I've had a mass of problems with the brakes on my R Reg Peugeot 406 Diesel Estate.

In just over one year, I have had the front disks on my R reg Peugeot Diesel Estate replaced 6 times due to wheel judder:

Date Mileage Work carried out
12.03-01 72657 Changed front disks and pads
31.08.01 80821 Changed front disks and pads
12.12.01 86837 Changed front disks
15.04.02 91590 Changed front disks
17.05.02 92816 Changed front disks, flanges and bearings
28.06.02 94276 Changed front disks

The work on 17.05.02 cost me £510 and achieved nothing - after 1000 miles, again I had wheel judder on braking.

On May 1, 2002, the vehicle received its MoT test from the local dealer. Brakes, steering and suspension were fine. Less than 600 miles later, it was back in the dealers workshop on May 17, because of wheel judder. This time the front hub bearings and wheel hubs were replaced because ?that?s the only thing we haven?t tried yet?. Including replacing a drive belt, the total bill to me was £510.

I've spoken to Peugeot Customer Service and got nowhere. Their response was as follows:

Peugeot will not refund the money as it "could be a problem with vehicle causing the disk wear" (or words to that effect)

The disks currently fitted (on 28.06.02) are Girling

The disks fitted 17.05.02 and on 15.04.02 were Bendix. These ones lasted between 1000 and 1500 miles before replacement. The dealer had reported to Peugeot that there was a "material problem" with these disks. This problem was unspecified. Was it manufacturing, design, material, finishing, storage or what? With modern manufacturing standards and regulations surely this should be impossible?

The disks replaced on the dates below were Peugeot supplied parts:
12.03.01
31.08.01
12.12.01

The disks I've got now have done just over 1000 miles since the last change.

I've asked 'Honest John' about this via email and he suggests

"The problem is most likely to be dirty or corroded caliper pins. These are the pins on which the calipers travel in and out to clamp the discs. If the calipers stick slightly, the pads remain in contact with the discs and wear both out very quickly. Franchised dealers rarely bother to clean these pins as part of a routine service."

I've no way of knowing what happened here or if Peugeot suggested this.

Peugoet don't seem to understand the concept of identifying the root cause of a problem - anyone had any similar problems and/or have suggestions on who I can contact in Peugeot who might be more clued up and responsive than P. customer service?

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Well, it's taken long enough to get around to this hope it was worth the wait. There's a couple of pictures of the Avantime on the photo site : communities.msn.com/honestjohn

I was lucky enough to be upgraded from a Laguna II to an Avantime on my recent holiday to Corsica. Having spent a full week living with it, I think I'm in quite a good position to report on how it performs and how easy it is to live with.

First thing you notice about the Avantime is that you've never seen anything quite like it in your life. It's the size of an Espace but with two enormous doors, no B Pillar, a back end with a low bugling boot and enough designer touches to qualify it for its own Channel Four documentary. Suffice to say that no matter where you drove it, it turned heads and drew crowds. That's not to say it's the most beautiful car available today but it's certainly one of the most distinctive. Whenever I've been out in weird or fantastic machinery before, it was pretty much always blokes that would appear to check it out. The Avantime drew everybody from kids to bikers to coach loads of Grandmothers.

Once you're inside through the huge three part doors you're greeted with an equally impressive interior in full leather and I think pretty much stolen from the Espace. Everything is well laid out and easily to hand with steering wheel controls for the Cruise/Speed control and a remote lever thing for the radio, which I guess is Renault standard having seen the same controls in a white diesel Kangoo van.

The centrally placed information centre is digital and very clear. The only issue is with the rev counter that sits behind and is obscured by the steering wheel. The CD Radio is hidden behind a panel which at times was reluctant to open, but the umpteen speaker system was just fantastic playing the latest Moby CD.

Looking around from the driver?s seat, visibility was excellent - no B pillar means unobstructed views each side, the full length sunroof (with electric blinds for both front and rear passengers) gives a great view of the sky, but as with many cars these days the A Pillar hides some of the road ahead when on twisty roads. The front of the car drops sharply so you can't really see the front, and the rear is miles away and behind the rounded rear window and boot. You get used to it eventually but there might be a case for parking sensors, as with so many large cars. That said, I never had a problem parking it anywhere even in the tightest spaces. The electric & heated self folding wing mirrors helping a lot. The high sitting position of the car gives excellent views over hedges much like a 4x4 but without the horrible handling of a typical school run off-roader.

Getting comfortable was easy enough with adjustable seat/steering wheel and with the excellent visibility and overall space and the airy feel of the car, it felt truly luxurious place to be.

The engine was the 3.0 V6 24v, producing 210HP and delivered through a six speed box. If you wanted to drive the manual like an auto, put the Avantime in 3rd and it?d happily tootle around all day. Corsica is mountainous but the Avantime sailed up and down even the steepest slopes with ease. It comes as standard with ABS and ESP and enough torque to pull down a chimney so you never really have to think too hard about your driving style.

It seemed to just sort itself out no matter how hard you pushed it into a corner and the 235/50R17s just kept to the line you were pointing the steering wheel. The only quirk as that around town on sharp bends at about 30mph the ASP would kick in and you could feel the wheel on the inside of the corner being braked. This wasn't at speeds or
angles that I would have thought would cause understeer.

There were only a couple of niggles with the car - to get into the rear seats you need to release the front seats. On this example, the driver?s seat reverted to dwarf mode whereas the passenger seat resumed to where you'd set it. Probably due to this being an abused hire car. The handbrake could easily awkward to use as the sliding central armrest when pushed forward was above. And the excellent one button that opens all the windows, the sunroof and blinds with one action could result in some very windswept passengers at high speed, but the feeling of openness I don't think could be matched this side of a convertible.

Accommodation is excellent, everyone gets acres of leg/head/arm room and there are cubby holes and drinks holders everywhere. The boot is enormous, swallowing three 75l rucksacks and several day bags easily along with the traditional supermarket fayre of water and snacks. It's got a bar along the lines of the C3 to split into two, but as with the C3 I thought this was pointless.

I really liked the climate control setting, where the driver and passenger had their own settings, controlled by a small console with just + & - and a display of the selected temperature. Again, I think this is from the Espace but shows very clear thinking and exceptional ease of use. Jacob Nielsen* would approve.

So, how does the Avantime stack up against the competition? Well in terms of luxury I reckon it's up there with the Germans. In terms of engineering I think the Audis, BMWs and Mercedes of the world will always be very hard to surpass and Renault have realised this and so have attacked them on a style front and came up with a whole new type of car, the Designer Monobox Coupe Sports Greenhouse. I think they've got it right.

The Avantime is well screwed together and a pleasure to live with, but then so are all the competition. Driving the Avantime you feel special because the car is special. Renault took the rule book for expensive cars and shredded it. Yes, your A6 may be very nice but no-one can tell it apart from the A4 or the A8. The BMW5 may be the best car in the class but it looks just like every other 3 box car BMW have built. And when you sit in either the look, feel and space you're offered is much the same as car manufacturers have offered you for the past 30 years.

Renault have taken a brave and probably necessary with the Avantime and in a way it'd be a shame if it worked. The Avantime is unusual and that's what makes it special. If suddenly the whole world drove cars that looked like the Avantime it'd lose it's edge. When you examine history, Renault have developed some of the most innovative cars of the last 20 years - the Espace led the way for people carriers and the Scenic launched a million Almera Tinos. I hope they can lead luxury cars away from the 70's American police car three box format with the Avantime.

Overall I absolutely loved the car and given the spare cash would buy one without hesitation. I may be in luck too, as most large French cars seem to suffer terrible depreciation, so perhaps in three or four year?s time I could pick one up for a fraction of the cost of an autobahn cruiser, and that's probably Renault's biggest problem.

Lee

*Nielsen is an expert in Usability : www.useit.com/
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Dear all at \"Technical matters\".

I wonder if the combined brainpower might help me with this one please? Either specific suggestions or point me at a good garage that REALLY knows Big Vauxhall Omegas.

The patient is an ex-Police 3.0 ?P? reg Dec-96 manual Omega MV6 Saloon (white?). Had it since about 100k, now 202,500 miles nicely run in. Everything works (including the air-condition added) but we have a difficult to diagnose hesitation SOMETIMES under heavy acceleration.

It manifests itself as an apparent misfire, intermittently (I mean only 10ths of seconds long), more usually at lower revs (below 3,000).

Car has been checked over heavily by my local Vauxhall Dealer but as I live in the remote Highlands of Scotland he don?t see that many Omegas, let alone 3.0 litres. The AA had a look (nowt) and I?ve had it checked on one of those ?free? Vauxhall checkups (apparently useless). The fuel pump died about 10,000 miles ago and the problem seemed to go away (sounded logical to me..) ? replaced with a new one by Vauxhalls - but problem has crept back recently. There are no strange lights on the warning systems, no diagnostics come up when she?s serviced. (Does anyone know if these diagnostics are connected on ex-Police MV6s?). She?s serviced as recommended (I like to feel comfortable that my car will go, steer & stop) including spark plugs. Petrol consumption is OK (I get 28-31 average!). I tried Shell?s ?OptiMax? (I?d run out of ideas) and that made no difference (after 3 consecutive tank-fulls). The cam-belt and tensioners are up-to-date (about 15,000 miles ago they were changed). She doesn?t use any oil (I cannot remember when I last topped it up between services). No water leaks. No high temperatures shown. Air filter standard Vauxhall, exhaust Kwikfit replacement system.

Yours truly,

Confused of the Highlands.

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Seeking stripdown/rebuild manual for Fuji ECVT box used on Fiat Panda, either on paper or as a CD rom. Any suggestions as to where such can be obtained would be much appreciated ( Haynes do not cover this type of box in their manuals )
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Hi

I have a 1992 Ford Escort Cabriolrt (130PS). I have owned the car for 6 years. It has developed a fault, that after more then a journey of 5 miles, when engine temperature has been achieved, if you stop, the car will not start for 10 minutes to 1 hour plus. The car never cuts out whilst driving, runs perfectly.
When trying to start the car, the engine will turn for as long as the battery would last. When it does start, tyhe car fires up and runs perfectly, no miss-fire, nothing wrong. When the car will not start the fuel pump is definatley not running.
I have tried several garages and Ford technical services to no avail.
Anybody any idea's

regards Bill Fisher
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