980s-90s for giving small cars 5th gears too high for them to accelerate in unless downhill, but which gave spectacular mpg@56mph figures to impress the gullible.

I had a 2008 Hyundai I10. The fourth and fifth gears were so close together that I used to go from third to fifth changing up.

Edited July 22 by PhilJ W

[SM42]

There are a lot of relatively cheap 2 - 3 year old Skoda Octavias out there, all DSG. 

 

Makes you wonder if people are getting shot to give someone else the big repair bill. 

 

Second hand cars are now crazy money, mainly due to people not being able to afford to change, reduced production during covid ( restricting the number of nearly new cars) and it will only get worse as the 20% electric production rules come through. 

 

The latter an example of  the law of unintended consequences in action

 

Andy

[polybear]

I’d be very wary of a DSG for exactly that reason - I very much suspect the chances of finding someone competent to rebuild one is very slim

[Northmoor]

17 minutes ago, SM42 said:

There are a lot of relatively cheap 2 - 3 year old Skoda Octavias out there, all DSG. 

 

Makes you wonder if people are getting shot to give someone else the big repair bill. 

 

Second hand cars are now crazy money, mainly due to people not being able to afford to change, reduced production during covid ( restricting the number of nearly new cars) and it will only get worse as the 20% electric production rules come through. 

 

The latter an example of  the law of unintended consequences in action

 

Andy

Almost entirely due the suspension of processor chip production during the pandemic.  Hundreds of thousands of new cars around the world awaiting completion as they had no computers in (and even poverty-spec modern cars have a dozen processors).

 

The hoarding of parts affected various industries in different ways; there were stories from a UK machine tool company that had to suspend production of a whole range of machining centres, because they couldn't buy the processor chips for the control board.  The entire year's production of that chip had already been bought up by the makers of a games console.  Therefore a company could have continued making tens of high six-figure value products if another user had released perhaps 0.1% of their stock onto the grey market..... but hey that's capitalism and I still prefer it to the alternative.

Edited July 22 by Northmoor

[GMKAT7]

Good evening folks,

 

Being a bit of a Luddite, when it comes to cars I'm afraid it has to be petrol engine and manual gearbox.

 

I have driven automatic cars (my dad had auto Triumph and Fiat cars which I drove at times) and had a diesel Ford Fusion.

 

But then I also stick with DC controls 😂

 

Cheers, Nigel.

[New Haven Neil]

I could do with changing my i30 (1.6 diesel 6 sp auto, torque converter not DSG) for something easier to get in and out of (knackered hips and left foot) but it has been faultless at 10 years old.  To get a non-DSG auto together with being taller is a difficult search, in something a little newer.  As for Ford's Powersh1t shift autos - forget it.  Looked at a Discovery (3?) recently, V6 diesel auto - then googled the V6 engine - oh dear! They break crankshafts. OOps.