Category: Vorsprung Durch Technik

MOT successes

Well,it’s time to put Elsie through her first MOT, thereby keeping our chums at DVLA happy. The MOT due date was 2nd October but we thought we’d get it done a few days early to give us time for any remedial work, should any be needed. Oh Ye of little faith…..

Having spoken to the people from Spitfire Garage of Woolston, Southampton, at the Caravan and Camping show in Romsey a few weekends ago, they enticed us by offering a generous 20% discount on the MOT cost, so we booked in for the morning of Tuesday, 26th September.

Finding Spitfire garage was easy enough,in fact we somehow arrived 30 mins early. There was a constant stream of HGVs coming and going, and lots of building work in the vicinity, so we had to carefully choose a parking spot, where we’d cause the least inconvenience- Elsie’s not up to fighting HGVs. After a short but stressful wait parked up, Spitfire were ready to do the MOT.

Fiona and I wandered off into Woolston. Within a few minutes we found Annie’s Cafe on Portsmouth Road and went in for a sit down. Annie’s was a real find; a spotless cafe where a mug of tea and a mug of coffee cost an amazing £1.60. We quite fancied the full English breakfast with toast, being enjoyed by the guy at the next table. That came in at around £4. Maybe next time, we’ll splash out on breakfast.

We returned to Spitfire Garage within the hour to be told that the van had passed its MOT and they were just finishing off the paperwork, and yes, the bill took into account the 20% discount.

All in all, great service from Spitfire and at Annie’s, so we’ll definitely use them both again.

The A3 was also due an MOT in October, however, on her arrival home from work on Thursday evening, Fiona invited me to hear the grinding noise that was coming from the rear end. The off-side rear brake caliper had seized. Bugger! I managed to get it loose by bouncing it over a small kerb, but the car was not really driveable over any distance in its current condition.

A call to Locks Heath garage early on Friday morning had us leaving the car with them for the day during which time they fitted new rear brake discs and pads and replaced the faulty caliper- we were back on the road again by late afternoon.  When I collected the car, they offered to take it back on the following morning for its annual MOT, which thankfully it passed.
Next garage job? To sort out some niggles on Fiona’s MX-5. Then maybe decide whether we really need 3 vehicles.

 

 

Day out at Wychwood Brewery

What could be better than a day out at a craft brewery?. I’d read Palmer’s book ‘How to Brew: Everything you need to know to brew beer right the first time‘ ahead of our much anticipated visit to the Wychwood brewery in Witney in Oxfordshire. I had a whole list of things to ask, specifically about how to cope with water when it has a high calcium and bicarbonate content, and the value of protein rests, and I was looking forward to an evening of beer tasting.
Fiona and I packed our stuff in the car and set off for Witney in good time; our intention being to get there early, have a relaxing meal and then join the brewery tour.
We filled up with diesel at Tesco, Winnal, and headed off up the A34. The traffic was busy with a lot of heavy freight, but that didn’t bother me as we stormed along in the outside lane overtaking everything. Overtaking a truck on a slight incline while doing about 70mph (honest) I felt the car give a bit of a jolt and then lose all power. Damn, I had to get to the inside lane and pray the damn thing had gone into its ‘limp home mode‘.
The praying didn’t work, the car slowed to a halt. The A34 is dual carriageway with no hard shoulder; all those trucks we had passed earlier now passed me, many of them were obviously annoyed that our car was now blocking the slow lane and getting in their way.
We piled out of the car, left it with the hazard lights flashing; we moved to a safe location well away from the car and Fiona called the Police. The cops arrived within about 10 minutes shortly followed by a highways agency 4WD which towed us to a nearby layby and the cops called for recovery.
The recovery truck turned up about 10 minutes later, needless to say we were really appreciative of, and very impressed with, the Traffic Police, highways and breakdown people and of Steve who came over to Eastleigh to pick up us and drive us home.
I’d have to admit to being less than impressed with the Audi which is unlikely to be fixed before the end of next week (29th Jan).

Vorsprung durch Technik
Vorsprung durch Technik
Vorsprung Durch Technik
Busted Audi A3

 

Updated on 28th Jan: 
Its not good news on the Audi, apparently the cam-belt tensioner has disintegrated. The man from the VW Service Centre called me to let me know. The better news is that the cam belt was replaced only 18000 miles ago and is still under warranty. The A3 will now be transported to VW/Audi and they will take over the warranty fix so I probably won’t get the car back for a few weeks, hopefully without having to pay a great deal towards its repair.

Another update, 15th Feb:
Well, I got the car back on the 10th of Feb with a brand new engine complete with a full 2 year warranty courtesy of the VW Service Centre in Gosport who convinced Audi that it was a warranty fix. I have to say that I am delighted, all it cost me was £72 for transporting the car to Audi so I bought a selection of cakes for everyone at the VW Service centre as a token of my gratitude to them.