April 2003
We have just bought a Seat Leon - a great value car in most respects, however, the factory fit 'Aura' radio/cassette isn't really to my liking.
Has anyone out there done a ICE upgrade on a Seat Leon?
In my previous car (A4) I changed the head unit from dealer supplied Sony to a Kenwood without changing the speakers and was happy with the result. If anyone has upgraded, did you also change the speakers?
I'm not looking for anything mega powerful - just good quality sound and about 45/50 watts per channel...
Thanks,
El Dingo (Martin). Read more
Is it possible to replace the anti roll bar bushes on a 96N Ford Fiesta without dropping the bottom suspension member? The rear bolt head is against the floor pan and cannot be accessed with a spanner.
John Allen
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Would anyone who used one of these diagnostic testers or remembers anything about them, please tell me about them ? I refer to the original hand held FLT, used until the mid 90s, not the current system.
Thank you, petel@clara.co.uk Read more
Still seeking technical info on the above piece of kit please.
Thank you, petel@clara.co.uk
How do I go about getting a trade licence? Is it expensive? How many cars am I allowed to buy and sell in a year before I legally have to get a licence? Read more
Let me recommend the broker I got my trade insurance through:-
Porter Insurance Brokers - 01260 298612
Have proved to far cheaper than all the outfits advertsising in Autotrader, as well as offering the excellent service of a family run concern, last year they actually saved me £600 or so, on the cost of my home traders policy.
Can anybody please help me? I am involved in negotiations with my employer over our subsidised company car scheme and its high time for the employer to review the contribution it makes towards our business use car insurance.
Can anybody advise me where I can find an index showing insurance average increases over the last few years? I have been searching the web with little success.
Many thanks
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I don;t know where you would find anything authoritative on the subject.
One of the difficulties is that insurance premiums do not increase in a uniform manner over all risks, between all companies or even at the same time each year.
e.g. A particular company may decide it has too many young drivers and therefore increase those premiums by 20% while only increasing older drivers by 10%. Ditto postcodes, cars (age and type), experience, bonus levels, cover type, claims history, driving restrictions etc.
Their overall premium income may go up, but they may have changed their risk profile rather than their premiums.
Although you do make the point about business use. If the idea is to be reimbursed for just that part of your premium then it will become even more difficult as many of the insurance companies have changed their approach to that over the last few years and it may now represent a different percentage of your total premium than it did 5 years ago (not necc. higher).
However, another approach would be to sample your drivers/cars and ring around for quotations from different brokers for that selection. That should put you in a position of being able to adopt a reasonable standard for today.
It was recently raised in the House of Commons that over the last three years, road deaths had risen from 3421 to 3450. At the same time, Traffic Officers have fallen by 8%, with the Met losing a quarter.
Bob Ainsworth, Home Office Minister, said: " The importance given to traffic policing should not be measured solely by the number of dedicated traffic officers, and does not depend on increases or decreases in the number of such officers."
A campaign at the same time found that two thirds of all vehicles stopped on the M25 were defective.
Those of us at the sharp end know that we are hanging on by our fingernails, gradually being replaced by the much cheaper (and far more profitable) speed camera. Unfortunately, the camera does not catch disqualified/drink drivers, dangerous drivers etc etc.
As the Government often like to quote statistics, it is strange that they ignore the fact that road deaths have risen, while speed cameras have proliferated and traffic officers have declined.
I expect the local politicians will be asking for your support in the upcoming elections. I know one party who will definitely not be getting my vote. Read more
FiF,
Thanks for that - I agree with your definition of the optimum approach!
C
A friend of mine owns one of these little tiny-engined cars.Has anyone heard of any problems with them.His car is two years old with quite low mileage.
He has had a few niggly little problems but the biggest was when the handbrake assembly completely detached from the "fibreglass" bodywork.
He called the main dealer but was told that the warranty only covers the engine.Due to this he did a repair himself with sealant etc.
Thanks a lot Read more
Hi,
I\'ve just got a 1995 (M) 1.4 Peugeot 306. Its my first car and its goin wrong...Its starting to over heat and when i rev it there is a throaty wooshing sound comin from the radiator but it seems to only do it when its in gear (travelling). Also not only that when i stick the accelerator down the pull lack considerably from when i first bought it, even when in 1st or second?!? Whats going on and will it be expensive. HELP.
Many thanks
Andrew
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IMO if the head gasket has gone (which seems likely) it may simply be best to trade your car in for another if the cost of repair is going to be almost as much as the cars value.
All the cars I have part ex'd in the past have had potential expensive problems but as they were all worth less than a grand the dealers simply gave them a quick look over and not even open the bonnet before giving me a valuation.
I'm a loser, baby....so why don't you kill me?!
There seems to be a recurring debate as to whether there really is a benefit to the branded fuels recommended by HJ (Texaco & Shell) compared to supermarket fuel that many people use.
It would be very worthwhile for an organisation such as the AA, RAC or Consumers Association to conduct a thorough independent and scientific comparison of all available brands of fuel in terms of the fuel economy they deliver.
There are all sorts of claims that Shell fuel gives 5-10% more miles than generic supermarket. Given that fuel is sold by volume (litres), I presume there must be some quantifiable difference in these fuels in terms of density or energy content?
The current fuel market is all about brand image and reputation with no quantifiable consumer information to make an informed judgement.
Big Dave Read more
My Mazda definitely runs better on Esso petrol and I don't know why. So does my son's scooter. Both run on 95RON unleaded; mine's fuel injected and his is a two-stroke, so not much similarity there except we use the same grade. His, of course, gets mixed with oil but he still prefers Esso. I recognise that it all comes from the same refineries so it must be the additives.
The gadgets on top-spec cars these days are truly astounding .. Like the new Mercedes S-Class .. distronic, park-assist, robot-swedo-masseur, bum-coolomatic .. etcetera .. etcetera .. etcetera
But what about the basic problem of keeping drivers awake? It's all very good keeping the driver happy but many of these devices have the effect of lulung you to sleep.
I thought there was a very simple device being worked on a few years ago to 'watch' your blink rate and sound an alarm accordingly. What happened there? Are there any manufacturers out there that have adopted devices to help keep the driver awake?
Other than the Dacia Duster .. ? ;)
rojer@lycos.co.uk
Astra, Renault 18, Renault 25 TXi, Astra Est, Passat Est, Mercedes 190E, Mercedes Read more
All this weekend I have seen, "Don't drive tired" signs on those big LED cantilevered signs over the M25 and A2.
How much did those signs cost and will they ever show anything congestion related to make them worthwhile?
Browse
Update!
Firstly, thanks for all the ideas - especially 'CupraNet', which has a whole range of opinions and advice about ICE in the SEAT range.
My car has eight speakers (two per door, one 'tweeter' and one 'woofer' in each. Anyway, I pulled the head unit out and checked the connections - after I pushed home the top right hand one the sound improved considerably!
Still, I must say that the sound is not as good as the 45W Kenwood system that I put in my A4 (and the Aura is only 20W per channel after all), but its certainly good enough for the time being.
BTW the fader is set to -02 (towards the back) and this seems to be the best compromise for my ears.
Cheers,
El Dingo (Martin).