Second car choice and/or motorbike

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NBurns

NBurns

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Rust! Late W124's and w201's with sacco panels hide rust very well. If you are looking at one always remove the jacking point covers and have a good look in there for rust. Also under the rear parcel shelf inside the boot is a common rot spot and v expensive to fix. Front lower ball joints are a safety item but easy to spot if the steering is notchy or feels odd. Apart from that the diesels especially are great cars. Classic insurance, veg oil friendly mechanical pump diesels so motoring does'nt get any cheaper than that.

I meant the model but this is great advice. Thank you



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js190d

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Veg oil isn't friendly to anything except cooking. The esters cause significant issues in many engines with gumming of rings.
Old Mercedes mechanical indirect injection diesel engines will run better on new or well filtered used veg oil than pump diesel in my experience. My 305000 mile 190d's om602 engine loves the stuff as long as it is above 12 degrees outside.
When it gets colder i just use diesel for cold starting even though the emgine runs smoother on veg. Would'nt dream of putting veg oil in my w210 though!
 

John Laidlaw

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Anyone mentioned Alex Fotis 169 if it’s still for sale ?
 

alexanderfoti

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Anyone mentioned Alex Fotis 169 if it’s still for sale ?

My 168? Its gone already :) To somebody who took 4+Hours to do the paperwork in my house :p
 

LostKiwi

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Old Mercedes mechanical indirect injection diesel engines will run better on new or well filtered used veg oil than pump diesel in my experience. My 305000 mile 190d's om602 engine loves the stuff as long as it is above 12 degrees outside.
When it gets colder i just use diesel for cold starting even though the emgine runs smoother on veg. Would'nt dream of putting veg oil in my w210 though!
The biggest issue with veg oil is the viscosity. It's 10 - 20 times more viscous than standard diesel. This results in incomplete atomisation of the fuel, particularly when the engine is cold. This in turn leads to accumulated fuel deposits down the sides of the piston which in turn can cause the rings to him up with a varnish like deposit. This isn't a rapid process but happens over time ultimately resulting in loss of compression which in turn aggravates the situation.
 

MalcQV

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I was having a think about this while driving the company van this morning. If there was a situation where you had to purchase another car to use for commuting or small distance journeys that was cheaper to run, very fuel efficient and just a very cheap run around, what would you get? Would you buy something else within the Daimler group or something else in the German made arena or something else?
And what about perhaps a motorbike to make things even cheaper or would you stick to a car?



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My PCP on the CLA is 10k. I used to do 14k (I say used to because it seems this year it was only 12.5k). Based on the 14k at the end of my PCP (4 years) I would owe about £2.5k IIRC on the excess mileage.
Using man maths (which will undoubtedly fail anyway regardless of mileage) I decided I should have another car to offset that mileage. Over four years it would cost £2.5k in excess mileage so if the TCO of second car could be kept within that figure it would be 'free'.

I set about looking at Smart for Two's. Realised to buy a decent one (60k miles often requires a replacement engine the internet said) it would cost at least £2k to buy leaving little for maintenance and repair. I then thought convertible and Smart Roadsters have an oil cooler the regular Smart did not have which meant the engine lasted better, again according to the internet.
Price of these of course were higher.

Then I remembered my ex-wife had, had a 1998 MX5. Two seats, soft top (which meant it would replace the Alfa Spider I had sold). So I was browsing Autotrader and eBay and came across BMW Z3's. Looked at one rusty one and bought the second one.
Rusty car had the 2.2 six which was nice but mine is the ickle 4-pot 1.9.
I've been using it for the commute for most of the Summer. MOT due soon and once passed I'll put it away for the winter.

I saw 55mpg mentioned somewhere. I've not yet owned a car that would do that. Well not unless a Rover diesel I once leased would have.
 

js190d

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The biggest issue with veg oil is the viscosity. It's 10 - 20 times more viscous than standard diesel. This results in incomplete atomisation of the fuel, particularly when the engine is cold. This in turn leads to accumulated fuel deposits down the sides of the piston which in turn can cause the rings to him up with a varnish like deposit. This isn't a rapid process but happens over time ultimately resulting in loss of compression which in turn aggravates the situation.
Yeah veg oil does get thick when its cold but for summer use it is fine in the old merc diesel lumps. Most people who have actually used veg oil instead of diesel have few problems as long as they have done a bit of research into which engines will tolerate it. I wonder what is in the tanks of all those old Merc taxis in Africa? Not BP Ultimate Diesel i would imagine.
 

Chandelierman

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2014 2.2 Viano Ambiente / Smart 451 Brabus / MK8 Transit van camper
I have a smart Brabus which I use for my 2.6 mile journey to work .. I put premium petrol in it (about £36 to fill up) and it could last me 6 - 8 weeks
CE47FDF3-84C2-4C5E-97CB-0FA63695227B.jpeg
 


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