To discover how lightly a full service history is treated, I visited a used car dealer and a franchise dealer in search of a couple of used cars out of warranty. I hoped they’d have poor service histories and wondered how the sales staff would handle the situation. At the used car dealer, I quickly identified my target motor: a 2011- reg Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 TDI S line with 135,000 miles, priced at £4395. The salesman produced its service book, which showed only four services had been carried out: one at 21,000 miles in 2012, another at 44,000 miles at the end of the same year and a third in 2013 at 67,000 miles, all by Audi dealers, and then nothing until early 2019 when, at 130,000 miles, it was serviced by an independent garage. Unfazed by this revelation, the salesman said he had the previous owner’s word that the car had been serviced regularly during the intervening six years and 63,000 miles. So that was all right then… I left, pondering the meaning of service history. The Audi had some but by no means could it be described as full. In any case, I wondered, what is full service history? Is it an unbroken line of services performed every year or 12,000 miles, or at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals? Is it full only when all the minor and major services have been carried out, in addition to other periodic work? If that was the case, you’d have to scrutinise all the workshop invoices to find out exactly what was done. Amazingly, some dealers do, which is why they put a higher value on full invoice history as distinct from full service history. On that point, a friend recently had his 2016-reg Volkswagen Scirocco TDI, which had done 33,000 miles, serviced at a VW dealership. It was due a major service, but because he’s planning to sell it in February 2020, he opted for a minor. In doing so, his vehicle missed, among other things, a change of air, fuel and pollen filters, and a thorough, wheels-off brake check. Not that the car’s next owner will know. They will see from the service book that the Scirocco has a full service history, yet on one occasion, it had a minor service when it should have had a major. Webuyanycar.com is one company that takes service history rather more seriously. It defines a full one as conforming to the manufacturer’s schedule. It also advises that car buyers find out what service the car is due to have next since, if it’s a major, for example, it could be expensive. From the dealer with the Audi A3, I popped into a franchise dealer, a Renault agent. My attention was caught by a Captur Dynamique S Nav TCe, a 2015-reg model that had done 35,000 miles and was priced at £8295. The salesman agreed that service history was important and recounted a story concerning one of his customers who, on the day he was due to collect his new Renault, handed over the service book for his part-exchange, a four-year-old Vauxhall Zafira. “It had no service stamps in it,” said the salesman. “I couldn’t give him what I’d offered for his car, and when I told the trader who had agreed to buy it that it had no service history, he reduced his offer by £1750. My customer ended up selling his Zafira to a car buying company for £1000 less than I’d originally offered him.” He now entered the Captur’s details on Renault’s ICM online workshop database, intending to show me its service history. It recorded the car as having its PDI (pre-delivery inspection) in August 2015 – and then nothing. He hurried off in search of the car’s service book. When he eventually returned, it showed the car had been serviced just twice, at 22,000 and 26,000 miles, both services carried out by an independent garage in 2018. There were no invoices to show what work had been done. “They’ll probably have been oil changes,” said the salesman. “In any case, the Captur can go for 40,000 miles without one.” In fact, the model’s oil change interval is 18,000 miles or two years. I asked the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) what it thinks about dealers glossing over the fine detail of service histories in this way. Sue Robinson, its director, said: “It is essential that franchised retailers provide their customers with clear and accurate information about the service history of a vehicle. Transparency and integrity are vital to our sector.” Was the motor trader that the Renault salesman mentioned right to penalise the four-year-old Zafira without service history to the tune of £1750? Derren Martin, head of valuations at Cap HPI, says the cost of having no service history depends on factors including current vehicle supply and demand, the make of the car and whether it’s still in warranty. “It’s a complex picture,” he said. “At the moment, the supply of used cars is high but demand is low, so anything less than perfect – for example, a car with little or no service history – has to be priced to sell. “In a normal period, the cost of no service history is about £500 on a
Origin: A car’s service history: what is it really worth?
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You can book an overnight stay in the Wienermobile — really
Have you ever wanted to sleep inside of a hot dog? No? Well We cant say we have either, but now that opportunity is being afforded to us anyway, by way of the Oscar Mayer Wiener company, and its mystery(-meat) mobile.A new Airbnb ad promises a comfortable nights stay for two in an actual Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, and frankly, were relishing the thought.Located in Chicago, the overnight stay will put you right in the centre of the city, able to explore everything it has to offer but mostly, yknow, its tube-meat selection, since Chicago is known for its excellent hot dogs stuffed with toppings. Those toppings are also stuffed into the mini-fridge of the Wienermobile, which will allow you to dress your dog to the nines. With your stay, youll also receive a welcome kit, which comes with a bunch of hot dog paraphernalia (who doesnt want that?) including local hot dog art, an Oscar Mayer roller grill and more hot-dog-inspired accessories to enjoy after a music-filled, festival day.Bookings to stay in the big dog open July 24th, so make sure to watch the listing to throw your wiener into the
Origin: You can book an overnight stay in the Wienermobile — really
Are bigger wheels really ruining ride quality?
You’ll have read plenty on these pages over the years about how a car’s wheel size affects how it drives. There’s a reason why we bang on about it with such regularity: yes, there may be style benefits to upgrading to the most extravagant rims, but more often than not they have an adverse dynamic impact. Yet it appears our protestations are falling on deaf ears. Wheels are continuing to get larger across every new car category, and buyers keep on lapping them up. The rise of the SUV has also had a marked effect, with most running wheels and tyres substantially larger than their hatchback or saloon equivalents for that chunky look. So, we thought the best way to illustrate this was to get two cars together from either end of the spectrum: a Mini Cooper hatchback and a DS 7 Crossback SUV. The latter is running the kind of typical wheel-and-tyre combo that you will find in many well-specced premium SUVs: a 20in alloy shod in 235/45 profile Continental ContiSportContact 5s. The size of the Mini’s, on the other hand, were commonplace a decade ago but are now among the smallest on the market: 15in alloys shod in 175/65 profile Michelin Energy Savers. Direct comparisons between the two shouldn’t be fair, as one is a sportily set up supermini and the other is a comfort-focused SUV, but here’s the surprise: by our reckoning, the Mini has a smoother, more consistent and ultimately more comfortable ride. On our control route, mixing town roads with B-roads of varying speed and surface quality, the Mini’s combination of firm-yet-composed damping and squidgy sidewalls shone through. You’re always aware of the road surface passing beneath you, yet both primary and secondary ride comfort is strong, the body stays level, while even the worst surface disruption or potholes are ably dealt with. How much of that is down to the wheels is open to debate, but we’ve tried Minis with larger wheels and tyres that are much less absorptive over nasty potholes. The DS 7, on the other hand, is a master of inconsistency. The supple set-up gives the illusion of comfort as you float over speed bumps and bound over crests, yet a tricky road surface (of which there are many in the UK) sees the springs and dampers struggle to control the wheel movements. Around town big bumps audibly shudder and crash through the chassis, while even at speed poor surfaces cause it to thump and fidget. Mid-corner potholes can easily throw the SUV off course, too. (For balance: I’m now running a DS 7 on 19in wheels that is noticeably better in this regard.) So why is this the case? David Pook, formerly a vehicle dynamics manager at Jaguar Land Rover who now heads his own vehicle dynamics support firm, VEDynamics, explains. “One thing that does change is the unsprung mass,” he says. “Take a 22in wheel and tyre and it could be upwards of 40kg on the scales. Now imagine that 40kg mass hitting ridges and potholes and how much energy it will transfer back to the body, which then needs to be controlled and absorbed.” Indeed, we checked the unsprung weight on an unscientific set of bathroom scales, the Mini’s weighing in at around 14kg and the DS 7’s nearly twice that at 26kg. With the DS 7 the heavier car by a mere 235kg, it seems to be the SUV’s substantial extra mass of unsprung weight, alongside inadequate damping to compensate, that has the main effect here. Pook claims big wheels aren’t the only factor to consider, however. “It’s never one single thing – not tyre stiffness, nor mass in isolation – but a combination of factors,” he explains. “The tyre is a complex spring-and-damper system all in one, so one will ride worse than the other because of its damping inside. All of this changes depending on the load the tyre is carrying and its inflation pressure. A big tyre or small sidewall doesn’t necessary equal a poor ride, it’s just a different balance or challenge.” Cars, then, that have been designed to feature large wheels from the off, or those with more advanced suspension systems, can mitigate the influence of the extra size and weight. There may yet be a technical solution that completely offsets the effect, too. But there’s more than just ride quality to contemplate. Bigger, heavier wheels often mean worse fuel economy, while the cost of tyres is also worth considering. Using tyre comparison site Blackcircles.com, we were quoted more than £200 for the same tyres on the DS 7, compared with £128 for the 18in wheel option. The Mini’s tyres were a mere £67. Finally, bigger wheels are far easier to kerb, a particular problem for SUVs that get used on rough terrain. Is it still worth it? For some, yes. Bigger wheels help offset the sheer visual bulk of modern cars, while the lower tyre profile (in theory) improves cornering stability. But for those who don’t consider that a priority, we would advise thinking again before upgrading. Smooth operators with snazzy wheels While some chassis development engineers accept the
Origin: Are bigger wheels really ruining ride quality?
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