Top Tips for new owners

[AdoptedYorkie]

Ok, so as a very new owner of a lovely P340 R-Dynamic Auto, it got me thinking.

Having seen many other posts about people looking or recently purchased, to you experienced owners - what would be the best tip you could give to a newbie?

 

[WShudds]

- Drive it as much as possible under different conditions, on different modes, until you've learned the car's limits. Having done that, I now only drive in Dynamic mode.
- To Fuse 15 or not to Fuse 15, this is the question. I cross to the dark side and never looked back
- Tyres! Make sure you're running on UHP tyres, Pirelli P zero J (OEM) as a minimum and replace them at 3 mm
- Don't use a tunnel wash, 5 pound car wash as it will ruin the paintwork. The clear coat is more on the soft side and can scratch easily. Learn how to take care of it.
- Careful with the wider body. I scratched my rear passenger wheel driving into a very narrow car park entrance within days having never ever done that to any of my previous cars. It's been repaired now.
- List your previous cars here
https://www.ftypeforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=8304

 

[scm]

- Careful with the wider body. I scratched my rear passenger wheel driving into a very narrow car park entrance within days ...

It's not so much the wider body as the wider rear wheels and offset. Though the width did surprise me when I tried to park behind a Volvo and banged the kerb - those Volvos are so narrow! :shock:

 

[gasgas]

simple just get out and drive it, enjoy every second

 

[MajorTom]

Lots of good advice above. To put it short, enjoy it, take good care of it and it will take good care of you. But to be a bit more specific:

- Drive it properly and give it a good Italian tuneup every now and then. Good both for the car and you.
- Apply mechanical sympathy. When the water temp gauge has reached its normal level the engine isn't warm enough. Rule of thumb is to drive the car for 12-15 minutes before really opening it up.
- Only use good high octane fuel. On top of that a bottle of injector cleaner like BG44K once a year or so is good.
- Be aware of the length of the front of the car. It's probably longer up front than you're used to from other cars so be careful if you're parking with the front towards a kerb where the front parking sensors may not catch it and you can hit the front spoiler if not careful.
- Part of taking good care of it is to garage it if you can, although I realise that's often not possible in the UK.
- If you intend to leave it outdoors in rain or wash it - make sure to have the engine cover on and modify the engine cover by adding something on the sides that directs water away from the engine block. Especially useful if you have the open mesh vents which I believe you have.
- In hot dry summer weather, better keep the engine cover off.
- Consider blocking the symposer. It's a tiny completely reversable modification which takes a few minutes and improves the in cabin sound by removing unnecessary engine drone.
- Presuming that you have the LED lights, as long as you have a warranty, keep a close eye on the left hand side DRL which seems to fail more or less sooner or later in all facelift cars.
- Check the rubber along the side edges of the boot opening which tend to become loose over time and cause some odd in cabin noise at higher speeds.
- Get familiar with how to manually put the gearbox in neutral with the little strap in the centre cubby, to be ready in the unlikely event of needing to be towed. In connection to that, remove the cover that hides the strap and consider removing its clips to make it easier to remove if needed.

 

[Anonymous]

Tiny smear of silicone grease along all rubber door & window sealing strips. Doesn’t need much, just a tiny bit on your finger will do both sides.

Makes world of difference for the smooth opening & closing of doors/windows.

Dry rubbers cause juddering, strain on door window mechanism, can move rubbers out of place causing gaps & wind noise.

Only needs doing once a year. Small tin on eBay for £3.88

 

[mono-uk]

Ok, so as a very new owner of a lovely P340 R-Dynamic Auto, it got me thinking.

Having seen many other posts about people looking or recently purchased, to you experienced owners - what would be the best tip you could give to a newbie?

Dont bin it

 

[Kev]

Install a trickle charger/battery maintainer
Avoid Pirelli P-Zero (grip) and put either Michelin PS4S or Continental Sport Contact 7's on and you'll feel more confident with the grip, but do be aware that UHP (Ultra High Performance) tyres don't perform at their best when ambient temperatures are in single figures
Be prepared for compliments from strangers regarding the car
Keep on top of the service intervals
Don't ever mention Fuse 15 on the forum
Consider PPF in areas susceptible to stone chipping
If you don't already, use the two bucket method or snow foam etc. to wash the car
Keep the tailgate drain holes clear
Enjoy driving it!

 

[mickjaguar]

Keep an eye out for steep inclines and cambers at junctions etc. The plastic lip will make a horrible scraping noise, but it is designed to do this. You'll soon get used to spotting when ground clearance is poor and approach these at an angle rather than head on. Traffic bumps are never usually a problem.

Also, leave slightly more distance when being the first in the queue at traffic lights. That way you don't have to duck down to see when the lights go green.

 

[AdoptedYorkie]

Awesome tips everyone, thank you!

Useful to me, hopefully to others as well.

Is it just me or does the ride seem less choppy at very slow speeds (20mph ish) when in Dynamic mode?

 

[WShudds]

For me it's the opposite. The faster I go over less than perfect roads the less vibration through the cabin I get. On this point, I highly recommend that you get your wheels alignment checked. Mine were off by a lot and it caused the ride to feel twitchy over imperfections. It made a massive difference and I'll probably add this to my annual check list as I daily mine.

I used to think that alignment issues translated into pulling to either side but I've now realised that you can have zero pulling and either or both camber and toe off.

 

[Jaguandy]

You can choose suspension setting option amongst other things, when in dynamic mode.
Note the front parking sensors are only active after reverse has been selected (well, mine is like that).

 

[WShudds]

You can choose suspension setting option amongst other things, when in dynamic mode.

Active suspension (I think that's what's called) is not available in the P340, unfortunately.

 

[AdoptedYorkie]

For me it's the opposite. The faster I go over less than perfect roads the less vibration through the cabin I get. On this point, I highly recommend that you get your wheels alignment checked. Mine were off by a lot and it caused the ride to feel twitchy over imperfections. It made a massive difference and I'll probably add this to my annual check list as I daily mine.

I used to think that alignment issues translated into pulling to either side but I've now realised that you can have zero pulling and either or both camber and toe off.

Never even crossed my mind that!

Added to the list!!

It's a little bit of a project this car - it's in really good condition but there's a little bit of work here and there I'm going to do to bring the condition up a level. Tinkering, nothing more and almost all cosmetic

 

[Anonymous]

You can choose suspension setting option amongst other things, when in dynamic mode.
Note the front parking sensors are only active after reverse has been selected (well, mine is like that).

Is that true! I wondered why they didn't ping some times and other times did .

 

[scm]

You can choose suspension setting option amongst other things, when in dynamic mode.
Note the front parking sensors are only active after reverse has been selected (well, mine is like that).

Is that true! I wondered why they didn't ping some times and other times did .

Yep!

 

[WShudds]

You can choose suspension setting option amongst other things, when in dynamic mode.
Note the front parking sensors are only active after reverse has been selected (well, mine is like that).

Is that true! I wondered why they didn't ping some times and other times did .

I get my front sensors to work by pressing the parking button on the dash while at low/parking speed.

 

[MajorTom]

You can choose suspension setting option amongst other things, when in dynamic mode.
Note the front parking sensors are only active after reverse has been selected (well, mine is like that).

Is that true! I wondered why they didn't ping some times and other times did .

I get my front sensors to work by pressing the parking button on the dash while at low/parking speed.

And my front sensors go on automatically when the car thinks something is close enough... and can always also be enabled or disabled with the parking button on the dash.

 

[scm]

And my front sensors go on automatically when the car thinks something is close enough... and can always also be enabled or disabled with the parking button on the dash.

Really? Do you have the 10" screen - is it something introduced in MY18.5?

 

[BobHarrington]

Use and enjoy ~ don’t let it be a “Garage Queen”