What have you done to your MK 7 today ?

[Booth11]

Rebecca: Immobiliser activation distance can be set from 1metre to 5 metres.

Cheers Asker 

[am1w]

Rebecca: Immobiliser activation distance can be set from 1 metre to 5 metres.

Cheers Asker 

If it is set at 1 metre, and because the sensors are hidden somewhere secret in the car, it can immobilise the car easily if the fob control is not on one's self. Great, if you leave the car parked away from home and over a period. It will always be immobilised unless you are in the driver's seat with the fob on your person. If the fob is in the boot in your bag or jacket, then you've had it for a 1 metre set distance.

Great fun playing around with it.

An additional feature that can be installed is that the moment the OBD port is accessed or someone triea to start the car, a text message will be sent to your mobile phone. Then car can also be immobilised totally by text.

The great thing is that no one will know that such a system has been installed. It is quite invisible.

[Booth11]

If it is set at 1 metre, and because the sensors are hidden somewhere secret in the car, it can immobilise the car easily if the fob control is not on one's self. Great, if you leave the car parked away from home and over a period. It will always be immobilised unless you are in the driver's seat with the fob on your person. If the fob is in the boot in your bag or jacket, then you've had it for a 1 metre set distance.

Great fun playing around with it.

An additional feature that can be installed is that the moment the OBD port is accessed or someone triea to start the car, a text message will be sent to your mobile phone. Then car can also be immobilised totally by text.

The great thing is that no one will know that such a system has been installed. It is quite invisible.

Thanks.  Sounds like a great piece of kit and a good investment for peace of mind. That said, I hope it never has to be activated 

[Sootchucker]

Well, strictly speaking yesterday.....painted my brake disc hubs as they were starting to show the first signs of rust after 18 months. The rears were worse than the fronts, but not too bad and it seems better than many on here have posted before. Just bugged me that whenever I cleaned the car, I could always see some brown rust spots on the bells, so thought it was time I got it sorted.

Took about 2 hours in total. Wheel off one at a time, area around fully masked and the bell rubbed down with fine grade wire wool until lovely and smooth. Then 3 light coats of hammerite smooth silver spray paint. Worked a treat. The only difficult part was releasing the electronic parking brake so that I could rotate the disc as I sprayed at the rears, and having to slip the DSG into neutral so that I could do the same with the fronts. Very pleased for 2 hours work and should now see me though for at least a further couple of years.



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[Cossieian]

That looks great Sootchucker
Can I ask where's the best place to jack car up with a trolley jack and put axle stands, I'm doing my hubs next week so would be helpful to know.
I assume it would need to be a very calm day as to avoid any overspray?

[monkeyhanger]

First commute in the R this morning. Tried to drive exactly like I would in the GTD for mpg comparison purposes (of course that didn't work - there's a stretch towards the end of my commute when everything is nicely warmed up that I couldn't resist putting my foot down for a little harder than I would've done in the GTD).

29mpg was the end result for my 14 mile commute, the equivalent of 48mpg in a GTD (assuming the R is proportionally at 60% of where the GTD should be, as per the official figure differences between the 2 cars). I might've gotten 48mpg today in the GTD if I was lucky. For the early part of the journey, a lack of cars on the road this morning meant I was able to maintain 80mph rather than 65-70, so the R was definitely going a bit quicker GTD would have been on the average commute. Don’t forget that we’re also comparing a “tight as a drum” new R against a GTD with almost 18k miles on the clock.

The ride is a little firmer on the 19" wheels when going over the rough building surfaces*,  not enough to regret living with Cadiz or not speccing DCC.

*The Newcastle/North Tyneside area is undergoing a lot of roadworks at the moment - the local councils seem hell bent on eradicating roundabouts and so increasing the time anyone is waiting for their turn at the new lights, congestion has shot up in the areas that have already been done - that's progress for you.

I've decided that the Soundaktor is too loud on the commute, I might have to give "Normal" a try to see how loud that is and make adjustments downwards towards it for Race mode (which will also quieten the "normal" setting proportionately too, rather than there be a separate noise level to adjust for normal?)

Sootchucker - my rear discs have a little rust around the hubs already - unsure whether this is just deposits from venting drainage (likely) rather than the hubs themselves being rusty at this stage.

[Sootchucker]

I have a old hockey puck with a slot cut in it (the same width as the slot in the supplied jack head), and using this on my trolley jack I can jack us using the factory jacking points under the front and rear sills (where the arrows are). It's easy to spot if you get down low as in those areas the sill plates are welded double thickness to take the weight of the car. Obviously you don't need a hockey puck, a trolley jack with a decent head will do, but in that case just put some cloth double folded onto the jack head to prevent the metal head of the jack scratching the sill (although it's out of view normally).

Yes, a good idea to do it on as wind free day as possible, but TBH, I just just very short bursts of spray at a time then carefully rotated the brake disc a little bit at a time. This prevents loads of over-spray and also makes your paint go further. My can of hammorite still feels full !

[Sootchucker]

I have to say MH, that R of your looks drop dead gorgeous, if I could justify one (to the other half), it would pretty much be a as yours, 5 door, Lapis and Prets, but with DSG instead of a manual.

Not jealous at all.... Enjoy, you waited long enough.

[fredgroves]

I'm quite sure you get USB rather than an MDI if you've gone Nav Pro, but someone with Nav Pro will be able to confirm or deny that.

Yes, USB with NavPro. (my car is from April 2014)

[monkeyhanger]

Today I commuted to work on Eco mode in the R (more to get a feel for how the car will sound with the Soundaktor off) and it did 29mpg without really altering my driving style. We were a little later in setting off, so the free-flowing traffic was moving a little slower (maintaining 65-70 on the coast road). This compares with 29mpg achieved  in Race mode yesterday and maintaining a quicker cruise for the 5 miles on the coast road. Eco mode seems utterly pointless, for the shorter journeys at least.

Not surprised really, it had no benefit for me on the GTD either – but it really blunts the throttle response.

Last night I had a leisurely drive up to Blyth to pick up a new rabbit cage (we got another house rabbit recently), driving along the North Sea coast via Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, Seaton Sluice and finally Blyth (11 miles each way). There was no opportunity to put your foot down apart from a small stretch of dual carriageway near Blyth (so I did), pootling at 30-40mph most of the way and got 35mpg. Obviously nowhere near the GTD, but demonstrates nicely that (for a high powered petrol car) it can give you some decent mpg returns if you’re not pressing on (and you don't need to be in eco mode to get it).

The R seems to get to around 22mpg very quickly (within 2 miles), and then you see the small incremental gains as the journey goes on thereafter.