Incame-4.2 Supercharged (6 months late posting this!) | |
Only about 6 months too late, but here we are anyway.
Had 3 utterly disastrous FFRR L322s, and swore I would never have another one . Had a jag E Pace D240 HSE Dynamic in 2020, provided free by our employer, but then we were both made redundant (Covid) and we decided that we would move permanently to our house in France. Had a week to organise 2 cars, so bought a 2003 BMW 745i (amazing car) and a 2003 Citroen Berlingo for £1500. Well, if you are going to live in France, you have to don’t you!!!
Now I like to think I am brave, but most people think I am stupid, but I bought these 2 cars and literally the next day drove them from Gloucestershire to France, just West of Limoges. Overnight. Me in the Berlingo and the wife and 2 German shepherds in the BMW. After 20 miles, I had cramp in my right toe from pressing the Berlingo accelerator to floor….just to maintain keep 65mph lol. It is the non turbo 1.9 diesel. By the time we arrived I was driving sitting sideways using my left foot to press the accelerator . After 13 hours though we arrived! Not a single issue from either car. Amazing.
6 months later the BMW wasn’t cutting it. No good for the dogs and not very practical for our general lifestyle of going everywhere with the dogs and lots of trips to the Alps for skiing. So once again I got an itch for a FFRR. Wife went mad, the previous 3 were just all terrible and I lost many £s. But no, I said, this time I am going to get a Supercharged, those bad boys are reliable!
Long story short, I bought (over Whatsapp!) a forum members 2006 55 plate pre facelift Supercharged Autobiography. Black, with black and cream seats. 1 previous owner and 89000 miles. Very complete service history and without giving too much detail, the seller shall we say, knows what’s what with LRs. No rust visible anywhere. New Bristol transmissions gearbox and new front airbags.
Dad died at the end of October, so I organised to collect on the drive back to Cheshire for his funeral. Off the ferry at Dover in the BMW at midnight and was near Weymouth at 3am. Since the seller decided that he didnt want to meet me at 3 am, and I didn't fancy waiting in a car for 6 hours, we decided that the seller would leave the keys under the wheel arch and I could leave the BMW behind to be collected a few days later (I got the train to Dorchester 2 days later and picked up the BMW, which was in the turn collected from my mums house in Cheshire a day after that by its new owner). Not a conventional way to collect a car, but hey ho.
Drove beautifully up to Cheshire and I was happy.
A week later I drove it back to France, overnight. Had a tedious drive as it was really foggy across France, but the car was great. For a while. Then I got restricted performance, while on cruise at 90mph, up a pretty steep 10km motorway hill. Codes was basically the aux coolant pump, so I reset and all was well. (I replaced the aux coolant pump which was both original and wired back to front from the factory-all has been well since). Only other issue is a suspension fault cross articulation fault which happens about every few months. A restart and all is well. Codes are fairly generic and I can’t pinpoint what’s causing it, but it seems that it only does it when it's wet. More investigations to follow.
Over the last 6 months, I have loved it. Put some new brakes on and while under there really checked the sills and arches and am pleased to say that even with the covers off, there is no rust at all. I might spray some wax over the underside at some point, what do you think?
As I have got more confident, I have driven it harder at times, and it’s really quite a machine-very comfortable and lots of power, which makes for a relaxing time. I even made it do some work yesterday towing…pic below.
Will update when I have something to say
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