oprn

Yes it is a thing here in Canada among the rice burner performance crowd. There are cars and engine options off the show room floors over there that were never offered here. Some of the factory Nisan, Subaru and Mazda cars that show up from there are stupid fast! What I like about thier cars is there is a marvellous selection of small fuel efficient ones that are not available here. I hate these huge fuel guzzling boat anchor barges that pass for cars in this country! Yes my wife does deliver mail and RHD suits the job perfectly. I am thinking of flogging the Subaru on the used car market and the second Lupo would take it's place as back up for the wife's job. And maybe a bit of sporty buzzing around too? 😊 There are two situations that make me nervous with driving a RHD car here. Passing as you mentioned. The Lupo is not a problem with this as the only thing it can overtake is farm machinery But the Forester with it's 246 HP 2.0L engine was a whole different ball game! The other is left hand turns on a busy multi lane road. Seeing what's coming past other traffic from the wrong seat is a game of chance at best. One relies heavily on the co-pilot in both cases. A left hand drive would be sweet too but it would be no better than our present Jetta on the mail route.

Ya sure, send you the link indeed! You just want to get the jump on me is all! 😒 I am concerned because our Forester has a rattle now that I think is piston slap or possibly a cracked piston skirt. We have not been religious about using premium and mostly use a octane boost additive. 2004 Volkswagen Lupo GTI 113,000km - B-Pro Auto JDM Imports (b-pro.ca)

Hey guys! I just found a red 2004 Lupo GTI! Having a hard time not pulling the trigger on this one! Question: what grade of petrol does it require? All we have is 87 octane locally which is the same as your 91 RON.

If the heating system is in good nick(they seldom are these days due to deterioration and neglect)they worked ok down to -30. Around town was a bit sketchy to keep the windscreen clear because the engine wasn't working hard enough to produce the required heat. On the freeway they were fine. The Busses struggled a bit more because of the size of the glass and volume of the interior. Remember they only took heat off two exhaust pipes! All the VWs sold in our climate got a block heater that bolted up to the bottom of the pan and after about '68 or so a gas heater was standard fit also. They helped out greatly for the around town issue. The vast majority of air cooled VWs found today have had the heating system removed or it is in such poor condition as to be useless but in the beginning it was not so! When the snow got deep often it was only the VWs and 4x4 trucks that were able to get around. The engine weight over the rear tyres made for excellent traction. One of my biggest disappointments when I moved up to my first water cooled front wheel drive VW was the poor traction on snow and ice. It was useless in the winter next to my old Beetle! Then I discovered reverse gear! I could back up anywhere I wanted!

It is! Should not be a surprise though, VW has always made cars with all weather conditions in mind. In our family we ran air cooled ones from the late '60s right through to the mid '80s. They all worked just fine in our climate.

Nope!! 🥰

I thought you might like to see Franklin in a different setting. He and I met my son-in-law at the airport and went for a little ride today. Weather was mild and sunny, -5C wind steady out of the south west so it was pretty smooth up there! Lovely day for a little cruise over the country.

Hi all! I had a request for an update as I haven't been on here for ages. Franklin is alive and well but a bit lonely these days. Apart from the occasional run into town he sits now. I had the timing belt replaced a few months back so that is all good. One tire goes flat every two to three weeks which is annoying but being 80% worn I am loath to spend money on it, just wait for spring and put the summer tires back on. Lots of things have changed here since March. The crash in world oil prices plus the drop in fuel demand from the virus put an end to my job in the oil industry. All good though as I turned 65 in June and have lost interest in chasing the carrot! This same virus has put huge demands on the postal system my wife works in. Packages are up to levels never before seen in this country with all the online shopping going on. Sandra has had to abandon the Lupo as the 1st choice for her delivery route and gone back to the Forester for it's larger package capacity unfortunately. Franklin is now the neglected stepchild in the family and only gets out every couple of weeks when I do a small parts or material run for the on going house upgrade projects here. Lumber and drywall require the Dodge truck. Here is a picture from a couple months or so back with his cousin. And a picture of what I enjoy now with my morning tea seeing as I do not have to rush off to work. Yes, all good here!

Thanks! The clown who did the import inspection did some fast talking about the headlights being illegal in Canada and he changed them so I am not too sure what I have. I do know that the light pattern on the road is poor and doesn't reach out very far. This is the first time the air filter has been changed. Up until now no one has been able to locate a new one on this side of the big pond. I don't have any doubts about the condition of the engine as it has never used any oil between changes. I will re-direct the offending hose as you suggested. The cam belts were changed when we first got this car and in the 2 years we have been driving it we have put 80,000 km on so it's about due then. I should have ordered a new bearing for the AC compressor when I got these parts. I noticed that used one I brought over a year ago is sounding dry again.

Now I have more questions for you fellows. First off, I found this hiding under the bonnet. Is it not some kind of aftermarket headlight conversion? Secondly, when I changed the air filter there seemed to be quite a but of engine oil blown into the filter box. Normal? Yes? No? A final one, how often should the timing belts be replaced? Thanks again for considering my questions!

Woo Hoo! Parts showed up for Franklin! Now to put some of them in.

About as much fun as you can have in a car with your clothes on! 😄

Last year one of the young folks went to the big city to get driving lessons before she got her driver's permit. Her Dad asked her afterwards if the trip to the city for 3 days of lessons was worth it. "Not really, " she said " I learned more at the ice races." That is the kind of unsolicited feed back that makes this event worth the time and effort!

The ladies did a great chilli, buns and salad spread with donuts, cinnamon buns and fruit salad for afters. Then there was some foot stomping fast paced fiddle music. We neglected to get a group shot until most of the crowd was already in the house.

Oh ya! Great time, kids just didn't want to quit and the adults were in there driving too. The trophies consisted of DIY pop bottle and rattle can affairs, one for lowest average lap time and one for most out of control.

Just a few pictures of the company he was running with. Just for interest, after the race we polled the timers and drivers for what they felt was the fastest cars out there. #1) the red Golf sport wagon. #2) a Toyota RAV 4 #3) silver '02 Gulf TDI. The American built 4X4 pickups did not do that well, lots of snow in the air and noise but not so much go! The surprise for everyone was the work truck pulling the trailer that only made one run. He was just a few seconds short of the fastest time of the day!

Just thought you people might get a kick out of these pictures. We took Franklin to our ice races. Every year we hold ice racing (4th annual Muskrat 500)for the new drivers in our family, friends and neighbors homes. The idea is to get the young folks to try every different type of vehicle that they could drive on the roads and get familiar with how they handle on ice and snow. There seemed initially to be a bit of reluctance to try Franklin but once he got out there, there was no rest for him. He stacked up some pretty decent times too!

I prefer to get my oil and air filters new thanks!

Oh! And we need a new gas pressure strut to hold up the rear hatch. It failed on one of those - 40 days.

I am thinking of making up an order of spares for Franklin, air filters, oil filters, timing belt - those sort of hard to find over here bits. Do you chaps have a recommendation on a vender in your neck of the woods that would be reasonable and helpful to someone from across the big pond? Also any obvious other high maintenance items come to mind? Thanks Merv!

We have a bit of a cold snap going here, second morning at this temperature and they are promising us at least one more day before it moderates. Franklin is running just fine but Sandra snapped off the plastic handle for the bonnet release. Bummer - cold + plastic, not that compatible. Then the hydraulic lift cylinder for the hatch gave up the ghost, common failure at this temperature and considering it is original from 2002 I guess we could have expected that. The second picture was sent to me by my son-in-law, enjoy!

Don't you just love that confidence? 😣

Two hours on the road this morning and nothing - nadda - zippo! Found the plug and brought up the codes - nothing there and nothing in history either. SO - drive it I guess, can't fix what's not broken.

Thanks! Just a huge lack of power was the only symptom but it's normal again. We have a 2 hour drive this morning so I will take the code reader with us and we will see what happens.

What was the out come here? Just curious... I have a '92 2 door Jetta here, love it! Way better car than all the newer ones we have had and still have. It's still pretty good on the outside but crawl underneath an look up - ooo - plenty of swelled seams! Mother nature is taking her down, dirty rotten shame that! It's the one with the flames and boot spoiler behind the Forester. The other one behind it is a '89 parts car, also a 2 door. '92