Anyone had experience of a failed oil level sensor? Anita's car is giving a permanent low oil level warning in spite of a correct level.

I'm *supposing* that it's just a float switch but I haven't yet located a circuit to prove it; I'd like to be able to test the thing before I swap it out since immediately after removing it one can expect a gallon of engine oil to follow it out of the sump...

Gaz, ex of Solo Italia has one.
Might be worth pm-ing him

Totally different car but a chap down the road from me had this problem on a Toyota and he changed the sensor but it turned out to be some strange sensor or filter inside the sump.....anyway if you do change the sensor and the problem persists this info might be relevant.

Thanks guys.

What's the difference between a Cupra and a Cupra R? Just wondering why Cupra R is a lot more expensive?

Software, some fancy alloys, and 25bhp. As far as I know.

As mentioned above, it's a sensor that you can see underneath the sump. Easy to change iirc, I remember seeing it on my Lotus Elise (with 1.8T power).

Barnacle I was thinking of getting myself a Cupra so I have been browsing. I have got to forget all that racing frivolity now though because my son needs a bit of help to afford a course. Maybe next summer ...

TBH Annie I hate it; it's the most boring car I've ever driven. It's competent and quick, but unless you're going at eleven tenths - which I never do on the road - it's simply not involving.

Other people's opinions differ, naturally.

Oh! What cars do you like Barnacle, other than the Coupe?

Can't really say - I change them so rarely. The Bravo's OK, but other than the kit - 800kg 2-seater with a 20vt engine it - that's the only car I've bought in the last 13 years.

I've enjoyed other Italian cars in the past, and I like the general quirkiness of some of them, though I haven't forgiven Fiat for the 500L. Fancy a Panda sometime.

Some of the Fords I've had as rentals over the year have handled well, but with no great excitement over the engine noise; similarly Vauxhalls have been OK if you ignore the dreadful cabin plastics.

The last Japanese car I drove was a 240Z, which was fantastic, and a 120Y which was a testbed for a kitcar and bloody awful in just about every way. Early MX5 is interesting; later ones less so.

But my next car, if I can't afford a recent Maserati, is likely to be a Barchetta. Fancied a new Fiat 124 until I saw one in the flesh and discovered it's bigger than the damn coupe - someone lost the plot there...

I love the Maserati styling, of all of them, and there are a few going for about £10,000. I love the Barchetta but not sure how I would get on with left hand drive. Cars generally are getting bigger all the time. Even an old family car like the Ford Capri looks tiny compared to modern cars. Bigger means safer I guess - more metal to protect you. If I could afford one I would love an Alfa Romeo Spider - one of the old ones from the '60s.

Bigger means more mass to accelerate and decelerate; less fuel efficiency, more crowded roads, more crowded parking...

A car should be as big as it needs to be, and no more.

Well said Mr C. Chapman!

God's teeth, how many remember him and his mantra now?

People seem to quote it all the time without actually appreciating it. I think even lotus themselves have forgotten it in recent years.