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Messages - Norfolk Jim

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1
Hi chaps.

Not been on here for a while as been slightly busy!!!!!!

Mobile phones - you'll never please everyone. There are those that extol the virtues of their iPhones and those that do the same about Android - Marmite springs to mind.

I had my first mobile in 1994 so been using one for a long time now - it was a Nokia & wired into my company Merc 190e with handsfree with Orange who'd just opened up in Cambridge. Used to have an excellent answerphone system called Wildfire which recognised your voice and controlled while you drove. Shame not enough used it so it was dropped.

Over the years I've had various Nokia phones, a couple of Sony Experia and then my first Samsung S1 which I was really impressed with. I'd toyed with joining other networks but Orange simply had the best coverage for my driving around the UK with no one else able to touch them. Each time it was due for upgrade I got better and better discounts and services so I've been with them ever since now obviously being EE. Over the years I have looked at other phones but stuck with Samsung and currently have the S10 with triple camera on business contracts - must say I have never ever had any issues with customer support; they've been excellent even helping me out when we moved and had slow broadband. My business landline/internet is with EE and I also have there Smart Wi-Fi around the house at no extra cost and get min 75Mb anywhere around the house - even to my VW Cali parked in the drive to update the sat nav etc.

We managed to get away for 10 day in late Sept touring North West up to Achiltibuie and then across to Dornoch - I had 4G coverage everywhere with no issues. Battery life is incredibly good and even using it as a navigation device for walking in the mountains using OMN and Viewranger it would easily last 3 days before is went down to 15% battery oh and it's waterproof - I think a lot depends on how you set it up for battery use ensuring background apps are off. The camera is exceptional and means I no longer take my DSLR camera with us (see photo attached). When I do walk I have a power bank in my rucsac just in case. My youngest son (31) has the very latest iPhone and cannot get it to last any longer than a day and half before battery is flat! However it is on a business contract with 40GB data, free calls in UK and Europe and a few free extras  ::) It costs me £37 a month but when it comes to renewal in Sept I think I'll simply keep it and go SIM only but I cannot complain at all about either phone or network and cannot see what extra 5G would offer me.

2
Pretty good Steve.

Mine was quite interesting as I did exactly the same with LV who I'm insured with and it got better.....using their multi vehicle and adding my wifes Golf brought it down even further - interestingly they also matched my comparison site check. While I was talking to them I asked them to do a simple side by side quote between my 07VW T5 camper and a full VW California  a year younger; I also asked for them both having business use purely as I'm doing less business miles and only use camper twice a year so selling that and my Xtrail to fund the more expensive Cali.

Result was my T5 camper would cost £427 but only cover for SDP as usual whereas the Cali for business use would be £346!!!! I asked why and she said to consider if either were involved in accident which damaged the living areas they can easily get the Cali priced up from VW but on conversion they have no idea on how to cost the interior............................you can guess what I'm going to do........................I've now found a very nice deep metallic blue 2014 Cali with 180 engine and 4motion with 43k and full history. Ok it's £37k but they are the highest value retaining production line vehicle on the roads at present and most sell for what they'd been bought for............

3
Good to hear from you too Geoff.

Sounds like he has one of the early engines which had issues. Mine is a 2011 facelift where they tweaked engine etc and minor bodywork enhancements like the big LED rear lights before they changed to the latest shape. Mines is the 2.0 dCi (in red - important like the Saab letter colours) which is the joint Renault/Nissan engine which gets the praise. I've done 9k since December so it's now on 163k and engine seat as a nut and much quieter than my TTiD was and does an impressive 48 mpg. Pulling power is awesome at 2200kg. Ironically it is exactly the same length as my TTiD estate was but wider and taller and huge load area where I can get a door in - something I missed on my 9-3 from my 9-5 estates. Overall so far all I've replaced is the battery which was original so just 8 years old.

Insurance is really a mugs game. DO you go cheap and hope no accident and dire claims system or buy reasonable and get a proper aftercare service. Bit like AA & RAC... I have a Nationwide bank account which comes with phone cover, holiday insurance for family and full breakdown cover. Breakdown uses local garages and having used about 4 times over the last 3 years they always arrived within 30 mins and each time properly sorted. My wife's was covered by RAC and when she needed them on way to a home visit (community nurse) RAC took over an hour and then didn't sort it.

4
That's odd Geoff. I've been with them now for about 5 years and always been fine. My campervan is insured under their company Highway and likewise good service.

Hmmmm.... Direct Line is who my wife's car is under and they've been pretty good as well. How different they can be with customers.............??????? It's cos you're in Cheshire Geoff while I'm in sleepy Naarfolk!

5
I'm with LV and found them extremely helpful.

When I had my X Trail remapped earlier this year I did a quick comparison and LV came up being only £18 more than I was then paying without remap. I called them and they said that's fine we'll use that quote and went over it all to make sure. Told them car had gone from 173 hp to now 221 hp and they confirmed only £18 rise in premium!!!!

6
Yep - we've had the car just coming up to 4 years and I was amazed to be honest. I've gone round the other 3 tyres now and perhaps they may need changing soon as lots of little rips in them in the tread where small flints harbour but still serviceable. The only issue I had was needed tyre repaired or replaced quickly for her and local garage charged me just over £100 to balance new wheel - I fitted it!! Having said that I found original bill and it was when they'd only just come out and cost £95 a corner.

My TTiD Aero Estate was shod with Nokian winters WDR2's for nigh on 2 years and they lasted pretty well and weren't too bad on spinning when under power - I think it will always be the trait of a winter/summer tyre with the softer compound unless below 7 deg.

7
That's interesting as never had that issue with wife's Golf. Yeh ok it is only 105 hp but did spin fronts when it had previous Bridgestone on it. The Golf is much lighter but I am truly impressed how well they have lasted. I noticed a rear was very low on pressure last week so took it off to find why. An old rusty nail in middle. The tyre place found one or two cuts in the tread but they still had around 4mm on them and wait for it.......................................they now done 48k. !!!  I check pressures each weekend and she's driving around Norfolk as a community nurse and doesn't hang around so well impressed. MOT coming up soon and car's now done 98k (it's 59 reg) so will be changing either for another Golf but an estate or a Seat Leon estate - Golf in pretty clothes with those nice LED lights.

8
Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Re-maps
« on: 09 April 2019, 10:25:43 AM »


If you take your car to Karl at Noobtune, you will be safe on that count.  He will check the car with a Tech2 before doing any work.  If he finds any problems, he won't upgrade.  After installing the remap you will get a test drive while he monitors all the parameters.   He's done a few thousand upgrades without any known problems.  He has maps for other engines now, but he isn't releasing them yet because he needs to do some testing to make sure that he can recover any possible ECU problem or crash while doing the work or afterwards.
The Celtic guy did the same with mine Will. Plugged it in and did thorough check even drove it up the road plugged in to read outputs - mine had an old error code which he checked out; part had been replaced but code never erased. Once completed he again took it up road plugged in to make sure. I mentioned I had Saabs before and was astonished to hear how much he knew about them and that he'd done quite a few including a 900 Turbo! He was really into his old cars as well and his daily drive is a Rover SDI 2600. He'd got MG Magnet, Triumph Spitfire 1500, MG Midget 1275 including an old International tractor! His favourite engine to work on was the one in my son's car the 3.0 BMW diesel.

9
Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: Re-maps
« on: 05 April 2019, 08:24:07 AM »
The 12 month warranty - yes. Anything that could be attributed to the re-map that caused premature failure of a component.

10
Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re-maps
« on: 04 April 2019, 04:58:03 PM »
No longer a Saab owner but still see her on occassion.

I now have a Nissan X Trail and have just had it re-mapped from 173 to 221 by Celtic Tuning's agent in Suffolk called Sax Vehicle Services.

The chap who did it was incredibly knowledgeable and it took roughly 45 mins in total uploading my ecu details to Celtic then downloading and installing the re-map. Normally £295 inc but we had 2 cars there so he did it for £250 each. They also kindly changed the oils in gearbox, transfer box and differential box using the Redline Oils I supplied.

The difference is night and day with acceleration being much smoother and quite linear like my TTiD was. Pick up is quick and having been out today MPG is better.

I've had Hirsch upgrades before but found Celtic were excellent if anyone was conditioning it. They warranty car for 12 months and software for 3 years.

NJ

11
I try Steve. Mind you having an over enthusiastic young black labrador keeps you fit, with long walks morning and night and anywhere in between if he gets the chance!! Friends nicknamed me whippet as I was much slimmer than them. Having said that I was a long distance runner from early teen till late twenties when fatherly duties took over. Ran for Norfolk and even carried Commonwealth Games batton for couple of miles before it went to NZ. Mind you I don't smoke, don't drink much alcohol (i'm normally driver) and don't eat any cr4p food (Mrs NJ is excellent cook. Holidays are also spent walking through the Scottish mountains and Highlands.

Suppose I'm pretty lucky to not have changed size much in 40 years.................excuse pictures but 42 years between them both - just thought am I supposed to put these kind of pictures up or are we supposed to be mysterious behind our avatars?? Mind you know one would recognise me now as no longer driving a Saab - lol.

13
I remember him - yeh good avatar

14
I tell you what would have done well if GM had allowed it and that would have been to put the 1.9TTiD 180 engine into the 9-5 Aero 8). With Hirsch tune that would have been superb, as fast as a petrol aero but go from mid 30's mpg to high 40's mid 50's mpg.

Although like Will I preferred the 9-5 I did find I could thrash the 9-3 TTiD and still return good economy and the torque that came in from 1850 rpm was incredible and carried  on right up to redline. If I'd done the same with my 9-5 Aero I'd have looked at mid 20's!!!! ::) I was always fresh after driving the 9-5's but I did find on long drives in the 9-3 I often felt tired afterwards; perhaps the slightly lower ride height and smaller cabin?? I've now done several long drives in the X Trail and feel the same afterwards as I did getting out of the 9-5 - fresh and able to do the return trip straightaway - plus I now have the Jap reliability

The 9-5 was a good car shame GM killed it.

BTW - my insurance renews at end of the month!!!! LV has said if we are intending to drive on or after 29th March in Europe and we leave the EU we will only need a green card which must be carried at all times. We need to contact them to obtain the Green Card which has to be posted - they say it should take 7 - 14 days to supply one. They say it will be needed for driving through the EEA but also countries such as Serbia, Switzerland and Andorra; also if driving from Northern Ireland into Ireland


15
Interesting Steve.

I had several 9-5's all estates (after 3 9000's) as I loved the huge load area - you could get a door in the back and shut the tailgate without moving passenger seat around. One had the moving load board on rails in the boot which amazed me. In all I had one of the very first 9-5 Estates prior to Aero. A 2.3T SE with every conceivable extra including load compensating suspension - was most comfortable Saab i have ever owned and engine rebuilt by Abbotts and tuned with bigger turbo to 285hp. It was T reg and is still on the road with some 275k on the clock! I also had one of the last 2.2 TiD Hirsched Vector Sport facelift with all Aero accessories except engine - that was 55 reg and is being used to drive from Norfolk to Brussels weekly with now nearly 300k on clock, a 1.9 TiD Dame Edna Vector sport Hirsched and a 54 reg facelift Aero HOT that had the full Abbott treatment - bigger turbo, bigger brakes, bigger exhaust, upgraded suspension and so on 300hp rocket - did I like them - yes I did and found all to be v comfortable except the Aero but that was my fault. The earliest SE was though beyond doubt my favourite. Last was the DE diesel after which I went Subaru Legacy (loved it but due to gearbox problem got money back) and then Volvo V70 D5 (nice car, big but not so nice to drive - massive turning circle) and then a Passatt Sport est (hated it) - all these within 14 months to finally end up with the 58 reg 9-3 Aero TTiD Estate which I kept for 3 years. Mine had 18" wheels but still seemed very comfortable. Was very fast and incredibly economical until I started having DPF issues but it was never big enough for me (carrying a door was nigh on impossible and not possible with a passenger as their seat needed to go so far forwards with both back seats down). I often carry long items to site including ladders (full extension ladder fitted diagonally but needed foam at front as close to windscreen and foam at back windscreen). My blac lab also looked like he was stooping to look out the back as roof seemed low. I also found it noisier than the 9-5's and didn't seem as solid.

As you may know in light of no newish 9-5 estates being on sale now I've ended up with a 2011 Nissan X Trail Tekna. Has all the toys and more than Saab had (even reclining back seat), amazingly the same length as the 9-3 but slightly wider the internal space is to say the least - massive. I can get door in back without moving passenger seat and have massive load area much higher and wider than the 9-3. Engine is 2.0 diesel 173hp (soon to be 238hp via Celtic Tuning) and very smooth. Torque much lower than the 9-3 but the tune will resolve this with no changes to the car. I'm quite pleased to be getting near as damn 50 mpg which I find excellent for such a heavy car capable of towing 2200kg trailers. Of course I also have 2WD or fully auto 4WD with diff lock. You can throw it into corners (always best with 4WD as cuts out oversteer) nearly as hard as the aero but I can honestly say it is the most comfortable car I have ever had and is very very quiet as a diesel with no engine noise at all in cabin.

Sorry seems a lot of garbage but that my 9-5 to 9-3 history. Now had Saab continued with the new 9-5 Estate then that'd be what I would have bought!!

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