January 2002
Reading the latest news story makes me wonder what the service history of this car looks like. Has it had oil changes every 5,000 miles using Miller's or similar. Or has it had stuff Barry Mead picks up at the local spares shop for £2.99 a gallon?
Whatever the secret is of this cars long life, it would be educational. Read more
Thanks to some sound advice from this page, i have discovered some great bargains at Autotrader and Yahoo Cars. There are a few 406's going from around £2500 to £3000, yr 96 and 97 are very common. Most of these are from traders which is surprising as i thought they would be a rip-off.
What do people think it is reasonable to offer when the asking price is £3000 ono? In fact, is there a general rule in buying second hand about amount you can reasonably offer? Read more
Be careful with 406's, there are a lot of clocked car around. A friend of mine bought one in the summer for 1200 with 170k. If you hadnt seen the digits on the speedo, you wouldnt believe the milleage. Pushing it on a Peugeot engine, but it drove fine.
Ben
All,
The lady in my life (Not usually trouble and strife) collected a puncture today.
My MB being relatively new, and me being a fussy "B", raised my concerns about avoiding damage to the alloy rims during tyre removal. To emphasise the issue to the local garage, I removed the wheel, and cleaned the rim thoroughly, demonstrating that the rims were undamaged. The garage manager assured me that every care would be taken.
The wheel was repaired promptly, but daylight had faded, and I had to get home before I could examine the rim in quality lighting. What a disapointment when I found the rim grazed over a large part of its circumference and chipped in two places, all around its extreme edge. The bill for the repair was minimal at £6.00, but I could have done without the damage that went with it.
With care its not difficult to avoid damage to rims using modern pneumatic tyre removal/replacement kit. Liberal application of PVC adhesive tape around the bead breaking and tyre refittment tool is a good starting point. What is difficult is guaranteeing that the garages standard coincides with your own.
The problem of Quality Assurance (QA) in the garage industry in general is an important one. It will not go away. I am sure that those of you who run vehicle maintenance businesses, will have a particular view on this. Irrespective the issue of garage QA is pertinent to us all.
Any ideas how to treat my damaged rim? It is bound to oxidise where it has been chipped.
Regards,
Julian L Read more
John,
Thanks for this info. In the short term I have applied some clear laquer to the chips.
The amount of damage in fairness is not huge, it is the fact that it happened, particulary after my efforts to reinforce my concerns with the garage, that made me cross. Plus the damage itself, of course.
Thanks and regards,
Julian L
Came to the uk for two weeks for my fathers funeral,I had my car broken into in Westminster outside my London house .Police response absolutely zero to a crime that cost me 400ukps.I also spent a few days up in Bradford where the crime of bumping someones car and then assaulting the driver and stealing his car is out of control,they do it in daylight and in the city also in the two weeks I did not see one policeman on the beat do they not exist anymore.
I also read Westminster is going to take half its traffic police and put them on the streets to cut crime .It seems to me you pay a lot of money for services that do not exist police,hospitals,trains,roads,street cleaning the list is endless where does all the money go?
One more point how do they justify the prices in motorway services and in eating places in general Read more
> Bravo Colin Standing. What a moaning lot we are. Anyone got
> any statistics on how many expatriates come back to this
> ****** awful' country to spend their last few years?
That would be my plan. As I have said before; I like the country, there are many good things that I miss.
Its possible I have a "rose-coloured" memory, but I remember liking it, and everytime I return I love it.
My wife is Chilean. And considering that England is not her country, and considering that Chile is a wonderful, civilised, 1st world country, she still loves the UK - although she hasn't lived there yet !!
> Surely in a democracy we elect the Government and we must
> take some responsibility if GB Ltd isn't running as we would
> wish.
There is not an electorate in this world that does not need to learn that lesson, and in my experience, not one of them has learned it yet.
Hey everyone, my brother is learning to drive at the moment. And in preparation had a wander round Carcraft to look for ideas as to which car to buy.
We are looking for a smallish car with about £5k to spend.
After the said wander he is keen on a newish Punto, or a Saxo [what he is learning to drive in]. He is equally unimpressed with Fiestas, Polos, 206s and Corsas.
So can anyone give any problems with the Punto or Saxo, and any reasons for not buying them or buying something different?
Thanks in advance
Kev Read more
push.
I know from previous posts there are some Champ cars fans in this forum.I would be interested to know what you think of Penske pulling out and Honda leaving at the end of this year.
It's amazing how they just let Honda go.After playing such a big part in the championship you would of thought CART could have been more flexible in changing the regulations. Very big loss to this series.
Of course the biggest loss is Penske pulling out to go to IRL. Imagine F1 without Ferrari or Mclaren. Would be nice to know the real reason why Penske pulled out.
This coming season will be a test for CART. Having dropped probably the best circuit (Michigan 500) from the calender i wonder if more street courses will only provide "follow the leader" type races which F1 already provides.
Will more teams defect to IRL ? my hunch is they will :(
All this just when we get our own oval at Rockingham ! unbelievable. Read more
Adam i understand your logic - Marlboro pulling the strings , but surely champs cars are a better overall place to be for advertising ?- world coverage for every race. Also the red/white colours at Indy are familiar to anyone as being Marlboro.F1 cars run in many races without actual text on the cars just the colours/logo's.
Mercedes leaving when they did was not surprising -poor results , but its a big shame they left.
I share your thoughts Randolph ,motor racing has become a dull sport - just the opposite of what it should be. Champs cars is really the only top flight racing series which i follow. It provides some exciting races -you cannot predict who will win any race ,yes any of the 20+ runners could win.
Looking forward to 10 March......
Can any one tell me when is best time of year to buy a used car.
I am interested in buy a Vauxhall Corsa Read more
i know, but at least its somewhere to start looking (without having to walk down to the newsagents).
I am looking to buy a new Golf 2.0 GTI in metallic paint and
have found that www.drivethedeal.com are offering this car at £1044 cheaper than
the local dealer. They have told me it is not an import and comes with 3
years manufacturers warranty. Could I have your comments please? Read more
Doesn't sound ever so cheap, but it is a UK dealer supplied one (presumably) and you wouldn't expect that to be as cheap as an import which will have 2 year warranty and a touch more inconvenience attached. Nothing wrong with an import if it's got the spec. and the paperwork.
Hi
Is there anyone out there who hav got their car convereted to LPG economically or know any cheap but efficient garage to do the converstion.
Thanx Read more
ME!
Please search for LPG and you'll see plenty of threads.
Rgds,
Guy (owner of stunning MkII Golf LPG)
Anyone drive one of these enough to know if they have a longish brake travel even when the system is A1?
David Read more
David
Didn't have a 16v, but the brakes on our 8v were, I believe, essentially similar. No problem with excessive travel.
I assume the brakes 'pump up' when the engine is off, but the pedal drops excessively when the engine is started. Used to be a common problem on early Fiestas, and was related to the servo.
Regards
John
Browse
Thanks HJ. Yes I have seen this in the car by car breakdown. I usually check the car when the engine is cold i.e. has been left for at least 3 hours. I have never checked the oil to find it overfilled when it has been topped up previously. This is of no major concern, but I assume it is just being burnt...which is what it should not be doing really! Maybe I should take the car back and demand they fit a longer dipstick! :) Good engine all the same, if a little noisy at times.