August 2003
Does anyone know how I can get into sales for example at a Vauxhall dealership . I live in south wales , and I used to sell cars at a second hand car dealership until they went into reseivership . Read more
I see in yesterday's Observer that HMG is considering compulsory tracking devices for all cars, ostensibly for congestion charging, but also to allow wholesale surveillance and automatic speeding charges (naturally, because it's "the biggest single cause of death on the roads"). The next extension to this is speed limiting, where "you won't be able to go faster than the limit, no matter how hard you press the pedal". Great safety measure, that!
How ironic that our new Orwellian future is being overseen by a man called Blair.
Better enjoy the present while it lasts... Read more
"compulsory tracking devices for all cars"
It's just occurred to me that it may not be all bad, as there must be some way of switching it off, and by then there won't be any speed cameras or patrols...
A supermarket worker in England has passed her driving test at the twentieth attempt after taking more than 300 lessons.
Sue McIlwraith of West Bromwich said she was delighted to have made the breakthrough after spending £7 000 on tuition since 1996.
etc etc etc.
I'm sure we've all seen plenty of stories like this one.
Do we say "Well done for persevering" or "You just ain't good enough, Madam!"
What do the Backroomers think?
And what do the professional instructors think? Do you sometimes simply tell a 'pupil': "You are just not capable of safely driving a motor vehicle. Take the bus."?
Read more
Delicate cough.
Who *can* drive then? Only young outkasts?
Gawd 'elp us all ;)
Yesterday my friend and I and her new baby were off to a BBQ,
it was at my parents house and I offered to drive. However
we were discussing the issue of the front passenger airbag.
Obviously you cannot put a rear facing babyseat in the front where there is an airbag, So what DO you do??? My friend had mentioned we may be able to put the seat in the back but the seatbelt may not be long enough to go round the child seat. We didnt bother trying I must admit and went in her car in the end.
My question is....... How do dealers turn the airbag off and
can I do it myself???? I notice on her car (pug 307) and also the seat leon have a switch to turn it off, you use your car key for it. I dont seem to have this on the beetle.
Its more hassle than its worth to go to the dealer everytime you want to carry a little person, especially as its not likely to happen often, and i want other big passengers to have the benefit of the airbag if needed!! What do I do???????? Read more
It would be intresting to see where my friends car seat
came in the Which? magazines thing though, is it on the
internet at all or do you have to buy the magazine???
It's available on the web but you have to subscribe. They key facts (including names of those that are considered dangerous) are at news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2964450.stm
Best buys (in order of size of child they're designed for) were the Bébé Confort Elios Safe Side at £79, Maxi Cosi Priori XP at £120, and Britax Kid at £80.
Incidentally, a switchable passenger airbag is an optional extra in my car (Skoda Fabia), so I dare say it is in others too.
Give us a hand please. recommend me a diesel family sized car with a decent Automatic gearbox.
Cheers
BCZ
(moved from Tech Matt) DD Read more
What is a CVT 'box? Is it a "clutchless manual"?
No - As far as the driver is concerned, it is identical to a standard auto gearbox. The difference is that instead of using actual gears which a standard autobox swaps between, CVT uses a (these days metal) belt between two opposing "cones" which is moved up and down according to conditions and speed. The effect of this is that the ratio is infinitely variable - the car can then keep the engine running in it's "best" rev range where it runs most economically.
Can someone please tell me where the Lambda sensor connector is on a Fiat Cinquecento L Plate. It appears that the two wires disappear into the cable harness. Thanks Peter Read more
The August issue of Which? magazine calls for Citroën Picasso owners who experience serious engine vibration because of loose mounting bolts to contact them at Department ANB, PO Box 44, Hertford X, SG14 1SH (which@which.net; www.which.co.uk). Read more
WHICH? April 2004 issue:
"Citroën has admitted to Which? that an engine bolt in some of its Picasso cars can work loose, after first downplaying the issue, and will fix them free of charge [even outside warranty]."
The August copy of Which? magazine has just arrived, with a new-car reliability survey indicating that the top group is almost exclusively Japanese and "Mercedes-Benz has dropped further than any other manufacturer this year" to the third (average) of the four groups.
BEST: Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, Mazda, Nissan, Smart, Toyota
GOOD: Daihatsu, Ford, Suzuki
AVERAGE: Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daewoo, Isuzu, Jaguar, Jeep, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Proton, Saab, Seat, Skoda, Subaru
POOR: Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Fiat, Land Rover, MG, Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Vauxhall, VW, Volvo Read more
These surveys do give a true basic picture overall, but i consider them more of a satisfaction survey, what has your opinion of the dealer service and prices got to do with reliability?
Also these surveys group for example all A4's together, so if a particular engine was troublesome it would also mark down those that were ok.
What is the extent of the Golf recall that I received today concerning the brake vacuum pipe on the servo? Has anyone out there had faults with this leading to this recall? Read more
In one of those moments on the A1 where there was some spare processing power available due to fairly low traffic levels I did a few calculations.
Based on an average of 3500 revs to cover 70 miles (about the equivalent of running in 5th in the Yaris), the engine would perform 3000 revolutions of the engine per mile. Taking in to account things like idling, use of lower gears around town etc, you could easily expect an engine to perform 500 MILLION revolutions in it's lifetime and as many as 1000 million (or a foreign billion) if the car lasts much >100k miles or does a lot of around town work.
Even in a basic engine this is a rather remarkable feat of engineering when you think of it, but looking at new engines with all the gizmos like solenoid controlled valves etc and it really does show just how reliable components need to be on car engines.
Now I've bored you all with that, I'll leave you to the normal Backroom service! Read more
Using similar calculations, I have just flown a 747 from Singapore to London. Each of the 4 engines turned more than 8 million revolutions during the 14 hour flight without a glitch. What's more, not even a litre of oil burnt in each.
Jet engines do suck squeeze bang and blow but without the tremendous pressure changes associated with the piston engine, so in a way, the average car engine is a very reliable piece of kit even when compared to a jet.
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A comic judge - very rare!