Little bit of an update on the car here, because there are a few things of note.
Clutch - this is now perfect. After an initial 'tight spot' on the clutch pedal travel it's gradually smoothed out and now feels right, not ridiculously feather light and not so heavy it's a nuisance in traffic.
Brakes - brilliant, the stopping power is quite good. Now that everything is bedded in at the front I had to put a smidge of brake fluid back in. The handbrake still isn't great but then I still haven't got around to adjusting it to sort that out. I imagine it would pass an MoT and it does hold the car in hills so it's fine for now
Windscreen - at night it can be a bit of a chore, there's a lot of micro-scratches on it which some modern headlights in oncoming cars turn into horrible starbursts. I don't drive at night that often as I have little need to but with the nights drawing in this is going to become more of an issue I'm sure.
Engine and gearbox - absolutely fine. Amusingly torquey, and steady on the temperature, if anything it runs a little cool. I'm losing no coolant or oil, this car still doesn't mark its territory which, I think, is a first for one of my cars. Gearbox doesn't always like to select reverse but this is a problem I've had in quite a few of my cars now and one I live with. Reverse works fine, it's just occasionally you think you've selected it and then it pops out into neutral, a reselection of the gear always cures the issue. The gearbox itself has quitened down completely now and when the engine is at idle the loudest thing under the bonnet are the injectors.
Suspension - when wet (raining or just washed the car) there's an occasional creak from a bush at the rear. There's an occasional clonk from the front somewhere but I can't replicate it and it's only on full lock. My front tyres (Attracta Lassa, what a name) appear to now be square and are going to need replacing soon, that's not a fault of the car though, that's purely down to the rubbishness of the tyres.
Niggles - There's some niggles. Central locking doesn't work on the driver's side, so it's button to disarm and key to unlock. I've not opened up the doors to find out what's broken, it'll be something plastic no doubt. The wipers don't come on when you use the washer jets, I'm certain this is how it is from the factory but it is a bit annoying in a car of this age, I can forgive that sort of thing on something like my Princess. You can turn the headlights off by accident when indicating, as I found out today. The car will, and has, spun up the front tyres when changing into second gear. I'm putting this down to a combination of rubbish front tyres and occasional exuberant driving.
All in all though, it's a great little motor and one I'm more than happy with as previously stated. It's a very good fit. I'd like to tell you what my fuel usage is but I'm not getting through enough fuel to work it out, try as I might! So I guess it must be pretty good on the liquid dinosaurs.
