Paul240480 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:29 pm
......in the end the suppliers took it back after lots of 'complaining'
Yeah, I was in that position with a MK7 Golf TDI that I bought new in 2013. Its 7 gear "dry" DSG was rubbish, compared to the early, six gear version with wet clutches as found in the earlier Jetta owned by Dad at the time. I rejected the car at two years and bought a 25 year old Toyota as a stopgap to replace the VW and the Corolla is still going, now 28 years of age & still free of rust, its "proper" 3 speed (with converter lock) gearbox is a typically whiney Aisin A131L but changed much more rapidly between gears than the DSG, plus the Toyota didn't burn oil, didn't crack two windscreens as a result of poor assembly at the bulkhead, which the Golf had done by year one and the old Toyota is now with a friend, who remains very happy with it.
On the Land Rover; it was showing uneven tyre wear to one front corner, in spite of the swivel pins both appearing unworn, pulled left under braking and right under power on test drive, needed a new aircon compressor and seemed to need either new airbags or a coil spring conversion to get it right. Its essentially solid chassis had some scale in places I wasn't able to reach, so although caked in Waxoyl, the treatment had clearly been applied too late in the car's life to be effective. Ensis wouldn't have had this issue!
So I've just found an early gen 1 Disco TD that should be better and at half the price. This one is a Japanese import, has had its chassis treated when it landed and hasn't even the slightest sign of chassis rot. It's only done around 166000KM, drove beautifully on test today and could, if extension seat runners and swivels are available for the early car - they were for the Gen 2 Disco which was a factor in its being suitable for me. We'll see, but I've also been noticing Volvo 4x4s, not so great for the really rough roads but the Mini can be kept for this sort of thing on the basis that it's insured on my key policy so there'd be no point in taking it out of use in any case.
Then there's a really clean Volvo 145 for sale locally. It's a manual but has a recently fitted - therefore manageable - clutch cable so with a little slackening of the pedal end the action would be fine for either a steering wheel-mounted bicycle brake lever or heel operation to get the clutch working. These 140s are incredibly light in the clutch operation. I should however triple check with DVLA about my manual entitlement, currently active but they've messed up renewals several times before and I need to know that I'm road legal.