Another crap and inconsequential update; originally to kill time while I waited for my lunch to cook but it's overspilled and now I feel committed
The car had its MOT about a month ago and did me well; passing with the only small advisories being stuff I was already aware of
I'm now on my 2nd tank of fuel and what few miles I've done in the car had thankfully been mostly free from the ominous flickering of the battery warning light I'd experienced a while ago, however recently it started coming on if left idling for any length of time and a few weeks ago I took the piss somewhat by (unsuccessfully) trying to jump start my old knackered, yet to be got rid of car from the Honda.
This resulted in the warning light coming on again; only going off when it was revved beyond 3500rpm. I decided to go out for a "spirited" drive to recharge the battery, however this proved to be a terrible idea and I limped home 10 minutes later with hardly any headlights, no power steering, no instrument cluster lights..
From the symptoms I was pretty sure it was the alternator so dropped £140-odd on a new one; and after charging the battery off-car an hour and a half in the rain last weekend saw it fitted with the car so far having behaved itself.
Apart from the cack steering I've grown to quite like it as it's fairly enthusiastic and fun to drive. The last full tank recorded around 42-43mpg, which I hope might be improved upon further since that will have included a fair bit of idling during the MOT.
Sadly since I'm moving home in less than a week I'll be riding a lot less and driving a lot more; which I guess will be the acid test of the car's ongoing reliability..