December 2002
Right, I'm totally bored with my Jan2001 Honda Accord SE Exec 2.0 VTEC - it's a very nice car and all but it bores the pants off me.
It's too big, too soft, too cosy and too much like the sort of car my in-laws should have (whenever I give them a ride anywhere they always say "Ohhhh this is a lovely car, we should get one like this").
Trade-in value is £8875 to £9400 depending on which list you look at, I want to swap it for a car which is smaller, more exciting, and has a bit more pazazz - but I don't want to have to cough up more than £2500 in the process, which gives me a ceiling of around £11500, maybe £12000 tops.
Also, a diesel is essential as I do high mileage, I want a chunk of manufacturer's warranty left and I want insurance at group 11 or less (the Accord costs me £850 fully comp and that's group 11 - that'll teach me for being 28 years old with only 2 years no claims).
Fairly tight criteria and I don't see too many options around, best I've found is a 6 month old Ibiza Sport TDi 130bhp, metallic grey, £13850 new, dealer is after £11000 for it, it's only done about 4000 miles. 2 1/2 years warranty left.
He reckons he can do about £9250 for my Accord on trade-in, leaving me to find £1750.
Insurance is only group 7, which is a definite bonus.
So then, is it a good motor? I've read around a bit and it seems well regarded, same engine that VW use in the Golf TDi 130bhp by all accounts, and even Audi use it in the A4/A6?
I want the economy of a diesel, and looking at the figures it does seem to have a bit of poke too. It'll only be me in there 90% of the time, so 3-door isn't a problem.
Is it a bit of a girly car? It seems a bit hairdressery to me, can't say I've noticed too many around and/or noticed who tends to drive them.
I haven't actually seen it yet, it's due in in the next week or so and I'll take it for a test drive, the basic Ibiza looks very dull, does the Sport look a lot better?
Ultimately, I'm after something quick, reliable, fun to drive, not too expensive on routine servicing, economical, well built and well equipped.
Is this car a good choice or could I do better? I don't want to do what I did with the Accord and buy a car which, ultimately, I don't really like. Read more
Just read about a tragedy on Christmas Day in which 2 newlyweds were killed in a smash with another car which was being driven without lights in the early hours of the morning in Lincolnshire. Apparently, minutes before, the vehicle had been spotted by a Police patrol car which gave chase briefly and tried to stop the Polish driver but then abandoned the pursuit. A few minutes later the patrol car caught up with the offender's vehicle which had crashed into another car killing all 3 people involved!
We are increasingly being told that the Police should avoid high speed chase situations but in this case their failure to stop the car led to a tragedy. What should the Police do ? Read more
Runaway?
Robots are in this film (spider things and a cleaning droid that shoots its owner at the start yesno?)
Dan
The drivers door on my Passat does not close sometimes. It bounces back open and only after some random fiddling closes.
Does anyone have any ideas? Read more
My Passat is a 98 model.
When i got stuck the other day i finally shut the door by pulling the interior handle as far as it will go! It as worked ok for 2 days - probably waiting for an awkward location.
I have a 1999 VW Passat with full monty locking. Somehow I have locked the rear doors and cannot open even with the child lock. The book states that the garage can lock but does not say how to unlock. Can anyone help ? Read more
This is probably a silly question but is the passenger door locked as well? As far as I know the one shot/two shot zapper enables you to:
One Shot - only driver's door unlocks
Two Shot - all doors unlock
A VW dealer can re-program the door locking so that all doors unlock with one zap. I had this done and my VW dealer didn't charge - I was probably just lucky!
I've just bought one of these cars and don't know whether it's a good buy or not. It was cheap and has a year's warranty. It's on an S plate 98 and is the SE model. What is the general view out there? Read more
Concur - have been using a 626 auto in Saudi for the past year. Mainly urban motorway - very reliable - about 8litres/100km.
Ok, here's the situation. I want to visit a relative in Birmingham with my 2 young kids. I need to go there and back in a day. So do I drive? (comfy, reliable car, petrol paid by employer, but traffic/weather unknown and kids bored) Or do I go by train - Southampton Parkway to New Street direct in under 3 hours (will cost, but can keep kids occupied, only extreme weather an issue, no toilet stops needed, but risk of delays etc).
Other factors to consider - relative is housebound so we can't meet half way. Husband is working so can't do the driving for me (!) Route by car is likely to be M27 - A34 - M40 - M42 - M6 -10 mins local roads. I (more or less) stick to speed limits, and on a good day, the car journey would take about 3 1/2 hours I think.
This trip can be made in the next few days (but not 31st/1st) so does the day we go make any difference to your answer?
Not the most taxing of problems I know, but I can't decide what to do. I'm sure a Backroomer or two would have an opinion though!
Cheers!
Rebecca Read more
According to Qjump, there are no period returns for this journey at all - something fairly common on shorter routes. What you were told at Euston is rubbish, but unfortunately there are a lot of TOC staff that can't be bothered to do their job and will fob passengers off with any old story to get them to go away and leave them alone.
I must have misread your original post as it seemed to suggest you'd bought 2 returns - apologies. Good to hear you got some response from a TOC CS department - I seem to have got myself on a blacklist as I don't even get the stock replies these days!
Much as I support the railways, they really do need to get their act together before car owners will start taking them seriously as an alternative for anything other than local journeys in to city centres...
Santa brought me a nice Nokia Bluetooth car kit for Christmas. Unfortunately he didn't arrange fitting so me and my dad are gonna have to do it ourselves. :)
It needs to be wired in so that it is powered up when my key is in the acessory position, and also, the instructions mentioned something about wiring to the correct wire so that the voltage does not cut when the car is started from the accessory position. (Or else the connection to the phone would be lost presumably))
Does anyone know if there are standard wiring colours for the appropriate power lead/ignition wire? Or even any general advice on undertaking this little task? Just I don't wanna set fire to my baby just after her first Xmas!
For anyone who can't remember the car is an 02 Fiesta (Old style)
Blue Read more
This is totally irrelevant really, Blue - but just having barred myself from 'discussion", I will just have one last word here :)
Tonight, in the driving rain (was hell, maybe for once worse for us southies that you northerners?) had to clear out car for final handover from previous owner to me. Found some maps, a glasses case, a tape measure, a shoe (just the one) and finally, the phone charger - dunno if it's even the hands-free thing but old owner had been going out of his mind apparently, thinking he'd lost it. When all the time it was in his car, plugged into his ciggie connector.
Have no point to make there, except that I might even do the unthinkable and go to bed now :)
HF
Arrival of a large new dog means it is time for a large estate car (probably 1-2 years old. As a diesel fan (Passat 110 TDi saloon), it must be a diesel, for my wife it has to be auto. So I have a limited choice, several candidates are not available as auto diesel e.g. new Mondeo and I fear BMW and Mercedes are too pricey.
My shortlist is looking like:
Citroen C5
VW Passat 130
Rover 75
Volvo V70
I would really appreciate any comments on these or alternative diesel auto estates which I may have overlooked.
Thanks - BB Read more
Are Laguna II's really that bad that they do not feature on your shortlist. I think that they are one of the better looking cars on the market.
I have a BM diesel estate and think that it is a great car but it is manual. I drove my bosses Omega Estate 2.5td (old shape, old technology) and found it very comfy but sometimes a tad slow picking up speed.
Hi
Today I went to Motorpoint of Derby to collect a new car. When I got here it was obvious that something was wrong. It turned out that the stereo code had been lost.. One of their staff pulled the radio out and rushed to a local auto stereo outfit to sort the code. When the car was put back into he dash it cuased a mal-function in the ECU which now does not recognise the stereo at all. The manager said I could take the car to a local dealer who would re prog the ECU under warranty. I declined saying that a local dealer could refuse to do the work under warranty as Motorpoint had tampered with the component and inmho this could also have warranty implications for anything that is related the radio area ( or electrics) I did not take the car home but wonder who is correct. I feel also that being an import the local dealer would be less than happy to stretch the warranty or help out..Can I refuse to accept the car on these grounds?
Any opinions would be welcome
thanks
alan Read more
Browse
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I didn't realise they'd changed the dash.
Mine looks like this: www.muddyboots.f9.co.uk/car/08_ibiza_inside.jpg
Has it changed since mine ?
If you import a UK-spec car direct from a foreign dealer, you will most likely have to wait for it to be built at the factory, and so you'll get whatever the latest spec is.
I don't think many foreign dealers will keep many RHD TDI 130s in stock - they buy to order from the factory when a customer wants one. Otherwise they could end up with cars they can't sell in their country - that's why they also ask for a fairly hefty deposit (I paid 20%) so you don't back out and leave them with an unsellable car.
Is your colleagues car an import ? I have a feeling there was an option in some foreign markets for a "soft dash" or something odd like that, but I've never seen one. I haven't heard about a new dash design in the SC forums I mentioned previously.
Lee