OT & FS Renault Megane 02 reg

Wahay!

 

That was pretty much about his level, yes. When asked about his
injuries, following a large and jealous boyfriend extracting an apology
then revenge, he apparently didn't fight back because he was fully
engaged in covering his face. "Not the face, not the face!"

 

By my measure they are.

 

They're fine until the electrics go wrong.

And they WILL go wrong in time... that, and the keys are chipped and
either they or the immobiliser will stop talking to each other.

Anyway, I had a Maxi 1750 in 1992.

Desperate for a car at short notice, I had the choice of either that,
something seemingly in good order and 'sensible', or a 3 door ex plod
Mk2 Escort 1600 in shithouse condition, but fitted with wide arches, a
twin choke Weber carb and an 1100 diff, almost certainly going to be
grief.

Bearing in mind whatever the choice was it was going to replace the
Mk2 Escort 1300 I already had which had expired but was still a good
source of spares, what did I choose?

I went with 'sensible' and bought the Maxi.

Within a week the servo packed up - net result being the more obvious
it became you needed serious braking power, the more the servo would
hiss angrily back at you.

Not long after, I went to change the front pads. Having placed the
jack under the car, I winded away at the handle for quite some time
before noting that whilst the jack was going up, the car wasn't - the
sill was nice and rotten, you see.

I must have owned the car for a month when on a long run I became
aware the engine had started making a rather ominous noise - within a
mile of home, the noise gave way to a loud bang and a smoke screen
behind that James Bond would have been proud of.

Big end bearings, you see.

Still... it sat outside pissing oil everywhere for a week after that
so can't have had much left in it, but still managed to get to the
local scrappie about two miles away under its own steam.

 

I passed my test in a UMM Transcat, & I'd bet money on me being the
only person ever to do that in the UK.

 

Are there any TV drama series you don't think are shit?

 

Nothing the CB500 can't do then... which that does whilst managing not
to fur up and rust at the mere hint of a spot of rain, whereas the
build quality of the GS500 is quite shocking.

However, I'm sure someone, (who keeps theirs in a garage and only ever
rides it in the rain when they happen to get caught out in it), will
be along presently to decry this.

The CB500 is a fair bit quicker, doesn't need its valve clearances
done every five minutes and is far more entertaining to ride.

In the face of the above, why anyone buys a GS500 over one of these is
a mystery to me in any sense other than they're a tightarse.

 

And so they should be given the SV650 isn't in the same class.

Actually, the SV650 was in a bit of a class of their own really when
they first appeared on the market.

I can't think of any other mid range V twin semi sports bikes from
that era other than the Ducati Monster.

 

Raptor 650.

 

The only electrical problem that car had, which is still in the family, was
that the after market Meta alarm packed up. Ignition key immobiliser
thingies & remote radio controls are still working. As is the aircon. It's
13 years old now and repairs other than removing the Meta alarm have only
been for consumables and limited life components like wheel bearings and
the odd rubber gaiter etc.

So, whilst your "WILL ... in time" is suitably vague as to be meaningless,
the generalisation that all Meganes will have electrical problems is
untrue. My sample size of 1 is enough to demonstrate this.

 

HD Sportster 883cc - sub 900cc is mid range, well it used to be for the NU
rider policy. Notional sports bike rather than semi, but a sports bike
nonetheless.

 

http://honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/renault/megane-1996/

The summarisation of the bad being "Too much goes wrong too often. A
new clutch is an engine-out job."

It also goes on to list "Strange electrical faults", so your survey of
one might not align with that, it doesn't mean they're all trusty
workhorses either.

Not a good car, all things considered... not if you don't like really
expensive PITA jobs biting you on the arse anyway, and no different in
this respect to most other Renaults of that era and beyond when it
comes to electrical niggles.

 

There's a few that I think are just 'not very good'. But by and large
_US_ TV dramas are generally all shit, yes. Full of merkins, doing
merkin stuff in merkania.

 

I rather liked the Sid The Sexist in Viz.

"Fancy a shag?" "No!" "Well do you mind lying down while I have one?"

 

The CB is a touch higher. Although it could be the saddle is slightly
wider, I dunno but either of those is an issue when toe to tarmac
distances are marginal.

 

They look like fucked up Landies

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

They were made at the old Landy plant in Lisbon which might explain
it. 2.5 Peugeot diesel, very agricultural but damn good off-road. The
slanty nose made it much easier to stick the front wheels where you
wanted them than it is in a Landy.

 

On 08/03/2011 16:06, Ace wrote:

I have to agree with this. Even stuff that my friends *really* rate
(Thing about troops in Iraq, generation X or something? CSI), or stuff
that just *should* be good (Lost, The Walking Dead etc) just scream
'Yank drama at me, and seem to follow the same formulaic stuff. At best
they start off a bit interesting, then just trend to the norm.
Having made that point, it's worth noting that I pretty much gave up on
watching them

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
#www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Again that's just your personal taste though. I don't like Beethoven,
Picasso or The Rolling Stones, but I certainly wouldn't say they're
shit.

 

What about Eminem and the like? I'd certainly call that shit.