November 2001
I have subscribed to UCB - used car buyer magazine since its launch and find it useful for assessing the current market/auction prices etc.
But there use to be a excellent used car mag called buying cars ( later car choice) which suddenly stopped in 1994. This mag covered every angle in the used car game, great stories about car dealers antics,mystery shoppers visiting showrooms unveiling scandulous selling scams.
I'm not aware of any other used car mags on the market but it seems strange considering the used car business is far larger than the new car market.
Steve G Read more
Did you catch one of the presenter guys say something about him being mentioned on "one of those internet chat forums"?
Something about his choice of Astras over Golfs?
Was it us? Is he lurking here now looking for approval of tonight's effort? (Which was a bit better wasn't it?)
Does he post here anyway under a false name, no...not.....surely not!
David Read more
Gotta say, comparing Astras to Golfs... What's he got against Astras???
Golfs pahhh... the only good thing about them is that they're a good test bed for Skodas, (which incidently are a really good car).
Hype; Hype and more Hype, and I can't beleive people still fall for the VW marketing.
Cheers all.
i am starting to review my life, and i am thinking about getting a 1989 saab 9000 carlsson turbo, the seller wants £500, but the car has done 220000 miles, and is FSH, i know that the insurance is going to be murder, but you only live once, and the car has 190 bhp, so it must be worth getting. what do people think. also the car is on ebay auction if you want to see it, but please dont bid as i might be getting it (not that i can stop you). Read more
I thought they had more than 190 bhp too,and I dont think Martyn should call DVD a pouf either....
Quite like a little offensivity myself,so feel deprived at missing it.
I was under the,obviously mistaken ,impression that Saabs never wore out,they just bored their owners to death.
On inspecting my memory however I cannot recall having driven a turbo,so thats where I am obviously going wrong.......but surely they are still really,really reliable even then?
having read how good the MX5 is, I sat in one today and realised it was too small for comfort. Next try will be the Honda Prelude, but can anyone recomend a sporty two seater for a 6' 3'' bloke with room in the boot for a set of golf clubs ? only to be used when I'm not the kids taxi service. Second hand £5 - 7,000. thanks in anticipation. Read more
because i am 6 foot 6 and medium build, i was once a professional doorman (bouncer) when i was 19, but i decided to go into the car repairs business.
Not car related I know, but as everyone here uses computers has anyone been brave enough to upgrade to XP yet? Read more
In that case I think I'll keep the Commodore 64 for a while. Now where did I leave that C/PM manual?
Hi,
Been suggested I post the following here after posting it on [www.clubgti.com/forum]
Deatails as follows:
Well I said a few weeks ago that I would give you the long term test results for using Shell Optimax in my car. The results are detailed below as follows:
[b]Vehicle: Mercedes E280T 204bhp V6 Advantgarde
[b]Registered: 01/12/00
[b]Starting Mileage: 34916
[b]Closing Mileage: 39414
[b]Total Mileage covered in Test: 4498
[b]Date test run: 01/10/01 - 31/10/01
[b]Fuel used: Shell Optimax 98 Ron
[b]Time engine running in test: 95 Hours 39 Minutes!
[b]Amount of petrol used during test: 739.39 Litres
[b]Cost of petrol used during test: £582.01
[b]Average cost per litre: 78.7 pence
[b]Average speed during test: 47 MPH
[b]Average MPG during test: 26.9 MPG
[b]Pence per mile cost: 12.94 pence
[b]Average MPG prior to test: 24.1 MPG
[b]Mileage above MPG based on: 12176
[b]Cost of petrol for above mileage: £2009.12
[b]Average cost per litre: 78.5 pence
[b]Pence per mile cost: 16.50 pence
The results are obviously conclusive, an increase in the MPG over 4500 miles of 2.8 MPG is obviously excellent, I can not compare the running costs because in the last few weeks petrol prices have dropped considerably, giving an unfair comparison. However, I think the pence per mile figure tells a very interesting story....
Since 1st November I have put in standard Tesco unleaded (69.9p per litre) and have not noticed a great drop in performance, probably because the Optimax has done it's job and lined the relevant bits etc, however I am now only averaging 25 MPG having covered just over 1000 miles!
I will leave everyone to make up there minds on this, but I for one will be using Optimax wherever possible. I did find it hard at times doing the mileage I cover finding a Shell station at the right time in my journey....
I hope that this information proves useful... I know that the vehicle it was tested on was not a VW, but I think it gives a fair result.
Thanks
Steve
[img]www.theentertainer.com/sshepherd/black/gti.jpg[/img]
Club GTi Member No: 12973
'02 Mk4 GTi 20v T (Not till March as been let down by importer) [:(]
(www.abcsom.co.uk] Read more
Considering the relatively small gains in performance that may be achieved using Optimax in place of 95RON fuel, the only real way to measure the difference would be to run a car filled with 95RON fuel on a chassis dyno (rolling road), and then run the same car at a later date on the Optimax fuel. I think the results would be quite interesting. I can see one problem, does anyone have a rolling road we could use!?
Ben
Congrats to MG Rover, witness the current monthlies, that advert is back.......
stuff the ASA ! Read more
So what about the advert for the X type, which looks as though its sideways?
Plus another advert with blurred background for an import I forget which?
Not going to complain about the adverts mind you, but the next time we have some guff from FoE and other pressure groups & so on why don't we get our own back?
Mind you best way to support Rover IMHO is not to have a go about the ASA advert decisions but buy their cars! Bit more of that and not just with cars and we'd have UK manufacturing industry back on its feet.
I had to restart this thread because I wanted to answer Robin's reply to my last one, but it had dropped off the page into oblivion.
He wrote that he flashes at cars with front fogs on because he gets - ahem - annoyed. My point is, on a foggy day, which demands rear fogs for safety, some cars will have front fogs on automatically. So, he will be will be flashing them for something over which they have no choice. Now, I don't know about you, but I get a bit - ahem again - annoyed if I feel I've been flashed unnecessarily (and possibly distracted). And by the way, it may not be vanity after all to have them on, eh?
That's it, I've made my point. Back to writing irate letters to Citroen. Read more
What Citroen is it,Carole?
Having a bad day and therefore deciding I don't want to talk with anybody, I was instead mooching through old threads and I saw a reference to the above.
Now, I suppose this is probably trying to use the throttle & the brake at the same time. Although braking and gear changing seems like something you'd only do when slowing down and a whole lot of work.
Q1) Is that right ?
Q2) Why would you want to do that ? Read more
David
No, sorry, although jeans and t shirts are normal office attire (joys of working from home), I still need the suits for business meetings.
Regards
JS
Sorry to start another thread about the same issue, but I've just been told by a Ford garage that the gearbox oil in my 2.0 Focus can't be changed due to the fact that there's no drain plug!!!
Can anyone confirm this? Surely the gearbox oil has to be changed later in the car's life?!?
When I queried this with the Ford garage I was told that oil can be added but not drained. I put it to him that the oil in the gearbox would therefore last the lifetime of the car and he agreed... Read more
David W
11 inch drums it is. The SWB vehicles are much easier to bleed, but the brakes are hopeless anyway.....
Browse
has anybody noticed that the car reviews shown on top gear, are exactly the same car reviews that are in the magazine, so whats the point of watching the program, when you can read about the cars in you own time, and without the stupid presenters.