Tuesday 12 January 2010

Late Christmas Presents!

A couple of new late Christmas presents arrived this week. The first was a compression test kit, initially to be used on the Spitfire before I spend some time fitting the new sports manifold I won off Ebay just before Christmas. Thought it may be prudent to test each cylinder before I fit it just in case I have to take the head off. I could have borrowed one, but this kit seemed a good buy at £9.95 postage free! Hope its accurate!



The other pressy was a bit of an impulse buy last week and I picked it up yesterday - a 6 month old Skoda Superb Greenline - the one that has very low emissions and unbelievable fuel economy. We've (or rather I!) have been thinking of changing our 5 year old Mk1 Superb for a while, and had persuaded my wife to look at Octavia's as they were VAT free during January, so off we went to the showroom to look at them. As she often sits in the back of the car when ferrying her aged father around - he always sits in the front - the Octavia didn't pass muster as compared to the 'old' Superb it simply is too small !

After a week of searching I found this ex demo car in East London and having had a good test drive up the M11 negotiated a fair price (given the dents and scratches)for my old one settled on a good deal.

Picked it up yesterday - Candy White - not the best colour for this time of year - and drove it home - average economy for the 65 mile journey - 68mpg!!!! and its only £120 Tax for the year as well. It achieves this economy by lowering the suspension, different front and rear spoiler, remapped 1.9TDI and revised ratio's in the 5 (yes 5!!) speed box. I estimate that 4th is like the old 5th and 5th is a true overdrive, pulling only 1800 rev's at 70mph.

Have to say, the ride is incredibly smooth and quiet and I don't notice the slightly slower acceleration time against my old car

The only problem with this purchase is that his dented the money I had set aside to have the heads done on the Stag, so these will have to wait a while until funds have recovered!