April 2003
did anyone see wrong car, right car last night?
i particularly enjoy episodes when then test the more sportier cars. the guy had a bright purple tvr camera and was looking for a 35k car of a prestigiuos quality, he tried the new BMW, porsche 911, a ferrari, a jag xk8 and a number of others and in the end, still wasnt satisfied till he got another tvr.(sorry cant remember all names for them!)
personally, i would have taken the jag, at £36,500 and a convertible it possitively purred when he put his foot down, and it wasnt even supercharged.
But i was shocked when he said that maybe he would like to buy it when he was older as it wasnt his style. im only 19 and a jag xk8 convertible is what i hope to get when im in the money, am i just old fashioned in my preferences or is it each to his own?
obviously if i had even more cash, id love an aston martin db7 vantage or a vanquish but ill keep dreaming! Read more
Hi
1st post here.
I have had problems with my Fiat Scudo Speedo reading for some weeks now.
It sometimes "bounced", then read about 20 mph less than the speed I was doing, now it gives a nil reading.
The speedo is electronic. I have had the dashboard out and can only see two blocks with about 20 or so electronic cables.
However as the vehicle is used as a taxi, it is fitted with a taxi metre which DOES give a true reading. This indicates the problem maybe at the dash. (?)
I know the Scudo is the same vehicle as the Expert and Despatch vans so if anyone can help me I will be VERY grateful.
Cheers
Chris Read more
I had the same problem, it seems to be the speedo motor that is at fault, got a new replacement one from www.akspeedo.com work perfect straight forward job to change, hope this helps out cheers Sam
Hi Folks,
I own a Pug 306 D turbo with around 130K on the clock. The car starts perfect from cold and runs very well......until I try to start it from hot. If the car is left for n hour or so after a long journey, it will restart but after about 10 seconds, it suddenly surges and then cuts out. It could take several attempts to restart it.
I have bled the fuel pump several times but I have noticed that teh problem is worse if I leave the car parked while facing uphill.
Any ideas are welcome..
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I've just remembered. There should be a lever type device that is situated on top of the pump which you can manually use to stop the fuel flow, associated with the throttle stop linkage. If you were to try this that would save you stalling the car. I'm confident that this is "mechanical" as opposed to being electrical.
Reggie
Hi
I fitted new disc and pads to the front of our Vauxhall Vectra recently. The fitting was really easy, but now Im hearing some brake squeal when braking at low speeds around town.
I tried some copper slip on the metal parts touching the caliper (being very careful not to foul the brake surfaces) but to no evail. The anti squeal shims are in place but seem not to be doing their job right. Might these need replacing. Any ideas? Read more
Hi
I have a Seat Cordoba, unfortunately without Central Door locking or any alarm.
Id like to investegate fitting Central Door Locking to it.
Any words of wisdom about any unforseen problems or where to purchase the unit from.
The main dealer isnt keen and quoted over £400.
Many Thanks
NB Im technically competent, without being a physics genius! Read more
I bought one from Maplin a week or two ago. Reduced from 49.99 to 19.99. Get in there quick! Special offer. Haven't fitted yet though. It's four doors, no tailgate set
Near where I live the schools have 20mph limits outside the school gates. The limits are posted on the yellow flashing light poles which warn of a school crossings and also on the ground. Are these limits in force all the time or only when the lights are flashing, ie at the start and end of the school day?
Read more
Often these decisions are made by cosy sub -committees and have far more to do with looking after their friends than solving real problems and improving the quality of life of the majority.
We were told the permit parking scheme had been designed after extensive consultation/analysis and there wouldn't be any transferrence of parking problems but weren't surprised when the engineers responsible were unable to provide us with any statistics showing the number of on road parking spaces to be lost as opposed to those being created.
To be fair to councils, the public do tend to be apathetic about such things until it's too late so I'm not totally surprised that the councils sometimes act in the way they do.
If you are concerned about the scheme you must raise your concerns and get as much support as you can. It can take a lot of time and leg work - I have spent many, many hours of my own time doing exactly that and it works. You can't really blame the council for going ahead with a scheme if nobody has objected to it so why not see if you can gather some support from areas which might suffer directly from the proposals e.g. roads which might suffer from diverted traffic.
Good luck.
I have a 1998 VW Passat that is due for a service about now. Since it is now a 5 year old car is it worth paying the extra in order to get the VW stamp in the service book? So far it has been serviced by VW but I would like to save some pennies. It is likely I will be driving the car for a few more years. My feeling is that it should make no difference where I get it done.
As an aside I have asked for the price of a service (50,000 miles) at the 2 local VW garages. One told me £154 and the other £122. I gave both garages the same information (mileage, engine size, power etc) and checked with each that the price was correct. These garages are about 10 miles apart - Gloucester and Cheltenham - so I am amazed there should be a 25% price difference. Surprisingly the Cheltenham garage is the cheaper one. (Cheltenham is significantly posher and more up market than Gloucester). A local fast fit place can do the job for £85. Read more
Thanks for all the advice folks.
I was pleasantly surprised at the relatively low cost of the VW service (all relative I guess: they don't actually do much!) but this is a fairly small service. The last time I had it done it cost over £300. think I'll book it in at VW.
Cheers
Robin
I bought an ex-demo Citroen Berlingo Multispace at the end of January and although I am more than happy with the car, I have found the dealer service incredibly poor. I struggled to arrange a date to pick-up the car, and when I arrived it wasn't ready. There is still a small problem which is unresolved, and now I've found out that the logbook wasn't sent to the DVLA and they can't find it at the dealership. I have rarely received a phone call from them, and am amazed they manage to sell cars at all !!
Is this just bad luck for me, or is there a problem with Citroen dealers ?? Read more
Sorry to go on (and on.. ), but my experience couldn't have been any different:
We were promised a tank of diesel and mats at cost. No diesel in the tank and no mats in stock (even thought they'd know for the last month that we were buying the car and we wanted mats). I don't have a problem with genuine mistakes and problems, but they just didn't care (and the person I'd made the original deal with had since left the dealership). To add to this, there was no instruction book / manual in the car, and after two weeks of pestering them to get me one (always being told 'it's on order sir', I went in and asked very politely (again) for one of the packs in the cars sat on the forecourt (and got it !). There are occassions when I believe certain people don't deserve to be in business - and this is one of them !
We'd bought the car with 1200 miles, and the 1000 mile check hadn't been carried-out. They delivered a courtesy car to us after arranging a date for the service, and the courtesy car had about half a litre of fuel in it.
Shall I go on ?
Got a 99 S80 2.9 petrol that has a disconcerting habit of massive brake fade Its an auto The fade seems to be accompanied by a power surge, living in London I do a lot of stop/start driving, Its been to a main dealer but of course it didn\'t happen. Volvo have changed the servo under warranty & say this is still ok. Any input would be gratefully received
[please don\'t type an entire note in upper case. It is considered to be \"shouting\" and discourteous.
Thank you.] Read more
There's a new poll question up, this time suggested by our techie moderator, Dynamic Dave.
To find the poll, go to the top level of the forum.
Martyn [Back Room moderator]
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mailto:webmaster@honestjohn.co.uk Read more
I also voted in the first but not the second.
Me too
Browse
Steve
A good mate of mine who's 25 bought himself a 'P' plate XK8 six months ago. He is very impressed with the service from the garage (Jaguar House in Liverpool if we're allowed to plug companies) but he's disappointed to a certain degree with the car. He says that it does everything extremely well, but doesn't really excite him. Also, the fuel consumption is, according to him, pant-wettingly frightening. So much so that he often ends up using the J-reg Maestro auto he had before instead! Plus the quote of £1k+ for the next service (including cam-belt change to be fair) has had him reaching for the gin!
Having said all that though, I do keep dreaming up different ways of bumping him off (a la Wile E. Coyote) in order to get my mitts on the gorgeous machine!