January 2002
After eight months ownership and 8k miles with my '99 Focus 2.0 Ghia 5-dr I have to say that whilst it's a nice drive I'm rather disappointed.
What I was expecting to be a perfect motor, being the newest car I've bought and one that's very highly rated by the press, it's all been rather an anti-climax. The cause? Build quality. Basically, it sucks. Current problems are knocking from front suspension, a weird ignition glitch which I've mentioned here before, a whiny fifth gear, trim squeaks and rattles, and I'm sure it's getting harder to slot into first gear at rest. As an afterthought I'd also say that the 2.0 Zetec engine is, to say the least, uninspiring, and not in the same league as the 1.4 Zetec-SE that was in my previous Fiesta.
So basically I'm thinking of changing my original plan of keeping the car three years plus and trading it in. For what you ask? Something with reportedly great build quality - a Honda Accord!
Major downside I can see is it's rather drab looks, inside and out. Haven't tried one yet, but planning a test drive over next few days. Hoping to get £7.5k part-ex for the Focus (am I dreaming?) and looking to spend about £8.5k on a similar age ('99) Accord 2.0 in as high-spec trim as possible. Also looking forward to more space (child No.1 due within a month!) and that tasty V-TEC engine! Not sure how the residuals compare...
Question - is this a big mistake? Read more
thanks to everybody who answered my question
however i have another
what are trade plates and why are they important Read more
thanks to everybody who answered my question
however i have another
what are trade plates and why are they important Read more
Click here for Google; this is a test.
beastie boys, what year?
nothing to do with this post.
my astra's bonnet rusted through on the front lip, from the inside. vauxhall decided that as it was inspected 10 days after its 6th birthday it was out of warrenty, but after lots of whinging they gave me a new bonnet.
next stop, main dealer who has been servicing it, little known fact, they are supposed to inspect the car for rust at every major service, result, after threat of small claims court, is that the dealer will fit and paint the bonnet, with a small conribution from me.
todays lesson, make the main dealers work for thier rip off pricing
mike n Read more
Mike
I believe the terms and conditions for these guarantees are in the Service Book, so it pays to read that carefuly. Certainly Vauxhall state that a corrosion check is part of Authorised dealer servicing.
That said, although you claim 'rip-off' pricing, is a new bonnet on a 6year old car not some compensation?
Regards
john
[address removed on request]
I have a problem with my D reg. Volvo GL cutting out. This is a problem that has become progressively worse over months to the degree that the car is too unsafe to drive. I understand that 'cutting out' is a common problem with Volvo series 240, 360 and 740's.
There would seem to be at least two different 'cutting out' scenarios -
1. The car intermittently cuts out whether the speed be high or low. Mph therefore does not seem to be a critical factor in causing this problem. Subsequent restarting the car can be very problematical.
2. The car cuts out only when slowing down or at low, or idling speeds. Does not matter whether the car is driven in a straight line, turning a corner or slowly maneouvring such as when parking, 3 point turning etc. (nightmare!). Car restarts immediately, but then again cuts out if no substantial acceleration to increase speed is possible i.e. car parking, traffic jams etc.
I seem to have experienced both problems.
No. 1 scenario was diagnosed two years ago as needing a new impulse transmitter which was fitted and the problem apparently solved.
No 2. scenario is my current problem of many months standing - and how my nerves are shredded!! I have received suggestions from several people that a new fuel pump relay, or the resoldering of dry relay solder joints could cure the problem.
Any other suggestions are welcomed. My car is being taken to a garage for electrical diagnosis first thing in the morning. Please God I will survive the trip up-hill, down-dale, umpteen junctions and even more roundabouts. Seriously, I would like to be in a position to mention all suggestions as to a cure.
Many thanks
Rita.
P.S. Are you all the equivalent of Terry Wogan's Old Geezers - you know, those who have reached a certain age in life and therefore have a decidely quizzical take on the world. Can anyone join the club - rhetorical, rhetorical, rhetorical. I'm just an Old Gertie trying to solve a problem so that I can keep a car that I love dearly. Read more
If I were going to be sensible I should tell you to check the fuel pump first and get rid of the terrible pierburg carb anyway.
But I'm not so what I'm going to say is that you must have a wonderful engine because on the last one I drove it would have been hours before you noticed the difference.
Indeed,recent experience with the three litre version makes me think that nothing short of a good big 5 litre v8 would get the thing ahead of its own shadow.
My daughter has an Astra turbo diesel with the Isuzu engine, and currently has a problem with the cooling system. There is water in the expansion tank, but when I removed the bottom radiator hose to change the antifreeze, the radiator appears empty. Has anybody had similar problems with this model?? If so your suggestions would be appreciated. Read more
>Are you sure you disconnected the bottom hose and not the air hose from the
>charge cooler to the turbo.
...which, somewhat unrelated to this thread, has a bit of a habit of disconnecting itself due to the rather poor excuse for a hose clip fitted as OE.
Made a noise 100 times more impressive than any boy racers dump valve, though :)
-David L
There were a lot of posts a couple of months ago about Optimax petrol from Shell. At the time I made my point fairly clear that I was going to wait to see how this super petrol was doing, based on previous experience of "Super Shell Petrol". For all those who started to use it and still do HOWS IT GOING?
Bill Read more
Super unleaded or Optimax is not cost effective if that is the only reason for buying it. Super unleaded should give about 3% better fuel consumption with Optimax giving 5%, if the octane claims are true. This makes them worth about 2.1 p/litre and 2.5 p/litre more than supermarket unleaded. Since the power increase is only relevant at full throttle (get more power at part throttle by putting foot down a bit more), both super unleaded and Optimax are just an expensive way of getting a feel good factor.
A worrying news report on TV yesterday evening - a woman whose car was written off when a tree branch crashed across it during the weekend gales was told by the insurance company that they weren't paying up, as it was an 'act of God'- this would seem to give the companies an enormous loophole to renege on the policies.
Anyone fallen foul of this scam recently?
P. Read more
A bloke my old boss knew was conned into giving his car (Rover - worth about £10k I believe) to his church (one of the fringe sects).
He was constantly ribbed along the lines of "So if they crash your car the insurance can really claim it was an act of God".
Piers
Hi all,
Having now worked out why the coolant temp was fluctuating so much, it appears the retaining screw that holds the blades onto the left motor has done a runner, hence the blades have now fallen off (but are thankfully trapped between the grill/bumper and motor). Must have been off for a week or two by now!
Do any of the citroen gurus, or anyone else out there know what size the retaining screw is?
(I won't have time to dismantle it until the w/e to look at the other, and it doesn't look like the easiest job to remove the assembly in restricted space with grill removed)
Hopefully it isn't just the head of the screw that is missing, the rest still in situ :-(
The second fan appears to be working properly so the temp is kept to reasonable levels at the moment, but with the air-con on and working the engine hard, the temp does rise quite rapidly (but still won't hit 90 in normal driving).
Any help appreciated,
Chris Read more
Hi,
Ah well, thought I should at least ask!!
For anyone else that may come across this problem (although unlikely as mine has had the motors replaced before hence the retaining screw might not have been put back tight enough/thread locked or whatever) the screw is 4x70x10 according to those nice folks at citroen ;-)
Cheers,
Chris
As most speed cameras still cannot indentify the driver, only the car, if you get a NIP through the post it will ask you for the drivers details. If you are lucky enough to have a parent/grandparent/brother/sister who has a licence but no longer drives, simply name them as the driver and they will get the points, which will not matter to them. It may require a small financial incentive or a trip to the pub with you buying all the drinks one night however as reward!
I am lucky in that I have a brother who has a licence but refuses to drive (no confidence) so I currently have 24 points to play with (I do not use this as an excuse to speed however). Read more
Yes Ian it is. I broke the speed limit at least 4 times on my drive in this morning.
I won't be tearing my license up and giving up driving for the average totting up ban period.
Needless to say this is dishonest but won't be troubling my conscience at all.
In the same way I really don?t get overheated when someone else saves their job by ?accidentally? sending in the wrong license when a vehicle is camera?d.
Getting away with speeding isn?t the worst of crimes.
You didn?t answer my point about cases where you genuinely don?t know who was driving. As registered keeper you have to send a random license in (prolly your own) or take the points for refusal to disclose the driver. I defy anyone to do that.
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Would be nice to go for new Civic or Corolla but as I only have £8.5k to play with (and that's dependent on a decent part-ex valuation), combined with my insatiable appetite for as much power under the bonnet and as many toys to play with as possible, I've ruled them out. Unless you know of somewhere selling top-spec Civics at rock bottom prices of course!