As it was known by Mrs O - although as the miles and failures mounted she was not so complimentary.

It might have been due to those narrow front tyres locking and skittering at most modest speeds when braking on damp roads on a nearby minor road downhill stretch - where you have to halt before passing under a bridge. Never has much power (200nm) carried so much weight - through such skinny tyres - and only lasted 7,000 miles - since Julius Ceasar attempted to invade Scotland with Black Pudding as tyres on his chariot.

( the local tyre dealer said that some had actually been delivered with under spec car type tyres and had failed their first MOT accordingly.)

Mrs O`s refusal to drive it may have been that - or sensing that it drifted into off road potential understeer at normal road speeds on wet roundabouts. Or it could have been that it used to cut out on corners leaving you with no power steering.

It didn`t help perhaps that a group of us had to man-handle it across an Motorway carpark - to allow it`s immobiliser to stop being blocked by a nearby repeater mast.

Or it could have been the time it was imobilized for 5 mins on the Studland Chain ferry - by a marine transmitter. (how we used to sweat at start up time on cross channel ferries)

Bought new - it was fine on the way home -but then it rained and water poured onto the dash from the upper window seam. It went back and returned with the built in Sat Nav not working due to a glass fitter slashing the wire to the aerial. (the Sat Nav that had been delivered, by the salesman,speaking directions in Italian - with apologies for that and for the missing phone SIM card - it needed and the free 12 months connection to a control centre THAT never turned up - and you wondered who was using it )

The steering rack then dumped all it`s fluid onto the drive and failed - giving a chance to fit the off centre steering wheel on straight.

It then either cut out on bends or the revs dropped so low that you thought it might - letting you imagine the main bearings kissing the crank at 500 revs.

That SAt Nav failed at that point followed by the main ECU packing up. The clutch switch had to be disabled to stop stalling if put into neutral while moving.

"You`re driving outside it`s design parameters" commented the dealership and I was called in and advised I should be driving properly.

The side door jammed at this point and one of the coolant hose had to be replaced due to chaffing (spotted by me)

Time went on and there were many other little foibles and faults such as the rear window rubbers becoming sticky - as in seemingly uncured rubber - and on the sills that little forward facing overlap of an edge seam began to lose it`s paint.

Suddenly - it seemed we were on a wing and a prayer as the warranty was up - but always an optimist I knew all would be well.

Then, 3 weeks later the £1,500 Sat Nav (Replaced once) again threw the same pre failure wobbly.

Byy this stage Mrs O was refusing to even be a passenger in it and it was flogged back to the dealer at a great loss - but a clear conscience.

Pity about all of that - because it provided great transport over into France and Germany - but there was never any peace of mind while in it and you took great care to have a transport `plan B` + coats, food and so on - if you went further than walking distance of home.

Mrs O called it many things "old skinny tyres" - The Fault-Master" and so on. The main thing is that it`s a fading memory and no longer on our drive.

oilrag

Edited by oilrag on 13/04/2010 at 13:01