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What Post 2000 year cars do you fancy for 2 to 3000 quid?


Rally Pack 2000

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1 hour ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

Its all very electronic isn't it? Im having trouble coping with electric windows I switch the engine off and pull the key out then go to wind up the window. Only to have to activate all the seatbelt warning buzzers just to get the switch to work to wind them up. How you guys manage with these current big screen satnav things boggles the mind. Im infuriated just by the limited gadgets the new Focus has. Im close to flipping it just for some quiet key turns and some window winders!

Whats your daily then? 🤔

Not sure if this will work on your car, but some key functions will close the windows when you get out by holding down the lock button.  This will lock the car and also close the windows.   Worth a try.

Have you got a heated front screen :-)

Have you tried switching the seat belt off yet with that video link?  Alternatively, look at this below:

Permanent deactivation: Before starting, make sure that:

The parking brake is set.

The car is in Park(automatic), Neutral(manual).

The ignition is OFF.

All doors are closed.

The driver's safety belt is un-buckled.

The parking and headlights are OFF.


1) Turn the ignition switch to ON, but DO NOT START.
2) Wait for the safety belt warning light to go OFF(1-2 minutes).
Steps 3-5 MUST be completed within 60 seconds!
3) Buckle, then un-buckle the driver's safety belt 3 times, ending with the belt un-buckled.
4) Turn on the headlights, turn off the headlights.
5) Buckle, then un-buckle the driver's safety belt 3 times, ending with the belt un-buckled.
After step 5, the Safety Belt Warning Light will be turned on for 3 seconds.
6) Within 7 seconds of the safety belt warning light turning OFF, buckle then un-buckle the safety belt. This will disable the Belt Minder if it is currently enabled, or enable the Belt Minder if it is currently disabled.

Confirmation of the disabling of the Belt Minder is provided by flashing the safety belt warning light 4 times per seconds for 3 seconds. Confirmation of the enabling of the Belt Minder is provided by flashing the safety belt warning light 4 times per seconds for 3 seconds, followed by 3 seconds with the safety belt light off, then followed by flashing the safety belt light 4 times per second for 3 seconds again. After confirmation, the deactivation/activation of the Belt Minder procedure is complete.

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6 hours ago, dt36 said:

Not sure if this will work on your car, but some key functions will close the windows when you get out by holding down the lock button.  This will lock the car and also close the windows.   Worth a try.

Have you got a heated front screen :-)

Have you tried switching the seat belt off yet with that video link?  Alternatively, look at this below:

Permanent deactivation: Before starting, make sure that:

The parking brake is set.

The car is in Park(automatic), Neutral(manual).

The ignition is OFF.

All doors are closed.

The driver's safety belt is un-buckled.

The parking and headlights are OFF.


1) Turn the ignition switch to ON, but DO NOT START.
2) Wait for the safety belt warning light to go OFF(1-2 minutes).
Steps 3-5 MUST be completed within 60 seconds!
3) Buckle, then un-buckle the driver's safety belt 3 times, ending with the belt un-buckled.
4) Turn on the headlights, turn off the headlights.
5) Buckle, then un-buckle the driver's safety belt 3 times, ending with the belt un-buckled.
After step 5, the Safety Belt Warning Light will be turned on for 3 seconds.
6) Within 7 seconds of the safety belt warning light turning OFF, buckle then un-buckle the safety belt. This will disable the Belt Minder if it is currently enabled, or enable the Belt Minder if it is currently disabled.

Confirmation of the disabling of the Belt Minder is provided by flashing the safety belt warning light 4 times per seconds for 3 seconds. Confirmation of the enabling of the Belt Minder is provided by flashing the safety belt warning light 4 times per seconds for 3 seconds, followed by 3 seconds with the safety belt light off, then followed by flashing the safety belt light 4 times per second for 3 seconds again. After confirmation, the deactivation/activation of the Belt Minder procedure is complete.

I did actually see that infor when I did a search about it just yesterday. I thought it sounded like someone was taking the piss buckling and unbuckling three time in 60 seconds LOL

I remember spilling coke in the Mk2 at the drive-in into the seat belt buckle and it was tacky for years after that. I was tempted to try that again and see what happened!

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50 minutes ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

I did actually see that infor when I did a search about it just yesterday. I thought it sounded like someone was taking the piss buckling and unbuckling three time in 60 seconds LOL

Give it a go.  No pressure, we're all waiting... :-)

 

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2 minutes ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

Here is a question for all you enthusiasts then, if you could buy a classic (More than 20 years) as your every day runaround  what would it be? Factoring in your own personal needs to carry family shopping work also affordability and availability of parts etc.

That's easy

 

idolos-juventud-volkswagen-corrado-201962259-1573040797_1.webp

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12 hours ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

Here is a question for all you enthusiasts then, if you could buy a classic (More than 20 years) as your every day runaround  what would it be? Factoring in your own personal needs to carry family shopping work also affordability and availability of parts etc.

Staying with the muscular coupe theme, I'd have the V6 version of one of these quite happily too. Not quite in your 20 year bracket yet though

 

Alfa_Brera_S_1.jpg

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4 hours ago, Vista said:

Staying with the muscular coupe theme, I'd have the V6 version of one of these quite happily too. Not quite in your 20 year bracket yet though

 

Alfa_Brera_S_1.jpg

What Alfa is that? As usual most of the good stuff isn't available here and I don't recognize that model. What age bracket are they? Looks more costly than the Corrado though.

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7 hours ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

What Alfa is that? As usual most of the good stuff isn't available here and I don't recognize that model. What age bracket are they? Looks more costly than the Corrado though.

It's a Brera, manufactured 2005 - 2010 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Brera_and_Spider

Again, price dependent on age and mileage but you can have one for about the same money as the Corrado. The issue with the 6 cylinder versions here is they fall into a very high road tax bracket based on their CO2 output. £600 per year Vehicle Excise Duty is a painful price to pay.

 

Screenshot_20211128-073900_Auto Trader.jpg

Screenshot_20211128-073951_Auto Trader.jpg

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2 hours ago, dt36 said:

Landrover 90 for me.  Easy to work on and spares readily available.

Oh yes an old Land Rover fan myself. As you know 101 Forward Controls for me but yet again they were never sold here! Parts perpetually available so ideal in that department. Just some may find it a bit rough as their every day car for work, shops or retirement etc but thats the only drawback I think.

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Tried a Jimny for the first time today. Its been the only car built in the past ten years that even remotely made me feel at home. Thin doors, thin dash and thin A pillars, still a bit letter boxey in its view forward but at least the thin dash allows you closer to the screen than just about any other car made today. Love the look of a mini G wagon.  Best colour the army green version but the grey and beige were good too. Sold disks at the front and drums at the rear the salesman cited as a negative which made me laugh, this is a modern car that you could actually work on! Manual Window winders would be nice though and there are no switches for the electric windows on the doors, its in the centre. Main beef with this is that if you want the no gadget simplicity of the Jimny you don't want a Google/Apple centre screen thing so you opt for the Lite model that has a CD player instead. Trouble is your not allowed to buy the Lite version in Auto its manual only which I found odd. With an 8 month wait they didn't press hard for a deposit! Funniest part of the conversation is the salesman points at the Jimny and says you're here to talk about this but I (pointing at the Escort) want to talk about that! LOL

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Well I have had the drivers seat rebuilt in the Focus and its barely makes any difference. Spent 350 quid to get it done and have the leather cleaned and conditioned and it looks the same with the stains still there and feels just as hard. Something has to be a miss with both front seats as they simply are too firm. The back seat however is soft and comfortable. So something is amiss? Any suggestions? I don't mind driving the car as it drives reasonably well but i just hate sitting in it!

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Well the new (new to me anyways) Focus took a bad turn yesterday only a couple of weeks into ownership. The thing jammed in drive and wouldn't shift out. Since The engine was still running when it happened I drove the car to the local mechanic who was naturally closed on a Sunday but thought I would park the car in his carpark and then slip the key under the door. Once the ignition was switched off of course it wouldn't be able to be started again so I figured the mechanics was the best place for it to park up. Stop the engine and the car has a safety feature that wont allow you to remove the key from the ignition till you put it into park which of course it wouldn't go because it was stuck in drive. So this would mean leaving the car in an industrial area unattended with key in the ignition and unable to lock it. Not being prepared to sleep in it as the seat is so hard you can barely sit in it I called road service to see what they could do. Totally reasonably one would think the guy wanted to check under the bonnet at the linkage connection BUT the bonnet latch on the focus requires a key to undo the lock behind the Ford symbol on the grill but of course the key couldn't be removed because it was stuck in drive. Nice design thinking there Ford! Please dont tell me modern cars are better! (and a Mk2 isnt even a gadget ridden sat nav thing!)

Keep the suggestions coming for a classic daily driver, this thing won't be staying long after this!

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50 minutes ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

Stop the engine and the car has a safety feature that wont allow you to remove the key from the ignition till you put it into park which of course it wouldn't go because it was stuck in drive. 

Just under the gearknob, there is a sleeve over the gearstick shaft.  Give this a good pull upwards before you start stripping anything down or attacking the bonnet latch.

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16 minutes ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

Thanks for the tip! Is this a known problem on automatic Focus'?

Yes, it can happen sometimes.  This is the quickest thing to check.

Failing that, check your brake lights are working when you press the pedal.  If not, check the fuse and switches above the pedal, as these are part of the start interlock.

Is there a small plastic circle/cover to the side of the gearstick.  If yes, this can be popped out to help assist recovery of a dead car.  Pop it out and then press down on the inside of it with a flatblade. Hopefully, this should allow the gearstick to move into neutral or park.

Where is the car now, as you didn't say what the final outcome was?

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5 minutes ago, dt36 said:

Yes, it can happen sometimes.  This is the quickest thing to check.

Failing that, check your brake lights are working when you press the pedal.  If not, check the fuse and switches above the pedal, as these are part of the start interlock.

Is there a small plastic circle/cover to the side of the gearstick.  If yes, this can be popped out to help assist recovery of a dead car.  Pop it out and then press down on the inside of it with a flatblade. Hopefully, this should allow the gearstick to move into neutral or park.

Where is the car now, as you didn't say what the final outcome was?

Even though I got the car to the mechanics workshop I couldn't leave it with the key in the ignition so the car was towed from there to a holding facility. It was already booked in at the workshop for tyres and brakes on Wednesday so the towing people said they will keep it locked up and then tow it back Wednesday morning. The road service guy noted the little rectangular tab/cover to the right of the shifter and said he thought there was some kind reset or release under there but he couldn't get the cap off and was worried he would destroy it or the plastic shroud console if he tried jamming a screw driver into it so he let it be. The fault is definitely at the base of the shifter though not on the engine side. Tuesday here now so tomorrow hopefully will know a bit more.

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4 minutes ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

Even though I got the car to the mechanics workshop I couldn't leave it with the key in the ignition so the car was towed from there to a holding facility. It was already booked in at the workshop for tyres and brakes on Wednesday so the towing people said they will keep it locked up and then tow it back Wednesday morning. The road service guy noted the little rectangular tab/cover to the right of the shifter and said he thought there was some kind reset or release under there but he couldn't get the cap off and was worried he would destroy it or the plastic shroud console if he tried jamming a screw driver into it so he let it be. The fault is definitely at the base of the shifter though not on the engine side. Tuesday here now so tomorrow hopefully will know a bit more.

Yes, it's a fine line between getting a car going and causing some slight and sometimes avoidable cosmetic damage.  I wouldn't for a minute think you would complain, but you'd be surprised  by how many people put complaints in after actually thanking roadside repair after they get them going.

Definitely keep us updated, as this is an interesting one.  Well, for us it is :-)

 

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29 minutes ago, dt36 said:

Yes, it's a fine line between getting a car going and causing some slight and sometimes avoidable cosmetic damage.  I wouldn't for a minute think you would complain, but you'd be surprised  by how many people put complaints in after actually thanking roadside repair after they get them going.

Definitely keep us updated, as this is an interesting one.  Well, for us it is :-)

 

The road service guy spent alot of time fiddling about with it and didn't dismiss it readily at all. He was open about not wanting to damage the console which is pretty good given most wouldn't have worried too much and done anything to get the car going again. I did mention that the damage I had planned for the car was far worse than he could have done with the screw driver! Shame I dont have the car here so I can check your theory of the sleeve around the shifter. But that makes sense as you could tell the transmission and everything was working there was just a obstruction at the base of the shifter itself like something had popped out of place. Front seats are still too hard though!

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On 07/12/2021 at 01:55, dt36 said:

Yes, it's a fine line between getting a car going and causing some slight and sometimes avoidable cosmetic damage.  I wouldn't for a minute think you would complain, but you'd be surprised  by how many people put complaints in after actually thanking roadside repair after they get them going.

Definitely keep us updated, as this is an interesting one.  Well, for us it is :-)

 

The equivalent of a thousand quid later and the car is back! It does have all new tyres and all new brakes though. Brakes were a notable improvement. Stuck shifter was just a fault with the stick itself that after being disassembled just required a bit of lubrication so they say but I am skeptical, there was a lot more obstruction than that but its working so I will give it a try. Extra expense came with a misfire discovery. I noticed a bog down phenomenon when cold but I put it down to the sharp turn out of my drive way at full lock and up a hill but they picked up on it when they took it overnight and got to start it cold first thing. It wasn't a misfire as I would recognize one in a proper car but they said the car needed new iridium plugs and 4 coils! Four coils? Now whats all that about? They were 85 bucks each hmmm? Still haven't solved the seat problem but that just about the last thing left to do I hope?

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Could well have been the sleeve slipped down then... 

This engine does have individual plug on coils and you might as well change all four if one starts faulting as the others won't be far behind. Would have expected this to throw an EML light though. However, usually you need to see about 10 occurrences continuously for it to log. 

Might as well keep it now that you've invested into it. 😉

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