The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

What ever you do, DONT buy a C4 or C8... They are an electrical nightmare, i speak from bitter experience with a customers car........
And dont buy anything with the 1.6 HDi - thats a chunk of junk too.
Dont fancy a 2004 Zafira diesel i suppose?
Got one here for sale on behalf of a customer, its quite tidy and has just had a new clutch.

I won't be jumping in with both feet. I've already ruled the C8 out and I'll avoid anything with the 1.6HDi engine. There are too many horror stories out there of costly turbo failures. The petrol engines are costly to run so the 2.0 diesel is the engine of choice. Sounds like your customer has copped for a bad one. They can't be all bad. As with buying any other car you never buy the first one you see. I know what I want so I'll choose wisely even if I have to spend a bit more than I want to.

If you like the Picasso, get another Xsara Picasso, preferably one with the "Old" simple and bulletproof 1.9 XUD diesel. These are plentiful and cheap. And don't believe all the hype about Zafiras, I have several on my books, some with starship miles and the worst I have had to deal with is erratic central locking and one PAS pump (at 176k miles)

I will also echo what everyone else has said, DON'T, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES let the buggers have the car until the claim is settled to your satisfaction!
If it was my car and I had invested as much in it as you have have, I would keep it, use the payout to fund a couple of second hand doors (that's probably all it WILL do) and keep on using it!

Gutted for you mate!

Steve

PS, as far as I am concerned Jeroen, please keep your predictions to yourself!

I concur with the advice given by Mark and Martin.

When my last 166 was written off by a third party and I wasn't at fault, I negotiated the settlement at the price I'd paid for it a few months earlier. I then bought the salvage for £108 (9% of the settlement) and used bits from it to recommission my former 166 (which was identical and I had kept for parts!) meaning I had a car back on the road within a week of receiving settlement. I then parted out the scrapped 166 selling bits through the alfa forum and ebay and made more from it than I had received in settlement.

I didn't suggest this earlier as I didn't think Dave had space to keep a car whilst it was taken apart, but if the doors both still open and close properly, then yes, I'd keep it and drive it until MoT expired.

Re zafiras, we had a 2003 one bougt at 2 years old and kept for 9 years and 100K+ with very very few issues (only a coilpack, a battery and service items)
Replaced with a 2010 model, 1.7cdti. Comparitive pile of junk. At 40K I had to get the gearbox rebuilt with new bearings, and it appears the box wasn't the original to the car. It seems the diesels EAT gearboxes, mine had the uprated 2011 on box, but even that gave up. I suspect it was replaced at 25k, when the dealer fitted a new clutch/DMF (car had full dealer history up to when I bought it)

Would I have another vauxhall? afraid not. Now got a toyota auris diesel. Yawn. Boringly good at everything with no sparkle at all. But that means my Triumphs are even more of a joy.

One of the Zafiras I maintain, I drive on a weekly basis as the owners eyesight has got too bad to drive but she still needs to visit a warehouse on a weekly basis - so I drive it for her! It's a 2001 Y reg 2.0 DTi Diesel and has now covered 183000 miles. It still runs well and pulls strongly. It was a 1 owner car when she bought it and has a FSH. It has never had a clutch, DMF, gearbox or turbo, nor any problems with the fuel pump. I put a set of heater plugs in it when she got it and it had an appetite for front springs, but after the 5th one in 3 years, I changed maker and have not done one since. This is the car I put the PAS pump on, not a nice job and the pump wasn't cheap but at that mileage, not a bad performance. Other than that, it gets an annual full service at MOT time and that's it.
I think the Zaf has a slightly undeserved bad rep, it's like anything else, if you maintain it properly and treat it with a modicum of respect, it will last longer. But cars like this really are like white goods, not lovable in any sense and largely ignored till they go wrong, at which point the owners then complain loudly at the results of their own abuse! But the satisfied owners never say anything about how good their cars are cos they don't EXPECT anything less!

Steve

The Zafira is just an Astra under the skin (they share the same Haynes). The 2nd generation Zaf (B) is one I've already considered but the big problem with these is for the resistor pack in the heater switch to catch fire. I want something a bit newer which is why I've considered the Grand C4 Picasso. I shall be doing my homework carefully before taking the plunge.

Those gearboxes are the later 6 speed type and shared with a few other makes. I thought alfa used it also. About a year ago I overhauled the last one what is not that difficult. If you can do a triumph gearbox the Vauxhall one is easy. The pre load of the bearings is too much. Just replacing bearings will have the same effect over 30.000km. There are shim between the outer bearing ring and the housing/cover. Replacing these with ones 0.10mm thinner does solve the problem. So when you can buy a cheap one because of a faulty gearbox it's not expensive to repair.

Jeroen.

Yes, the 6 speed box is the issue. The later version had bgger bearings, as mine did. But the ones deeper in the box were the ones that had failed. Not a great box I reckon.

Dave, the resistor pack fires are down to cheap ebay replacements I think? I did the one on our zaffy A, and got a genuine version for not much more than a generic version. (that is something else that went wrong, I had forgotten!)

If you want a good value load lugger, get a mondeo. Really much nicer to drive than the zaffy (and I quite liked ours, until the 2nd one went wrong a few times. Did I mention the air distribution flap? I spent hours on that)

Clive the problem was with the Zaffy B not the A. I'm sure Vauxhall had to do a recall.

Anyway, moving on, I've bought a replacement Picasso which should be ready early next week. I'm 99% certain that RN02 PHF will be written off by the insurance because the cost of repairing it will far exceed the market value. This is what it looks like.


The police aren't taking any action against the 3rd party who I can now reveal to be Adam (the same Adam that did the respray on the Dolly and the welding). It is now in the hands of our respective insurers.

If I really wanted to keep the Picasso I wouldn't have bothered to start a claim. I was already looking for a newer car before all this happened because I received some money for Christmas off my mum. If Adam had stopped and told me he'd bumped my car we could've sorted it out between us. This claim is convenient for me as the Picasso is now off my hands and I don't have to deal with the hassle of selling or part exchanging it. I'm not desparate for money so the claim can take it's course (I will be keeping on top of things). As you all know, the car only cost me £60 so I haven't lost much. I'm not counting the cost of repairs and servicing because that's money you never get back anyway and all cars have to have money spent on the for upkeep. I'm going to end up better off financially and I've got a nicer and newer car. I know of some of the horror stories but most cars have their problems. MA08 WCL seems to be a good car that has been looked after if the MoT history is anything to go by (it has only ever failed the MoT twice).

Well convincing yourself that your old car only did cost 60 gbp and the rest is just service is the stupidest thing I've heard lately. All my dolomites were very cheap. Only compensating the lack of service and mot's the last 20 years was very costly and time consuming but that doesn't count.

Jeroen

Toledo Man wrote:Oh feck! The Picasso was hit by a drunk driver who didn't stop.

Toledo Man wrote:The police aren't taking any action against the 3rd party

Huh? How can the police NOT take action against a drunken hit and run?

He can't be positively identified as the driver. That's why. The only independent witness I could find couldn't see who was actually driving. I saw Adam get in his car earlier on that day and when I found his car later on he was asleep in the driver's seat. His car has a dent in the nearside front wing and a scrape on his door mirror.

Moving on, MA08 WCL only needed a couple of bulbs to pass the MoT. The current MoT runs out on the 24th of this month so the new MoT will follow on.