anthonyendsor
15-04-2008, 08:44 AM
Hi,
I am an engineer working in a variety of fields for a large well known West Midlands company having previously worked in Civil Engineering for a few years. I am sure however you are far more interested in the cars! My first car was a H reg VW Polo Coupe 1.3 CL which had unfortunately suffered having had an owner count into the teens and had many problems. Despite that it was very sweet running thing driving through a tight 5-speed box and was infinitely better than many of my friends cars! It was all too tempting to spend money on it but common sense prevailed. By the time I took my test I had bought a brand new Rover 25 which before anybody laughs is actually an incredibly good little car, was fully specced with leather and AC, head and arm rests all round and so on. Having seen what a poor and ordinary 25 can be like I know only too well why most people would sigh but it was in my opinion still a very good buy, and totally reliable! With a change of circumstances I decided to head back toward an older car in the shape of a 95 Rover 216 Coupe, and yes that is with the Honda D16a6, and of course a mid-nineties BM era K-series version car was something I'd wish to avoid. It has been an absolutely wonderful car, really enjoyable to drive particularly with the addition of strut braces really sharpening things up front and again wholly reliable as well as gorgeous to look at. It is an SE model so has the spoiler, turbo wheels, half leather and front fogs. Also my Father and I are restoring a 1981 Triumph TR7 DHC that will be receiving a warmed over 3.5 Rover V8, S+S subframe lowering the centre of gravity and sending weight further back, Spax adjustables, modern wheels and so on. But the car you will be most interested in is the replacement for the coupe, as I have take the opportunity to take over Dad's A4. He bought the car at 3 years old in 2001, initially snubbing it because it didn't have a lot in the way of specification. It is a tiptronic box but no leather, CD changer or electric rear windows initially put us off. However the realisation that there were no tiptronics with remote central locking, leather and electric rear windows or any other options out there on sale at the time, coupled with the realisation that Impreza owners were still being followed home and robbed, we eventually went back for the A4. We have owned it ever since, piled on the miles, plenty of proper servicing making it a very genuine car and a good buy for me. We have had a few early differences, an aged ignition switch caused the engine to fit and try and engage the started whilst idling at traffic lights and so on, selt belt pretensioner needing replacement and presently have a fuse blown on the back of the concert stereo only to find that the head unit is jammed so the centre of the dash will have to be removed as soon as I get a chance to gain access. There are a few areas of body work to be addressed, a small dent in the bonnet and mismatched paint from previous blow overs spoiling an otherwise perfect example. Fuel is a bit heavy as you'd imagine but I'm starting to suspect it isn't warming up as quickly as it should, because when it is warm the instantaneous economy is actually pretty impressive (35, sometimes even 40) yet the average is reading at 24.3mpg when driving like there's an egg underfoot, and it's also 90% motorway, usually at 50 due to active traffic (mis)management by the evening! Despite doing between 16 and 21 miles a journey, often the cars water temperature doesn't make it to the 80 by the end! Anyway enough boring stuff, thanks for having me!
Tone
I am an engineer working in a variety of fields for a large well known West Midlands company having previously worked in Civil Engineering for a few years. I am sure however you are far more interested in the cars! My first car was a H reg VW Polo Coupe 1.3 CL which had unfortunately suffered having had an owner count into the teens and had many problems. Despite that it was very sweet running thing driving through a tight 5-speed box and was infinitely better than many of my friends cars! It was all too tempting to spend money on it but common sense prevailed. By the time I took my test I had bought a brand new Rover 25 which before anybody laughs is actually an incredibly good little car, was fully specced with leather and AC, head and arm rests all round and so on. Having seen what a poor and ordinary 25 can be like I know only too well why most people would sigh but it was in my opinion still a very good buy, and totally reliable! With a change of circumstances I decided to head back toward an older car in the shape of a 95 Rover 216 Coupe, and yes that is with the Honda D16a6, and of course a mid-nineties BM era K-series version car was something I'd wish to avoid. It has been an absolutely wonderful car, really enjoyable to drive particularly with the addition of strut braces really sharpening things up front and again wholly reliable as well as gorgeous to look at. It is an SE model so has the spoiler, turbo wheels, half leather and front fogs. Also my Father and I are restoring a 1981 Triumph TR7 DHC that will be receiving a warmed over 3.5 Rover V8, S+S subframe lowering the centre of gravity and sending weight further back, Spax adjustables, modern wheels and so on. But the car you will be most interested in is the replacement for the coupe, as I have take the opportunity to take over Dad's A4. He bought the car at 3 years old in 2001, initially snubbing it because it didn't have a lot in the way of specification. It is a tiptronic box but no leather, CD changer or electric rear windows initially put us off. However the realisation that there were no tiptronics with remote central locking, leather and electric rear windows or any other options out there on sale at the time, coupled with the realisation that Impreza owners were still being followed home and robbed, we eventually went back for the A4. We have owned it ever since, piled on the miles, plenty of proper servicing making it a very genuine car and a good buy for me. We have had a few early differences, an aged ignition switch caused the engine to fit and try and engage the started whilst idling at traffic lights and so on, selt belt pretensioner needing replacement and presently have a fuse blown on the back of the concert stereo only to find that the head unit is jammed so the centre of the dash will have to be removed as soon as I get a chance to gain access. There are a few areas of body work to be addressed, a small dent in the bonnet and mismatched paint from previous blow overs spoiling an otherwise perfect example. Fuel is a bit heavy as you'd imagine but I'm starting to suspect it isn't warming up as quickly as it should, because when it is warm the instantaneous economy is actually pretty impressive (35, sometimes even 40) yet the average is reading at 24.3mpg when driving like there's an egg underfoot, and it's also 90% motorway, usually at 50 due to active traffic (mis)management by the evening! Despite doing between 16 and 21 miles a journey, often the cars water temperature doesn't make it to the 80 by the end! Anyway enough boring stuff, thanks for having me!
Tone