[lesmore49]

@Ratmagiclady

I don't think so - you're "talking" to someone has been tuning/upgrading car engines, suspension and brakes since he was 18, and is now 71!

The car had done just over 100k miles when it was remapped (an EXCELLENT remap BTW, happy in traffic all day long, and then goes like stink when the right foot is applied), but when I floored it once too often on a damp road then that blew the OEM turbo.
- Clutches & DMFs last about about 100k miles, and so it due for those anyway.
- Stiffer (Audi Sport!) front-wishbone rear-bushes and Octavia VRS/Golf GTI rear ARB fitted and it handles pretty well (could use slightly lower front springs & stiffer front ARB, but that's a lot of money, time and effort which I am unwilling to spend ATM). The ride ain't bad either now I've ditched the rear Bilstein B4 shocks and fitted std ones .
- Front discs upgraded from std 288mm diameter to 312mm Mintex (thicker, and vented, of course!) discs with matching pads -> instanteous, smooth & powerful braking whenever neccessary ("the windscreen is where you are going if your belt isn't tight and you aren't holding the roof-handle", is I what I say to the passengers!).

As for your comments about Skoda - don't forget they have been building vehicles since the early 20th Century, were a "supplier of choice" (under heavy German Occupation duress!) of tanks to the German Army during the 2nd WW, and then starved of investment until bought by VAG in the 1990's.

Since then, Skoda have taken the best bits from the VAG parts bins and design studios, packaged them to suit the actual requirements of their customers - and then built them better, and with more "whistles & bells", and sold them cheaper, than the VW brand itself!! The customers obviously agree because, from being the runt of the VAG family, Skoda is now pretty much "up there" with VW itself at the mid-upper part of the range (Audi being possibly at the top, and SEAT down the lower end).

I've always had a fascination with Czechoslovakian stuff...Czech Republic, now I suppose. In the '60's my first three vehicles were Czech motorcycles ...a Jawa 50 and two CZ 125cc bikes. They were rugged and reliable, finish was good and I rode the heck out of them.

Czechoslovak engineering , IMO was always good...in the '60's CZ generally mopped up World Championship Motocross titles in the 250 and 500 classes and Jawa was always strong in ISDT competition. When you go back in history you see the advanced Tatra car...air cooled V8's, etc...and of course the modern heavy Tatra trucks that are being produced now.

CZ doesn't make motorcycles anymore but I understand they are one of the world's premier armament manufacturers.

[amstel78]

I had 2006 S65 AMG. I recently sold it. I'm now driving a 2018 Grand Cherokee until I can get my hands on something with an engine capable of putting out more than 600HP at the crank.

[Racer X 69]

Been a long time since a parking lot dent could be fixed for a hundred bucks or so, or one could get a complete repaint for $300.

Today, $300 won't even cover paint and materials for even the smallest of jobs.

For example, I painted my mailbox with flames. I bought 3 colors, and clearcoat. The smallest you can buy automotive paint is a quart. So 3 quarts of color, clearcoat, and a small can of One Shot pinstriping paint to outline the flames.

Materials alone were over $600, and that was 15 years ago.

I forgot to mention.

Since the smallest size the paint comes in is quarts, and it only took a few ounces of each color to paint the box, I had enough paint left over to paint another, mmm . . . . . . . 50 or 100 boxes.

I should have had some foresight and bought a bunch of boxes wholesale, painted them, and sold them on eBay or at flea markets, or even out of the back of my pickup in a parking lot on Saturdays.

Say, I think I know something I might do when I retire.

So I don't have to be a greeter at Wally World.

[Ratmagiclady]

@Ratmagiclady

I don't think so - you're "talking" to someone has been tuning/upgrading car engines, suspension and brakes since he was 18, and is now 71!



PS: just saw your comments about the "MoT" and I assume you are referring to the emissions & smoke tests - it sailed throught the last 3 tests on a "Fast Pass" basis with absolutely no need for the more detailed testing which is applied where a car fails Fast Pass. My concerns relate only to the fact that London and other UK cities and towns are rapidly reducing the acceptable levels of emissions for older vehicles and banning them from the centres &/or imposing high daily access penalties - and that may mean that I have to buy a more modern & lower emissions vehicle earlier than I had planned .

Well, that sounds pretty OK, especially if you can make it how you want. I was presuming you might have the problematic VW diesel and hence couldn't pass emissions without detuning the engine horribly. (I think over here that diesel scandal has just about killed passenger car diesels: they kinda couldn't keep up in a heavy modern car, at least, hence the fudging of the tests, no doubt.

[edom31]

Whatever you drive, I suggest you mount one of these (if not two - some people do front and rear).

It has already paid its cost for me, as it got me off the hook on a fender bender where the driver's versions were total opposites (and thus likely the insurance companies would've washed their hands and done a 50/50 liability)... My version of what happened at the fender bender: I let the other driver do his version first, then pass my phone to the police officer doing the report and say "my video is my declaration"... it felt good.

[ChrisPlatt]

In our litigious society I suppose using a dashcam may be advisable.
However the whole idea of it is rather offensive to me.

Chris

[Racer X 69]

In our litigious society I suppose using a dashcam may be advisable.
However the whole idea of it is rather offensive to me.

Chris

Spend some time watching dash cam videos on YouTube. The majority are Russian.

They make it look like any drive over there will result in either witnessing and accident or being involved in one.

There are also lots of videos from big trucks, chronicling the poor driving skills of so many self absorbed people. There are also plenty of videos that show the losers in truck stops who shouldn’t be cut loose in a kids pedal car, let alone an 80,000lb truck, who cause significant damage to other trucks and then try to drive away.

[ChrisPlatt]

I have seen those videos; they are an interesting curiosity.

If I still drove for a living I might consider getting a dashcam.

My commute to work now is 7 miles on 25-40 mph limit roads (i.e. no highways).
And I live in a no-fault state. I consider myself doubly blessed!

Chris

[timw4mail]

In our litigious society I suppose using a dashcam may be advisable.
However the whole idea of it is rather offensive to me.

Chris

Offensive?


I have a dash cam, and I generally only look at the footage if I saw something interesting. Personally, I don't much care about other drivers actions unless they are detrimental to my safety.

[edom31]

However the whole idea of it is rather offensive to me.

If I still drove for a living I might consider getting a dashcam.

If such was the case, and you also record the in-car audio, then a notice must be visible in your car, otherwise it would be very offensive for passengers (I understand that driving for a living could be truck/trailer OR taxi).

Now, recording the outside world should not be offensive as there is no expectation of privacy when you're in public... Try walking a big city block and believe you've not been recorded at least by 5 different cameras.

The only videos I've gotten out of my dashcam was the footage of the fender bender, and another time when a pebble hit my windshield (and my first test drive to see if it worked, lol) - I've never published any dashcam video, nor I intend to.

[gaweidert]

In our litigious society I suppose using a dashcam may be advisable.
However the whole idea of it is rather offensive to me.

Chris

I have a dash cam in my Frontier pickup. When I was in Yellowstone in 2017 I saved all the videos from driving through the park. It's pretty neat to look at a few of them once in awhile.


I saw one neat video where a guy took a month long several thousand mile vacation. He sampled the saved dash cam videos down to a 12 minute video of the entire drive. It was pretty neat. You can have a lot of fun with them if you want.

[Turbotak]

I drive a lifted Jeep with 33” tires, armor plating, lights, wench, the works.

I like that it can climb a near verticle obstacle, go where a car couldn’t rven get towed from, drive over/push small cars, pull stuck objects, and generally make ******* drivers leave me alone.

I don’t like that I get 15mpg on a good day and that it’s hard to pass smog.

In regards to the dashcam criticism: people nowadays are literally insane. I can’t image driving without one.

[Racer X 69]

I drive a lifted Jeep with . . . . . . . wench, the works.

A wench?



Bet that she can be helpful in certain, um, circumstances.

[Racer X 69]

In regards to the dashcam criticism: people nowadays are literally insane. I can’t image driving without one.

I commute 30 miles a day, each way for work.

Every day I am confronted by idiots who insist on demonstrating why they shouldn't be let out of their cage in the morning.

Take yesterday, for instance. I was about halfway home after work. An idiot in a full size GMC pickup passed me on the right, narrowly missing the car I was passing, and then cut back in front of me with only inches to spare.

In heavy rain.

Then he passed another motorist, in a no passing zone, on a curve.

And he made another pass on the shoulder.


He continued to make bonehead passes and tailgate people in front of him. He turned off the county road about a mile from where I turn off.

He was only one car ahead of me at that point.

So all the risk he took, and the potential for injury to himself and other people on the road, only gained him a few seconds on his drive home from work.


This is not an isolated incident. I encounter these morons at least once each day, and more often than not several times both going to work and driving home.

Stoopit people behaving poorly, and not enough cops around to catch them.

[cooltouch]

I got buying new cars out of my system over 20 years ago, and I don't miss them. Warranty service was expensive. For the most part, they were very reliable vehicles. When we started buying used, there were predicable maintenance issues that we ran into, but whenever we had a sizeable repair bill, I just told myself that, compared to monthly payments, it wasn't such a big deal.

We started buying used Volvos in 1997 and we've been a Volvo family ever since. Our last one was 20 years old when it got retired. It was a V90, the last of Volvos big, RWD wagons. Still ran and drove great, but unfortunately I got into a fender bender with it and the damage was enough to total the car. Sad, the wife and I both really liked that car. We replaced it with an 11 year old Volvo XC90 that is in remarkably good condition for its age, so we didn't feel too concerned about it. Besides, we bought it from our Volvo mechanic, who bought it from one of his customers and he's been servicing this car ever since it went out of warranty. So it has a good, known track record with our Volvo guy. No surprises. I like that.

Another thing I like about buying used -- I've always been into collecting vintage stuff, whether it's cameras or guitars or motorcycles -- or cars. They're just more fun than the new stuff and they have more personality -- to me, at any rate.