Call

Ha. Marvellous I'm annoyed that we misdiagnosed it, but glad it's returned to form. Nice one Rich

Sorry Daniel, Rich has just driven off in it.

Right, sorry about the delay: Christmas got in the way. If you're up for taking it on at that price Rich, consider it yours. It's now in Edinburgh (I drove it across from Glasgow after Christmas) which might make travel easier.

See, this is exactly the sort of thing I hoped for, thanks guys. Yeah, it was the pedal box that left us stranded. It gave us a little bit of warning by going gradually, thankfully. It first went last year and we had it welded, but the weld gave way. Apparently this time the guy managed a more solid weld, but it's hard to trust it now, y'know? Particularly for cross-countryside journeys with a kid. Really glad to hear folks being positive about the prospects of repairing it. It sounds do-able, but way beyond the scope of what I'd be able to do myself, given I'm mechanically inept, don't have anywhere offroad or indoors to do the work, or have the time (it may sound like a couple of hours work for someone who knows what they're doing, but believe me, for me it'd take weeks Rich, if you're serious? webuyanycar said something like £150 but I'd rather sell to an enthusiast that'd take treat it as more than a source of parts.

Oh boy. It's painful that I've finally actually joined this forum under these particular circumstances, but here goes. I've decided it's time to part with my beloved Lupo. It's showing its age more than its mileage and has so many small faults that add up to an insane amount of money to fix (as well as the more major ones) and have been popping up with such frequency that the car just isn't reliable anymore, and it's left us stranded several times (and that's not something I want to have to deal with any more, since I have a 6 year old kid!). So I'm looking for the best way to dispose of it, and I wouldn't mind a bit of advice. As far as I can see, the options are: Scrap it. This is the easiest option, but the most heartbreaking. Attempt to sell for spares or repair. Possibly via eBay. It would be entirely repairable by someone with more mechanical skill and time on their hands than I have. The car is currently at my parents' house near Glasgow (where the last failure stranded us) so I more or less have to decide what to do before visiting them next. It's a 2000 model Lupo, black, 1.7SDI, alloys and standard trim, and about 90k miles on the clock. It passed its MOT last month with a minimum of fuss, but here's the list of stuff that's wrong with it: Bodywork: it has a decent collection of small dents and scratches, plus a crinkled front offside wing. Mostly this these are the natural consequences of the car living on a busy street near a football stadium, with a lot of foot traffic and a lot of bad parking. Clutch: this is the biggie. The clutch plate is worn out, so it needs to be replaced. Ouch. It's drivable for the moment, so long as you don't want to go up any steep hills. Pedal box: the usual, broken clutch bracket. It failed in a gentle, progressive way which sort of hid the fact that we were running out of clutch plate as well. It's just been welded so should be okay for a bit at least. Electrics: possibly due to damp, the control electrics for the central locking and electric windows are faulty. Sometimes operating the central locking rolls the windows down (bit of a security risk!). Sometimes the locks randomly activate while driving. Mostly, the central locking jsut doesn't work. There's corrosion or something *somewhere* in there, probably the driver side door, but finding it would be a pain. Lock hardware: driver's side lock barrel is broken, possibly the rest of the lock mechanism as it now won't lock at all. This, combined with the central locking faults, have meant that unlocking or locking the car has been a case of opening from passenger side and clambering over inside! Wheels: alloy wheels are a wee bit coroded round the edges so two of them are losing tyre pressure, needing inflated weekly. I've approached several garages about fixing all of these, but almost all of those faults are "more than the car's worth" jobs on their own, so nobody really wants to touch it. Here's what's good or relatively new about it: The engine: never given a single bit of trouble, ever. Amazing little engine, that thing. Brakes: just replaced front disks and pads. Tyres: about a year old, but pretty low mileage and in good condition. Exhaust: cat/filter and silencer all replaced about a year ago. So, what should I do? Scrap? eBay? Anyone know anyone looking for a "project" Lupo within driving distance of Glasgow? Sad times. -- Colin