August 2003
Just worked out how much my car Saab 93 has cost to run in last 40 000 miles
Fuel 10.1p/mile Petrol
tyres 0.7p/mile Fulda
Servicing 2p/mile Main Dealer
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HJ's car by car breakdown shows the omega doing very well in last years Which reliability survey - would any backroomers please be able to say how it did this year? I am interested in one but in other surveys the mondeo seems more reliable... any thoughts would be welcome. Read more
Thanks very much for your help
Apparently there is now a definition for this:
tinyurl.com/jill
Surprisingly, it's only 66k in eleven years though, because it's Captain Kirk's (aka William Shatner's) own 1992 Mercedes 500E.
Reserve price is $26k. Read more
What about the photon torpedoes ? Or are they an option extra ?
Just been watching some rallysport (Finland ?) on C4 and was amazed at the quality of the camerawork and pictures. What also amzed me however was just how close the spectators are to these high powered and very fast moving cars. Given all the uncertainties of driving to the limit over such rough terrain I couldn't help wondering just how long it's going to be before a serious tragedy occurs.
I don't know what the rules and regulations are but it seems to me that F1 is far more safety conscious when it comes to spectators. Is this correct and if so why ? Read more
I too was shocked when seeing some film of rallying by how close spectators are to the 'action'. I am sure that a major tragedy will occur and the result will be a major rethink. Does anyone really think that the death of let's say 10 spectators and scores injured would have no serious consequences for the nature of the sport? I think the nanny state is becoming more and more of a reality as the years go by ...
Has anyone got any views on the Daihatsu Sirion, in particular the 1.3 EL model?
Well equiped car £8k, before haggling.
Should do 50 mpg, and at 118 bhp/ton should be quite fast.
Cheap to insure too.
Any views? Read more
As ever, resale is difficult on Daihatsus, and if you keep it until it's older I wouldn't bet on parts availability being too hot - at least not at reasonable choices.
I've never driven one, so I can't comment on what it's like to drive, but it does appear to have nicked the front end styling from the 95 Scorpio and the interior feels old and plasticky. (And based on that, I wouldn't hold out on it being the most modern or pleasant to drive on the road, or have a crash in for that matter).
Against that, it is quite a lot of car for the money, decently fast as you say, and you might even like it - in which case you can hardly fault it. But I wouldn't be rushing to sign for one.
For my money, the best small automatic is either the Yaris or the Micra, with the Fabia as an outside contender as it's a bit pricy.
Last night when I came to close the boot on my 1995 Rover 214SLI I discovered that it would not lock, no matter how I tried to close it, whether through slamming it or through gentler means. Upon examination of the problem I have discovered that part of the lock mechanism seems to have worn away so that the lock on the boot lid is no longer pushed around the "hoop" which is attached to the car bodywork.
After about 3 hours of desperate effort I finally got the thing to lock, but now I daren't open it for fear of not being able to lock it again!
I am hoping that someone might be able to advise me of whether I am likely to need a new lock for the boot. If so, how much is this likely to cost, will the key barrel need replacing, or is the lock independent of this and is it likely to be a main dealer job?
Thanks to anmyone who might be able to help. Read more
Thanks for this. My car is the old stle 89-95 model.
Please see Stephen\'s message as follows;
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Well you can see that I really am bored this evening - so kicking around late here decided to add in a search facility to this forum. We already had it for another product, so I only needed to adapt it back to this site - so no I can\'t code that fast!
Anyway, you can see it on the RHS column just above help.
I expect it might have some terrible bugs in it, but have fun anyway.
Just don\'t cane it too much doing searches on message bodies for funny combinations of strings - unless of course you really want that kind of query.
Remember for that kind of search it really will have to go through all 100Ks worth of posts!
Feedback welcome...
Have fun
Oh, and BTW, if you see a big difference between numbers of posts for a particular person and that shown in their profile, it\'s because the archive forum uses their name as a text string - it came from the old open source phorum data imported, whilst the profile uses the user id in the newer posts of this software.
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Stephen Khoo
www.khoosys.net Read more
Every month in the Car mechanics publication they compare prices of new parts vs reconditioned or second hand parts. Every week, car parts direct are in the publication boasting cheaper parts.
Of course, everyone knows that you get what you pay for. What I dislike about this publication is that it doesn?t even mention that these cheaper parts are in fact inferior and can wreck a perfectly good engine.
Take this example. My father has a Toyota Camry diesel which had 220,000 miles and needed a new radiator. He thought he would save money and have a reconditioned unit installed. However, it leaked and of course the car overheated causing damage to the cylinder head. After having it repaired five times, it was never right in the end and ended up just getting a new radiator.
The point I am trying to make is that you should never buy these second hand parts if you have a sound engine. Our car is still going and has 260,000 miles, but the cylinder head still needs to be repaired and is uneconomical to repair. I am sure some parts are OK, but only if you can risk having to destroy an engine.
Have other people any stories or views about these much cheaper parts. Which parts are worth risking, and which aren?t? The million mile Volvo owner always says to use original parts, is he right in all cases?
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Hugo where do you live, i would not mind having a
mechanic that charges £8 per hour!
South West
But that chap's a mate of mine and just does a few 'foreigners' to pay for the beer.
£20 to £25 is pretty normal for independents around here. The garage I sometimes use when my friend is busy and when I can't be bothered to do it myself is in this bracket, but he often rounds it down if I'm flexible. For example, he changed my oil and front pads recently and was busting a gut to finish the job in the evening after a hectic day, so I gave him the option to finish it the following day as I didn't need the car till then, which he did. I think this made a difference to what he charged me.
H
HI,
Im hoping that somebody on here can give me some advice or point me in the right direction as regards the problem with the arches on my astra.
The arches are fairly grotty, large amount of rust etc.., replacing them & the fitting painting cost are going to be larger than I can afford at the moment, I had wanted to try and cut off the rust seal it and pop on some plastic arch trims (like i\'ve done on a few fiestas Ive owned over the years) however I am having difficulty finding such a thing for the astra.
is there plastic arch trims made for the astra? , if so where can they be purchased? or do arches for any other cars fit?
any advice or help greatly appreciated Read more
It\'s a Mk 3 (K Reg) 1992
I run two Renaults which both suffer from excessive scatter and glare from the front foglamps, particularly at night. I read that the so called "all weather bulbs" sold by several manufacturers emit a pale yellow light which is claimed to give less glare. Do any of you guys have experience of these bulbs ?
Another related question is if they give less glare and scatter will this make me less visible to other road users, especialy in daytime fog ?
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Interesting observations. My lamps send light almost as far as the dipped headlights on "laden". Possibly they are set wrongly - I'll see the dealer as both are under warranty.
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My current mileage rate is 50p per mile . Two rates apply depending on capacity of car - below and above 1400 cc, therefore I bought a diesel with 1422 cc!! High mileage and top rate.