Am I the only person with a Ford Mondeo Zetec 1999 model which has a leaking rear light cluster seal which has slowly resulted in water filling the spare wheel cavity ? My local main dealer seems to have knowledge but states that Ford will not acknowledge this as a manufacturing fault and I have had to pay a fortune to have it fixed. Read more

Hi Guys

Quite a while since I last posted, nice to see DW and a few of the others are still around.

Anyway I am after a bit of advice, a young lady friend has enlisted my help in selecting a new supermini for her.

She quite fancies a Citroen Saxo and the current £5995 offer has taken her eye.

However I feel that there are probably better deals or motors to be had for this sort of money especially as the Saxo is at the end of its run.

Any suggestions as to what you might chase for this sort of money, there no PX or anything involved it will be a cash deal, I am tempted to get her to look at a Yaris or a Seat, what do you think?

as ever

Mark Read more

Todays paper tells me that there are so many new cars being bought on borrowed money that folks could suffer negative equity when they come to sell, as prices for used cars are way down.

Examples are given such as,

Omega new, £19,015. In three years time, £5,100
Vectra new £14,115 In 3 years, £4375.

Data was compiled by industry analysts, yewtree.com

Editor of Fleet News said folks could borrow £10K to buy a car, sell it for £3K in three years but still owe £4K.

So, brummers are not too good an investment right now. Should be some bargains about but what is my old Volvo worth. Thruppence?

I haven't borrowed to change a car in years and hopefully never will. I usually buy three or four year olds from fleet auctions.

As my Masonic friends might say, "Limit you desires in all of life's stations and, rising to eminence by merit, you will live respected and die regretted."

Only the "Limit your desires" part is relevant but I have always liked those words and thought I would share them with you.

BTW I am not giving away any Masonic secrets here. The words can be found in most libraries, in various books. Read more

From a local newspaper:

A young Phoenix man and his passenger died horrific deaths on Sunday when his car burst into flames in a crash which police say was linked to drag racing.

Leon Jagesur and a young woman, who has not been identified, were burnt beyond recognition on the M19 leading to Quarry Road early on Sunday.

Police said Jagesur was racing along a section of the M19 towards the N2 when he lost control of his BMW Z3 and slid into the middle island before slamming into a bridge pillar.

Police officers at the scene of the crash said several "spectators" reported the BMW had been racing with another vehicle at the time.

Inspector Bradley Meyer said: "When we arrived at the scene there were more than 150 spectators lining the road where the cars were racing past.

"We questioned several of them and were told that the car which crashed was involved in a race with another car."

Meyer said the other car had not stopped when the BMW had crashed and police were still looking for it.

Late on Sunday night police received a tip-off about a race scheduled to take place in Quarry Road, but when they arrived the racers were dispersing.

A qualified drag racer, Renelle Naidoo, who was at the scene of Sunday night's race, said: "Because the police arrived at Quarry Road, the (illegal) racers moved to Backstretch (on the M19) and Springfield Park where they continued to race."

Marge Jagesur, Leon's father, described his son as a stable, level-headed man who did not drink or smoke.

"Leon lived life to the fullest. He never back-chatted, was always smiling and he loved his cars. He was also a highly educated young man," he said.

Leon worked for BoE Bank as a chartered accountant, and lived with his family in Phoenix.

Jagesur said he did not know whether his son had been drag racing or just speeding.

Meyer and Inspector Suman Singh of the police accident response unit said the car - its number plate read ND 4 SPD ZN - hit the bridge with such force that both occupants were killed instantly.

Police believe Jagesur was travelling at a speed of at least 190km/h at the time of the crash. The woman's shoes and parts of the car were found more than 40 metres away from the scene.

The BMW was fitted with nitrous-oxide injectors.

"There was no way that anyone stood a chance of escaping alive," said Meyer.

At least eight people have died in crashes linked to drag races in the past year.

Authorities say despite campaigns to stop drag racing, there has been an upsurge in the dangerous pastime with unofficial tracks springing up in city centres throughout KwaZulu-Natal.

Six of the more popular drag racing areas in the province are in Pietermaritzburg, Ladysmith, two stretches of road on the N2 between Durban and Port Shepstone, and a stretch of road along the coast near Ballito.

Police have also received reports of drag racing between Johannesburg and Durban.

Traffic officials say these areas are difficult to police because the racers know when law enforcement agents have been tipped off.

Superintendent Vasie Naidu said she hoped Sunday's crash would serve as a warning to those participating in illegal drag races.

Vijen Murugan, speaking for the KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate, said many dragsters had police scanners to serve as early warning systems.

"Motorists who allow themselves to be driven by speed are placing themselves at risk."

Drag racing, he said, was practised mainly by younger drivers with "big egos".

"Drag racing is also used to show off cars that have been modified." Read more

Coming from the subject of viruses and cd-roms from below, whilst it is not motoring, a thing worth pointing out.

Electronic media has a life span and will fail beyond it. I don`t rememeber the exact figures but it is something like the following;

Video Tape - 10 yrs
CD-Rom - 15 yrs
Hard Disk - 20 yrs

Don't think that anything will survive on these media if you put it in a cupboard unattended.

Videos need to be recorded digitally asap. CD-ROMs need to be copied about every 10 years, and hard disks used throughly about the same.

If anybody doubts the exact figures, I will confirm them - but they really are more or less accurate. Be careful - too many people have puled the wedding video out of the draw after 15 years and got a shock. Think is, even a video you watch deteriorates - just gradually. Digital media will one day go toes up with little warning. Read more