January 2002
Just seen the new Freelander advertisment on TV.
Was it was filmed in Malaysia or could that be South America ?
Brazil maybe ?
Kevin... Read more
Got an anguished call last Sunday night from my wife who had stopped the company Mk4 Golf in a pub car park 40 miles from home because a red light with an exclamation mark was blinking at her from the dash and chiming while it flashed. It was the car telling her that the brake fluid was low. This is obviously the car's revenge for us talking previously about a sporty coupe while it was listening!
It was a filthy night and I was alcoholically unfit to drive. My faith in the design of twin-circuit brakes was complete so I asked Madame to drive home at reduced speed and avoid using the brakes unless necessary. She arrived home safely and I took the car off the road.
Topped the fluid up with some DOT4 this morning and stood on the brake pedal; it went slowly to the floor. A look under the car showed a puddle of fluid by the left rear wheel. Off came the wheel and more pressing of the pedal by an assistant showed a leak from the joint between the banjo and the brake caliper. The car is not 3 years old with 52K miles on the clock so it will go back to the dealers and I hope it will be fixed under warranty.
Any backroomers with experience of brake failure on Golfs or other VWs?
I hope it's a one-off. Read more
DW
not been off-roading so far as I know
DL
It's difficult to live with someone for nearly 25 years and not be affected by stress factor 9 in their voice, but I did recover after lowing the level of the 'fiddich a tad thank you
JD
I's been dealer serviced by the book and never had a fluid change. I would put money on the union or the bleed nipple never having had a spanner on either.
HJ
From the posts above, do I infer that there's a steel union into an alloy caliper separated by a copper washer? Incredible, it's GCSE chemistry suff.
Sorry to go on about this again but this is becoming my hobby horse.
Friend I know bought a new C Class Turbo diesel. Delivery came just before Xmas. The car was 3 months late due to strikes in the factories in SA.
He had the car literally one day when it broke down. Returning from a funeral with wife and friend on board the car totally conked out on a hill. MB rescue came out (within 35 mins). Ah yes the mechanic said, we have had a few of these - some fuel pipe was coming lose on a number of new C classes. It took the mechanic an hour and a half to fix - stripping down a part of the car to get to the fiddly pipe.
Is is my imagination or is it always a Jap car when people say "I had this [ ] car for 10 years I loved it it was totally reliable it never broke down etc"? Read more
Not all there is a rhd assembly line in stuttgart for the UK market they ship them from SA when there is a to high demand .
never thought I'd write this... the latest Mondeo and the 2002 Focus are both absolutely brilliant. In Ghia spec these have absolutely everything you will ever need.
How much of a discount would be reasonable? Read more
PBWLR* now has a Focus Ghia instead of the Mondeo for buisiness use and is finding it quite choppy/uncomfortable.
*That should be PBWLR&FF really.
David
I need a large family estate car. I see I can get a Mondeo GhiaX auto from Trade Sales for about £16k-which is £5k below book price. A Daewoo Nubira is about £13k. Does anyone feel they can offer an opinion as to whether the Daewoo is anywhere near as good as the Ford, or is the price difference just a reflection of "you pay for what you get"?
Ta
John Read more
Well done chaps. Top thread, yet again at Lada's expense.
PMSL.
M.
My father had a 1970s Rover P6 for many years.
It had aluminum boot, bonnet and wings. The sills were bolt on but steel, and were easy to relace when they rotted.
Just about the only other parts rot by the time the car was alomost 20 were the door bottoms.
Audi now make aluminium bodied cars.
How come Rover were such innovators then? Why were more cars not made from aluminum?
Volvo tailgates are aluminiun on their 940 estates -why is that?
Alex Read more
Alex -- The Rover 25 is nothing to get excited about and the Rover 45 is outdated but in my opinion (and that of much of the motoring press) the Rover 75 is a fine, well-built, car that doesn't deserve the criticism you and Driven have levelled at it. The Driven series seems very amateurish and sensationalist and I find it best to totally ignore its findings.
Bring back Mr Woollard (William, that is, of the BBC's original motoring programme - oh, and our David W. as well since he has much more idea about motoring matters than Driven's Mr Brewer & co.)
As to the Rover P6 -- the aluminium panels were fine until you dented one and tried to panel beat it back to shape. Respraying was also difficult, requiring pre-treatment with an etch primer. Of particular concern however, the panels (and suspension, etc) were bolted to a steel main frame which was extremely prone to corrosion. Because of this, many P6s were very short lived, even though Rover's advertisement of the time showed an impeccable P6 in the midst of a load of rotten cars in a scrap yard. I expect the Rover WAS impeccable on the outside -- but with nothing left of the important bits underneath the skin!
David.
My son has a Rover 620 1994 model with O.E.M alloy wheels. He has lost the key that unlocks the wheel nuts.
Any ideas as to getting the wheel off as he now has a puncture.
hussarman Read more
Go down to your local MG Rover dealer (Preferebly a local, friendly one) and ask for a replacement key.
Should be no problem at all, unless the nut is damaged.
If not, come back to me.
Dave
Any of you wise and experienced people out there got any idea how a new Nissan Almera 1.8 Auto would compare in performance with a 1992 Rover 216GSi Auto (essentially the old Honda Accord, wasn't it)? Read more
Pretty similar, I would say, both in terms of performance and fuel economy.
Dave
Re: previous threads
Don't think you can diy plates anymore. The new regs state that the post code of the "maker" of the plate must be displayed on it. Read more
When do the authorities ever think anything through?Just look at the scrap cars and abandoned fridges littering the countryside.Gov knows best.
Why are Crash Performance figures quoted according to "class" of car. Ie the Fiesta has a Safety Rating of 5 stars in its class. The thing is you dont have a decision what class of car you are goig to have an accident with!!
From Physics, force is equal to mass times acceleration, so it fits the heavier car will exhibit the more force.
Is this a ploy by the government not to put peopleoff buying so called "super minis" ? Read more
oh my god, everyone is testing, and i have nothing to test, WHAT should i do??
Browse
If it was filmed here and I didn`t know about it I'll be annoyed ! I would have got everybody I know with real cars to turn up.
So, tell me the worst, what was the advert like ?