In 1980, my first car, a 1969 Morris Minor, broke down on the M6 North bound, coming down off the Shap hill. In my enthusiasm for getting a bit more speed from good old gravity, I had pushed the car a little bit, and the High Tension lead vibrated itself off the coil and I lost all power instantly in the third lane. I managed to manoeuvre the car safely to the hard shoulder where a hard lesson in life ensued - namely - take a look under the bonnet yourself before calling out an expensive breakdown service, in case there's an obviously loose lead flapping about and a shiny terminal which it clearly pushes on to. Not an experience I ever wanted to repeat though, losing power in the third lane.
Since that Morris 1000 I have had no breakdowns, other than two tyre blowouts. I have had two Vauxhall Novas, a Ford Fiesta, a Triumph Spitfire, a Renault Five, a Toyota Corolla, A Ford Granada, a Ford Sierra, a Vauxhall Cavalier, a Ford Mondeo, a Honda CR-V, a Landrover Freelander, a Renault Laguna, a Nissan X-Trail, another Honda CR-V and two Honda Jazz's. Most of these cars were owned from new, with the exception of the Morris 1000, Mini, Spitfire, Granada, Sierra and Jazz's.
I have had my HR-V less than three weeks, and then last night, whilst driving up the M6 I the third lane, on comes the engine warning light, 'limp home' mode is initiated and suddenly I am driving a brick at 50mph when everything all round me is doing 65mph or more! Very frightening indeed. I managed to get across to the hard shoulder where, 75 minutes later, a mechanic rocked up with a handheld computer to read the fault code and reset the fault, then send me on my way.
Thanks for that Honda. All confidence in my new vehicle has been deleted. I hope it can be rebuilt, we will see. Certainly the dealership has been very responsive in getting e car booked in and getting me a replacement vehicle. But this is not the experience you want or expect from a brand new car.
HR-V 1.6iDtec Ex
(Also posted elsewhere)
