February 2002
Took delivery of a 5000 mile Passat TDI Sport a week or so ago, first registered in September 2001, and am now wondering if there's a problem with the brakes. Difficult to describe, but here goes! When braking, say, to come to a stop, a 'pulsing' can be felt through the brake pedal and throughout the car. It's like a very 'watered down' version of the ABS working but all I'm doing is normal braking; it does it whether stopping from speed or just going around town. Had a '99 1.8T Passat beforehand and never experienced this. Apologies for a vague description but anyone got any ideas? Read more
I am thinking of buying a Volvo V70 D5 (the new diesel engined version) are they any good? Has anyone out there bought one? Read more
Thanks HJ, but one of the problems is I can't get a test drive, my local dealers have no demos they can only offer a test drive in a D5 S60. So do you think its worth taking the risk and ordering one anyway, and apparently Volvo are quoting a July 2002 delivery date for V70 D5's.
1998 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 1.4 S 3dr Hatchback etc.
Message erased (the sender had posted to the wrong thread, and as yet we don't accept private ads, especially without a request for prior clearance).
Martyn
Back Room Moderator Read more
Blimey, that's a lot of money for a three year old 1.4 three-door Golf base model with a/c.
HJ
Can I have a sanity check please from you guys.
Yesterday I went to the main dealer as my disc calliper "slider" on the front offside has partially seized and therefore the pad had worn away prematurely. It would go on but not retract fully. This is the second time that it has happened. The car is 2.5 yrs old and has a three-year warranty. It also came with free servicing, but that has all been used up.
To the point, Skoda have refused to pay for the replacement disc pads and fitting stating that pads are a consumable and therefore not covered by the warranty. I realise that they are consumables but they required replacing due to either a bad design of calliper or bad servicing.
The problem has caused unnecessary wear and surely they should offer a good will payment? or am I being the unreasonable one? Read more
Graham,
Quite common with all sorts of vehicles, not always a maintenance error.
However if you were in front of me with this problem I'd offer to refund the pad cost, less the friction material used on the "fault free" pads.
With this attitude the actual cost to the dealer should be about £15, not much for the goodwill involved.
David
I have a 96 Polo Deisel which is rapidly coming up to 60,000 miles and needs a new belt. I have Haynes manual and job seems awkward but possible. Any general tips out there to avoid getting it wrong and crunching the valves, which would rather defeat the object. Read more
Cliff,
Exactly!
Martin.
I used to run a Toyota Avensis Estate (1.8) that regularly gave a consumption better than the official combined figure of 36.2 mpg. I now run a Citroen C5 Estate (2.0 110 HDI) and cannot get close to the offical combined figure of 49 mpg (44 is about it !). I am completing very similar journeys and still have this problem even when taking more than usual notice of the instantaneous mpg readout. Anyone else having similar problems ? Read more
Please could you give me a contact no for the tuners, I'd like my Di to perform as well as yours!
I got this info regarding about about a Golf 180bhp GTI 1.8T :
I've been told by VW in Morecambe its penned for a UK release around April/May....
I hope its true as i might even part ex my current Golf GTI.. Read more
Just read the article on VW Vortex. That is one sweeeeet Golf. I love those Recaros. I would only buy one if it had a 150bhp TDi engine in though! (and I had some money :( )
Dear Mr Forum,
Much against the grain (I normally wash by hand, I paid a visit to my local carwash on Sunday. I went for the full all-singing all-dancing wash with added gusto and vim.
Imagine my surprise when I left the place and went to brake for the next turning. I'd have stuffed someone up the backside (oo-er!) if it had been a traffic queue rather than merely slowing for a turn. No brakes at all for a second or two (i.e. an eternity of panic time).
Thinking back, I remembered that the way the machine waxed the car was to spray the stuff everywhere, presumably including through my alloys onto the brake discs. The thing is, if this is happening to some cars every weekend, they must end up driving about with brake pads utterly impregnated with wax, with all the attendant problems that implies.
I'm not looking for an answer (my solution is that I won't be getting the car auto washed again), just mentioning the issue lest anyone else should suffer it.
V Read more
Funnily enough our local car wash actually has a sign up telling you to try your brakes so perhaps it is worth mentioning to the proprietors, after all in todays litiginous (is that the right word?) world someone would probably sue sooner or later.
I want to replace my wooden gear knob and i have seen a nice looking aluminium one, the question is , is it easy to unwind the current one?...it looks fixed to the stick itself?.....any tips?..or examples on how to change it?..
cheers
Webbman Read more
Yes, the gear lever broke off on my 1987 320i, leaving a jagged stump about two inches long. Replacement, at dealers, was a pretty forceful pull off-push-on process.
Pat
I often suffer back pains after driving and have a lot of trouble finding a comfortable seating position. I'm 5' 11" and medium build and have owned and driven many cars and found the same problem so I don't think it's related to any particular car.
Are there any websites out there which comment on the correct seating position? I have been unable to find anything as of yet. It's also quite difficult when you can only tell the affect of your last seat movement when you're driving the car, and the blessed seat adjusts in all manner of directions.
Any advice/websites gratefully received.
Dan J Read more
Dan, I had a back problem aggravated by driving a while ago. I'm a similar height to you and I used to drive with the seat almost as far back as it would go. My occupational physio said this was the problem.
Now sitting closer to the wheel I haven't had a recurrence despite some 400-mile trips. Sitting closer to the wheel allegedly gives better control of the car too.
hth
Phil
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Here's a tip that I forgot to mention ....
If you feel the wheels after a short journey and one is warmer than its opposite partner, it is most likely that the brake on the warmer wheel has been binding.