February 2003
I am looking for a car around May/June to replace my dull ( but otherwise well-behaved) Toyota hatchback. It will be a mid-life crisis treat.
I am looking for the following.
£20K Maximum & Slowish depreciation.
Semi-flash motor
Reliability & good warranty
Automatic (or better still tip-tronic)
The cons are:
I came to driving late and only have 1 year NCB so insurance group 14 is probably the max.
I haven't got a garage so a ragtop convertable is out.
My best guesses are
Mercedes C Class Sports Coupe.
BMW 316i compact SE.
So these are the ones I plan to test drive. The Audi A3 is another option, but is this about to be replaced?
Read more
Some of you may know that Mrs V. is from Slovakia. She has some family there trying to survive despite all the odds - no money, high inflation, pathetic public services etc. etc. Her sister and brother in law have to live with my wife's grandmother 'cos they can't afford a room even and have a baby to support. They've worked very hard to buy a very modest car and things like the windscreen wipers and wheel trims keep getting nicked ! Nobody cares, least of all the police and this sort of thing's endemic there - anything and everything gets robbed !
Given that their earnings are a small fraction of ours, petrol's more expensive than champagne is here! The relatovely few cars on the road are owned by lunatics who only stop for 3 reasons - they're out of fuel; they've hit a wall; or they've reached where they're going !
So think yourself lucky folks ! Read more
This country is still a beautiful place.
Agreed, volvoman. Sometimes, a little lateral thinking helps too.
We were motoring southwest bound down the A303 on an August Bank Holiday Saturday morning a few years ago (I hear you say: "fools!"). Of course we hit the inevitable stationary traffic west of Andover.
Solution: check out the map, choose B roads (e.g. the B390), leave the following-like-sheep to the sheep, and enjoy almost traffic-free roads through the pleasantest of countryside. So I admit, we did do an extra 10-20 miles. But I reckon we still arrived before the rest of the pack. (Sorry, not exactly on-thread).
Oz (as was)
From the pics I've seen, it has a touch of the Passat about it.
Will seriously harm the residuals of the outgoing model I fear, of which I am an owner.
Maybe it will be my next car purchase. Looks nice.
Anyone had a test drive yet, or am I being premature?
WLJC Read more
You're not wrong about b roads! I had an early 2.0CDX as a company car (R plate) and it handled with all the finesse of a blancmange on a pogo stick. I'm glad I had to leather interior as it made cleaning up the vomit stains from my passengers all the easier.
I thought it was my driving so spent a weekend in the passenger seat. Suffice to say I was glad to see the back of that car! I certainly got to see a lot of the footwell....
As for the looks on the new one, it seems that someone crossed a new Vectra with a Bora and then proceeded to hit it with a length of 2"x4".
Please see my post in Announcements. Thanks.
Martyn [Back Room moderator]
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mailto:webmaster@honestjohn.co.uk Read more
Hi gang, writing this for HF who's here with me at the moment. We've noticed what appears to be a diesel leak emanating from what we assume is one of the glow plugs of which there are 4 running left to right across the engine. It is the right hand plug as you look into the engine bay and the diesel is dripping out quite freely. We've only noticed the problem when her car is parked facing down the hill outside (as it was last week when we met Mark and is again today). Last week I noticed a large diesel stain on the road as the car was left overnight so the leak is quite
substantial.
Can anyone out there in 'techieland' help her PLEASE ! Read more
I don't know whether to stop reading threads like this (as it tempts fate) or read them avidly (for fast diagnosis) - the very same stub pipe has just gone on my 97 P Astra! A nice diesel spray with the engine running will be doing wonders for the mpg and the environment etc...
Thanks all.
Chris "Leaky" TD
I dropped my wife's 98 Golf Mk3 1.6 into a main dealer for an annual service and MOT. I have just received quite a nasty call.
I had said that the clutch was feeling a bit vague. £590!
Anything else, I ask. New front brakes £230
And? New ariel - £123
And? Noisy rear brakes. £68 to deglaze them and clear away the break dust.
And? Movement in the suspension arms (IIRC - too upset at this stage). About £200
Now the coat hangar is working fine and can stay in place as can the noisy brakes. Front brakes and the suspension I suppose had better be looked at by an independent, as had the clutch.
I know it is all how you drive but the clutch had only done 30k miles. I know the wife doesn't ride the clutch and in a 1.6 (75bhp) Golf, there is no point trying to beat the 0-60 times. Is it reasonable to expect a clutch to last longer?
What should I do?
Is there any way of checking the clutch myself - I am a bit of a techno-idiot? Can anyone let me know what I could be paying for a clutch and brakes (I presume that VAT and labour aren't on the VW price).
I could always cut my losses and sell the car (as I hate it!) with a 1 year MOT. Bearing in mind that I paid about 6k for it (PAS, electric windows + roof) is spending about 1k worth it (I realise that clutch and brakes are quite important!!)and buy something else (fancy either Mazda 323 or Nissan Almera).
I had thought today was going to be good until this happened. I then went to the bank where I nearly got clobbered by an exploding man hole cover (missed it by 30 secs!). Best not go out tonight!
Ta. Read more
Picked up the car and asked the service "agent" about the clutch. I asked him how long it would likely last for.
The reply was that because I found gear changes stiff then it would be best to change immediately. When I pointed out that I never had problems changing gear and that it was just getting very vague changing gear, I was told that it would probably last for years and didn't need changing straight away!!!
Which track represents your driving style.
I'm gonna have 'Blaze of Glory' by Bon Jovi.
I'm sure Mark'll leave it to run for a 4 or 5 hours until it moves to the silly thread...
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads. Read more
'I get knocked down - and I get up again'
1) Why in this day and age do some people refer to their car as "she"? It's an inanimate object and has no anthropomorphic qualities at all; (except for the possible ones that it often causes annoyance and frustration and costs a lot of money.
2) Why in private classifieds do people say "company car forces sale"? Do their employers insist that they can't have their own car as well as the company car? What's "forcing them to sell?
Lively discussion ensues... Read more
Do you have a frog in your throat? ;o)
Perhaps he's just trying to Toad the line?
I think we need a good motoring journalist, but sadly MR isn't it.
Try listening to his TalkSport show (to my mind a waste of the only motoring phone-in I know of) .Today he was on about the congestion charge , and he got the usual nutters phoning in. Sure, there are going to be things wrong with it but at least KL is doing somehting about one of our biggest problems today , congestion in our cities. Education and persuasion hasn't changed behaviour, this is worth a go. I know people who could and should go into London by train ( and the trains near me are GOOD) but they are too arrogant to do so .at least if they carry on they will pay for their selfish behaviour.Like most others MR rants about the scheme but has not ohter ideas to offer.
A few weeks ago one of his ideas for easing pollution was to build more tunneled roads ! Apart from the massive cost , and damage caused by cut and cover , where does he think the pollution from cars in tunnels goes? Read more
The answer is simple, if you want to restrict commuting then you restrict parking.
Shut all the National Car Parks and Council-owned off-street parking in London, exclude parking from office development and there would be no need for congestion charging.
Having said that, I believe that London's streets could carry double the amount of traffic with better laid out, rather than restricted, roads, more intelligent control of traffic lights and a revision of the one-way systems which date back to the sixties.
Anyone had any experience of these or similar operators on bonnet chips in metallic paint? Read more
I tried the 'find local operator' on the web site, and it tells me there are none near home and none near work, which is odd,, as the address for the local chipsaway franchise in yellow pages is less than three miles away.
However, all he can say when asked to give me a rough price for fixing a scratch on the drivers door of a metallic silver astra is 'body shop job mate - nowt I can do for you'
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
Browse
Just a follow-up on the BMW compact - Autocar are speculating the Compact will be dropped from the 3 series range when the new ones are launched in 2005. 1 series will then be entry level. Could have affect on residuals for Compact a couple of years down the line - there again, may become a rarity and enhance its value