I've had a couple of 406s and 405s. They all did about 100K with no real trouble. One of them, a 405 I think, the fuel hose came off which was quite interesting. A gallon or two of petrol on a hot engine creates quite a lot of fumes, but luckily my fag didn't blow the car up. Another, the engine management was really crap and kinda forgot to turn the cooling fan on. Another, I think the clutch cable was kinked and they never actually fixed it. It kinda straitened out with use so it stopped totally sticking, but it always felt like you were going over-centre which was most uncomfortable. It wore out a lot of shoe leather and my left foot would really ache after a few hours in traffic.

They were all petrol. I could get about 48mpg on an average gentle run, or 30mpg if I didn't try. From Northampton to Towcester, I'd get 52 going down and 38 coming back up

Main problem I've had with cars is other people crashing into me while I've been stationary in traffic or waiting at a roundabout. A 17 year old learner from MK, a very angry northern trucker called "Mr Bender", a norf landan gal in a Ka and a middle aged sloane in an alpha. Can't really blame the French for that.

The most mechanical trouble I've had was with a Fiesta. The throttle cable broke, and all four wheel bearing failed within a few months of each other. That was fun, because the brakes would lock on one wheel every time there was a cross-wind. That was all in the first 20K; obviously knocked together on a Friday.

Other than that, my brake pads always seem to need replacing by about 60K. Flood water seems to knacker them prematurely, which isn't that surprising. It's probably because of all the random sh1t.

I need to do an oil change on the car, but there's no electricity in the garage at the moment, which means no light or heat.
So it looks like tomorrow afternoon will be spent on a cold concrete floor dealing with hot engine oil. Which will be nice.

If you want a bit of motivation, have a look here: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh ... ?t=1281659





60k oil changes: Don't do it, kids. It's not big and it's not clever.

Indeed!
I'm not quite that far on, but I am past the recommended change interval.
Engine flush ahoy!

Just cos I found it kinda striking at first:







It's mostly his game art I like most though:

http://orioto.deviantart.com/gallery/?6943610#_6943610

I had surgery on Wednesday, it was fine up 'til now but now it [LIFTED] hurts!

I used to get around 48-50mpg average out of my old Passat (91) 2L petrol. Heck, on a long run my old BMW M535i used to get 40mpg, if I kept it under 100mph!

My old 309 was clunky, but it did over 200,000 before the fuel pump started playing up - less than half a tank of diesel and it would get air in the lines and not start without manually re-priming it!

Morphine/nerve block worn off?

Yep, nerve block gone. Paracetamol just doesn't cut it.

ibuprofen, paracetamol and co-codamol (need a prescription for that) and get a pre-payment certificate if your paying for your dressings, a £27 3 month card has saved me about £100 already after just a month! (dressings, sticky pads, saline, painkillers etc each at £7.20 a pop gets expensive.... don't pay for painkillers in tescos etc, just get a script for them)

Allergic to NSAIDs unfortunately so Ibuprofen, Aspirin etc are out. The hospital did give me some co-codamol so I'm on that now. Cheers for the heads up on pre-payment cert. when I'm back in England I'll look into it, but right now I get free prescriptions.

I am in a phone conference, as I type this, and it looks as if my job is now officially "at risk". Again.

That sucks mate, positive thoughts coming over from me.