The time came

MikeHiow · 8 Mar 2011 at 22:45

Picked up a 182 this evening. 1 owner, frsh and 6 month rac warranty (I know).

I was most impressed with it. Its high mileage but has been maintained impeccably, its even sporting Michelin exalto rubber all round!

Pics when I've given it the works tomorrow.

MikeHiow · 8 Mar 2011 at 23:15

nas said:
~2.5k, blue... maybe.

Ha, no chance. It was cheap and it's silver.

MikeHiow · 8 Mar 2011 at 23:23

nas said:
is it a FF (full fat)? anthracite wheels etc? sign up to cs if you havnt already

It has anthracite wheels. No idea if its what you call a ff though.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 00:06

Just a quick one

184249_10150161389870695_696930694_8302558_2933184_n.jpg

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 00:40

My car was filling when the pic was taken and person behind was my friend.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 02:17

Well, after putting it to work in it's intended use for the evening, I've got to say that the car has surpassed my expectations in many ways.

In terms of handling, there isn't really much improvement in actual cornering speed compared to the ST, but it feels so much flatter and planted with a rougher edge to it, which certainly makes it fun. The car communicates very well, which led to worrying levels of confidence very quickly.

In terms of performance, having a revvy NA engine is somewhat of a novelty - it sounds pretty mental "on cam". I do miss the turbo punch though, and the Clio feels a lot "busier" even when just having some light fun compared to the effortless power delivery the ST had.

The motorway journey sucked though, I wouldn't want to do more than about 30-40 miles in it, less if it was a regular journey.

All in all though, I'm quite impressed - the interior is better than I thought too, and is actually fairly rattle free, although I suspect the fact it's spent much of it's life on a motorway (why, oh why?) could have something to do with this.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 12:07

MrLOL said:
do you not have to like, squeeze the handle to fill it up ?

If you look closely, you can see the pump is being held "on" with the filler cap.

But thanks for the comments, guys.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 12:19

MrMoonX said:
oh right even more fail then

Needs must when it comes to a new addition, my other half needed something reasonable to ferry our little girl around in. This move has landed me with a car of my own, rather than an ST were share.

I'm not sure on Insurance, they wanted £40 for the last three months over the Mondeo, which would include the annoying £25 admin fee. I'm on a multicar policy though, so can't give you specific amounts.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 12:34

£2250 for a 130K (I'm told mostly motorway, and I believe it given condition), FRSH, one owner car with tax until the end of the year and an RAC warranty.

Dephaser pulley needs doing, I am in fact just leaving to go and price up the pulley and aux/cambelt bits from Renault, then a claim will go off to the warranty company

(Although I've budgeted on paying for the bits myself as I had no idea they'd include the warranty).

Yes never simple, but the end result is a cheap 182 that is near mint.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 12:43

You were mostly right, yes. After spending more than 20 minutes with one, it is a lot better than I thought. The price makes it for me though, as I obviously had to cut my budget with my employment situation, but I've managed to mostly avoid cutting my expectations with this.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 15:48

ScarySquirrel said:
When was the full belt kit last done Mike?

Somewhere around the 75k mark, it's due around now and will be done by next week.

Skeeter said:
And before you start asking, Ferodo pads, Brembo discs, Braided lines, new brake fluid, Foam filter or V6 airbox, Whiteline ARB, Eibach Sportlines or coilies, refurbished steering wheel, no PE3's aren't out yet, £10 Skoda splitter, and yes the electrics suck.

Brakes are first on my list after belts and dephaser. I'm more than happy with the suspension and the original splitter is in place and in one piece/good condition

acemastr said:
Would you dare redline(you know what i mean..) a Renault engine at 130,000miles?

(Fox and you're 2million mile BMW - Yes I know you would )

It's going to spend a lot of time near the redline and it doesn't worry me in the slightest.

merlin said:
It's a write-off.......in case you didn't know.

No it isn't.

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 16:50

Skeeter said:
While to some this might be annoying, it does mean you can average high 30's MPG when not hooning it and keeping the revs down.

I was averaging around 40 on the run back (according to the trip computer).

Now averaging 28, and that includes a lot of thrashing!

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 20:17

Tim said:
It's handy in 50 limit zones with specs.

It's also fun setting it at 120mph and letting it accelerate through each gear (re-enabling it each time, obviously)

MikeHiow · 9 Mar 2011 at 20:35

I understood what you meant perfectly. I'm shocked it doesn't already do it, tbh. My VXR was the same.

MikeHiow · 10 Mar 2011 at 04:33

Some pictures after a quick session at the unit this evening/morning.

MikeHiow · 10 Mar 2011 at 12:55

tigerstyle said:
Really, even at the back, they look different?

Heh, I wondered if someone would spot that

The nsr is in fact a brand new budget put on by the dealer, presumably to address a puncture, as all the rest of the tyres have 5mm+. Replacement is on its way, however

MikeHiow · 10 Mar 2011 at 14:01

Firestar_3x said:
And the lies creep in again, just goes to show even when he finally does something right he still manages to get it wrong.

How is one tyre even worth mentioning? it is far easier to say what I did than babble on about an odd tyre and why it's there. Stop looking for pointless reasons to derail what has been a perfectly sensible thread.

Nathan said:
So new tyre + cambelt kit + pulley makes this car over 3k

Nice car however, regardless of the milage.

How do you work that out? Aux, Cambelt and Pulley totals £380, tyre is £85 = 2715. Warranty company cover £300 of the cambelt and we're at 2415

MikeHiow · 10 Mar 2011 at 14:26

Price listed is for parts alone. Warranty will not cover the cambelt, but they will cover the de-phaser pulley.

MikeHiow · 10 Mar 2011 at 18:16

Ev0 said:
How much is fitting going to cost? Please say if you're doing it yourself you've got the locking tools as well.

I have all of the required locking tools.

[TW]Fox;18643427 said:
Sigh, I thought this thread was too good to be true. Sporting PE2's 'ALL ROUND' when oh actually it has a budget tyre. Why say it had them all round!

I explained this above, besides, the point was that the owner cared enough to pay the premium of keeping it on original tyres.

[TW]Fox;18643427 said:
Why is a warranty company covering routine servicing? Not sure I understand on that one?

It isn't routine servicing?

MikeHiow · 10 Mar 2011 at 18:22

[TW]Fox;18643485 said:
Not sure I understand then - what has happened and why are you paying towards if it you purchased the car from a dealer literally 2 days ago?

The car was cheap because the de-phaser pulley needs doing (this was mentioned a page or two ago). I suspect the dealer was not aware of how trivial the job was and deemed the problem to be far worse.

It is far less hassle to have the warranty company pay out for the de-phaser pulley.