February 2003
The short list is:
- Volvo V70 D5 (or earlier 2.5 diesel)
- Mondeo Zetec-S 2.0 TDCi (130) Estate
- VW Passat TDi (130) sport Estate
- Saab 9-5 2.2 TiD Vector Estate
- Audi A6 1.9 Tdi (115/130)
I am looking second-hand but low mileage. Clearly the Volvo and Audi (and to a lesser extent the Saab) are higher priced - but both have higher residuals - better long term investment??
Any comments/advice?
Thanks Read more
I am looking for a large economical motor - either MPV or large estate car. As a result of the brand new Renault Espaces coming to market there are some, what appear to be, serious bargains to be had on the old shape. I have seen much negative discussion relating to the Diesel engines - however, is this related to an old spec engine or is the 2.2 unit any good? Any other advice relating to this vehicle would be much appreciated. Read more
Bought one a few weeks ago from trade-sales in slough. It's a French (or spanish) import, so doesn't have all the features of the UK equivalent, but it was 6 grand cheaper. 2.2DCi engine not bad, but not as good as the Focus 1.8TDCi. It's noisier and doesn't pull as well. Only (?) one fault so far, the fuel gauge read empty all the time, so warning bells and lights. Fixed under warranty by local dealer, which meant taking the tank out. Still haven't got the driver's manual, so not sure how to fix the seat belt for the central seat of the middle row. Other than that it's a very nice car, better visibility (which my wife appreciates) than the galaxy, 806 etc. Not as nimble as our previous 12-year-old Espace and apparently not as roomy inside (progress!). Still learning how to drive it (my wife drives it more than me).
Something strange happened with our 1.6GL. SMWBO was driving and I heard the engine revving up (prob to about 3.5k) and then returning to normal. This happened repeatedly when in neutral as well as when in gear at a constant interval ie revved up for a second or two every second or two.
Turned the engine off and started again and seemed to idle quite normally.
Does anyone have any ideas what this could be as the car is going for a service shortly and I would like to give some technical info.
Ta. Read more
CM - 'the conductor' is correct - your Golf is DEFINATELY 100bhp if it is what you say it is (and hasn't had an engine transplant!). ALL MK3 1.6GL's are 100bhp.
I have one myself ('97P) and they are quite rare as I had to search long and hard to find one!... sorry I can't help you with ur prob though
These are sold in many of the high street stores starting at £30 a pair. Was thinking they would be a good way of keeping in touch between two cars on a long journey avoiding mobile phone
bills.
Has anyone had any experiences of how they perform between two moving vehicles?
They claim to have a range of 2 miles with no obstructions. Is this severely curtailed when used inside a vehicle?
If anyone has used them at all it would be interesting to know.
Thanks
Charles Read more
Me and a mate have used them for bike to bike. Cobra's - useless, about 200 yards range with the radio in an outside pocket (earpiece and mic in helmet). Half a mile if lucky stood in the open.
Martin
I was driven into in the supermarket car park on Saturday morning. I had waited for a gap in the traffic, and had been waved out of my space by 2 oncoming vehicles. I'd just finished reversing, and was sat there just putting the car into first when I was hit from behind by a third vehicle pulling out of the junction opposite my space. The witnesses all cleared off before we could get details. I exchanged details with the other chap, who said he thought that we had been going the same speed: me backwards and he forwards. I'm certain this wasn't the case, due to the ease with which my car was pushed forwards - had I been in reverse, surely it wouldn't have rolled forwards in the same way. The direction I was pushed was not back into my space: I must therefore have straightened up ready to leave.
My point is this: I'm as sure as I can be that I was stationary at the point of impact, but when it comes down to the insurance companies, how can I persuade them that it wasn't my fault (without lying, obviously!) As I say, the distance I travelled and the time elapsed between me starting my manoeuvre and the distance he travelled before he hit me does lead me to think that it must be his fault for driving into a stationary car. Am I horribly deluded?
O Read more
Oh and it can't do any harm to tag on the expense of the AutoTrader ad to your claim, as long as you have a receipt. Likewise the cost of a courtesy car.
Todays new cars are all rustproofed from new which I imagine is taken for granted by our younger car buyers but a lot of us on this forum remember when this was not always the case.
My first new car in 1975 was a Ford Cortina 1600XL Est.(Iloved that car, it was purple velvet in colour,cost £1950, £50 more than I had at he time until I won the £50 on "ernie"!)
Well getting back to the point,I had this car rustproofed by a rustproofing franchise called Ziebart including the fitting of Lokari wing liners, these were made of aluminium.Most cars at the time did not even have wheel arch protection.
This was not without problems as underneath the car where they did not expect anybody to look they spiked the holes in, ripping the metal in the process instead of drilling the holes as they did elsewhere and sealing them with plastic grommets.
I refused to pay claiming they had damaged my car by not drilling the holes as stated in their literature.
All the holes that were spiked developed rust in those areas.
Mal. Read more
"But the number of 4-5 year old cars with corroded radiators.."
Indeed. The problem is (mostly) not the aluminium cores, but the steel clips used to hold the plastic end tanks on. Not only are the clips spring steel, which rust particularly well, but it is in contact with a dissimilar metal, accelerating the process still further! So much for thoughtful modern design, unless, of course, it's intentional. A good spray of the areas (but not the bit in the middle, obviously) with thinned Waxoil, or Duck oil or even old sump oil is worth doing, but only if the rot has yet to set in.
Dave T Driver said in the tech forum:
Mercedes' have had this feature for quite a few years now,
you select either "cruise control" mode or "speed limit" mode. In
"speed limit" mode you select a speed by moving the cruise
stalk up and down (30, 35, 40mph etc) and the car
will not accelerate above this speed. As they all have electronic
throttle control (drive by wire) it feels as though the accelerator
pedal has gone dead when you reach the set speed. The
system can be over-ridden by flooring the accelerator (in case you
suddenly need to get out of trouble).
In 1998 I collected a customer's S-reg Merc E280 for its
first service, coming into a village with a 30 limit I
thought I'd try the speed limiter function. Set it to 30,
marvelled as the accelerator did indeed go dead at said speed,
slowed down, accelerated hard and it levelled at 30 again, bumbled
along at 30 for a mile or so and then got
bored... Floored the throttle, and spotted the radar-wielding WPC not five
seconds later, 400 yards ahead. Too late, 47mph, £60, 3 points,
just like that!
Fantastic idea DTD.
I've always said a limiter on all vehicles at 70 would be great. If it's good for PSV's and Lorries it must be good for all. A two stage switch for 30's and 40's would be even better. Camera's would be a thing of the past and within months we'd have a 95mph limit of roads.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads. Read more
"Bikers alone out of all groups of motorists are religious about
30 limits"
- religious about exceeding them ya mean? ;-)
If you could do 0-100 in 10 seconds you'd want to take every oppotunity to ride as slow as possible ready for those NSL drag racing start gates! ;-)
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
Could be looking to replace current second car (1990 VW Golf GTI) soon. This is due to my wife possibly getting a job a bit higher up the management ladder, involving visiting various establishments and talking to the person in charge and wanting to turn up in a car commensurate with her position (i.e. newer and not looking like it’s done the 140, 000 miles the Golf has).
Budget of around £6k and it will be used to do a 40 mile round trip commute by dual carriageway with town centre stuff at each end. Also other usual second car stuff, shunting small child to nursery etc. Now, here’s the tricky bit, all sorts of sensible considerations go out of the window because she doesn’t like the way the car looks. So, it’s a big no to the nice looking 1996 Saab 900 I’ve seen for £2995 with 63,000 miles, no to anything with a boot (as opposed to a hatchback). No to a Focus, no to an Astra, no to a Yaris, possibly yes to an Ibiza or Leon, Fiat Punto new shape or a Mazda 323. She’d really like an A3 but as our other car is a Skoda Octavia estate I am reluctant to pay considerable money for a smaller second hand version of our other car and £6K isn’t going to get you much of one anyway.
Diesel or petrol, but with a little bit of oomph and reliable. What’s the Punto like ? It’s very reasonably priced but is that because it lives up to all the Fiat clichés ? The car by car breakdown doesn’t really address specific reliability issues since it’s a very new car.
If anyone has any reasonable input I’d be grateful, please bear in mind that eminently sensible suggestions could be dismissed out of hand because they don’t meet the ill defined criteria of what she wants.
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one. Read more
no mould on seats (the Bravas had some)
We found the same in a Mondeo Zetec at the GTC that seems to be becoming a bit of a landmark. It pays to check what stock they've recently got in, and pounce on something that hasn't been wet-vac'd and then stood around for the whole of January.
Is there a good company in London area that can retro fit leather to my chairs. I would like to have a good guarantee with the work as well.
Any info would be appreciated Read more
You could try the adverts in a classic car magazine.
I'm sure I'm not the only recipient of this treatment, are HGV drivers under the impression that when they put their indicators on to pull out that all other drivers should scatter and make immediate way for them?
I was half way along an HGV trailer this morning, busy M6 minding my own business traffic moving well, when he decided he wanted to pull out whether I was there or not! He pushed me from the middle to outside lane and he wasn't for braking to let me pass, god forbid an HGV might slow down and let a car pass. With some forsight the car in the outside lane must have seen what was happening and created some space for me to be pushed into, seething anger doesn't come into it!!
I'm shouldn't tar all with the same brush but it seems to be happening more and more, conveniently this company did not participate in the "how am i driving scheme", this was the first time I actually felt annoyed enough to use them.
Thought about contacting company direct, is it worth it, probably not!?
Keep your eyes peeled you could be next.
Ellis
Read more
Another thread which has run its natural course, I think.
Thank you.
Browse
What are the most important things to consider, am in a similar frame of mind but slightly different list.