September 2001
Doesn't qualify for the News at www.honestjohn.co.uk But in his Sunday Times column today, the best motoring writer of all time, lifelong Marlboro smoker and hater of vehicles that smoke confesses to having chopped in his Landbruiser 4.5V8 for a much more sensible 4.2 VX DIESEL. His simple logic is that it is the best 7-seater 4x4 on or off the road. That's good enough for me.
HJ Read more
Interesting motoring section in this weeks Saturday telegraph, interesting to see the Transport Research Group Director not towing the government line.
Gatso's are nonsense
But so is the wider way the roads are policed
We should not just be knocking the government?s crazy way of running the transport system, we should also start listing some of the obvious positive suggestions to make things better
For instance (off the top of my head)
- less bans, more retraining, retests, e.g. court tells you to take X hours of driver training in the next 2 months and pass a retest in the next 4 months - is much more likely to improve the driver than a ban
- start attacking really dangerous behaviour (e.g. double parking outside schools, parking on crossing zig zags (unless there?s a bus stop there - ARE YOU LISTENING READING COUNCIL?), get the one inch from the car in front of them idiots in court, prosecute each and every time somebody rear ends another vehicle, prosecute each and every time somebody pulls out into the path of a motorcycle ("I didn't see him" is not a good enough excuse), massively improve police driver training, stop police vans from being allowed to chase offenders etc etc
Also the way the mandarins running town planning/road depts up and down the land are filling the land with speed bumps and ever-thinner roads, is absolutely not helping road safety. We need good alternative suggestions (like hey police lock up the real hard nut joy riders than cause mass frustration)?
Etc
There should also be a distinction between, going out in the morning knowing full well you are breaking the rules (e.g. Car obviously unroadworthy etc, Mot out of date, or no insurance etc), and a momentary bad decision. The first of these two is far and away the worst in my opinion.
The political desire to cut down on car use should not be led by negative ?turn the drivers into criminals and take their licence away and price them out of driving?, it should be based on positive ideas that improve the country, such as where possible better alternatives. If for instance there was better security at train station/park and ride etc car parks (such as security patrols) ? then drivers may feel more inclined to leave there cars there. This really isn?t rocket science is it ? Read more
Bill
The 250 (233) is going OK, but is in for a new front tyre and pads at the moment.
Does anyone have advice on the best way to remove an dealership window sticker which seems to be super-glued on and made from some alien material so brittle that you can just about peel off 1mm at a time. I'm worried about damaging the rear window heating element?
It also almost fills the rear view window - toyota avensis hatchback!
Thanks,
Basis Read more
Nitromoors (paint stripper).
Just be a bit careful when applying it - nasty stuff!
I have a 52 plate 2002 model 318ci 2 litre cabriolet,seats a little too firm its also a bit underpowered auto box not too bad though changes gear smooth enough, frequently have to top up on oil, its nice and quiet when the hard top is fitted electric roof a litle hit and miss most of the time it works but just now and again it fails to go up/down but i still like this car think id opt for a bigger engine though boot space pretty good if you have the roof up but shrinks a lot when you move the divider down mines done 129000 miles now but still feels pretty tight bodywork is goos apart from some rust on one front wheel arch Read more
I am considering buying a 2000 mondeo 1.8 but wonder whether I should go for the basic 1.8 or the zetec version. Whats the difference, apart from the spoiler on the back of the zetec and the price difference of a few hundred pounds. Is the zetec engine markedly superior?
What would people recomend? Read more
Marc,
The LX is about 700 quid cheaper than the Zetec. Apart from not having alloys, the LX does not have the aluminium trim - which is very nice and real aluminium - and a few other bits and pieces, including colour coding of some body parts. That is all but it makes the Zetec a better package overall.
The autotrader is stuffed full of £1,500 cars with 12 months MoT.
Please keep buying new cars all you people so that I can enjoy low cost motoring for years to come.
Last year someone did the whole side of my banger in B&Q's car park, the front wing, both doors, the back panel - not bad - just cosmetic, no probs with MoT.
Imagaine if this had been a much newer car bought with my own money.
A proper repair {no filler} would have cost £1000s.
Neither the shop managmant or the rozzers wanted to know.
Another advantage of bangernomics !!!!!!!!!!! Read more
Bangernomics is nothing to do with James Ruppert, it's me. I never even realised he wrote a book of that title - I must have read a review years ago and just remembered the name, so I ended up using it as the title for my own site. Hope he doesn't sue.......
Anyone know the whereabouts of NUO 5 ? Used to belong to a Daf 55 in the 70's Read more
A Daf 55 as a getaway car,
he must of fancied spending time in a very small room with bars on the window.
as ever
Mark
(Sorry Steve I could'nt resist it)
I know that his is a car page but, next year I am hoping to buy a caravan to be towed with my Volvo 940 estate.
I am looking at 17? to 18? vans {500, 520, 550s}.
Which are the best ? twin or single axel vans. These lengths are available in both forms.
Any one any suggestion as to the best 5 berth van circa 1995, {3 small children}.
Thanks, Paul. Read more
The towing weight limit in the car handbook is often based on the maximum the car can do a hill start with, on 1 in 8 gradient. Conventional caravan wisdom is that this has little relevance to safe, stable towing and that the relevant figure is the maximum loaded weight of the caravan which should be only 85% of the car's kerb weight. If it is less, that is even better. A good towcar will have lots of torque at the engine revs you use to drive at cruising speed (50-60mph) so that it will not need downchanges for every slight slope. Short rear overhang,between rear wheels and towball will give less suspension sag and less vertical pitching on undulating roads.
I have always considered a good garage worth hanging on to. My local main agent has many cars in the locality due to the level of service offered, even though his new car prices are not competitive with other sources. I've stayed with them for over 20 years because I trust them: talk problems through with a technican who actually knows your car because he always works on it, be encouraged to engage in bangernomics, or helped to chose a new car.
All is not well however: The importers consider it a bad garage because it does not sell enough cars, the lifetime experience with the vehicle does not appear to count, so they are losing the franchise next month (along with lots of others, it's a national clearout)
Time and again on this site I have read of poor experiences with dealers. Moving metal is obviously more important than the whole package No wonder I was so unimpressed when I did look beyond my local when seeking a brand new vehicle. I am sure I could have bought cheaper, but the extra was worth every penny.
I suppose it's the modern way, service must come a poor second to hard cash. I shall stick with them, and will probably buy whatever marque they sell next. Who is being wise and who is stupid in this situation? Read more
near where i live used to be a austin dealer, in his used car showroom was the same cars every week, plus the prices were about £500 - £1000 more then other austin main dealers, but the service was excellent, plus he used to fix little bits and pieces for free, but he lost his dealership, which is a shame because as this is the north east people went instead to nissan, so austin/rover lost quite a few diehard enthusiasts.
My 1949 triumph roadster has been converted to run on unleaded,should I change the ignition timing,Ithink it is pinking. Read more
the one from bergerac was restored, as it was on show in jersey and guernsey when i was holidaying there.
Nice to see he's seen the light. Now all we have o do is convert QW.
I've been lucky enough to have a play with one of these things on and off road and it ranks as one of the best vehicles I have ever driven (and the first automatic that didn't annoy me). If only I had 40k burning a hole in my pocket ........