smoke and misery

Well that's overstating it (considerably) but I can't resist a good bit of word play. I'm sad but not miserable by any stretch.

Hobbes is still unwell after two months away at the garage having his turbo problem diagnosed and addressed (new turbo fitted). I've decided that I should have learned my lesson about complex, non-standard turbocharged engines with Frank* and that I have to bite the bullet and travel to get Hobbes looked after by a specialist. I was lucky with the SAAB that there was a great specialist in Edinburgh. With the Coupe I'll either be travelling to Essex or Oxford.

*sigh*

Not this month. For the time being Hobbes and his smoky engine can sleep in a cosy garage while I wait for my bank balance to recover and the weather to get warm enough to merit having a car to go and play in the countryside in.

* after an incident I could have sworn I blogged but don't seem to have. Short version: a well meaning, perfectly competent garage cost me an expensive repair by not understanding the specific needs of a 9000's quirky engine and servicing it wrong. I don't know that the garage who've been servicing Hobbes have done a similar trick, they're certainly competent as generalists... but they've repeatedly failed to sort this and are baffled by it. Time to call in the experts and probably stick with them.