Sics Consolidated Faded Moderns Thread - 2006 Golf Mk5 GTI & 2004 BMW Z4 2.2

[SiC]

I think my head is having problems adjusting to the fact I've bought a car that I can go just drive. I'm too used to having a whole list of things needing sorting first.

Mrs SiC keeps going on why I have the TT as well. I think she sees me using this more than the TT. However the size of this isn't as convenient for a quick run to the shops like the TT is. Also the run out just now got 22mpg with gentle driving. That's verging on oof territory in fuel burn rate.

Would be interested to hear what others experiences of the 3.2 m112 engine is with fuel consumption. On whether that is about right or a bit low. I.e. should I be doing plugs/etc and maybe MAF clean/replacement to help that up a bit.

I didn't expect it to be fuel efficient but I'd hoped gentle driving would get 25-28mpg like I have before with 6cyl auto lumps.

[SiC]

Judging by the black background dials, it’s an elegance which would have had halogen projectors as standard so they must be an option or someone’s been changing stuff.
They should do the up and down dance.
I had to change the burners in mine as they were very dim. Now much better with oem spec replacements.

Someone must have ticked the Xenon box according to the spec sheet.

[AMCrebel]

That makes sense - mine are just the fixed hid lights - as yours are the fancy adaptive ones they may be different and maybe don’t do the little dance. Or the mechanism could be fucked

[AMCrebel]

Would be interested to hear what others experiences of the 3.2 m112 engine is with fuel consumption. On whether that is about right or a bit low. I.e. should I be doing plugs/etc and maybe MAF clean/replacement to help that up a bit.

I didn't expect it to be fuel efficient but I'd hoped gentle driving would get 25-28mpg like I have before with 6cyl auto lumps.

Obvs I can't help with that - the other person here I know with one is jazoli (I think) but I think his is diesel too.

[SiC]

That makes sense - mine are just the fixed hid lights - as yours are the fancy adaptive ones they may be different and maybe don’t do the little dance. Or the mechanism could be fucked

Not all cars do the dance and I've found the earlier cars didn't. I don't think my Laguna did and that was a similar age.

[AMCrebel]

That makes sense - mine are just the fixed hid lights - as yours are the fancy adaptive ones they may be different and maybe don’t do the little dance. Or the mechanism could be fucked

Not all cars do the dance and I've found the earlier cars didn't. I don't think my Laguna did and that was a similar age.

Yeah my 05 Discovery doesn't do it, my 03 X350 Jag did but the 05 one didn't - JLR realised they could save money as the cars were self levelling.

[SiC]

I've been using it all day today just running around. Getting an indicated 24mpg. Now while this is out of town traffic, we have a shit tonne of roadworks around here (fark you North Somerset Council organising them all together). So it's spent a good while sat idling. No doubt not helping that consumption figure.

I think I'm just used to small, light cars and their accompanying low fuel use. My Boxster 2.7 is the largest engine I've owned for a while and that could easily get 28-33mpg. However of course that's a crap load lighter than an E-class and no slush box. Been trying to remember what my Laguna II 3.2 V6 was like. Pretty sure that got 22-25mpg around town and 32-35mpg on a run. But that was a mostly plastic car and pretty light. Also a modern 24v engine too.

So it's probably fine and I just need to recalibrate myself to big older barge life. Tbh in the few thousand miles I'll end up doing in this, it won't make much difference in cost. At least it's happy on regular unleaded too.

[SiC]

Some good news and some bad news from today.

Good news first. Did a code scan. Loads of codes related to low voltage. I know the battery has been changed. So makes sense that before it was changed, it got upset with a failing battery. But codes not cleared so still there.

After I cleared them, there was two codes left. One in the CAN gateway that Googling says is normal and often one that comes up with aftermarket scantools like this. Second is simply that the drivers side heated mirror glass isn't working.

So basically no real issues especially given it's a 20yr old German luxury barge. Given all the possible faults, I certainly can live with a heated door mirror glass not working!



As usual with running scan tools, you get warnings popup while it's scanning. Basically these modules spend all their effort to operate normally without a scan tool connected. When a tool is connected to that module, they can't guarantee that the operation of the module is fully there. So it flags up the warning light.

Anyway while scanning the SBC module, that triggered it's warnings. You certainly can't ignore the SBC warnings. Big red warning and a lot of screaming beeping. Certainly one that you can't ignore or miss. 

 
Now for the bad news. Mrs SiC didn't mind the car as a passenger and was quite comfortable sat there. 

So we swapped sides and I let her drive it. Bit of a mistake.

She's a very good driver and doesn't mind jumping in anything to pilot. However it's flipped her view and cemented her dislike for it. Found it was a pain to park and manoeuvre around. Basically thinks it's too big, bulky and pointless owning another big car. FFS

"I thought you was going to get a Z4 coupé" was the questioning and subsequently "it doesn't matter as you'll get bored of this and sell it on". (She really likes the Z4 Coupé...) I'll still get a Z4 Coupé but they're £6k+ for a nice one, so was waiting.

So perhaps this won't be a keeper after all. While in some cases I don't care, a useful wagon like this helps to have buy-in from the other half. 

I do fancy another Merc though as I really do like this one. Perhaps a smaller but similar aged C-class/CLK/similar. Right now though I'll carry on using it while ignoring the moaning.

[AutoshiteBoy]

I could be interested. As much as I feel a 1.0 Micra will take me back to being 17, I think its work will be cut out on the new commute.

[SiC]

I could be interested. As much as I feel a 1.0 Micra will take me back to being 17, I think its work will be cut out on the new commute.

If it's a long commute, you might be visiting the pump often. If you don't have Clean Air Zone or ULEZ to deal with on a long motorway commute, I think a diesel would make much more financial sense.

That said I believe these petrol 3.2 engines are basically bulletproof.

So it's taking chances on an economical diesel that'll save on the long run or squirt more petrol something like this and have less potential headache.