September 2001
Had a difficult question from a client this morning - This guy has in many ways been ahead of his time, several years ago he handed back his company car and has since had various older large quality cars (BMW/Honda/Audi) charging the Company mileage for the business use of his private car.
In view of the forthcoming reduction in mileage allowance from 63p to 40p his
question was ?What sort of smaller more economical car can I downsize to, that is still appropriate for me as MD of an engineering company?? He went on to say ?obviously it would be a false economy if I switch to something that leaves customers and staff wondering if the business is in difficulties?
What advice would backroomers have given?
PS In the past he has not spent more than £6k on his cars Read more
On these murky, misty mornings I see cars with no lights, side lights, dim-dip, dipped headlights, foglights - and all possible combinations! Isn't it time we adopted the Swedish and Canadian system where dipped headlights are on if the engine is running. I am sure there would be a reduction in accidents. Read more
I think bikes using headlights to make themselves more visible does work, I often see the light before the bike, but I wish bikers would stop using full beam. A modern bike, some with twin headlights, left on full beam are a pain in the eyeballs.
Colin
PS I know what you mean about the Volvo. Whenever there is someone obstructing traffic, blocking a middle lane or whatever, look to the head of the problem and it's invariably a Volvo estate!
Recently acquired a Mondeo 2.0 petrol, 2000 on a X plate, 15,000. All going well until last couple of days when the clutch action has been getting heavier and heavier. Any thoughts on whats happening - can I expect to be stranded pretty soon?
Cheers Read more
The hydraulic action for the clutch is by an integrated slave cylinder/release bearing assembly within the bellhousing. These set-ups are notoriously unreliable.
David
As regular visitors to The Back Room will know, there are likely to be some changes to the way the forum operates in the fairly near future.
One of them will be to do with registration. Almost certainly the new software will mean we will introduce some form of pre-registration. The effect of this will be that, although -- just as at present -- anyone can browse through all of the threads in the forum, for those who want either to answer an existing message or to begin a new thread it will be necessary to be a registered contributor. The one-time process of registration merely establishes that people who contribute to The Back Room are who they say they are, and it will mean that they will need to have a valid and current email address to which we can send log-in details. (This *doesn't* mean that contributions will be required to include the sender's email address, nor does it mean that senders cannot use nicknames. Contributors will be able to remain as private or as public as they like, just as now. The registration process will be completely opaque as far as the forum is concerned -- and, too, the Data Protection Act prohibits me from revealing registration data to third parties even if I wanted to -- which of course I wouldn't.)
The reason I'm posting this now, well before the date of the proposed change, is that I know some of the people who regularly contribute don't have their own email address. They post their contributions from their office email, or use their school's or their grandma's. So for these people the most convenient solution is to use some form of web-based personal email address, the most popular of which is Hotmail. The advantage of this is that they only need to have access to the Internet -- through any computer -- to send and receive email messages. For those who don't know how to set up such an account, here's a short tutorial (based upon Hotmail).
Go to www.hotmail.com and click on the "Sign up" link near the top of the page. Fill in the details (you'll need to have decided upon the name you want to use -- and be prepared to change it to a variation, because no doubt your first choice will already belong to someone else -- and a password) and hey presto! you have a Hotmail account. Most of the usual email facilities are there, but instead of being tied to a specific computer, or to your (or your boss's) service provider, everything is stored online and is completely personal to the user.
That's really all there is to it, and hopefully there'll be enough time for Back Room visitors to set this up if they need to. Read more
Thank you Martyn, I log on from home, work and occasionally from the car or hotel room via mobile. Long live Hotmail!
After several months of trying my dealer has diagnosed a fault with the instrument console on my 2 year old Fiesta Zetec, as being caused by the console itself! and so ordered the replacement, to be fitted under warranty. When the car was returned the original white faced dials had been replaced with standard black ones. The garage informed me and ford confirmed that this was all that was now manufactured.
Am I in a position to insist that Ford replace like for like? Bearing in mind that the car is just over two years old. The change has affected the ?sporty? character of the car, and will no doubt impact on the resale value.
Any advice would be very welcome.
Thanks
Nick Read more
Thank you everyone for your usefull comments. I will put it to ford that the car has lost value as a result and see what they say.
Unfortunately I'm not sure of the part no. but thank you for the offer.
Thanks again
Nick
Just to pick up on a couple of recent threads; coming into work this morning on the M62 showed how right many are in this forum:
Weather wet, mist and spray but visibility not too bad, traffic doing about 65, lots of LGVs road long gentle climb on the top of the moors between J23 Hudderfield and J22 Ripponden, heading west. On the bike in the 3rd lane leaving about 3 seconds gap by the lampposts. Brake lights start to come on in the line of traffic ahead so start to slow down. The car I am behind (Silver Vectra) no brake lights. Suddenly brake lights come on and it swerves violently into lane 2 undertaking traffic in lane 3 at a rate of knots, just lucky that no one is already in lane 2. Fish tales a bit then back in control but going very slow. Me braking hard and looking at mirror and rhs of car in front to go between it and barrier if any cars too close behind, none. Traffic picks up speed Vectra stays in lane 2 doing about 50 with double the safe distance to car in front. As I go past have a quick peak, he is either chewing his nails, eating his breakfast or on the phone. Overall the accident that got away, but if lane 2 had of been full god only knows what would have been the result.
Morale:
Don?t drive to close, keep the speed to the conditions, look after your tyres. Read more
HJ
A good definition of tailgating would seem to be being closer than your reaction time, so that even if the two vehicles decelerate at the same rate a shunt will occur.
I agree that whether you can see through (or round or over) the vehicle ahead has a bearing on the distance that you leave. In my case I work on the principle that if you can't see what is going on in front of the vehicle ahead then leave an extra long gap.
Being tailgated worries me, in case I have a situation which requires me to brake and I know that the pr@ behind won't be able to slow down in time. Best to let them pass.
A few years ago I was going along the North Circular Road and some silly billy was steaming up behind other vehicles and braking down to their speed at the last minute. I overtook him a mile or so further on, with his car mated with another.
Bill and Michael:
Similar thing happened to me on the M1 when a car undertook a group of cars in lane 3, the lead car in the group hadn't seen him coming and braked when the undertaker pulled back outin front of him. Result was brakes lights all over the place. I stopped safely, the car behind locked up and spun 180 degrees, coming towards me backwards scraping the central crash barrier, grinding to a halt a few feet behind me.
Regards
Brian
A friend has suggested that you cannot hot-wire diesels because of the need to warm the coils up first. Assuming you always lock your car and fit a steering wheel lock of some kind, does that make cars with diesel engines less likely to be nicked by joyriders and 'chancers'? And is it always obvious whether a car runs on petrol or diesel? Because if not, would a large sign in the window saying 'diesel, harder to nick' be a worthwhile precaution in areas of high car crime? Read more
Sorry the PS was meant for Guy.
David
One of my regulars has asked for my opinion on a car he is considering buying. It's a 735i, auto, E reg 110k, iffy history but the dealer will give a years mechanical warranty and a fresh MOT. I have advised him that it will be thirsty and expensive to repair. Asking price is £2000, I feel that is VERY strong as I have seem them locally at £250 -£300. Any thoughts before I go back to him?
Thank you gentlemen.
P.S. DW no offence re C & L-R Read more
Guy
The risks of expensive failure outlined above surely indicate that spending a substantial sum on an LPG conversion isn't worth it?
Regards
John
Following on to the Diesel PM10 thread>
Due to the possible copyrighted nature of this news item, I will not post my name>
URINE MAY BE JUST THE TONIC FOR DIESEL EMISSIONS
A chemical originally extracted from urine could help reduce emissions from diesel engines.
A specially converted truck has been fitted with a urea solution injector and is now testing the theory.
Dutch scientists hope the urea could reduce diesel emissions by up to 80%.
Urea is a nitrogen-rich organic compound found naturally in urine which can now be manufactured.
It is injected into a catalytic converter where the heat converts it into ammonia.
It then reacts with the harmful nitrogen oxides transforming them into harmless nitrogen and water vapour.
New Scientist reports trucks with 230 gallon diesel tanks will need an extra 13 gallon tank for the urea solution.
The system is being developed by the Dutch national laboratory TNO, truck maker DAF and the catalytic converter manufacturer Engelhard. Read more
Anon,
The issue referred to here isn't particulates (PM10 etc), but nitrogen oxides. As it happens, for large industrial boilers, using urea injection plus a catalyst is an established way of reducing NOx emissions! No reason why it shouldn't work on a smaller scale.
So, the science is good, although the source of urea is unusual! Sounds awfully environmentally friendly - disposal of a common waste product by useful use. I'm just wondering though - would you need one of those blue blocks in the tank to kill the smell?
Regards
John
Regarding car insurance quotes, why do they ask for the value of the car, when any write-off payment is based on their own assessment anyway (and they don't reduce the figure you gave them year on year to allow for depreciation). Seems like an exercise in time wasting. Read more
> ....well, yes *but* u can insure on an "Agreed Value" which,
> altho pricey, says that the Insurance Co. will give u the
> agreed value of the motor at the time of the writing of the
> policy.
Not neccessarily. They can, although it is much less likely, offer you less than the agreed value. If the market has changed, the car has changed, or time has passed, then they might well do so.
It rather depends on why the vehicle was insured at an agreed value.
Strangely they rarely offer you more !
Agreed Value is frequently misunderstood in that it is a value which you agree for proposal, quotation, and assessment. It is not, or at least not usually, an agreement of a value that would be paid out in the event of a claim.
I don't have any uk policy documents anymore, but if you read the policy itself, rather than the proposal or advertising blurb, you'll probably see what I mean.
M.
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Further to the above post, the report is here....
www.vehiclechoice.org/cafe/usa1.html