Testing times

MoT-test time can be a worry, even if you think you’re on top of your motor’s maintenance. Having said that, regular servicing and keeping on top of unforeseen faults (and their repairs) means test-time shouldn’t be quite as much a nail-biting, cigarette-puffing experience.

The Special’s Mentor was pressed into longer-distance service recently when its 3.0 X-type fellow fleet member decided to throw a rear suspension bush. As a result the Kia covered 450 miles in two days, visiting the Royal Automobile Club and collecting a cylinder head for the increasingly annoying MGB GT.

Like the X-type the Mentor, despite being down on the number of cylinders and CCs, easily cruised almost the entire length of the M4. It’s as comfortable as the Jaguar, has a decent radio and a reasonable turn of speed. Its heater is good too, as we found out during a cold snap.

Having collected the cylinder head from Berkshire it was straight back to West Wales to drop the Mentor in for a full service and its test.

Put simply, it passed with ease and even won praise for the garage and the tester for just how good it is after 21 years. OK, it had only seen 4191 miles pass under its re-furbished alloys in the past 12 months, but the result’s pleasing, and there were no test-induced headaches either.