Erlingtheyounger
Member
Today I.....
- Thread starter sco
- Start date
That’s impressive. Meanwhile in Ireland the equivalent would cost €60 per mot (NCT) plus road tax of €385. So the equivalent here for two would cost me £740. Rip of IrelandToday I took both of my A2s for an MOT and both passed with no advisories.
Both vehicles were manufactured in 2001 (though one is a 2001MY and the other is a 2002MY) so are both 23 years old. The MOT tester loved them and seemed to take real delight in issuing clean MOTs to two cars of such age.
It’s handy that they both need an MOT at the same time. The test station is only 4 minutes from my house, so I book two MOT slots and quickly swap the cars around between appointments.
Through creative use of SORN in the past, their tax dates now also align with each other, and is the same as the MOT date. I service them together at MOT time.
One of them also needs its insurance renewing at MOT time.
The only thing that is out of sync is that the silver one’s insurance needs renewing in the springtime rather than now.
Some people probably like to divide their annual motoring costs across the year. I rather like having everything happen at once; the symmetry appeals to me, and it means that fuel is basically the only motoring cost for the rest of the year. Hurrah!
Cheers,
Tom
Edit: I've just taxed them both online. Today I have spent £35 per car on annual tax, and £54.85 per car on test certificates.
I now have two road-legal A2s for another year, with a total expenditure of £179.70. Just add diesel. You've gotta love A2s.
somitomi
Member
Took the car to a do it yourself workshop for some maintenance and repairs:
- replaced bottom engine mount
- replaced oil and oil filter (a little early, but I decided to play it safe since I bought this car recently)
- cleaned oil separator and rebuilt crankcase vent hose:
![IMG_20241221_135529[1].jpg](https://images.a2oc.net/data/attachments/118/118190-32d0c6743384ad20925593ac6d918012.jpg?hash=rX4EQ6azHf "IMG_20241221_135529[1].jpg")
I'm especially pleased with this, because the generic pieces of hose I found are curved, so my contruction doesn't need to flex much for the ends to line up with the bits they connect to and it all fits in place rather neatly.
On the other hand, while checking the front brakes to see how much life the brakepads have in them, I noticed that spinning one of the wheels makes the other side spin in the same direction rather than the opposite (which is what I'd expect unless the car has a limited slip differential). Is this normal for an A2 or should I be concerned?
- replaced bottom engine mount
- replaced oil and oil filter (a little early, but I decided to play it safe since I bought this car recently)
- cleaned oil separator and rebuilt crankcase vent hose:
I'm especially pleased with this, because the generic pieces of hose I found are curved, so my contruction doesn't need to flex much for the ends to line up with the bits they connect to and it all fits in place rather neatly.
On the other hand, while checking the front brakes to see how much life the brakepads have in them, I noticed that spinning one of the wheels makes the other side spin in the same direction rather than the opposite (which is what I'd expect unless the car has a limited slip differential). Is this normal for an A2 or should I be concerned?
somitomi
Member
Rather off-topic, but today I sold the A2's predecessor in the prestigious position of "my car", a 1988 Ford Orion that has been in the family for basically my entire life. It's been a reliable and noisy companion for the last 5...6 years of my life despite not always getting the care it deserved and I will miss it greatly, but it looks like it's gone to a good place at least.
Buchanan DTR
Member
After checking last years MOT and ahead of this year's the brake discs were highlighted as corroded.
After £86 on Bosch discs and pads and 2.5 hours including some interpretations the discs and pads are replaced.
Now for a tank full of V Power and a but of a run and get it booked in
After £86 on Bosch discs and pads and 2.5 hours including some interpretations the discs and pads are replaced.
Now for a tank full of V Power and a but of a run and get it booked in
Attachments
Buchanan DTR
Member
dj_efk
A2OC Donor
Happy new year A2OC members!
With the new year comes thoughts of Audrey’s next impending service and the list of jobs. I’ve been getting another glow plug fault code show up recently so knowing how difficult to source the Bosch plugs can be for a sensible price I had a look on eBay - to my immense surprise there was a new genuine item (N10591602 for the Tdi90 / ATL 5v item) for £11.29 posted!
One of those lucky moments.
I’ll be using the oil extractor for a quick and easy change via the dipstick this time around, as well as the usual use of this tool to remove all oil from the filter and cooler housing. As previously mentioned this method gets nearly all the oil out and with the vast majority of the 7-7500 miles covered since the last “proper” change, that will more than suffice to keep things healthy.
I’ll also be looking at my engine mount on the gearbox side as a possible culprit of the front end clonk on that side, in my quest to finalise my suspicion that the top mount has worn (as it’s such a pig of a job I want to eliminate all other possibilities) - does anyone know how to test for a worn one - do I just undo the dog bone mount, get a jack on the gearbox and look for movement?
With the new year comes thoughts of Audrey’s next impending service and the list of jobs. I’ve been getting another glow plug fault code show up recently so knowing how difficult to source the Bosch plugs can be for a sensible price I had a look on eBay - to my immense surprise there was a new genuine item (N10591602 for the Tdi90 / ATL 5v item) for £11.29 posted!
One of those lucky moments.
I’ll be using the oil extractor for a quick and easy change via the dipstick this time around, as well as the usual use of this tool to remove all oil from the filter and cooler housing. As previously mentioned this method gets nearly all the oil out and with the vast majority of the 7-7500 miles covered since the last “proper” change, that will more than suffice to keep things healthy.
I’ll also be looking at my engine mount on the gearbox side as a possible culprit of the front end clonk on that side, in my quest to finalise my suspicion that the top mount has worn (as it’s such a pig of a job I want to eliminate all other possibilities) - does anyone know how to test for a worn one - do I just undo the dog bone mount, get a jack on the gearbox and look for movement?
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the_luton_man
Member
Happy New Year!
Indeed, it has been a good start for me today. My A2 1.4SE 2002 Petrol had it's insurance renewed this morning. Fully comprehensive with Santander Insurance for only £86.72 for the year.
It's just me and my wife as named drivers. This year I might even trust her to have a go a driving it
Indeed, it has been a good start for me today. My A2 1.4SE 2002 Petrol had it's insurance renewed this morning. Fully comprehensive with Santander Insurance for only £86.72 for the year.
It's just me and my wife as named drivers. This year I might even trust her to have a go a driving it
Foghorn
Member
£86.72 ! We're both over 60 full NCD and have other cars insured but I couldn't get less than £260 via comparison. I need to try some of these standalone insurers going forward. Last year when I had my '69 MGB I did manage to get fully comp insurance for £46 via comparison.Happy New Year!
Indeed, it has been a good start for me today. My A2 1.4SE 2002 Petrol had it's insurance renewed this morning. Fully comprehensive with Santander Insurance for only £86.72 for the year.
It's just me and my wife as named drivers. This year I might even trust her to have a go a driving it
rasA2
A2OC Donor
Happy New Year!
Indeed, it has been a good start for me today. My A2 1.4SE 2002 Petrol had it's insurance renewed this morning. Fully comprehensive with Santander Insurance for only £86.72 for the year.
It's just me and my wife as named drivers. This year I might even trust her to have a go a driving it
Amazing deal
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Ami
A2OC Donor
Sounds Fantastic, I wiil be calling them in a few months, CheersHappy New Year!
Indeed, it has been a good start for me today. My A2 1.4SE 2002 Petrol had it's insurance renewed this morning. Fully comprehensive with Santander Insurance for only £86.72 for the year.
It's just me and my wife as named drivers. This year I might even trust her to have a go a driving it
Happy New Year to you too.
the_luton_man
Member
We are both over 60 too, more than the 9 years NCD that Santander limit. I bank with Santander so tried them out, was previously with Admiral.
JulesW
A2OC Donor
Today I took advantage of the bright sunshine to help me change the headlight bulbs. I thought I'd cracked it when I removed the rear cover on the headlamp and found the bulb connector was almost adrift. Pushed it back on and assumed that would fix it.
Only to find that it hasn't and that it was the bulb itself. Luckily I had bought a pair of Philips GT200 in the autumn. I do think they light the road well. Job done and I'm safe again. I'll do the other soon as they do tend to go at about the same time because they are made to tighter tolerance these days.
Only to find that it hasn't and that it was the bulb itself. Luckily I had bought a pair of Philips GT200 in the autumn. I do think they light the road well. Job done and I'm safe again. I'll do the other soon as they do tend to go at about the same time because they are made to tighter tolerance these days.
JulesW
A2OC Donor
Will it be cheaper to get cup holders from a Porsche than from an A2 now? Which Porsche model is that?Found out that the A2 cup holders were also used in a 2001 Porsche it seems
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