What a fun week!

So the Lupo has sold, driven away by new owner George - who's going to put right the last few wrongs with the car.

We had the first viewing of the car a week ago and, understandably, they were suspicious of a nice shiny Lupo with only a few weeks left on the MOT - with the Caddy on the way we simply needed a quick sale. To help the car sell better we decided to put it through a test, which it passed with flying colours; not a single thing wrong...

...until the emissions test!

As suspected (the car did go through quite a bit of oil) it failed spectacularly - my diagnosis, and that of the garage, is an oil ring or valve seal has gone. To do the job right it is a cylinder-head off type job - simply not economically viable for us to do when we've just shaken hands on a £10k Caddy!!!

The price was reduced on Pistonheads (cue the vultures who offered stupidly low amounts of cash) and a chance ad on the ClubLupo forums - where the car sold in a matter of minutes.

So it's goodbye little car, I'm happy it's gone to an owner who will look after it and has the time and inclination to put things right.

For Sale?

So it's time to start looking for the right Caddy to replace the Lupo. Our little faithful friend has been great and to-date hasn't let us down at all, making the journey into Leeds daily, always starting first time and never getting too hot and bothered.

My plan is to be totally honest about the car's condition - unlike the previous seller.

80,000 miles (as of 1st October, car in daily use so will rise), Petrol, Manual in Soft Blue, paint in good condition with the usual car park scuffs and stonechips.
MOT until 21st Nov 2011. Tax until end of Jan 2012.
Factory pop-out rear windows and mudflaps. VW Alloys with four new tyres fitted 8,000 miles ago along with front discs and pads. New clutch cable and welding to pedal box also carried out.
Comes with Kenwood CD/USB Stereo. Lowered 40mm on lowering springs.
Priced to sell, a new car is on the way.

So if you need a nice-looking, reliable, daily runabout - ideal for a young driver - for a mere £995 then drop me an email: nikki.crossley@hotmail.com before it ends up on the forums, eBay, etc.

Spring cleaning

The first full sunny day of the year - a great chance to give the car a proper clean and get some polish on the paintwork. All-in-all, not in bad nick, if you squint. And yes, my neighbour's think I'm crazy, but I clean under the bonnet too. Do I care? No.

Check out the genuine G60 VW Motorsport badge on the airbox - that must give me another 5bhp right?

Down & out

Freshly cleaned after a visit to JC Motors for the budget lowering - now looking far less like a pensioner's car!

Click for big pic

Click for big pic

Aesthetically, the car is much more pleasing to the eye. The handling has sharpened up a touch; less wallow-y in roundabouts. And economically the whole lowering job has come in under £100, which makes me a happy lowered Lupo owner!

Pressed Metal Plates

Plates and surrounds fitted. Cleaner, neater, and legal!

We have reception!

The radio issues are now sorted. Following on from the 'why are things never easy?' posts, it seems I was right, it was never going to be an easy fix...

As radio reception was fine in Keighley (where the head unit was fitted) but not in Skipton (where we live), it made sense to go to a local specialist rather than back to Halfords. So it was a trip to Car Radio Skipton where the very helpful and informative staff went through a process of elimination to find the fault.

Head unit out, check for signal booster. Fine.

Change to a new booster, still no reception.

Put new aerial on new booster, reception.

The faulty part just had to be the wiring from aerial on roof to back of head unit - joy!

We left them to it. Two hours later and we're back, everything working perfectly. OEM aerial, booster and wiring (plus 30 minutes of labour) and VAT came to just short of £90. All of a sudden the bargain stereo has become not so much of a bargain!

Trim decisions...

Leave the bump-strips on:

Or take them off?

Can't make my mind up - any preference?