December 2001
Does anyone know if having 'bubbles' in the laminate of a windscreen will cause an MOT failure? Read more
I need a car which is not too big, good to drive, reasonably nippy, can seat and occassional extra child or two and I don't want an MPV. Are there any current model estates which would fulfil this brief, or has this been abandoned with a view to safety. If so are there any specialists who can retro fit such seats? Read more
I had to choose a 6/7 seater after our 4th child arrived. We looked and had test drives in the MPV style but found them too big clumsy and van like. Most of the time we reckon we need a five seater as we are not all in the car at the same time so went for an estate with rear facing seats. The retro fit seats seemed dangerous and Peugeot advised not to do it as the boot as a purpose designed crumple zone unless it was one of their 'family' estates with factory fitted seats.
We looked at Renault Laguna,Mercedes,Volvo, and Peugeot. We were buying at £8000. The Merc and Volvo had the best build quality etc but older and higher mileage.The Peugeot 406 we liked but at that time about 14 months ago there were few about in our price range, but it did seem the best in terms of running costs/insurance/etc. The extra seat was small though and was a kind of mesh seat cushion. We went for a Volvo 850 and had the extra seat fitted at main dealers. The rear area is built for this and also has laminated glass. The seat pops up and down very easily,and the boot stays flat when not in use. I don't think Mercedes do an after market fit . The Volvo seems solid and safe and hopefully long lasting. We looked at the Fiat Multipla although not in our price range, but it just seemed so flimsy and the petrol engine toosmall when the car was fully loaded. When getting into a quality car like Volvo and Merc all the others just seem inferior. The kids can also let themselves out of the rear door as thereis a handle (with child locks if needed) which I found better than MPV style in which passengers in the middle have to get out to let the rear passengers out. Hope this is of some help!
Hi
Any advice...i have a brand new mondeo X 2 l auto. Its is a month old and has done only 200 miles. I have to sell this car for business reasons.
How would I best do this on auction or to a daler direct. I expect to loose a lot of money ... but any ideas would be welcome
alan Read more
If you do take it to auction. Negotiate a deal with them first.
Watch they don't stuff you (as a private punter) with 10% commission, about 1400 notes in your case.
A flat fee of 150-200 sounds more than fair to me, plus entry fee.
I have been thinking about getting myself a ?project car? for some time and have decided that 2002 is to be the year. I?d like something that has sturdy simple mechanicals, can carry two adults and two kids on occasional outings and is British. Budget for initial purchase is £500. Any suggestions? Read more
Surely you should get a bmw 2002 for 2002?
Hi
Anyone got any ideas about this...I own a June99 T 306 XSi. I've had it about 5 months and have noticed that the heater is always on 'red hot' no matter what setting the dial is on....
Basically, it changes heat with the rev's, can run hot or cold (usually hot) even when it is just 2 notches off the coldest setting (ie it will keepthe car warm at this setting when it's zero degrees outside!). Whenever I have it on the windscreen it seems to have different temp settings to when in the cabin. This is the same whether I have the air con on or not, same with internal circulation or not.
Does anyone have any ideas? It's been to the garage once, where there response was 'turn the heat down'!!! Any ideas, apart from the obvious that something is broke would be great....
thanks
Russ Read more
all vauxhall's of that era were the same. it was supposeded to be a safety feature, cold air to the face. all vauxhall's fitted with a pollen filter have been made to supply the air at the same temp thru all vents.
i prefer the syatem you have, my old Astra GTE was great for that.
I have a 3 (and a bit) year old Daewoo Matiz with only 16,250 miles on the clock, according to the "Car-by-Car Breakdown" it will need a...
'Timing belt and GF50 tensioner pulley replacement at 40k miles or 4 years whichever comes first'.
What is a GF50 Tensioner Pulley? Read more
Sadly I'm starting to hear of camshaft tensioner pulley failures on Fords. Same thing: steel bearing on plastic outer, but Ford's are much better than GM's and Ford has a pulley kit which is recommended to be used at the same time as a timing belt change if the customer can be persuaded.
HJ
Alvin,
I'm getting quite a few unreadable e-mails from you. I have mailed you, but I am not sure you're getting my e-mails, certainly I'm still getting the weird ones.
Something's going wrong !!!
[Martyn - sorry about this, if you could leave the thread here for a while so that Alvin can see it, then by all means delete]
Mark. Read more
Thanks mark,
I had about a 100 returned ones last night. I think most of them were the same and I have apologised to many who mailed me asking what was I saying.
Up to now (20.30 GMT) I have not received any today.
My nephew who is a computer man says he has checked out my genuine outgoing mail to him and there is no virus's in them)
I had previously read about this on HJs site and I suppose in common with many I thought this would never happen to me.
In all the years I have had computers I have never had a virus and almost thought it must only happen to others. (Like car accidents)
Alvin
Just a quick question wondering if the fuel and oil additives that you can buy in Halfords give any noticeable benefits in performance and fuel consumption, etc or if they have any potential negative effects. Read more
Nipsy, did you pay extra for the handling pack or have you just got the standard suspension? I think the one I drove on my road test must have had the handling kit, because it's the first Mk IV Golf I've driven which really handled.
HJ
new car first service due 10k miles or one year handbook contains no reference to "running in" (should I have an early oil change) engine 2.5ltr V6, I could ask the main dealer but prefer a wider opinion. Happy New Year. Read more
If you stick to all the speed limits in a decent modern car it will NEVER be properly run in, so why worry?!
Who, if anyone, is responsible for deciding whether roads should have catseyes? I just drove back from North Lincolnshire, and on some stretches of road, virtually all the catseyes were so worn/damaged that they no longer reflected. Is this a policy decision, not to replace them when they wear out? Gave me a nasty moment, when the catseyes suddenly disappeared mid-bend just as there was a car coming the other way with badly adjusted headlights dazzling me. For a short time, I completely lost track of my position on the road (with the reflective white markings being badly worn, covered in salt and mud, and reflecting about as well as a carpet). Could have ended in tears. Read more
Can you tell the speed camera version? Might it get somehow obscured?
Browse
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I know of an armoured Mercerdes imported some years ago that developed this and a slight stress fracture in the windscreen. The vehicle had been insured at some cost, however owing to an unforgiveable oversight the policy still had a standard w/sreen cover clause. Following a heated exchange of correspopndance, the insurer was forced to cough up for a w/sreen costing a few thousand quid (less the £40 excess). Nice.