January 2002
Went to the local motor shop today, to pick up a few things, and was amazed at the range of tat available to customise cars! Apart from the colour coded door lock pins, and weird gearknobs, they were also selling steering wheels the size of a saucer, in a variety of dayglo colours!
When I got home, I checked, and it is illegal to fit a wheel smaller than original equipment. So are there cars which come with a 8" wheel as standard, or is the shopkeeper just taking advantage of gullible kevins? Read more
I've been brought into the task of helping my 21 year old son buy a car. Having been a company car driver for years, I'm out of practice. Son has a budget of £5000 max and is interested in a Mazda 323, Civic or Corolla. Having toured some dealers today, the best bet so far seems to be a 97R Civic (1.5 L VTEC engine) at our local Honda dealer. It's high mileage at 73K, but has been regualarly dealer serviced every 12,000 miles. Apart from some very minor damage at the n/s rear corner, it looks OK. It's priced at about £4,900 and we're planning a test drive tomorrow.
Overall, and bearing in mind it's my son's cash, not mine, any ideas on whether we're looking at a decent deal or a pup? Read more
Not allo superminis are bad for tall drivers. I am 6'6" and learnt in a Corsa and it was horrible. My mums Punto is fine for me though, plenty of room and comfortable over long journeys.
Could anyone advise me where this is situated on an 1989 Peugeot 205 auto Read more
You will find this in the area of the nearside headlamp.Its about the size of a cotton reel with two wires connected.HTH
Apologies if you've seen this site.
www.bmwfilms.com - the highest quality movies i've yet seen on the PC.
The madonna / guy ritchie / m5 one is tops!
You will need a good connection or a lot of patience.
Enjoy. Read more
I know its Saturday but travelling on the M25 without queues has been a pleasant surprise. No accidents either, just several broken down vehicles who presumably could not take the 60+ mph speed! Read more
Don't remind me, David! Most of sa has had the past three weeks off, and back tomorrow!
I plan to sleep late, and drive through an hour later than usual.
Hi all,
As the owner of a 2001 Honda Accord 2.0i VTEC I was wondering how tough the engines are.
The VTEC is clearly designed for economy above performance (certainly as it's tuned in the Accord), and as a result the power only really kicks in from 4000rpm to 6000rpm, which is higher than you'd ever see in a normal day's driving.
I like to get a shift on, so it's been seeing quite a lot of 4000rpm+ action, is this going to have a serious effect on the engine's longevity or are they designed to be pushed a bit? I'll be getting it serviced, including an oil change with high quality synthetic oil every 6000 miles or so (2000 less than Honda's recommended).
Cheers,
Alex. Read more
Urban Ear is in the Twin Cities, is it not ?
Apparently there is a difference between say Shell brand petrol and supermarket petrol.
What about DIESEL brands (ignoring low sulpher), are they all the same?
Anybody know? Read more
I suspect I recently bought a tankful of dodgy diesel for my VW Golf Mk4 GT TDI: lower fuel consumption (48 mpg, not 55), reduced performance. I filled up with Esso and performance and consumption improved and it seemed better, but still not as good as it was.
I've just tanked up again with Esso together with Redex diesel additive. SEEMS to be better still, but I haven't had time to put it to a decent test. Anyone else tried Redex? I'll try Miller's too.
The following was posted on the Citroen BX board the other day. In the light of the Cars of the Year success of the MINI and the ZX (as a bargain banger), I thought it might be of interest:
>just to add next door has had a new Bmw mini for a month and it refused to >start today, two 'rapid response' teams where here for 8 hours and had most >of the interior out in my garage and still it wouldn't go, its going to HQ in >special transport (hidden undercover inside a recovery truck) for further >investigations , a courtesy car arrived another mini towed on a trailer by a >ZX 1.9td , so they do have there uses and if there [sic] used by BMW to >move there [sic] trash let Citroen move yours..........
Is this kind of clandestine treatment the norm for new, or flagship models? If so, just what is in the Walkers Crisps lorry that parks over the road?
Chris Read more
Another bonus of mini ownership then. The Men in Black come to pick it up if it breaks - lots of dry ice etc... that would be great! The missus will be chuffed.
A well-know high street motorists' store is advertising in their winter advertising leaflet a lead with a cigar lighter plug on each end which is supposed to be used instead of jump leads to start a car with a flat battery from the cigar lighter socket in each car. Compared to jump leads this device hardly looks man enough for the job when one considers the power needed to turn over an engine. Has anyone has any experience of this device or know if it is likely to be any good as it seems much better and lighter than carrying a set of jump leads about. Any info greatly appreciated. Read more
Kev
It's a Pug 405 TD.
The space is behind the offside headlight. About big enough to fit a reasonable sized battery in.
I actually keep the spare washer fluid in another useful space just under the wipers and next to the heater. Come to think of it the jump leads would probably fit in there ! !
Eureka
My dad owns an R plate BMW 523.
Hes been having a few problems with the battery going flat when left for extended periods of time (=>3/4days). Its not due to driving short distances as he drives to carlisle and back from nottingham each week. He has had a brand new BMW battery and the problem still persists.
It seems to me like there is some kind of grounding happening somewhere when the ignition is off.
Anybody had similar experiences? Any suggestions?
ta,
Mark. Read more
Yet again, you guys have come up with the goods.
Cheers Boys, I'll let u know how we get on.
Mark.
Browse
Leave me alone!!!
Or will I have to start using my middle name?
Matthew