Murcers Cars (and Bikes) Thread. What do you have, and maybe, why ?

[Evildead666]

I've had a Passat, a Clio and a Mondeo since 2000.
I still have the Clio and the Passat.
The mondeo's anti-roll bar ripped itself off the chassis, and that was too much to repair.
Loved the 2.5L V6 engine though, even if it was a bit thirsty.

edit : Had the Clio since 00, passat since 01, and the Mondeo since 06, took it to brokers yard in 21.

[UtwigMU]

1997 Lancia Kappa 2.4L 20v

I can confirm it is fast.

[VJ]

Slightly off topic: when we bought the Subaru 2 years ago, my mother-in-law gave me a Kärcher electric ice scratcher. While we had some frozen windshields since then, today was the first time I used it: there was a layer of ice of several mm covering the windshield (yesterday, Warsaw had a blizzard causing a huge traffic chaos - we were just on the edge of it, but saw some effects). And I can say: it really works well. The device looks a bit clumsy, but it is well shaped when wearing thick gloves. It has a fast spinning plastic disk, so you have to fight it a bit, but it really dealt very fast with the thick layer of ice. Much better than I thought it would.. The first two or three times I tried it, I felt like it switched of too early, but after that it started behaving (or perhaps rather: I got the hang of it).

[VJ]

Meanwhile, we learned that from 2028 the Polo will not be allowed in the center of Warsaw (a quite broadly defined area) due to the low emission zone. The car is Euronorm 4, and will be 25 years old then. While the rules allow for Euro4, they also impose an age limit of 22 years - if it was not for the age the norm would allow it till 2030 (when only Euro5 cars less than 20 years old will be allowed). This gives it just 3 more years of useful life time for us.

I know it is a few years away, and it is an old car, but considering that it barely drives 2000 km per year (used as second car by my in-laws, I used it much more and it has close to 180000km now), there is no economical or ecological calculation that makes sense to replace it with any new car (perhaps some second hand, but even than the price has to be low enough for there to be any point). It does mean that from now on any costly fixing will probably not be worth and may imply some other solution will have to be found. A second hand EV combined with an installation of some PVs may be an option (although the trees in the garden and the old roof construction are far from ideal for a simple PV installation).

The Subaru still has some time: the last specification for the low emission zone in Warsaw is Euro6 in 2032 for cars that are not older than 17 years. It has that latest norm (6d) and will then be just 11 years old. But I know that in some Belgian cities, 2035 will also be the end for the fuel powered cars - although some cities have started to push back that date.

[Evildead666]

I jacked the good old clio up this last weekend, and the jack went through the bodywork.
Not debilitating, but a sure sign that rust has gotten in there, and its probably economically unfixable.
Might have to finally put it out to pasture, and get another car...

[paulw]

We have a 2018 Mazda CX5 and a 2019 Mazda 2. I have found over the years that Mazda's and Toyotas to be the most reliable vehicle that you can buy here in New Zealand. European cars not so . If you do buy one sell it after the warranty expires. My last Euro car was a 2008 Ford Mondeo . A real gas guzzler at 13 liters per 100KM around town and 10L/100Km on a trip.

[Dr Mordrid]

Hom many cars have you guys had in your lifetime? We've had an Opel Ascona, VW Polo, Nissan Bluebird, Renault 5, Renault 19, Renault Megane and a Volvo V70 (to this day). That is 8 cars between the two of us.

1954 Pontiac Chieftain (first car)
1957 Chevy Bel Air (restored with my father)
1958 Chevy Bel Air (also restored, work 'n college car)
1963 Ford Falcon (restored, hot rodded)
Triumph TR3 (toy)
Triumph Spitfire (toy)
Fiat 124 Sport Coupe (tricked out)
Fiat Spider
Toyota Celica GT (daily driver)
Mustang 2 (wife's car 1)
1965 Ford Mustang Coupe (restored, wife's car 2)
Cadillac Eldorado (gold, family driver, totaled by drunk)
Cadillac Eldorado (red, new family driver)
???? MG B (toy)
Dodge RAM Sportsman van (15 seat, hauling)
1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z (dad driver, toy)
1985 to 2010; a series of Dodge Caravans & Voyagers for general driving
2020 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV

May have missed a project car or several in there. Father and father-in-law and I restored several

[UtwigMU]

That is some nice car history Doc, especially the Bel Air and the 60s Mustang.

I had a Polo GTI and now I drive the Civic, which just works. 1st warning light came on at 200.000+ km.

[VJ]

Very nice history. I can so see the joys of restoring a car (or a boat, or a plane), but am just lacking the time and space/infrastructure to do so. My father is completely not mechanically inclined, so we never had any DIY infrastructure. The whole idea of a car as a toy is a bit weird to me, but perhaps because ownership of a car - even if you don't drive it - is expensive in Belgium (high annual road tax, mandatory technical check, conformity check and big restrictions on modifications). It is cheaper and easier in Poland.

I got a bit into 3D printers (planning to build a next one) as they are much smaller and more manageable than cars. But who knows, perhaps when I retire there will be some bigger restoration/build project...

[Dr Mordrid]

Very nice history. I can so see the joys of restoring a car (or a boat, or a plane), but am just lacking the time and space/infrastructure to do so. My father is completely not mechanically inclined, so we never had any DIY infrastructure. The whole idea of a car as a toy is a bit weird to me,..

I grew up on a farm, growing mostly soybeans and various other crops in rotation with corn. We had a barn for servicing the implements and cars. I grew up with a wrench in my hand, under a car from the age of about 6. Back then farm kids could have a driver's license at 12. I was driving implements and the trucks by 14. One of dad's best friends owned a wrecking yard, so we had a ready source of parts for projects.

Anecdote
Once the crops were in dad worked the railroad as a mechanic, one of his coworker friends being a Detroit Tigers relief pitcher named Fred Gladding. Back in those days relief pitchers did not get paid much, so he too was earning extra money working the railroad. Lived out in the country a few miles from us.

Generally speaking, a toy car here is one that you may keep in storage over the winter or during inclement weather, driving on nice days or weekends. It's a culture, look up Detroit Dream Cruise. It's an annual event where everyone parades their toy cars, usually restorations and hot rods. Every small City around Detroit has its own version of a Dream Cruise because so many people do it.

Cars as a hobby. It's what we do in Michigan. Also boating, hunting, fishing, camping, and we have a ton of gun ranges...

Still have my Turbo Z. Metallic garnet, silver air dams, whale tail spoiler, Pirelli's. Very trick, very quick, and fully loaded.

[VJ]

Cars as a hobby. It's what we do in Michigan. Also boating, hunting, fishing, camping, and we have a ton of gun ranges...

I get it... when there however is a big annual road-tax, strict technical check requirements and strict homologation/modification limits, it suddenly becomes problematic. But that is Belgium; Poland does not have the annual road tax and more exemptions to the homologations, so here it is more done to have multiple cars for fun/hobby.

[Dr Mordrid]

Is this bureaucratization endemic to Belgium, or is it more widespread in Europe? Stateside hobby cars, hot rodding, customization etc are very common. Just about every weekend several communities will have people coming out to show off their cars.

The regional news programs have short segments about the weekend events. Right along with the Renaissance festivals, ethnic festivals (great excuse for serious eating), craft beer festivals, etc. they list the car shows. Usually the city will set aside the parking lot or grassy area for display

Did I mention we like to party?

[UtwigMU]

It's more a Europe thing, Germany is a bit less strict since they have big car industry.

Example. My Polo GTI came from the factory with xenons. They always complained on technical checkup about the xenons because the first owner replaced front bumper and it didn't have light washing kit. Had also problem with Supersprint exhaust. Had to pull some strings every year to get the car through technical checkup and registered.

Basically every change needs to be homologated through bureaucracy and you need to have papers which cost. Although the road police never bothers you but if you had an accident insurance might have a problem.

They also tightened technical checkups considerably, driver is no longer allowed in the building every checkup needs to have video recording...

[Dr Mordrid]

Renewing the plates and registration for our cars consists of going to the Secretary of State website, clicking what I need done, and making the payment. A new plate or sticker comes in the mail in about 2 weeks. No emissions check, no technical/safety check. They also have kiosks outside the Secretary of State office for doing many things, including renewing your drivers license.

[UtwigMU]

Here you need to have insurance - basic mandatory something like 600 EUR, all inclusive (your car when you cause the accident, theft, natural disaster, lights, hitting wild animals, parking) around 1200. Then 40 EUR checkup, road tax (based on engine volume) - total around 240 EUR for registration. If you want to drive on highway you need to buy electronic highway tax (license plate readers) around 120 EUR per year. Weekly or monthly also exist. Then Austria and some other countries have their own highway tax, Italy and Croatia have toll booths. Cars newer than 3 years are exempt from technical checkup. Kids with after-market stuff put on original parts for the checkup, some people also remove DPF filters on their diesels so their cars are rolling coal.

Private companies do the renewals, so it takes around 20-30 minutes to sort it out: come there, guys take your car through tests (lights, brakes, suspension, emissions, non-expired first aid kit in car), pay and leave. First aid kit has expiry date of 2-3 years.

Also unless you live in very small part which is our equivalent of California you need to have winter tires (M+S) from October-April. Change costs around 30 EUR but you have to wait for like half an hour since everyone is doing it around that time of year. Some people have a set of steel wheels for winter and alloys for summer and do changes themselves. You can store tires for a season for around 15 EUR at tire service if you don't have space. All-year tires also exist for people who don't drive much.

You also need to have hazard warning triangle, spare light bulbs, first aid kit and yellow vest which you are required to wear outside in case of breakdown on highway in car. Car makers / dealers provide you with all that when you buy the car. If cops see you rollin', they hatin', they will check if you have all that stuff.