Puma 1.7 Rebuild Mk II

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£42 cheaper to insure this courtesy car for 4 weeks than it is to insure my Polo for the entire year.

Then an email from eBay charging me £36.98 for selling a car that I haven't even got the money for yet.

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Ed
 
Wow, this courtesy car is a little bit aged shall we say. Comfy mind you, but it looks like it's been repaired/maintained/bodged using the least amount of money possible.

They're taking the cylinder head off today to see how bad it is. If needs be there's a local company Ivor Searle who do rebuilds and machining etc. He said if it's a write off then they'll buy a reconditioned head which will mean a quicker turnaround on me getting the Polo back. So here's hoping it's within the 3 weeks the Megane is insured for - decided to save a bit of money and opt for 3 and not 4 weeks insurance cover. I don't want to fork out another hundred or more to continue insuring this Megane "Sports Tourer".

As for getting rid of the Polo. I would if I could. I'd hoped getting it would spell an end to spending/wasting all my money on cars. I figured a low mileage one would see me through 5+ years before ever needing to consider getting a different car.

I really hope my luck changes sometime soon, because I'm utterly exhausted by all this car nonsense. I think I might go full circle and save up for another Celerio. Or perhaps the Suzuki Alto as it's around £1500 cheaper. Suzuki seem to excel at cheap and cheerful city cars and their 3 pot engines seem to be fit to go the distance.

Once I start my new job next week, and our new mortgage begins at the beginning of September I should have £700+ spare a month. Which means that I could probably get another car towards the end of the year. It would also mean the Polo is still within the 6 month mechanical warranty period of the garage I bought it from. Then, come December or so, I can P/X the Polo for around £1100 and put that and my savings towards something a lot newer.

Ed
 
So I hoped the A/C would work in this courtesy car.

It doesn't. In fact the interior fan doesn't work at all (that's a new one).

In this weather? How courteous.
 
Got the puma bits off J tonight. We were talking about cars and he said if I want a reliable car that'll go the distance he recommended a 1.4 or 1.6 TDI Mk 5 Fiesta. In all honesty though, the one thing the Megane made me miss is my old Saab 9-5. I'm getting to an age where things are beginning to ache for no apparent reason. A comfy cruiser seems like a sensible plan right now. Then again, most things are comfier than a Puma - and most things don't handle as good as one either :-(

It's a car I've considered numerous times. Realistically I could pick up a very low mileage one for 2k or so. Meaning I'd only need a month or 2 to save up and then P/X the Polo once it's back.

All in all, I could probably get a Fiesta in a month or so, which would be a big relief. I will need to check with my insurer about cancelling and getting a refund, as I'd already lose areound £750 if I was to P/X the Polo. In reality it'd be worth selling it privately. P/X is a lot more streamlined, plus there wouldn't be the added sense of guilt of meeting the person who's buying a car with an engine that's a ticking time bomb.

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Should bag £300 from the rest of the Puma bits. £632 when the Puma is collected along with the struts and slave cylinder that he's buying too. Then just shy of £400 for the 2 days work J wasn't able to do before I decided to sell the Puma.

Makes me happy, as I was a bit worried I'd be struggling to make ends meet for another month or so. On another positive note, I got an A2 size art portfolio and put in prints of all my artwork. Sent a global email to people in the office to see if anyone would like to buy one before I left. Got a couple of people looking to buy - which are my first ever sales of my artwork. Really stoked for that :)

Also, with all the issues with the Renault Megane I'm renaming it the Renault Megambia, after the impoverished African country.

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Ed
 
A fiesta 1.4 /1.6 tdi Mk5/6 is certainly not what most people would describe as a reliable car that would go the distance. You only need to have a quick read on some of the ford forums to see all the problems people have with them. It's not even a ford engine, it's PSA rubbish.
 
IMHO the only thing that can be called reliable is a japanese car produced IN JAPAN at the end of last century. Honda civic, toyota corolla etc. of that age are truly indestructible vehicles unless put in a wall or a ditch.
At this age the corossion would be number #1 problem, but if you find a one that is not rusty (and they DON'T rust as fords do) you will forget you have a car....

Just my 2p (and a honda civic 1.5 1999. owners experience)
 
3 people at work have the Mk5 Fiesta and haven't had any issues at all and owned them for years.

I am really stumped with what to go with. I wanted something newer so parts wouldn't be an issue. But I also want something that's mechanically sound and not prone to costly failures.

Regarding Civics, I believe that the 2.2 diesel of the late 2000's had a very strong reliability record?

Ed
 
I've a Mk5 Fiesta 1.4 TDCI as the family bus.

It's done 165,000 miles so far, just needed a clutch and a couple of sensors in its 17 year life.

Oh and religious servicing! :grin:
 
Hi Ed
Instead of buying a MK6 Fiesta Diesel buy a 1.25 petrol instead. I've had a 1.4 Diesel and know the problems they have and the 1.6 has problems with the turbos as well. The MPG is ok and the 1.25 Sigma is unburstable if a little boring. It's my everyday car and it's cheap as chips to run.
Barry
 
I don't want to tempt fate but my 1.6 TDCi Focus is 9 this year and it's a great car. I picked it up August 4 years ago on 41k and have no plans to replace it, now on 90k.

I do get it serviced at Ford every year and it has had to have a couple of bits replaced outside of your standard brake pads/discs and tyres, but I take that as general maintenance to keep it going nicely.

Costs £30 to tax it for the year and returns 56 MPG currently (seems to improve with the weather).
 
Puma went yesterday. Guy who bought it is a huge Puma and Fiesta enthusiast and a really nice guy.

Time to start saving for a new car.

Ed
 
Turns out installing a FRP ECU fixed the rough idling and judder issues. Glad he got it up an running.

I remember a few months ago seeing a FRP ECU for sale on eBay and my gut reaction was screaming at me to buy it. But I never did. Silly me - always go with your gut.

Ed
 
It feels like a painfully obvious oversight that I didn't get a remap or FRP ECU after installing these mods.

Ah well. In other news, and after much window shopping I think I've found what I want for my next car. Admittedly, my goals frequently change.

This car however, peaked my interests; it reminds me a lot of the Puma. But it has a turbo. A "Tuma".

Or as Arnie would say "It's naht a tooma."

Laguna Coupe GT.
2 door coupe.
2 litre petrol turbo
205 bhp and 230+ with a remap.

A brief 4 year production run from 2008 on. From the rear it looks like a prequel to the modern Mercedes coupes.

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Reading reviews just now I read this:

"When it first appeared, there was a huge selection of engines to choose from, including a 205bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol unit and a punchy 3.5-litre V6 petrol, good for 240bhp."

Ed
 
Got the car back end of last week. No paperwork/invoice provided. They supposedly changed 1 exhaust valve.

A few days later (around 120 miles covered) the yellow oil light comes on. I drive 3 miles to a garage and get some oil and top up with 0.5 litres. I check for leaks - none apparent. I contact the garage, they blame the oil useage on the replacement part fitted. Personallyt, I didn't believe their excuse for one minute. The car has been driven a total of 2 weeks and covered around 600 miles in that time. When I bought the car it had been given an oil and filter change. So I said I'd keep an eye on the oil level and left it at that for the time being.

Today (less than 3 days later) the oil light comes on again. I top up another 0.5 litres of oil. I try and contact the garage and they don't reply to my notification that the car has used half a litre of oil in less than 3 days.

I don't know what to do at this point. It's evident from the service they did, the repairs they've done and the abysmal condition of their courtesy car, that this garage is doing everything on the cheap.

I'm stuck at this point. I can't afford to buy another car, but I don't trust this one, or the garage I bought it from. I thought this car would be a long term car that'd save me money and hassle. I'm utterly fed up and at a loss with what to do at this point.

Ed
 
The Polo broke down again. I picked it up again on Friday after it had had it's oil seals replaced. The day after I got it back I started it up, it struggled to start and when it did, it idlded so rough the car was shaking. I drove less than half a mile to the shop and the engine almost cut out twice as I was using the brakes. Drove fine on the way back though.

This morning it was fine on the way into work. When I started the car up on the way home it was running rough again and really squealing. I drove barely 100 metres up the road and 4 lights came up on the dash along with an alarm and the car died.

Had to restart the car 3 times before the engine ran smoothly again.

I just spoke with the garage and he said he's happy to take the car off my hands and we can work something out with regards to getting my money back, or another car.

I'm relieved to be honest. The past 3 cars I've owned have been plagued with problems. But at least the garage isn't washing their hands of the situation.

Also, my parents have stepped in and said they'd load me some money to get myself something a lot newer and hopefully more reliable.

Fingers crossed.
 

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