January 2003
Further to the car tax question, I have decided to hand back my company car (sob!) and take the money instead. I will get petrol on expenses, so will pay tax on the cost of fuel rather than the BIK formula. Company will also pay tax and maintenance which will be taxed as a benefit too.
From a distance I've always liked the Citroen Picasso. It has a good HJ report, a search on here hasn't shown up any horror stories, the unoffical Picasso website is also helpful.
Does anyone here have any further comments to add? I am arranging a test drive today, it's the 2.0 16v Exclusive Auto 2003 model that I'm interested in.
Also any thoughts on timing? Is it worth ordering a new car for March registration? How much would that affect re-sale values? Each month I keep the BMW costs me about £300 in tax (why didn't I sort this out earlier?!)
PS The local dealers quote is approx £2000 more than one sourced via this site, and another via the Picasso site. Unbelievable! (all quotes include Citroen's £2000 cashback) Read more
Heard on radio 5 this morning that there are plans in London to get rid of all/most zebra crossings due to over use. The over use is causing too much backing up of traffic.
I suppose these are all to be replace by pelicans Read more
I reckon it's all a lead-up to the introduction of a Zebra Crossing Charge...
Mind you, in London my experience is that if I stop at a Zebra crossing the pedestrians eye you nervously waiting for you to suddenly accelerate and mow them down and the drivers behind you beep and flash at you as you are obviously mad. Cars coming the other way often don't bother to stop either, unless the pedestrians are actually on their side of the crossing at the time.
Why are HT leads not a service item?
Had the Mondeo (1999, 50k miles) serviced on Saturday and mentioned to the man at the garage that starting on wet, cold mornings has been a bit hesitant. He changed the leads and it's different altogether. Runs smoother and picks up better as well.
They were obviously well due for a change, so why aren't they scheduled for, say, 40k miles or 3 years?
Any thoughts?
Andy Read more
Extended service intervals keep servicing costs down for the fleet owners who are the car maunuactures main customers not for ordinary punters.
Mal.
How do car manufacturer's decide which side of the car to put the petrol cap? Only ask as whenever I fill up with petrol, there are far more people with petrol caps on the right than the left.
Tim Read more
As a boy I used to help serve petrol at my
dad's filling station,
God, I'm feeling old now. I can remember the days of actually being served Petrol. Us mere customers weren't to be trusted with the pump. I only ever made the mistake once of remaining sat on the motorbike while the attendant filled up the tank, which resulted in a soaking wet highly flammable crotch when the nozzle didn't shut off quickly enough when the tank was full. If that wasn't bad enough, the petrol rash that appeared afterwards...... :o(
We live in terrace housing and the council and a private landlord are building posh new houses on the back of the houses. They are putting a road in, but not for the terraces to use, although with a little compromise it could be. Do you know of any legal rights that mean the terraces could use the road? Any help gratefully appreciated. please post before Monday when residents are attending the planning meeting at the council. Also the land they are building on is old allotments next to a park, in case we have any environmental or common land case. Read more
I have dim recollections of the Rights of Way laws, but I think you may be right.
Someone who'd probably know a lot about this sort of thing would be your local 4x4 club, who often have this sort of issue over rights and road use when green laning.
Some of the bigger clubs have appointed 'Rights of Way' officers.
Just goes to show that the Police do other than stop drivers breaking motoring laws?
To all who refer to the cops as plods - try not to generalise policemen any more than we generalise idiot drivers on this website.
Anyone care to join me in sending a tenner or more to a fund for his wife and three children?
Matt35. Read more
Wouldn't know MK - I don't read it and find most newspapers a waste of time with their own agenda.
If people feel strongly about this, or any other subject for that matter, they should let their MP's know direct, not rely on others to do it for them. That's what democracy's supposed to be about isn't it ?
All:
A certain amount is fine, and in fact to be encouraged.
But please do consider when a conversation is not of interest to anyone else and should be taken to e-mail.
No particular offendors in mind, just a general comment.
Thanks. Read more
Ill Wind springs to mind Ian CT. Watching midday Sky News yesterday live from CT background showed lots of clouds amongst the blue sky.
Is this in preparation for the 'rain stopped play' gambit? :-)
I live in a village with a few fields, so I am thinking, when things settle down a bit, I would like to be able to get to work on the two days of the year that we are slightly snow bound.
OK OK I like 4 x 4s but I promise not to clutter up school entrances with it. I truly believe in walking or school bus where this is concerned.
I was dreaming about the Freelander, but then saw some press ads WRT the Suzuki Grand Vitara at about £14,000 (5 dr) about £2,000 cheaper than what seemed to be the same spec Freelander.
I read up on this on HJs Car by Car breakdown and I was disappointed. Friends say go for the CR-V or RAV 4. I see that Ford now do a new Terrano (Nissan built?) Just when I thought that I could not possibly be faced with more choice I am confronted by the Kia version (they boast that their Focused sized car is half the price of the Focus).
Does anyone know of any more small 4 x 4s? Which is the best on the market at the moment.
Is the Freelander overpriced? Can we negotiate good discounts on the dealer forecourts at the moment?
Hugo Read more
I went to see the CRV when it was new. I asked to see one, sales guy says which one? Me: Any one. Him: But which model? Me: I don't know as I've not seen them yet. Any one will do I just want a 4x4 and would like to see if it will fit the bill. Him: Well you can't off road in it. It's rubbish at that, you'd break it. Besides you won't get decent tyres in this size so you'll just get stuck.
So I never did see it.
My husband is french and although he is insured to drive here our insurance is up for renewal so I have been searching for quotes. All the online sites I have tried will only accept uk full or provisional licences. Does anyone know of companies that will quote online for EC licences?
TIA
Read more
Penny,
try Frizzell, who are the brokers recommended to all new staff at the customer I work with.
The comments I received were that they are fairly competetive for most cars (not so good for exotics or classics), and very easy to deal with.
Kevin...
Just bought a Mk. IV Ford Fiesta 1.8 Diesel and have noticed a problem - Upon acceleration, the engine sometimes hesitates (a flat spot), and smoke pours out of the exhaust. After a few seconds, the smoke stops and the car accelerates away fine. This happens quite a lot, but not every time I accelerate. I suspect it may have something to do with the injectors, but I'm not too sure about diesels. Can anyone who has had the same problem advise? The car is fine apart from this minor flaw - 1.8 engine is nippy enough, and the car is quiet, but it has done 90,000 miles. Anyone any ideas what might be causing this? Thanks. Read more
Thanks for info, didn't know that! Who knows what was in the tank then.
Steve.
Browse
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The www.citroenpicasso.org.uk website has carried snippets for quite a while.
My dealer doesn't even know the prices for the car yet.
Ben