February 2003
Prices at Trade Sales seem to be a fair bit keener than Motorpoint, the Burnley branch of which is near me, but I'm a bit put off making the trip to Slough on spec having read reports here of cars not being in stock etc or going all the way and being offered a risible trade-in price, particulalry if they clock my address. Are there are any Northern supersites able to get near Trade Sales prices? By Northern I'd say up to 2 hours drive time from Manchester. Read more
I have a FIAT Punto Sporting Speedgear in Sprint (solid) Blue, with aircon in lieu of sunroof on a Sept "52" 02 plate with 5200 miles on. Showroom condition blah blah. Its the upgraded model which has airbags waiting to spring from every orifice.
Anyone give me an idea what it's worth as a trade in? Ive been looking at either a Citroen C3 Sensodrive, or maybe the same as a Pluriel when they are released.
Cheers,
Tony :) Read more
Bit od rain fell today on the Cav, to reveal very noisy wipers on a near dry screen. The rubbers are in good nick. Is the only way around this replacement wiper blades ? Read more
Noisy wipers on my Mazda. . Tried Jif but was scared of paint damage.
Solved problem with Brillo pad wiped gently over windscreen: the jewelers rouge in the pad cleans the screen perfectly....
I\'m thinking of buying a small second hand trailer and getting a towbar fitted.
Never used a towbar / trailer before.
How much should I expect to pay for a supply & fit of towbar to a ford focus ?
how much would I expect to pay for a second hand 6x4 trailer, just for light use, removing rubbish and shifting small items of furniture.
are the electrics complicated ?
does towbar installation include some kind of electrical connector ? Read more
>> Is the NATO tow hook EC approved?
>>
The one on the back of the trailer, so that you
can tow a second trailer or a gun carriage?
My tractor insurance says I am allowed to pull "up to
the legal maximum number of trailers". I wonder
what that might be?
Ha, I was thinking about the one on the back of the car. But you're quite right, there is another on the back of the Sankey trailers, although it's a regular pin and clevis. I'm not sure what it can be used for because it doesn't rotate, which would be required for another Sankey trailer. Maybe they use them to link up when being transported by ship or plane?
For anyone interested, Maplin currently have the Gunson 4142 digital engine analyser / multimeter on for £20 until March 22nd. Looks a reasonable piece of kit for the price. Read more
Don\'t think so. From the picture in the booklet, it seems to read voltage, current, resistance, duty cycle, dwell and tacho.
www.gunson.co.uk gives more details.
Re 1989 535i 4 door. Can anyone please confirm for me
1, Are the seat covers of the two front seat interchangeable ?
2, Is the door seal rubber (drivers door) individual to the door or the same seal used on both front doors?
Thank you. petel@clara.co.uk Read more
I am now informed that the seat covers for the front seats on this model have the same part number for both back and base.
They are therefore, interchangeable.
Problem solved, many thanks to all who contributed.
Rgds, Pete.
My '97 Mondeo estate (80,000 miles) has taken to veering mildly to the left on braking. This turns out to be a failure of the Fr RHS brake to operate properly, and it seems that the difference between the 2 front brake would lead to an MoT failure. After checking out the system, it seems that the problem is caused by a failure of the ABS control unit - which I'm told will cost £700 + labour i.e. best part of £1,000 to put right. HJ hasn't mentioned this on C by C breakdown as a particular issue with Mondeos. Have any other Backroomers come across this?
This may be allied to the squawking noise that has occasionaly come from under the bonnet for years!
Read more
Dave - had this on Rover Sterling, it was the casing of the ABS sensor which had split. New one was about £80 fitted (non Rover dealer), Rover wanted nearly £200 for same work.
I've just been quoted £260 for a 20,000 mile/2 yr service on my 1.8T Passat.Is this a typical VW price or is this daylight robbery. Read more
Unfortunately in order to keep your 3 year warranty and 6 year on call/breakdown recovery valid,the service(s) will have to be done at an authorised VAG dealer,the variation in price is due to the difference in hourly labour rates in different parts of the country, parts prices are the same. If the price of this service also includes the 2 year brake fluid service, then I think it is pretty reasonable. Bear in mind that any extra work required e.g brake pads will be charged extra on top of the service
I just bought a 18 month old Ford Focus Zetec 1.6, seems like a nice car, pleased with it, you may have already read about it under thread 'auction prices'.
I'm wondering if the warranty is still valid, not that there is a problem, I'm just trying to decide whether to get a main dealer service or take it to a local non independant 'spit and sawdust' place.
Car registered : 13/09/2001
Serviced : 18/01/02 @ 12,164 miles
Current mileage : 19,250
It hasn't been serviced for over a year, does that invalidate the warranty ?
If not, when would it need to be serviced to keep it valid ?
I'm fairly relaxed about it lapsing as i'm no big fan of servicing at main dealers. Read more
If you visit the Ford website
www.ford.co.uk
(You supply car reg or VIN and they will confirm its identity so they quote for right varient.) There are maps of all areas of UK and dealer details.
You can ask for service cost for simple (1 year) or major (3 year) and it may well surprise you re cost.
Locally Focus 3year £220. I did 100 mile round trip and paid £150. Both main Ford dealers. Lots of change for petrol and lunch. You may be able to combine a pleasure/business trip with a service. You can also get a quote for cam belt from some dealers. You do not have to go beyond the quote so no commitment.
Down side is if you need to go back again if not happy.
Hope you have a choice in your area.
OK Chaps and chapesses. Summers just around the corner and I need somewhere to store my hard top.
I called Mercedes who can sell me a purpose built stand, complete with gold plated castors for £160 + VAT. You can imagine my retort.
So who knows if I can by an after market stand at a more reasonable price.
When I was looking for the car I remember seeing quite a few with a little pink and yellow bag in the boot and on asking what this was it was explained as the hardtop stand. I suspect that one was less than nearly 200 notes.
Your help, as always, is appreciated. Read more
As an up-date I have now found a supplier of hard top stands just in case anyone else was looking. They are
www.cover-systems.com
Stand is £84 with 4 optional castors at £1.25 each. They also do a padded protection cover at £88 so I bought the lot. All including delivery from Northampton and they even threw in a couple of crash helmet covers, that they also make, for free.
And before you ask, the helmets are not for when I have the roof off the Merc. I also have a bike which comes out on warm summer days only.
Browse
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I suspect Supersites are only good for certain makes of car. I went to Ford's, mainly looking at Yarii, but also looking in the £3k bracket as an alternative. Their trade-in was about what I'd been offered elsewhere on my Tipo, but far less than I ended up getting from a Toyota dealer. The only 2nd hand Yaris they had in was a right shed - loads of scratches, supposedly valeted, but not very well, and drove like a tank. It was a GS V reg as opposed to the GLS W reg I bought, about twice the mileage and the price after trade-in was only about £800 less. Also, all their 'New' Yarii were imports, yet not massively cheaper than genuine UK ones.
The other cars I looked at weren't massively impressive either, and again not that much cheaper than I'd seen locally.
Also I was made to feel that they weren't happy that I was planning to take a bank loan rather than finance. In general, I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be...
YMMV of course, but I don't think I'll be going back there when I change this car.