Bit of a fleet update since I've now accumulated enough jobs to make it worthwhile typing them out.

It being the school holidays I've been busy out and about with the kids to keep them amused. We went down to a theme park with the kids, it was a good day out actually. Entry wasn't as pricey as I was expecting as we'd booked in advance, and food & drinks in the park were less wince-inducing than I was expecting too. We took the Dacia as my wife likes the higher-up seating than the Lexus, despite the Lexus having working air con, and the Dacia not. Then, a few days later we went up to see  family for a few days, again in the Dacia which was a very warm journey! I had the presence of mind to run the tank down before the first outing and reset the trip counter too. I was pleased to see that the trip computer was surprisingly accurate, according to the meter we averaged 55.3mpg over 15 gallons, and according to fuel-light-to-fuel-light we got 54.6mpg which I don't think is at all bad for 4-up plus luggage at motorway speeds, with predictable holdups and detours to avoid the worst traffic on the M25. The Dacia is booked in for a regas in a few weeks time, since its newfangled it needs R1234YF gas which is three times the price of the old stuff. I have opted to take it back to the main dealer since they're no more expensive for the job being done than ATS or anyone else, and if they find it to be damaged or leaky then I can just demand it be fixed under warranty there and then.

I did notice that the tracking seems to be a bit out on the Dacia as the front nearside tyre is wearing a bit on the outer shoulder. I might swap the tyres front to back soon and see if the same happens. By and large it doesn't go far, doing local jobs but it does get used for longer family trips too.

I had a rare day to myself today as my wife and the kids went out to some activity or other so I was able to strip and re-grease the sliders on the rear brakes of the Lexus. This is the only known weak spot of the IS250s, the slider design is a bit daft and they can seize up, giving weird pad wear and reduced brake performance. I had already replaced one caliper which was utterly seized earlier in the year, the other one was free enough that a clean up and re-grease got it working fine, but I resolved to make it a 6-monthly job to do. Happily it all came apart fine, the sliders were a bit dry but not at all corroded or seized and I was able to do both sides with new silicone grease without being nagged or rushed to finish. so thats another job done and dusted.

I have to say that after racking up so many miles in the Dacia, its nice to be back in the Lexus! I went out this morning in it, and its just effortless to drive. The Dacia isn't bad, but you need to use the gearbox a lot to keep the turbo spinning otherwise you really do find out what a NA 3 cylinder petrol engine is like! It drives fine, but the Lexus is just so comfortable, easy to drive and feels so much more planted.

Since the Lexus was up on stands with the rear wheels off anyway, I also took the time to fix* one of the other little niggles. The rear bumper has had a bit of a biff at some point prior to my ownership which has snapped the plastic above the lower fixing screw on the drivers side. Its not a huge issue, but its a bit flappy and was bothering me. Here it is:

Its split right round so the bottom of the leading edge is free to move about. I'm not quite sure how to fix this properly, probably some araldite would do the job, but would also reward being reinforced on the back somehow? Anyway, as a stop-gap I used a different professional* solution

Annoyingly, I only had one slim black cable tie, so used that plus two green ones to secure the two pieces back together better and I'll have a look at getting some epoxy glue and some sort of mesh/matting to go on the back at some point. The repair is so low down that its basically invisible unless you are lying down, but its still a bit ugly. I suppose the best option would be to remove the rear bumper and replace it with another 1G1 silver one, but I could do without that hassle and expense for the time being.

The Daihatsu is going well, and the exhaust is staying put now I have applied some exhaust assembly paste to the joint that slipped apart. I have booked a ticket to a new cars and food venue near-ish to home next month. They seem to have lots of different things on all week, I've got a ticket for their Japanese 'Daikoku Nights' event so we'll see how that goes. I'm not sure its going to be welcoming to eclectic oddities like my Daihatsu or its going to be full of Nissan GTRs and fire-breathing RX-7s and I'll be shoved into a corner and mocked. We shall see.