Its Been A Bad Week (& its only Tuesday)
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:12 pm
It all started on Sunday. 'Er in drawers took our Astra to Sainsburys to buy some spuds and when she came out the Astra bumper was on the ground in front of it. The front N/S wing is crunched and the N/S front wheel had been pushed backwards. When the bumper came off it caught the rad and the bottom row of fins is peeled off. By the height of the impact point it looks like it was done by a van or large 4x4.
The snag is, the car has reached that age where the amount of damage exceeds the value of the car so it will be going to the scrappy, but we needed a replacement urgently so the rest of Sunday & much of Monday was spent looking for its successor. Have you ever tried looking at cars in the sleet? Neither easy nor advisable and a miserable time, but this is urgent and we were out so long one of the dogs peed on our new carpet. We are limited because she only has an auto licence and she has fallen in love with - wait for it - a Saab 9500 Estate. High mileage, from trusted, known garage, almost certainly at least as thirsty as the Bongo, probably expensive on some spares, but unlike the Astra it will take all her craft stuff easily and is a lovely drive. More expensive on tax, but cheaper on insurance than the Astra in spite of having twice the power. Having seen it again, clean & dry it looks pretty good & has 6 months warranty. Not much knowledge of Saabs, but it seems to be a competitor for BMW, but without the bad vibes.
Then this morning the Bongo wouldn't start. Turned the key, glowplug light came on, turned again, click! Fortunately we have an LB on it so I put a jump lead across from +ve to +ve, left it for a few minutes and it fired up instantly. So it looks like the SB is knackered.
Troubles always come in spasms of 3. What next I wonder?
Keep warm folks!
Peter
The snag is, the car has reached that age where the amount of damage exceeds the value of the car so it will be going to the scrappy, but we needed a replacement urgently so the rest of Sunday & much of Monday was spent looking for its successor. Have you ever tried looking at cars in the sleet? Neither easy nor advisable and a miserable time, but this is urgent and we were out so long one of the dogs peed on our new carpet. We are limited because she only has an auto licence and she has fallen in love with - wait for it - a Saab 9500 Estate. High mileage, from trusted, known garage, almost certainly at least as thirsty as the Bongo, probably expensive on some spares, but unlike the Astra it will take all her craft stuff easily and is a lovely drive. More expensive on tax, but cheaper on insurance than the Astra in spite of having twice the power. Having seen it again, clean & dry it looks pretty good & has 6 months warranty. Not much knowledge of Saabs, but it seems to be a competitor for BMW, but without the bad vibes.
Then this morning the Bongo wouldn't start. Turned the key, glowplug light came on, turned again, click! Fortunately we have an LB on it so I put a jump lead across from +ve to +ve, left it for a few minutes and it fired up instantly. So it looks like the SB is knackered.
Troubles always come in spasms of 3. What next I wonder?
Keep warm folks!
Peter
How many miles will she be doing as mpg is less relevant if she's not doing many.
