March 2003
I am currently looking to change SWMBO ancient Concerto auto and am looking to spend 6 - 8k pounds on a 5 door Civic - the trouble is which engine?
The Concerto has a 1.6 engine which works well with the autobox but a trawl through Autotrader\'s website comes up with several 1.4\'s - does anybody know if these are conventional or belt driven boxes and are as reliable as the 1.6. Have checked HJ\'s CBC breakdown but there is not much info on the 1.4.
The car will be used mainly for school runs, and local driving with the occasional motorway trip and cover approx 8 - 10k miles a year. It must have 5 doors and be automatic and be Focus /Astra size.
Is there anything else I should consider? SWMBO does not like the Astra, I consider the Golf overpriced, and have never liked Ford autoboxes - and I wouldn\'t touch anything French or Italian.
Any comments appreciated.
Steve Read more
Hi - According to our local rag, not only is Ken apparently keen on extending congestion charging to the outer London boroughs in the not too distant future, drivers in London should be aware that parking fines are set to rocket from £20 to £100 minimum from April !
Three questions :
a)Is this a record ?
b)How long before everyone else does this ?
c)Are motorists the most persecuted group in this country ? Read more
OK: consider the goat rehomed:)
Apologies in advance if I'm going over old subject matter, but has anyone else noticed an increase in road rage over this last week. Is the so-called 'possibility' of war turning drivers a bit funny?
In addition to the two incidents I mentioned on the fog lights thread, I witnessed another incident this morning where a BMW overtook another car, slammed on his brakes, jumped out and had 'words' with the other driver. I couldn't turn around to see what happened because I got stuck in a queue.
That's three incidents in as many days - what the hell is going on? Or is my car fitted with a new rage magnet?? Read more
Hi,
Sorry, can't mail you with this - no address in your profile, apologies all round if I'm clogging the thread.
Re-reading my post I wish there were some way of conveying the smiley "jokey" first part about the matrix - perhaps I appear more touchy because of my nice run out in the country today - spent the afternoon enjoying the glorious roads around West Yorkshire's countryside, spoiled only by:
{serious mode}
I was almost side swiped by a Land Cruiser with bull bars on it today that sped up as I turned right across it; plenty of room for me to turn without getting in anyones way, but the "chap" behind the wheel of his "Sports Utility Vehicle" seemed to take offence and I could see the thing lurch forward with gusto as I moved off.
Or the Range Rover near Haworth that decided that 30mph wasn't really fast enough for driving round town in a 30mph zone and that driving 4feet from my bumper without attempting to overtake would be the best way to handle it. (Me? Pulled over and let him burst a blood vessel elsewhere)
Or the Vauxhall MIDI van that had been to the same driving school as the Range Rover driver - same technique, same result.
I love the line used in the US for marketing the MINI
"What are you compensating for?"
Next time you get a clear bit of road with nothing behind, especially nutters in Land Cruisers, slam on your brakes and see how long it takes to stop. You'll be surprised.
{serious off}
Chris wrote:
mean, I've tailgated people who've cut me up and used hand signals and flashing lights but if we all try to rise above it the road network will be a safer place
Me too, but I've not for a few years now, although I still get annoyed by some driving - I apologise if the dodgy driving is mine (flat hand above gearstick so poor s** behind can see it) and keep away from those who see the road as a boxing ring.
I'm off to drink some wine and try and remember the good things about todays drive - (Chris) you'll know why I've had such a good day come June.... :-)
Lee.
"A traffic warden booked a car after it had been written off in a rush-hour smash and the driver taken to hospital.
"The warden pounced after firemen pushed the car to the side of a busy dual carriageway to allow traffic to flow freely"
Today's Manchester Evening News, p.4.
It goes on, "the warden has been sent for retraining"...hopefully as a member of the human race. Read more
Crazy! Even worse than ticketing a herse outside the church!
What annoys me is that the wardens around here cruise the streets in a car, park illegally to issue tickets.
Heard a piece on the radio earlier this week about pay as you go insurance, ie the more you drive the more you pay. Was wondering what the BR thought on this.
It is a scheme that Norwich Union are considering (I am sure that there was mention of this a few years back) where they install a Black Box to see how far you drive and at what time of the day. It did not mention anything about speed but as it works out how far you have driven and at what time, anything over 70mph might not go down too well!!
The reason behind this scheme is basically sound. In order to reduce (or halt) ever increasing premiums, they thought that this would be a great benefit to policy holders.
Personally I am only worried about the Big Brother bit, purely because I drive over 70mph on the M-ways, although having seen 5th Gears crash test the other day I might have to review my driving habits, especially as I have passed the age where I think that I am immortal. Read more
Don't need to worry about no insurance idea.
Basis of insurance is that insured is risk averse and insurance company is risk neutral. Therefore the more they can specify you down the more your premium will reflect you individually. Not that I would have the black box though :)
Police stopped a speeding Skoda doing 146 mph on the M62 at Penrith, Cumbria. The driver had borrowed the 2.6 litre Octavia from a showroom. He was jailed for 1 year and banned from driving for 10 years. He had already been banned from driving in Scotland, and admitted a string of offences, including failing to provide a blood sample following his arrest for the speeding offence. Read more
DD
Don't get to exited. We do have some horrendous tail winds up North?
DVD
tins.co.uk usually has some very good deals on Skodas, but how does 20% ish off the Superb sound? That translates as £11340 for a 2.0 Classic or £13065 for the 1.9 pd.
This isn't an advert but at those prices they have to make er... superb taxis and a damn good alternative to the C5. Read more
Just imaging the price hikes if the following article comes true!
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2848097.stm
Ian L. Read more
Frightening, but I reckon my local VW dealer has been testing the early prototypes with the pre-release version of the software for the last 3 years whilst servicing my Passat!
>>> Hi SJB - my other half is from the Slovak Republic and I've often wondered about driving there for a holiday with her and the kids but it seems a bit daunting. Which part of the CR do you travel to, how long does it take and what do you think about
the journey overall ? <<<
Right over the far side, nearest main city being Ostrava.
As you know from the thread you responded to, for the last three years we have used our Vectra GSi 2.5 Estate. Well, from the last trip we did, I just found the voice memo on my mobile phone from when I dictated the trip computer final figures on arriving back home. Sad I know, but here they are: 29.9 MPG, 88.6 gallons of petrol, 50.1 MPH average speed, 2648.9 miles. These figures include two days pottering around Salzburg and surrounding mountains on the outbound leg.
We leave home in Bucks at 04:00am?ish for a 07:00am?ish Eurotunnel departure, and normally make the Austrian border by dusk. This is driving at the speed limit where this is a speed limit, less in heavy traffic, and between 90 and 120 MPH where there is neither and traffic conditions allow. Although I had the car flat out several times in each of the journeys done so far, I don?t tend to cruise above 120MPH because (a) more frequent fuel stops negate any time saved, (b) the concentration to do it safely is immense, and very tiring, (c) cruising in this speed range is easy to go with the flow. As a lesson to me during the first trip, with 140+ MPH on the clock, I had an old boy in a diesel Passat doing all of about 60 pull out from the inside lane, across the otherwise empty middle lane, in to the outside lane, and back again, whilst he scrabbled for something in his glove box. Boy were those brakes impressive! Lesson learned. Drive at warp speed on totally empty roads, not nearly empty roads. It must also be said that some Autobahns are now in an appalling (okay, 70 years old?!) state, so there are plenty of road works at the moment. Round cities like Munich you also have M25 equivalent stretches of crawling in heavy traffic. So, it is not all free flowing, though this is more often the case than in the UK.
The last time we went, we actually went to the Czech Republic via the Slovak Republic, crossing the border from Austria near Vienna, I recall. For variety, we tend to come back by driving away from the UK in to Poland, up into what was East Germany, past Dresden, then straight across Germany to Luxembourg, Belgium, France, and home. Difference is about 90 minutes driving time (quicker via Poland for us, but not for you I suspect from Slovak Republic). Either drive is great fun, with a sense of adventure. We tend to pit stop a good five times to relax and unwind, which probably adds well over an hour on top of what you would do if only stopping for fuel, but what?s an hour? Much better to relax and enjoy. Doing this, coming back we get to Brussels in one leg, which takes 12.5-13 hours each time, and during which we cover about 850 miles. That's still a pretty impressive 65MPH AVERAGE speed, including the pit stops.
Oh yes, when crossing in to SR, CR, or Poland, you will probably see queues and queues of trucks. Don?t join the queue. Drive past. The car queue (if there is one) will be MUCH further down the road. The truckers are the victims of bureaucracy that will result in them taking several days to reach the checkpoint, let alone cross it! At the Mikulov crossing the first time we went, their queue was a good five miles (of solid parked trucks, with drivers sat at tables playing cards!) whereas ours was just one car in front of us!
Do it anyway.
It?s great fun.
Read more
We're on the same wavelength then SJB but based on the experience my grandmother in law had buying her flat in SR I'm quite daunted. However not very much buys you a beautiful place in the centre of a beautiful town full of beautiful people and beautiful restaurants where you can eat well and drink all night for peanuts. Not that I condone that sort of behaviour you understand ;-)
Ps at presetnt I have a 940 se turbo estate which is plenty fast enough for me but could be on the way to the scrap heap sadly - we'll have to wait for the MOT next month !
Got an annoying problem with a P reg Lada Samara 44000miles. Every forward gear has no problem but perhaps half the times put into reverse crunches. Has done this for a few months and the clutch appears to be fine as is okay in forward gears. What kind of problem is it? Could a gearbox oil change sort it out?
Thanks for help. Read more
Probably due to no synchromesh on reverse gear, and very slight clutch drag. The reverse gear pinion may have slightly sticky oil in its bearing so fresh oil might just make the problem go away, certainly worth trying.
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Steve,
I had a 1998 Civic 1.4 a few years ago. It was a manual and, while inoffensive enough, wasn't particularly rapid, so I reckon you should go for the 1.6.
As I recall, the autobox is a conventional one on either car (I presume from your price range you will be looking at the previous generation one).
I'd never seen an auto 1.4 until I came here to Guernsey, far more popular with the retired set was the 1.6. I reckon for your budget you'll get a nice late (V/W reg) 1.6ES auto which comes with niceties such as leather, aircon and alloys. This seems to be a popular auto model.
Generally a very reliable car - mine went from 17k to 35k miles in a year with nothing needing doing, other than servicing.
You could also go for the Rover 400/45 which is otherwise identical (I believe the auto 416 was the only one to stick with the Honda engine when the model was changed in 1995), but a friend had lots of problems with an early one.
Hope this helps.