2019 - your car plans, expectations, etc.

Keep the Touareg on the road for another few years, 4 corners needed Mar / Apr, service and NCT in June.
Hopefully get a 2 year old T3 in 21.

Henry Ford III wrote: »

No problem getting an ST2 it seems.

p.s. The ST1 was the entry level model and it was never marketed here. ST2 spec. is fine.

The car Lyons couldn't have been an early 2017 build. ST wasn't launched in Europe until May 2018 and wasn't available here until September 2018 I believe.

I checked and was advised....
As of now, they're dropping it from MarchT. he ST1 was never mooted for here. They learnt from the MK7.
Apologies, early 2018 build is what I should have posted. (they started building last quarter of 2017) Order books opened here November. Even though some dealers were taking orders from Sept, final spec was not confirmed until November. Thats when they dropped the 5door. Also, there is no spare wheel option, even though its on the brochure. 15 inch spare option is not available for these or the Vignale models apparently.

stinkydeluxe wrote: »

I checked and was advised....
As of now, they're dropping it from MarchT. he ST1 was never mooted for here. They learnt from the MK7.
Apologies, early 2018 build is what I should have posted. (they started building last quarter of 2017) Order books opened here November. Even though some dealers were taking orders from Sept, final spec was not confirmed until November. Thats when they dropped the 5door. Also, there is no spare wheel option, even though its on the brochure. 15 inch spare option is not available for these or the Vignale models apparently.

Very silly move by Ford imo. A 5 door would have suited a lot of people. I had a MK7 and the 3 door became a pain after a couple of years. Great, fun car though.

As there's absolutely NOTHING remotely interesting on the Irish second hand market right now (all recession-spec diesels), I've been giving the 159 a bit of TLC - a well known Alfa specialist in Swords was able to fix and respray most scruffs and scratches in a pretty much perfect way without costing more than the car.

Now I need to figure out why the engine seems to have different performance each time I start it up

mickdw wrote: »

That's half the pleasure of an alfa. You never know what you have.
I remember a 166 I used to own had a habit of occasionally losing power just in the kinda rev range that would have you mid overtake on the wrong side of the road.

Lol...I know the feeling, but this is something else. I can't wrap my head around it and I'm even starting to think I'm imagining it...essentially, even during the same day I have this feeling that sometimes the engine pulls way more than usual, and there seems to also be an appreciable "squat down" of the rear suspension accelerating in 2nd and 3rd. What's crazy is that it's only "semi-random" - once the car starts that way, it keeps going that way. Then you switch it off, say pop into a store, start it again and it's back to "normal".

Logic and my mentality as an engineer would point me towards the ECU doing something funky and choosing between different management profiles at startup depending on...who knows what!

And now it's been a month that it displays the "Engine Oil Level" indicator (usually 5 bars if cold, 4 bars if the engine is warm and some oil is still in the system) when inserting the key in the ignition. Never did for the previous 7 years I owned it...and suddenly awakens :D:D (more logical possibility - the sensor tends to clog, whomever had the car before me never changed the oil. Might have finally unclogged after all these years being "subjected" to actually CLEAN oil!)

mickdw wrote: »

Is it petrol or diesel?

Yuck...petrol, obviously

vectra wrote: »

As in a Mondeo? :D ( nice low mileage one coming for sale this year :pac::pac: )

Gonna be looking around at alternatives to diesel this time round.
If all fruit fails it will be another diesel. But almost certainly going auto this time.

colm_mcm wrote: »

THREAD REVIVAL..

Curious to see how 2019 went vs expectations

Went according to plan,
Petrol ? > tick
Auto ? > dsg > tick

Happy with my choice?
Absolutley.:cool:

CIP4 wrote: »

The A4 will need tyres and a service around March. Then it will be eligible for its first NCT from July this year. First time I will ever have to NCT my car just because anything I bought previous came with a two year test and I never kept them long enough for it to expire :pac:

Oh god every bloody year I predict it so wrong

So I did service and got tyres in March. But yes I still haven't NCT'd a car I have owned. Traded the A4 in July. Still the longest I ever owned a car at 18 months so I am going in the right direction :pac:

Parked up the Volvo into a dignified retirement of bog duties and pulling and dragging for my father, E36 was polished up for wedding duties bring myself and my groomsmen to the church on time. Paid the PCP balloon on our 4 series and decided to keep it long term as a Summer/Christmas in Ireland car as the equity was very strong. Moved to the Middle East and bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 5.7 V8. Got a huge promotion 3 weeks ago, so I might invest in a 2nd (5th car between 2 of us!!), as we won't be working the same hours. I am thinking maybe a Mini JCW, a Golf R or a SRT 300C/Charger. It's been a good year, motoring and otherwise.