My new project was delivered to my buddy’s workshop Thursday afternoon and I got an hour yesterday morning to look at it as the car went straight off for inspection to the Land Transport Office so that it could be registered to me and all the documents changed, a necessary process here when a car moves from one province to another. They will be back on Tuesday.
I took advantage to give the car a quick run, please bear in mind that I have only sat in one once, back in 1992 I think it was, and have probably not even seen one in the flesh for 20 years, other than a quick glimpse of one turning off the Super Highway here 4 or 5 years ago. I was impressed by the comfort levels and found it an easy vehicle to enter/exit, it responded well and had a better acceleration than I was expecting, although I am used to the 2.0i engine.
Looking around I discovered that the extra knob on the central switch panel is the A/C control. It is not unusual for locals to find the factory fitted A/C inadequate and to fit an uprated unit, bypassing the factory controls. We will attempt to marry the two systems and use the fascia controls in the future.
Good News The bodywork, paint and interior are fine (with a couple of exceptions, details to follow) the Sunroof works and does not leak. Aftermarket unit fitted locally by people who know what Monsoon weather can be like. I quite like the ‘Mix n Match’ bits so will leave them, with the exception of the door cards, which offend my sense of symmetry I am already looking for ‘garnitures de porte’ on eBay France! Auto to Sport works well and most equipment and switches are operating. Even the carpets are clean.
Bad, or Sad, News (see photos)
Glove Box – Strut missing, already bought one being posted today
Rear Parcel Shelf – Some clown has cut out holes for extra speakers, my upholstery guy will repair and recover
No spare wheel – an LPG donut fills the space!
Audio – present receiver is not connected to Steering Wheel controls, will be replaced with a Bluetooth unit and connected through. We have an excellent accessories store who will also fit Dashcams, drls, and upgrade the lights
Front under Bumper – damaged and bits missing, fibreglass repairs are an easy fix here, but finding the missing ‘covers?’ and working out how they should be fitted will be fun.
Dashboard – I call it dashboard but it’s really the faceplate and visor that are cracked, broken and brittle. I can get them repaired and even coated with a wood effect to make them look good, indeed I’m thinking of putting the wood effect on all the covers and surrounds in the centre console, however I’d prefer to replace the damaged pieces.
LED panels - An equally tricky issue as the left side is missing pixels, the right seems to be just bright light and the centre unit with all the illuminated icons has only a few symbols showing at start up. I don’t know how to grapple with this, are replacements available?
A few pics to illustrate the downside
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This of course means that you will soon see me searching for bits in the Sales & Wanted area - and also looking for advice throughout the forum
Thanks for reading this, it helps to make me feel better!