August 2003
Would Sep/Oct be a good time to buy a used Beamer 3 series ragtop 2/3 years old. i.e. would the prices be cheaper as we approach the Autumn and Winter?
Anyone any idea on price differential (%) between buying one in Spring/Summer versus Autumn/Winter.
Cheers,
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What,s the most catastrophic engine failure anyone's had the misfortune to suffer whilst driving?
What does it sound like when the cam belt throws the towel in & valves & pistons form an intimate relationship? (A cam belt went on me once but I was lucky & nothing went bang).
Had a Hillman Imp many moons ago that hydraulicked! The cyl head warped so much that the bores filled with water & the engine refused to turn over. Quite amusing looking back... Read more
Not real ones, but pictues in car adverts....seem to vertically challenged compared to real life, eg the Pug 307, Honda Civic
appear much taller in real life.
Is this the use of artistic licence to make the cars look better?
Ian L.
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I believe it is (artistic licence). Easy with Photoshop, but in the old days, lumps of lead were hung round engines and other heavy stuff put in the boot. Unless it was a Citroen, of course, when presumably they had to jack it up...
Hi,
A friend is considering buying a 2.8 Capri as a bit of a laugh.
Has anyone on the board got Capri ownership under their belt?
I would be grateful for any technical advice on common faults, etc, to look for when viewing potential cars.
Cheers
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The other car to consider is the XR4i. This had the 2.8i engine and gearbox from the Capri, but was the Sierra equivilent.
Charles, my long standing friend and fellow backroomer used to have one and was very pleased with it, so I understand.
If your mate has two options it will make it easier for him to find a good 2.8i Ford.
Oh, and you mustn't forget the Xr4x4i, the 4WD answer. I think they made them up to 1988 or so, but I will probably be corrected in good time...
Any one of these would be a good car to have.
H
I have a 1996 Seat Toledo Sport. The control for the airflow (ie the knob that controls where the air is directed) is broken. It will turn to 2 positions, windscreen and footwells, albeit with some difficulty. However it is jammed in some way and it cannot be turned to direct air from the dashboard vents, either partially or fully. This is ok in the winter, but not so good when the aircon is on. I suspect it is a dashboard off job, and I am only really interested in doing anything about it if I can do it myself. It is not worth spending serious money on. There is no Haynes manual for this car so I do not really know where to start. Can anyone help? Read more
It's a common problem, it might be worth posting a question over on seatenthusiasts.co.uk/forum and see what happens.
Either way, it's an expensive and fiddly job to do. Sorry!
Some friends of ours came over yesterday and told us of a minor (supermarket) car park incident that they were involved in, the summary of which is;
Our friend (on her own) had parked up and was getting out of the car when a gust of wind blows the door wide open causing it to bang into the adjacent car's door. The driver and passenger of this car, get out and have a look to see if there's any damage. All parties have a good look and agree (verbally)
that no damage has occured. Our friend does her shopping and comes back to her car only to see the driver and passenger waiting by her car. Their car has now been moved to another parking bay. They claim that some damage has been done and show her a dent in the door that clearly wasn't apparent earlier.
Our friends have already settled the insurance claim (£500) privately due to not wanting to loose their NCB but when she asked me what she should have done at the time of the incident, I really didn't know what to say....
what would you have done?
Chad Read more
Did they just "pay £500" or did they see the invoices
for the repairs?
My thoughts exactly. £500 seems really OTT for a dent to a single panel. (I was quoted between £460 and £700 for dents to all 4 panels down the side of the car) so unless some proof of expense was shown I'd definitely query this.
I was topping up oil and water yesterday on my Alfa GTA for my impending holiday, when I noticed a sand coloured deposit at the bottom of the coolant tank. I immediately checked under the oil filler cap, and dipstick, both of which were pristine.
This deposit does not float on the top of the water, so I think its unlikely to be oil. The blue coloured coolant water appears very clean, and also smells normal (antifreeze).
The car is 7months old.
I would normally just keep an eye on this, but Im off on Sun morn to Italy, so I`m a bit paranoid.
Any ideas?
TIA Read more
It was more of a check. It did use a bit
of oil at first though, it doesnt seem to anymore!
>>
Ah, that makes sense.
I'm no expert but I'm told that its quite normal for new engines to use a little oil while running in, due to the rings bedding in I think.
Regards,
Al.
Ok, It's nearly the holiday weekend.
We are all familiar with the Xmas 'dont drink and drive' publicity machine and the summer holiday 'speed kills' campaign..but....
What other motoring 'offenses' would fellow back roomers like to see targeted on a TV ad campaign, the above two are excluded.
One for starters...Queueing across yellow hatched boxes and needlessly bringing major junctions to a standstill.
Over to you
Ian L.
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Perhaps late RJ but not too late surely. If the parents won't teach them pre-school then we have to break the cycle of selfishness somehow.
Hi all.
I'd be intersted to know whether other Back Roomers have a minimum bhp in mind when looking for a new car?
Doing 25k private miles and whisking one wife and baby around, my next car will be in the Vectra/Mondeo category, which have 127 and 130 bhp diesel engines respectively. I think that this is enough, but do others with more experience of diesel engines think so? I currently have a P reg 1.6 Astra Premier which would have about 90 bhp at a total guess?
I'd also be interested to know if there are other derv cars with higher bhp figures but which fall in the same price bracket. I know VW do a 150 bhp Golf - cue Sean?
Cheers all and have a safe weekend.
TT Read more
SiB the variables which apply to horsepower also apply to kilowatts, it depends which standards are being used. The main ones are BHP (SAE) which is American, BHP (BSI) which is British and PS (DIN) which is German. They all convert to KW (SI) but are measured under different conditions. German PS are slightly less powerful than BHP. It's about time we got some benefit from the huge cost of EEC membership, which we might if they introduced an EN standard which car manufacturers/importers had to use.
wonder if anybody can help me. I've got a 1994 pgt 405 sri 2L.
Its a good car, had a few problems but nothing out of the ordinary. i purchased it approx 4 years ago. the steerings always been a little on the heavy side, not a light as i would have expected it to be. but lately it seems to be getting heavier,especially when parking,sometimes it seems to stick. the fliuds ok, apart from that does anyone have any ideas of how to make it lighter(of course with the minimal amount of cost) cheers in advance.tony
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Thanks for your advice will give it a go. cheers
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Hugo;
What a splendid situation 4 a ovloV driver to end up in...!