February 2003
As I was tootling along, tailgating and entering corners too fast and in the wrong gear this weekend I pondered on hazards that I treat with paticular respect.
I decided that my top two most respected junction hazards were a) Pub Car Parks (Obvious) b) Garden Centres. (Old People)
Discuss.
--
These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads. Read more
Hi all
Have a bit of a dilema going on at the moment - which I'm hoping someone can help me with. The names have been changed to protect the not so innocent !
Bought a "new" car from a "reputable" dealer approximately 15 months ago. Traded in a perfectly serviceable Ashtray and picked up our lovely new french estate for the family..
We have had nothing but problems with this new car so last week - took it back to another dealer ( better one than the aforementioned as the aforementioned was useless in fixing any problems ) on the back of an AA van.
Began discussions with the new dealer on getting out of the PCP we were in and that we wanted to deal with someone else and would they help us get a new car
The new dealer then informs us that the car is an import - and, although on a PCP has no finance outstanding ( news to me on both fronts ) so hpi is clear - although the check also reveals that there are no other details on the system for the car ..
Anyway - the fact that we were sold an import ( not to our knowledge ) as a "new" car with only delivery mileage reduces the resale value also it is - in my opinion fraud on behalf of the dealer who sold it to us
So my questions are this - what process would we need to follow to buy an import and therefore what documentation is missing and how do we stand as the consumer.... we have demanded all our money back and will take the matter further if needs be as this was a main dealer and the maths just doesnt stack up .... I have spoken to the manufacturer who has given me some information and the DVLA who were equally helpful - but any other insights would be really really appreciated
Thanks
Cosmos Read more
Cosmos,
A good letter and a risable reply! I trust that you did not accept the £50 they offered as any future claims will be harder.
I would also add that going down the route of involving lawyers may cost you more than is at stake, although I would be tempted to do so myself as I think that you are 100% in the right.
Seems the recent cold weather snap has done my wipers in. The front wipers don't park properly now (most of the time anyway).
If i have them on, then switch them off they stop immediately. Also if i do the washers, it doesn't return them to the correct park position.
Checking the relay when doing the washers, as soon as the relay clicks, the wipers stop.
Should the relay supply a feed until the wipers park, or is it the wiper motor that takes care of providing a live feed until they should park.
I was going to get a new relay, but most auto spares don't stock the wiper relay. vw wanted around £17 - feeling a bit tight this month so i didn't want to "splash out" until i was a little more sure.
Any ideas on how to check this out further? Read more
The motor is self parking and there should be a permanant 12 v feed ( ignition on ) This from memory it is on a seperate fuse. Check it out and come back. If the wipers are turned on with snow on the screen and the motor stalls away from the park position the motor continues to be powered up and either blows something or burns out the copper 'park' track in the motor. Peter
Ok, having nearly started a riot already today, time for you good ladies and gentlemen to consider the following:
3/5 door hatchback to be used for daily 45mile round trip, 40 miles of which are NSL A roads or Dual Carriageway. Budget of about £5-6k. Likely to have to double as a small pick-up-truck for plants and other horticultural paraphenalia as SWMBO is giving up the rat race to become a kept woman on a Horticultural course in deepest Dorset.
Now, I'm tempted towards a diesel for the lower running costs, but then there are plenty of petrol hatchbacks that will see close on 50mpg with that kind of use.
Currently thinking in terms of Punto diesel, Yaris petrol, Ibiza diesel in that price range.
SWMBO loves the way the Alfa drives and previously had an MR2 so likes a car that goes where it's pointed.
Any other ideas I should be considering?
Read more
I had a rummage around for prices/spec online last night and the Punto wins hands down. The 1.9JTD offers 58mpg and has reasonable performance - and you are looking at change from £5k for a 01 plate. Ibiza seems to hold it's money rather too well and as for the Yaris, yikes!
Take on board what you say about smaller petrols but we've been bitten by the oil bug now. Still got an open mind though. Will have to arrange some test drives when we get back from holiday.
Local Fiat franchise has just changed hands so watching this space on service standards. Mind you, the local Seat dealership moves around more than a tennis ball on centre-court, so hardly promising.
M6 Junction 18, Friday afternoon, X reg fiat Bravo 80-90mph down the outside lane with a space saver spare wheel on the rear off side wheel. Do you think he made it home?????
Read more
doesn't invalidate it unless there's evidence that it was used outside the manufacturer's recommendations (which will be clearly stated in the manual and probably on the spacesaver itself)
All,
I\'m just about to get a new (to me) Focus. It doesn\'t have a heated front windscreen although I\'d like to have one.
Does anyone know whats involved apart from changing the screen itself. I\'ve spoken to a Ford dealer and was somewhat surprised at just how little they seemed to know.
Has anyone done this before? I\'ve looked at the Haynes manual and it seems to me like it could be as simple as a new switch assembly, a relay and a couple of fuses. The $64k question is how does the screen actually connect to the car electrics as this is obviously (I\'m guessing) missing on the car I\'m getting.
Comments appreciated - and yes its too late to get one with the screen already fitted!
In anticipation.
Robert Read more
Oh, I feel I should also add that I think the heated screen is brilliant. In harsh climes (ref Mr Craggyislander?} it may take a while to defrost, but I live in Kent and with the relatively mild frosts we get down here it's clear in a few minutes and keeps the inside from misting up as well. Excellent.
However, to back up the other side of the argument, I also wouldn't have a bonded-in screen changed unless forced. I had a leak and bodywork damage when the screen was changed in an old Civic by a national company. Since the Mondeo screen has been changed there is, for no reason I can see, increased wind noise from the passenger side top edge of the screen.
Andy
I have this dim (due to red wine) memory of watching 'deals on wheels' saturday night : someone paid 2300 quid for a G reg. cavalier 2.0iL. It had 'full service history apart from the last 3 years...' That would fetch about 600 quid round my way.
Is there a business opportunity here buying old Cavaliers down South and flogging 'em up North? Read more
Visit www.homeandleisure.co.uk and the listings will tell you. To save you the bother this time I can confirm that DOW's is on from 9pm till midnight.
Having recently bought an E30 318IS (H reg) with 15 inch alloys and then suffering a rear puncture, I was fairly disheartened to discover that the studs would not "reach" throught the BMW spare wheel to screw into the hub. There are no spacers fitted or anything strange about the spare or the hub. I checked with BMW and the studs are original BMW studs (they only make one size/shape of studs) so why wont the studs work with the BMW spare wheel? Nobody seems to be able to help! One solution i've thought about is that the spare may only fit the front wheels so that the diff isn't ruined by having different size wheels on the rear axle (spare is 14 inch rim with higher profile tyre to compensate) - ie. in the case of a rear puncture you put the spare on the front and the front (15inch)wheel on the rear! SOunds ridiculous and very laborious - can anyone help at all? Any suggestions very much appreciated!!!
Matt Read more
I believe that, as you predict, the spacers are merely there to get the offset correct as the wheels don't appear to be to far out - if anything they look quite far in - not great terminology or accuracy but hey! The other thing is that they've clearly been on the car for a long time (maybe all it's life) and haven't caused any obvious suspension/handling damage.
This link was sent through to me this morning. Makes interesting reading and well worth a look to confirm your reliability predictions.
www.reliabilityindex.com/
Charles Read more
There's also the issue of how old the cars are. They appear to disregard any car less than 3 years old - there are no A2s or smarts on the list. Therefore any model which is 4 -5 years old i.e. Focus should get better results than a model which has been around for years - i.e Ford Escort as there are fewer of them with such a warranty.
I thought the instruction this week was *much* better.
The problem areas identified tallied with my own views on my riding and seemed to be:
1) Tailgating. - I do it so I can use my acceleration to overtake cars out of corners. I agree it's wrong and I shouldn't. Just too tempting. If there's no hope of an overtake I leave 2 seconds plus a bit for the rain.
2) Entering corners too fast. - I do this 'cos life's too short to change gears all the time - I try and leave it in a high gear all the way round - this often means going in too fast and therefore sometimes braking mid corner if something unexpected occurs. Laziness really. After a few hours in the saddle constantly keeping the bike in it's power band is too tiring. (In fact the real problem here is gear work not cornering.)
3) Forward observation. I am amazed this was a problem because I'm always peering into the distance. However It's irrefutable that I wasn't taking note of signals from road signs and road markings. I can and will correct this.
One thing mentioned that I disagree with is positioning. I reckon my positioning on Sundays slippery unpredictable roads was 90 per cent correct and as good as anyone else's.
What wasn't mentioned was that slowing down a bit would help get all these things right. But I don't want to slow down. I want to keep up with the fastest...
--
These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads. Read more
The comments you get on this website - one of the
best you can read about driving - are sometimes from older
people who wish to help you avoid the mistakes we remember
having made in our youth.
A small subset of which involved driving in some way!!! ;-)
Browse
.jpg)
Is there anything about London cabbies with no passengers in this Hazzard awareness thing?
There is nothing more dangerous than an empty cab tooling around. As soon as they see a fare, no matter which side of the road, they're off. Don't even look, never mind indicate.
If you're on a bike, keep your eyes peeled!!