August 2003
Dont spill wonder wheels wheel cleaner on leather as it stains. Need to spray small area, car is newish, leather still very good condition, where do I find the paint code for the interior on a jag xtype.
Richard Price Read more
I went to Blackbushe car auctions on Friday. Its totally changed my perspective on car buying. I have now experienced first hand that cars are worth diddly squat and shed value like Gary Glitters autograph.
I will never again use a dealer because looking at the prices paid for cars you might as well just go to the auction. All a dealer will do is stick a 3 or 6 month (probably mostly useless) warranty on the car. In reality he will buy the car straight from an auction, clean it and stick it on the forecourt. So simple. Take a friend who knows a bit about cars and bobs your japanese gardener - save hundreds, if not thousands.
Example prices:
Saab 900 2.0 96/N 100k miles - nice and clean - £900
Audi 1.8 2000/W - 114k miles - FSH, all stamped, very, very clean - £4900
Rover 25 GTI - 2001/Y 26k miles - Immaculate - £4950
BMW 318se 02 plateb - Silver, mint, 22k miles - full spec - £13,200
VW Golf 2.0GTI - 2001/Y Reg - 35k miles - £8,500 mint.
Unbelievable. Read more
Although low mileage cars aren?t recommended by HJ, a friend of mine found a really good buy. Although it only had only 10,000 miles over 5 years, it was only used for a 200 mile trip every so often and had an oil change and service every 6 months at the main dealer. That is a service every 1000 miles and the tyres were the original manufacturer ones that had hardly been worn. He paid only £3k because the owner wanted a quick sale and now the car has 370,000 miles with only some parts changed and the same engine. And it burns no oil and is as economical as ever. I think it was a Saab but unsure about the model.
Just shows how important it is to have a car serviced properly from the beginning, and the merits over servicing can do to an engine. Good driving technique is also very important. He has had the car 15 years and the engine is as quiet as a brand new car.
Travelling through Austria and somone tried to break in to my W reg diesel Mondeo LX. So now the drivers door wont open at all ( can't remove the trim from the inside), remote control key doesn't work. Alarm indicator light on the dash is permamnenly on and there is an irritating click from within. Passenger doors and boot will only lock manually and I have to climb over the passenger seat to get in to drive - it still starts!. Any ideas or help? If I could break in without causing damage to the drivers door at least I coulkd get the trim off and try for a replacement lock. I presume the alarm will have to be reset at a Ford dealers - is this correct
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Thanks charles. I suspected that I would have to go to a dealer
During the recent hot spell, I have been trying to avoid carrying my dog in the rear compartment of my Escort Estate('99).
However, now that I have no option, I have been trying to get a set of sun blinds for the rear side and back windows. Halfords have some roller ones for the sides, but their back ones are too big - the sucker pads are way outside the glass area! Local Ford dealer tells me that they have never produced a rear blind for an Escort Estate, in fact they currently don't have one for a Focus Estate either. Well, thanks guys!
So, the question is - does anyone know where I can get a rear window sun blind suitable for an Escort Estate('99)?
Thanks Read more
Thanks for the suggestions. Unless I misunderstood your first reply, I don't think I could get away with a DIY roller blind "on the move". Guess the visibility would be "illegal"!
Pet tent - possibly, I will toddle down to my local Petsmart, or whatever they call themselves these days. Knowing my dog, he would detest one of these.
Fan - now that's something I never thought about. I suppose you can attach these to the wiring somehow, and run them off the car battery?
I also run a Focus hatch, but angle of hatch too severe for dog(Saluki) to stand upright. Like your thinking on half-and-half. Will also try this.
Recently bought a peugeot 206 Diesel...12,000 miles on the clock from my local peugoet dealer.
No Log book or spare key were supplied with the car when I bought it but the dealer assured me they would be passed on to me by wednesday. It is now been over a week and depite several phone calls and 2 visits they are still not giving me a straight answer...
Any suggestions as to where I stand with them..can I threaten to return the car and demand my money back...?
Help... Read more
Aberdeen supporter now there's a laugh..thanks for the advice I'll think about it...;)
Yesterday I had my cam belt break accelerating away from a junction in a Volvo 480 Turbo. There was no significant bang - total loss of power (of course)- What damage and costs, am I likely to face? Should I expect to require a new engine / or extensive man-hours? Read more
Ooh, that's a shame. You might get away with a recon cylinder head - depends what it looks like when you take the existing one off...
Its just happened to me again!!!!!!!
Motorcycle (same applies to car) insurance renewal quote £262.
Make a few calls, best price £190 with something called \'puncture assistance\' thrown in. Deal done.
Call old company to cancel previous insurance, get put through to the \'we will do anything to try and stop you cancelling department\'. Told them I\'d taken the other deal, they say \'what did you do that for we could have matched that price!\'. My response, \'well if you\'d given me your best quote first then you\'d still have my business!\'
I suppose they do it because at least some people just renew without checking and they make money with gravy on it... Read more
I've just jumped through this hoop as well : end of two year discount: phoned Abbey National : they went straight into the 'this is the best deal we can do for you' routine. Didn't even have to make a token attempt at shopping around. 150 quid a month knoked off future repayments for the sake of one phone call. Haven't quite worked out how they make money when I'm paying below base rate in interest; but what the hell.
Hi All,
I'm new to this forum so I hope I've posted in the correct area.
My problem is this;
About 4 weeks ago we had our Peugeot 306 Slalom serviced and MOT'd by our local Peugeot dealer - it passed the MOT. On Thursday we went away for the weekend and while we were travelling to our destination the whole of the exhaust fell off. Surely this sort of problem should have been spotted? Am I justified in going back to the dealer and insisting that they supply and fix a new exhaust? or will they just say that the exhaust would have needed replacing at some point anyway.
Thanks in advance,
PeugeotMan. Read more
for the MOT, the garage would have checked the exhaust for leaks, and fixing security. It may well have passed the "wiggle" test then but fallen off later as indeed it did. Exhausts and the fixings rust. Cant blame the garage for that.
Hello, I´m Portuguese and I don´t know what does it mean the words HT LEADS?
Can anyone tell specify to me what does mean for me to understand?
I have a Golf VR6 and in the Technical Matters Forum many people talk about HT Leads...
I will apprecciate some explanation, thanks......
I wish that Portugal had internet sites like this!!!
Congratulations!!! Read more
Thanks, DavidHM and Renault Family, now i know what it means HT LEADS...
In Portugal it calls "Sparks Cables"...
Thanks once again
Hi all,
I would like to know whats the tyre pressure on a VW Golf, they are 16in ......i think its 30psi?!?!...
cheers.. Read more
Interesting: the Dunlop site says 36 front and 32 rear for my VR6, whereas the sticker on the fuel filler cap says 37.7 front and 34.8 rear (converted from 2.6 and 2.4 bar). A non-trivial difference and I wonder why.
Browse
Dynamic Dave,
Well i went down to the local car wash, wonder wheels in box did not relise there was a very slight leak, not evident but managed to soak into the cardboard packaging. Come on Dynamic a solution please.
regards
Richard Price