Jonathan

NCT is Republic of Ireland not Norn Ireland 🤣

Government run naturally!

I got a cancellation at short notice, booked on a Sunday and it was on the Tuesday afternoon, although it was in Larne which is about an hour from here. They're talking about making the test every two years as they may never get a handle on the backlog. For those interested, the MOT testing centres were turned into covid testing facilities causing an initial backlog, then separately cracks were discovered in some of the lifts in the centres which are being replaced, causing more delays.

Hi everyone, new member here introducing you to my '98 Accord coupe. It's great to read the posts and see the photos and you seem to enjoy a story, so here's mine. My Mk5 Golf died suddenly last February breaking my heart not mention my wallet having just put a new clutch in. Traumatised by the loss of three Golfs in a row, my plan was to pick up something Japanese for £2-3k and the first advert I saw late one night was this charming motor priced at £1500. Leather interior, automatic, low mileage, quirky, what more could I ask for? Called the number the next day and he'd sold it already. I was gutted and ended up buying a 2015 Toyota Auris, but kept browsing Facebook for anything interesting. Fast forward to August and the Honda appeared for sale again here in Belfast. The seller listed it for £1800 which was cheeky but I went to have a look. He was a young Chinese guy now working in London and with the car not being ULEZ friendly he was looking rid. The paperwork revealed she is originally from Chelmsford, has had 8 owners and a comprehensive service history including, to my delight, a timing belt, water pump and a few other items to the tune of £600 in December '22. I knew I had to have her and after a few days of negotiations the deal was done at £1500. She has been my daily driver since then. In October I drove down to County Kerry to see a friend. It's a 700 mile round trip and I was pretty nervous, it's a long drive in any car. On the motorway she was a delight with fuel economy to dream of compared to the urban mpg which one shouldn't dwell on in polite company ... She developed a metallic scraping sound on that trip which turned out to be brake shoes which I had seen to, followed by £500 for a caliper and other brake bits. I had an oil change done around the same time and a few weeks ago she sailed through the MOT test, which is more rigorous over here in government-run testing centres. I get admiring or curious looks every few days and fend off any potentially hostile enquiries about driving "such an old car" by pointing out that I reached the stage in life where I wanted a luxury coupe and I have one. It just happens to be 26 years old. PS Not sure if this pic is loaded or not, will check later and add more if so.