January 2002
Make a note in your diaries, set the video timer, Channel 4 starts on Thursday and Friday onwards to do for rallying what it did for cricket coverage. I realise that might be a turn off to some cricket fans but you must agree rallying coverage has been a bit dire.
Channel 4 Thursday 8.00 pm is a beginners guide.
Channel 4 Friday 8.00 pm coverage of the Monte Carlo starts.
Don?t know about the position after that.
The actual event starts Jan 17 finishes Jan 20
All WRC rounds will be covered for the next four years apparently, yipppeeeee!!!! Read more
I've heard lots of times that it's possible to get nicked if you go too fast between the pay booths on French Autoroutes.
The theory is that by working out the distance and time it took to do it, then you can get nicked if your av. speed is too high.
While I accept the theory, does anybody KNOW of anybody who's got done like this?
If so it would imply that the clocks must be synchronised, and their accuracy monitored. Or would this be the first line of a defence? Read more
CM -
Yes and no.
Yes, better mpg.
No, more boring and therefor more dangerous.
Let me stick my head over the parapet again.
The complexity of modern cars vs those of 30 years ago is a given and harped on to great effect on this forum. Once upon a time anyone with a bit of persistence, a manual and a good toolkit could fix most problems, even tackle quite ambitious jobs successfully. A car was a car was a car for the most part, seen one, seen em all. Not so now it appears.
So, tell me how on earth the "small" garages (owners of which contribute regularly here) manage to keep up with the bewildering array of technical complexity across all the different makes and models nowadays in order to provide a satisfactory service? Presumably if you work for a main dealer you get regular product training. If you are an owner/operator then also presumably you have to spend a lot of time keeping up to date, at your own expense? Time presumably which you would rather spend attending to customers and generating revenue for your business.
The apprenticeship which once might have served you well by giving you a mechanical grounding enabling you to tackle just about anything now has to be overlaid (I'm guessing) with a knowledge of automotive electronics, different makes' differing complexities and so on.
How do you do it? Once upon a time I did a total engine overhaul on a Mercury V-8 in the road outside my house and everything worked fine afterwards. Now I take a look under the hood of my F-150 and cringe. I can't even work out what the various bits are for. Read more
I know a few easy r..........
No, sorry MBRM. I'll stop right there.
I have a 1999 3.0litre Alfa 166 auto. When in non tiptronic mode it develops a real shake at around 60kmh in top gear. Alfa have replaced the transmission and the management computer chips, but to no avail its like driving on square wheels. The dealer advises me that it appears that the manual lock up on the torque converter cuts in in fourth at too low a speed and that this is the cause of the problem. It does not seem to be as pronounced a problem on other 166's that are around, however there are not so many 166's in Australia so it is hard to tell whether this is a design fault or is isolated to my car.
It can be overcome by driving it around in tiptronic mode which keeps the car in third to well above 60kms per hour, however it tends to burn fuel and keeps the speed cameras happy.
Any comments or suggestions would be gratefully received.
Alan Boys
Perth
Western Australia Read more
HJ,
The gearbox is a four speed (only 166 3.0 litre autos are sold in Australia..no manuals or 2.5l). Idle rpm is around 800rpm, change from 3rd to 4th is at around 55km per hour at revs of around 1400 rpm and is doing aroud 1500 rpm at 60 kmph.
trust that this is useful info.
AlanB
Clarkson really slammed the build quality of the latest Mercedes in the Sunday Times today ? and its dynamic qualities as well. This is in line with comments I have read from a number of sources, including HJ and others on this forum.
However I seem to remember the new C Class getting universal rave reviews when it was introduced not that long ago.
I have owned several new Mercs over the years and whilst the motoring hacks might have justifiably criticised some as boring, nobody was in any doubt that their build quality was outstanding. That above all was what set the marquee apart from other cars.
I find it difficult to believe that Mercedes would be stupid enough to risk their reputation by deliberately reducing quality to save costs as Clarkson suggests.
On retirement I intended to buy a C Class or perhaps the forthcoming new E Class to keep until I fell off my perch ? now I have doubts.
So my question. Have quality standards really fallen so quickly or is it one of these myths that is picked up and repeated and repeated? Has anyone got personal experience of newish Mercs?
Donald
PS
Please don?t tell me what I should buy in lieu of a Merc. I assure you I won?t buy a Lada, Citroen or Freelander! Read more
I dont think this is very topical,but it may be interesting,.
About ten years ago it was circumstancially easy for me to compare the current models of MB,BMW,Audi,and Volvo.
Dynamically no comment is possible,suffice to say that none of them rated a "WOW!",perhaps i drove the wrong ones.
Quality wise,it was very clear that Audi were superb and that BMW were improving fast,this was before the non -Cortina-esque 3 series of 1991,however,which I drove in early 4cyl configuration and considered the worst four I had driven for ages,gutless and rough.
I never could see the attraction of mercs,however many I drove ,they all felt inert and lifeless,with very tacky interiors which only appeared durable because they started off tacky and stayed that way.I was forced to drive a 190 with a six cylinder engine and no extras once.I found it impossible to believe that anyone would buy such an awful vehicle.It was like a london bus in trim,appearance and performance,although lacking the charisma,naturally.
I also owned,for a long time,although I certainly never intended to,a volvo estate.It had the most sensible estate car boot I have ever seen,if only I could find its like today.
It was unsupportably slow,handled like a truck,burnt petrol with dypsomaniac thirst and had trim as good as the Mercs,ie plastic,tacky,and no better than it ought to be.
Its only a personal opinion,and I have certainly not driven them all,but the following remains true,however I try and change it:
1) I've never driven a Jaguar I dont like.
2)I've liked most of the Audis I've driven.
3I've never driven a Merc or BMW that I've liked at all.
Perhaps,due to the adulation heaped upon them by the Once-Round-the-Block-and Write-the Road Test children that certain tabloid weekly and monthly motoring magazines feel obliged to employ,presumeably for cost reasons,I have expected too much.
I was driving in the Poole area last night and set off a GATSO as I approached it from the front. The thing was on the opposite side of the road and to all intents and purposes it seemed positioned to snap people from behind after passing it. There was no other traffic around. When I drove the same route again today in daylight, I noticed markings on both sides of the road. I didn't know GATSO's could nab you as you approach them, is this a new development? And presumably I can expect the invoice in the post? Read more
I have seen a couple of examples of cameras which can be reversed, so that it can be used on one side of the road or the other, with markings on both sides. You have to watch out to catch the turn!
One is on the Seven Sisters Road at Manor House, N London, the other coming out of Swansea onto the Gower peninsular in S Wales.
Hi,
No local Renault dealers have been able to help with this really simple question - hope some of you guys can - on the latest shape Megane (or I guess Scenic) where on earth is the Remote Locking Sensor?
The one garage that did have a stab at suggesting its location said up by the interior light on the roof console - where it was in the older models but its Not there!
Please help bacuase I suspect this is whats stopped the remote locking working on my Megane (the keys code into another one ok)...
Help!
Thanks
Iain C Read more
Thank you all...
It IS RF remote (radio frequency) and Ive tried the Renault dealers buy they dont seem to know!!!
Got stuck behind a cloth cap in a 2 litre Honda today.
The "highlight" of this experience was being stuck behind when he was doing 10 mph around a big roundabout. Yes, 10 mph, possibly less than that. My speedo wont register below 10 mph.
First opportunity, overtook the pillock.
Doddery old gits / Sunday drivers like that shouldn't be on the road, frankly. Read more
www.scotland.gov.uk/library2/doc05/ras-00.htm
Trouble is, as with most UK Stats, it doesn't consider miles driven. Therefore the accident distribution looks more favourable than it should.
However, this link contains many useful stats for the Scottish amongst us.
This one may be more topical for the ENglish, but again "miles driven" doesn't seem to be considered.
www.roads.dtlr.gov.uk/roadsafety/research02/04.htm
"Miles Driven" is not of interest for an Insurer, they only care about accidents/time, and for this an older driver is more attractive since miles driven is lower and therefore accidents/time is also lower.
Accidents/Miles driven is seemingly difficult to find.
Got another problem with my late '99 2.0 Focus which is rather odd - a handful of times over the past month I've been driving the car and suddenly the dashboard lights start flickering, then the dashboard ignition lights all light up for a few seconds as if the car has stalled, before extinguishing again. Had a look at the car-by-car breakdown but can't see anything that matches.
Yesterday this happened, dashboard lights flickered for a few seconds, then the ignition lights flashed on, the rev-counter needle swung-round to maximum and back, and the trip-computer and clock reset themselves, like some sort of electrics reset or diagnostic had occured. The engine remained at tickover throughout.
Anyone got any ideas? I smell another expensive trip to the Ford garage, not what I need when my other-half is about to drop with our first! Read more
Phil,
I had exactly the same fault on my 2000 2.0 Focus Estate. Took it back under warranty and they changed the re-circulation motor which is located in the passenger footwell area (it was making a loud ticking noise). Problem solved, although the dealer couldn't explain why!
At the old Sandtoft Airfield on the south side of the M180 between Scunthorpe and Doncaster, there are thousands of vehicles - cars, vans, campers, all various makes and I am always curious when I pass this location. Are they awaiting sale, auctions, export or scrapping? In my road atlas this location is marked as 'Sandtoft Transport Centre' - what is this place and what is happening there?
Many thanks in anticipation
Roy Malt Read more
Roy
Part of the airfield is storage for imports - not sure of the manufacturer/s.
Part of the airfield is used by I think its Universal Salvage for the storage of accident damaged vehicles. Regular auctions are held on the site.
Do know that Renault import through Goole docks nearby, VAG through Grimsby and BMW through Immingham.There maybe more.
Round the corner on the M18 is the Dixon Group Distribution Centre.
Andrew.
Browse
Not before time!!!!!!
Andrew