The Italian supercar

Strewth. Lucky about the dosh (hopefully).

For future reference....

Don't buy a car that doesn't steer in a straight line.

[Stu]

My housemate just bought a non turbo diesel 306 or 309? R reg £500 with 6 months tax one years MOT. was delivered to him with a known water leak (something like a 30 mile delivery & it takes about 20 mins for the water to all p1ss out ) £100 to fix it so he's still happy enough.

But I am still out of pocket. Fuel costs to get there for one car. Fuel costs for two cars on the way back. Change of insurance detail costs. Spent £15 buying a replacement mirror that I no longer need. I am something like £75 quid out of pocket and still have the fuel costs to get the car back before I get my money back. Then there is the insurance costs again for another change of car. Not happy at all.

Looking at part ex cars from dealers now. Need another car before Monday.

Sounds like a bit of a misery.

My previous experience of Kwik Fit is that there advice should be taken with a pinch of salt. I took my Metro in there once to check the brakes and told me that the discs and pads were worn out, the rear shoes were on upside down and it was missing bleed nipples. They quoted me a couple of hundred pounds to fix. I thought they were talking rubbish as if there were bleed nipples missing I would have no fluid left! I took it home replaced the front pads and ran for a year with no probs. If your car had collapsed suspension it would be undriveable never mind just pulling to one side.

Anyway sounds like you did the right thing and get shot, so good luck with car hunting!

Well I was thinking along the same lines. But there are a few things that point to the possibility they could be talking the truth about a dodgy MOT certificate. First of all they pointed out the car was leaning to one side at the front. This is true, I can see that it is. Then there is the squash test. I pushed down on the good front side and it rises quickly with no bounce. Doing it on the side which is supposed to have the knackered suspension, it rises quickly but the bounces a couple of times before settling. Maybe collapsed was the wrong word. Non working strut might be better. There is no damping and the one side is definitely lower than the other. It seems the spring is doing all the work.

The guy did not even bother starting the tracking process and did not charge me anything at all. The engine is loud, really loud. My untrained ear would not have been able to tell what a big end knock was, but he was completely sure about it as were two other mechanics there.

Looking at another Pug tonight and have a friend going to car auctions tomorrow morning. Ho hum!.

Christ, that sounds a bit crap! Just hope you get your money back, that sounds like a wreck.

Originally Posted by philbut

anyoen who knows THAT hill on the M5 will know what I'm on about just past Exeter.

Telegraph hill.

Killed an old mk3 xr2 on that stretch.

Originally Posted by speedplay

Telegraph hill.

Killed an old mk3 xr2 on that stretch.

I think so. Was being overtaken by all sorts - very embaressing. Poor little metro wasn't used to hills like that.

Well I still have the Pug. The bloke refused to take it back and give my money back. Bell end that he is. So now looking at resolving the issues that I have with it. Anyone ever done an engine swap on a Pug? I have phoned and emailed around, I can get a reconditioned engine from £150 - £250 depending on mileage it has done. Or a new one for around £400 (if memory serves me correctly) but not sure how much of an engine that actually gets me.

List of things to do.

Replace the engine
Get Philibut to do some welding so the drivers seat is secure
Get new mountings for the OS Headlight
Get the reverse lights working again
Replace the wing mirrors
Replace the bonnet
Replace the OS shock
Get the tracking done
Get the rear demister working again
Fit the radio properly
Replace the door speakers

On the plus side, I did from full to empty on the fuel tank and got 55 mpg out of it. That was with a steady cruise of 75 up and down the motorway.

Could you please save yourself a lot of typing and tell us what isn't broken on it?

Bugger that he won't refund you though .