November 2002
My present car delivers (on paper) 144 ft/lbs of torque from 1905 cc.
The Citroen C3 delivers 151 ft/lbs from only 1400 cc. ( I hope my figures are correct)
Question. Are the ft/lbs the "same". In other words will it feel like more power or will it run out of urge on hills, for example, simply because even though it gives 151 ft/lbs it is giving them from only 1400 cc and not 1905 cc.If you see what I mean.
T I A Read more
Well, it's been a long time coming, but I've finally witnessed something on the roads that has made me smile!
A main roundabout that I everyday has had it's traffic lights switched off. :) The lights used to be on 24/7 and now that they are off, traffic flows much more freely and I barely have to wait, plus there is none of this business where people go in the shortest queue and then carve up other motorists as soon as the lights go green. :)
I've e-mailed the council to tell them how great I think it is, I suggested that if the lights are broken, then they should not waste any money fixing them, and congratulating them if they had been deliberately switched off.
Anyone else seen some recent road design that has been for the better, most of it round here is absynal. (Our traffic/road planning and design guy in the council doesn't actually drive a car)
Blue Read more
Same here, well, I go to Uni on the North anyway.
I wish they would hurry up and finish the bridge repairs, it's been draging on for months, and I'm sick of driving over that lump of raised tarmac every time I go over it, the bump disturbs my sleep. :)
Blue
So Alistair the little darling is going to appoint a Traffic Czar. (or should it be Tsar? someone will tell us in good time but anyway to the point.)
Well if he/she gets as much co-operation as Keith Hellawell former drugs czar I won't hold my breath for any real improvements.
Anyway what suggestions have we backroomers for
a) a name of some sensible person to do the job, and
b) things to be looked into besides holes in the road, pun intended.
My suggestion for a) Carole Adams...... No seriously why not? ie some sensible down to earth female not based in London who could put us all in order.
b) How about stopping all this planning insanity in local traffic offices.
Typical sequence of events, its closer to truth this one than is comfortable.
Traffic lights, right turn is not a rat run just the obvious way to go.
Two lanes at lights, right lane right turners, left = SO.
Someone puts a cycle lane in for the benefit of the two cyclists a day that are daft and fit enough to cycle up this hill.
Road now not wide enough for two lanes so all the right turners block up the traffic.
Right turns banned.
Traffic now finds alternate, less appropriate ways.
Residents complain of rat running.
Council considers speed bumps traffic calming what have you.
Residents now moan about speed bumps.
Lights replaced by roundabout at huge expense.
Residents on original road now complain about huge increase of traffic that is no longer rat running. Demand speed bumps,
aaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh!
Which bit isn't true?
they've not started on the roundabout.........yet Read more
Lets face it:
the Government is going to do nothing real (they control the purse strings and all new roads have to be approved and funded by.. Whitehall)
So this is just spin cos they know the problem is getting worse, public transport is a bad joke (see the unions striking in the Tube for a start) and they PROMISED to make it better..(public transport that is).
If you are not doing anything, pretend...
madf
I have been back in the UK for 4 weeks and I am using an Alfa 166 2.0 twin spark throughout mainland europe it has been doing 32 mpg according to the computer ,the same driving on Uk fuel i have dropped to 23mpg .I thought there must be a problem with the car but everythink checks out ok.I have tried all different fuels with the same result .It confirms to me what I always thought that UK fuel is substandard.
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A lot of european surfaces have very low rolling resistances, but are slippery when wet!. This can improve your mpg at high speed by quite a lot.
Traffic and temperature can be major factors as well.
man arrested in oxford today for criminal damage
seems he was digging up the speed bump outside his home
he had tried appealing to the council
very sad state of affairs in this country
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This\'ll get merged into the previous thread on the subject later DD.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=8891
Done, 04/10/03. DD
Dear All,
My lad has just come of age and wants to learn to drive. I am thinking about buying him a 94/94 M reg Vauxhall Corsa 1.2ls 70k miles at about £1800. I have read HJs comments in the car by car breakdown and am a bit confused whether the cambelt is chain or rubber driven. It looks quite tidy but I'm going to have a good look tomorrow. Are Corsas'ok for a first car, and is the price too much?
Cheers.
VD5D. Read more
Thanks for all the help everyone. I think what I'll do is make a shortlist of the various recommendations and perhaps visit some local auctions and look on the Autotrader and E&M web-sites local papers for a suitable car near to where I live.
Budget up to £2,500, maybe more if I can sell the LR, as this will be used as a second car/run about so I'll add Harry to my insurance for now. I was told by the lady at NFU where I insure the Landy that if Harry goes on to do Pass Plus after his driving test he will be able to build up his own no claims bonus even though he's on my insurance. Sounds like something I should look into.
Cheers
VD5D.
I had a trip around MG dealers today, with a view to buying an MGZT. I offered my 18 month old Passat 1.8T SE as P/X. Offers made varied between £9-11000. This on a car that was on VW Forecourts for £14995 six months ago. (Thankfully I got it quite a bit cheaper-the power of the internet.)
I chose the VW because all the motoring press suggested it held its value better than any other car in this segment. Proof indeed that you can't believe everything you read in the papers.
And no, I didn't take up their offer.
MLC Read more
I've been wondering for a while whether zebra crossings in private car parks (eg at Supermarkets) have the same legal standing as those on the public roads? The reason for asking is that no-one ever seems to take any notice of these - I've come close to being knocked down a number of times, usually by drivers accelerating towards me while trying to cross... I actually recall being told that pedestrians actually have ultimate right of way in carparks - is this true as well? Read more
To have the same legal standing as those on a public road then the crossing having to comply with signing i.e. markings, studs and warning beacons. Those I have seen in SM parks are just white bars across the road with nothing else. IMHO if they were so marked on a road then not legal.
As to whether a supermarket is a road there is a plethora of case law for and against which probably means a decision from those on the bench. I note that careless driving etc has been extended to road or public place but have yet to find the elusive definition under the RTA of 'public place'.
DVD
after my recent post about the tappets rattling on my mondeo, i have done an engine flush using Wynn's engine flush, fitted a new oil filter with non-return valve and changed the oil to Magnatec 5w/30. The rattle has died down a little but no too much, Does this mean it is must now be down to the tappets themselves?.........or self adjusters. Read more
the mondeo is 1993 mk1, according to the manual and the ford dealer 5w/30 is the correct oil for this car....
" ---- always to drive and think of speed in feet per second instead of in miles per hour, and you will at once become a hundred per cent better and safer driver. All you have to do is to add one half to the figure of your speed in m.p.h. and you will get your speed in feet per second. Any child can do that.
The other aspect of road safety touches what is called kinetic energy, which means the moving force possessed by a vehicle in motion. I can't give you a more detailed explanation, but another way to put it is to refer to kinetic energy as the kick possessed by a moving vehicle. A small motor oar weighing about a ton and moving at a speed of 40 miles per hour strikes the same blow as eighteen ten-ton steam rollers travelling at their highest speed, which is 3 miles per hour.---- "
from The Listener October 1937, p. 892. (yes 19thirty7) See
www.cut-the-knot.org/arithmetic/rapid/safety.shtml
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They're still there!
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Ah, but wasn't that a 1.9D? Not fast, but really quite refined for its day (I'm still running one in my BX. I agree many people still equate diesel with slow and noisy. That 1.9D was the first step to changing all that. It's truly remarkable how far diesels have come in just the last decade. I am very excited about the January arrival of the HDI 90 I just bought. Incidentally on the test drive(s) I kept over gearing the HDI on corners. One thing the 1.9 does have is low down torque.