* Motors chat - round 12 *

Badger2009 · 10-05-2018 10:43AM

Tommyboy40 wrote: »

I had the CL in for it's 6th NCT in 17 months, passed finally! While I was waiting I got chatting to an elderly man who had his son's car in. He was already quite cross as he had forgotten his licence and had to go home for it. He reckoned that the car wouldn't pass. When it was on the rollers having the rear brakes tested, the car swung violently to the side when the brake was applied. I've never seen anything like it. The tester told him it was a dangerous fail and couldn't be driven away - cue shouting and roaring; You broke my f'n car, it was perfect when it came in. How am I supposed to get home, you must give me money for a taxi etc. He then proceeded to get into the car and drive away. Another woman then chimes in to say that she'd had an NCT and the alternator failed 2 days later. What do people think that an NCT is? My mechanic says that people think that it's like a service and no other work is needed.

There are a good number of people out there who think the NCT causes the problems in their car.

'They were revving the sh1te out of it. Trying to make it fail!' - I always love hearing that one.

I hate going for the NCT even when I'm pretty sure it will pass but most people can see that the general stock of cars on the road has improved after it was introduced.

MetzgerMeister · 10-05-2018 10:50AM

captainspeed wrote: »

Problem is it's mostly smaller cars where the shift is happening. If you want something like a 5 series it's still pretty much diesel only, plus a small number of plug in hybrids (which to be fair make a lot of sense for many people).

This year almost 88.5% of 5 series sold are diesel, 8% are plug in hybrid, giving just 3.5% of sales to petrols (although on a more cheerful note, 9 dealers registered one with a V8 engine).

Of the 1044 5 series sold this year, just 46 (4.4%) of them have six or more cylinders, although 12 of these 46 cars are petrol. Back in the good old days of the E39, every 5 series came with six cylinders as standard.

FYP :pac:

bazz26 · 10-05-2018 12:19PM

The problem with buying a new or relatively new petrol engined 5 Series or the likes in this country, is that you will loose your shirt on it from a resale point of view because there are probably a handful of people who might be interested in buying it after you. And not having a go at anyone but it's not really fair to talk about the lack of petrol models sold here when lets face it most of us would not be willing to buy them new here either because you know resale values drop like a stone.

ELM327 · 10-05-2018 12:21PM

bazz26 wrote: »

The problem with buying a new or relatively new petrol engined 5 Series or the likes in this country, is that you will loose your shirt on it from a resale point of view because there are probably a handful of people who might be interested in buying it after you. And not having a go at anyone but it's not really fair to talk about the lack of petrol models sold here when lets face it most of us would not be willing to buy them new here either because you know resale values drop like a stone.

The best value of buying one would be to buy at 2-4 years old from the UK (as there's no choice here)
I remember seeing a 2010 e60 550i on here not so long ago priced in the high 4 figures.

Like Unkles post above I've now bought an EV instead as there wasn't really anything interesting out there that floated my boat enough to make the figures work.

James Bond Junior · 10-05-2018 12:34PM

I rang our BMW dealer yesterday as the mother's car is ready for a change. I have her convinced a AUC 330e is the way to go however they are hard got unless imported according to the dealer.

bazz26 · 10-05-2018 12:46PM

ELM327 wrote: »

The best value of buying one would be to buy at 2-4 years old from the UK (as there's no choice here)
I remember seeing a 2010 e60 550i on here not so long ago priced in the high 4 figures.

Like Unkles post above I've now bought an EV instead as there wasn't really anything interesting out there that floated my boat enough to make the figures work.

That 550i has been passing between DD wheeler dealers for a while and the asking price seems to be climbing with each wheeler dealer.

And while an EV works out good for some folks they are not currently suitable for everyone here.

Tommyboy40 · 10-05-2018 01:13PM

LIGHTNING wrote: »

To be fair I have had a few interesting conversations with the NCT guys over a few fails. Some of them have been a complete joke.

- The handbrake light on the dash wasn't red enough. This was on a old French classic car. The light worked perfectly and could be seen in bright sunlight. It was a slightly red/orange colour more red in my opinion.

- The numbers on the Jap import weren't exactly the correct dimensions. Tester got out a ruler and told me they didn't comply. I think they were less than 1mm out of spec apparently

- Battery box on a completely stock Audi wasnt good/secure enough. Despite the fact that it was exactly how it left the factory

- Visual fail on a CV joint that when I got fixed required the use of a ramp. When I pointed out it was a visual fail why did it need a ramp I was told to email a complaint.

- Tested nearly failed on a seat in my 2 seater. Apparently due to lack of movement. Wasnt anything to do with the fact he was a giant fat bloke. Moves fine with me in the seat and I aint small.

The Cl failed on a faulty headlight washer!

Duke O Smiley · 10-05-2018 01:25PM

Tommyboy40 wrote: »

The Cl failed on a faulty headlight washer!

Just on that, is it a case of if one works and one is broken it’s a fail? If both don’t work do they bother?

MetzgerMeister · 10-05-2018 02:20PM

If headlight washers are there, they both have to work. It's only if they're not there that they don't bother.

punisher5112 · 10-05-2018 02:25PM

How can one be allowed back their keys to drive a dangerous defective vehicle from NCT.

I've seen card on the road that completely go sideways as they brake and a good few of these were taxis or vans.

Duke O Smiley · 10-05-2018 02:36PM

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

If headlight washers are there, they both have to work. It's only if they're not there that they don't bother.

Thanks - I'm not sure if they're broken or I just don't know how to use them

MetzgerMeister · 10-05-2018 02:39PM

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

Thanks - I'm not sure if they're broken or I just don't know how to use them

They normally come on automatically after a number of uses of the windscreen washers. So every say 5 times you use the windscreen washer, the headlight ones will spray automatically. There's no separate button for them normally.

If they're not working, make sure the fuse for them is ok.

Duke O Smiley · 10-05-2018 02:47PM

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

They normally come on automatically after a number of uses of the windscreen washers. So every say 5 times you use the windscreen washer, the headlight ones will spray automatically. There's no separate button for them normally.

If they're not working, make sure the fuse for them is ok.

The owners manual shows a button for them on the headlight control panel but its not there in the car. Will have a look at the fuses first and go from there!

bazz26 · 10-05-2018 02:59PM

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

The owners manual shows a button for them on the headlight control panel but its not there in the car. Will have a look at the fuses first and go from there!

Does the car actually have xenon headlights? If the car doesn't have xenon headlights then it probably doesn't have a headlight washer system. It may have the flush panels on the bumper where the washer pops up but on cars without xenon headlights those panels are just blanks.

fancy pigeon · 10-05-2018 03:02PM

punisher5112 wrote: »

How can one be allowed back their keys to drive a dangerous defective vehicle from NCT.

I've seen card on the road that completely go sideways as they brake and a good few of these were taxis or vans.

They are obliged ring the gardai if they see you drive off after a failed dangerous (so I've been told). It's meant to be towed away as it's deemed a danger to others on the road (somewhere it says that on the sticker)

You'll see them shaking their heads at you if you attempt to drive off!

Duke O Smiley · 10-05-2018 03:06PM

Sure isn't leaving hub caps on a fail dangerous?

unkel · 10-05-2018 03:59PM

Big Nasty wrote: »

To be fair the number of petrols is starting to increase again. It'll be a while until we see them in any significant numbers and even then a good portion are going to be hybrid.

That's true. Used 330e from the UK coming off company lease look very good value for money. It's a pity these tax compliance cars don't have a slightly bigger battery. Still almost no 5-series or other slightly bigger premium petrols (or plug in hybrids) though.

h3000 · 10-05-2018 04:07PM

unkel wrote: »

That's true. Used 330e from the UK coming off company lease look very good value for money. It's a pity these tax compliance cars don't have a slightly bigger battery. Still almost no 5-series or other slightly bigger premium petrols (or plug in hybrids) though.

I'm getting very tempted by one of these but I need to research them a bit more.

Duke O Smiley · 10-05-2018 04:14PM

bazz26 wrote: »

Does the car actually have xenon headlights? If the car doesn't have xenon headlights then it probably doesn't have a headlight washer system. It may have the flush panels on the bumper where the washer pops up but on cars without xenon headlights those panels are just blanks.

Yeah it has halogens, I didn't realise they would be blanks! Thanks

10-05-2018 04:21PM

punisher5112 wrote: »

..............
I've seen card on the road that completely go sideways as they brake and a good few of these were taxis or vans.

MMmmmmmm, I dunno, have you really seen that multiple times?

Duke O Smiley · 10-05-2018 04:38PM

Don't PSVs go for two NCTs a year now? Would be difficult to let a car get into such bad condition I should think

CIP4 · 10-05-2018 08:01PM

I have never kept a car long enough to need to NCT it so haven't been through the experience. Parents have put a few cars through and none ever failed but again its not too often as they normally change them by the time they are 4 years old. Have a few uncles in NCT well in completely different counties not local. While the job itself isn't too difficult in the fact its repetitive I reckon it would be hard to deal with people who feel hard done by. To be fair if you get a dangerous fail there is something big wrong a bit more than a blown bulb they don't hand them stickers out too often and they are doing it because there is something big wrong that will put you or others in danger.

Foxhole Norman · 10-05-2018 08:15PM

I genuinely have no problem with the NCT, don't know why anyone does, yes some fails can be stupid but I think overall it's good for the country and somewhat for road safety, it's at least somewhat good knowing yokes aren't cable tied together!

vintagevrs · 10-05-2018 08:26PM

Always found the people in the NCT reasonable to deal with.

tcawley29 · 10-05-2018 08:27PM

Yeah I think the NCT is grand to be fair. I've put a car through it twice and failed once (I knew it would before anyways)
First time the man gave me a pass advisory on old tyres and explained what it meant to me.
Second time I didn't have a chance to adjust the handbrake properly and failed (as expected). Everything else was fine so I once I adjusted the handbrake again it sailed through.
Lads were sound on both occasions and the guy said I almost had the handbrake right. Was just a small bit too weak.

You do see some appalling cars parked outside NCT centers and people wondering why they fail. If they actually had just a bit of common sense we'd all be grand.

James Bond Junior · 10-05-2018 10:20PM

Lads I am affiliated, mods remove if I am breaking rules but these are on offer in Top Part motor factors. 10 litres of concentrated Holts screen wash for €6.99. I am only posting as I reckon affiliated or not it is fantastic value.

MOD: Banned for letting people know of extremely good value..... :pac:

colm_mcm · 10-05-2018 10:22PM

How much screenwash does that make? Like they say it’s concentrated so do you dilute it?

CIP4 · 10-05-2018 10:29PM

I got this one at the weekend in Halfords €5.40 with discount. Obviously the Holts above is a better deal. Normally mix around 1:4 according to the bottle depends how cold it is as well in summer you don’t need it that strong.

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductMobileDisplay?catalogId=15551&langId=-1&categoryId=301670&productId=999338&storeId=11101

James Bond Junior · 10-05-2018 10:30PM

colm_mcm wrote: »

How much screenwash does that make? Like they say it’s concentrated so do you dilute it?

Dilute in summer, neat in winter. I would put it at roughly 3:1 in summer so makes about 30 litres in theory. You could go neat, more concentrated or less according to your own preferences.

colm_mcm · 10-05-2018 10:47PM

Sounds good. Does it smell nice? Is it in all Top Part stores or just Limerick?

***** Motors chat - round 12 *****

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* Motors chat - round 12 *