September 2003
Right, my parents are currently on holiday in France, however they have had the good fortune of losing their car keys. Ie. gone, not misplaced.
They phoned me up to tell me their situation this evening and I have no idea what to do or advise them to do.
So far they have got in touch with the Police [in France] and their insurance company [in England].
What makes the situation slighty worse is that there is no spare key.
Can anyone advise of what to do?
Many thanks for any advice
Kev Read more
Hi folks,
Ive been looking at Personal Leasing for the next car and the new Jags seem to be very reasonably priced in comparison to the Audis I would really like. Im put off by the fact they are from the Ford parts bin (you all know of my Mondewoe problems). So how good are they? 2.5 or 3.0 X Type and 2.5 or 3.0 S Type.
Bill Read more
Bill,
If you have not bought your car yet and are still interested in the X Type - in the US, all technical service bulletins and recalls are listed by Alldata.
Go to Google, type alldata, hit tsbs, hit individual car owner,maker,year,model for a list of the problems experienced.
Do a comparison with some of the competitors (many UK cars are not sold in US) such as BMW.
Go out and buy an X?
Matt35.
Narrowed down my next car to be a new Corolla, and spent time this week talking to a Toyota dealer about delivery dates and PX etc. Discussion going okay, \'til I mentioned I wanted a cassette player. It seems the standard Toyota range is now CD-only with their own fitted HiFi units. I can only get a cassette if I fork out for £3000-worth of colour DVD/SatNav or somesuch! I can\'t believe this. There is a slot in the Corolla\'s dash below the radio that I could slot a cassette deck into, but it would have to be a third party unit, and not sure to be compatible with the Toyota CD/Radio. I like taping BBC radio plays at home, to play back when I do my regular 3-4 hour trips up to Manchester. With only a CD player I cannot do this.
I think the salesman wants to lock me into a specific car which is coming in on such-and-such a date. Getting it modified with any extras would delay the purchase. I think that is what is going on.
I can\'t believe Toyota are gonna lose a sale over this issue. Are they fibbing to me? Read more
1) Why are these illegal here,
2) How can these guys sell them without getting busted?
Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949?
No, I'm not a lawyer. See
www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/32098.html
The device mentioned in that article sounds as if it works in a similar way.
Hi
I have a new mazda mx5 ( about 3 weeks old) The clutch has a judder which is worse when the car is cold
Mazda tested the car and agreed that a new clutch is in order .Also that this is a common problem with this and some other mazda models
Has anyone any experience of this...also if this does not cure the problem would I be able to reject the car?
thanks
alan
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Mazda fitted the mark 3 clutch upgrade and before I even collected the car they advised me that it was no better in fact worse than before!
They don't have any solution to this one..They have kept the car and I am sure they will try to replace the whole clutch, flywheel etc
I think its time to try to get a replacemt car from mazda. The bolts between the engine and box must be rounded off by now!
Buyers of MX5 beware!
alan
I have a question for people who have activated carbon/charcoal cabin intake filters....
I have the plain 'pollen filter' on my Omega, but later models has a charcoal filter, I have priced up the charcoal filter housing and filter, but was wondering how effective they are as it will cost a fair bit?
I often get stuck in traffic next to a large sewerage works, and it's awful, there's no escape. amd often one only presses recirculate when its too late. Would they absord this kind of stench?
Also, do they remove blue smoke smell when following an oil-burning wreck?
Thanks for any help. Read more
Thanks, that saves me £75, and £25pa thereafter.
I have had this car from new (99 'T') and have clocked up 30K miles. It has been serviced etc by our local main dealer.
I am having problems with 2nd gear - basically if I change gear very slowly, everything is fine. However, if I attempt a 'racing start'(!!), I end up crunching into second. Changing down doesn't seem to be so much of a problem.
The last time this happened, I had the gear box oil changed and this seems to cure the problem temporarily.
Has anyone else had similar problems?
Alison
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Thanks for that. It doesn't seem to make any difference whether the engine is cold or hot.
Hopefully it's nothing major - it's booked in for an oil change later in the week, and I hope that resolves it. Other than that, I had better start saving.......
Alison
Does anyone have any idea about how long a car with a full service history with 110000 miles on the clock would be reasonably expected to last before everything starts dying out!
I have heard of Primeras with well over 350000 miles on the clock with no problems,that ones a local taxicab!
The car Im looking at is a Bora 1999 with 110000 miles on the clock with a fsh.
Does anyone have a idea of how long they can reasonably be expected to last without any major problems.
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Had a look at the service book.Servicing done at 10000 intervals and seems faultless.
Doesnt mention anything about the cam belt change though.Is that supposed to be changed at 100000 miles?
Engine seems ok to me , but then im no trained hand, although much more on the noisier side than i would have expected.Probably because its a 2 litre, Dunno!
A little rattly maybe, although the car drives fine.
Insurance Question!
A friend of mine (living abroad) pays an annual renewal premium (96 pounds) on a fully comp insurance policy for a C reg Ford Escort. He claims that this enables him to drive any vehicle when back in the UK and be fully insured to drive it. Fair enough you say, but the thing is, his brother no longer owns the car, in fact, they don't even know if the car still exists. I thought that this wasn't possible; either (a) the car is scrapped or (b)it is owned (and insured) by someone else. In either case, is it possible that my friend has a valid, legal insurance policy?
When I said that I thought it wasn't possible, he tells me that him and around twenty of his pals all held insurance policies for a Fiat 127 (owned by one of them) at the same time, back in the eighties, so that they could build their no-claims discount before buying their own car. He tells me that any number of people can hold an insurance policy for a car irrespective of ownership or even existence of the car. Is this correct?
Thanks Read more
Thanks for the response H! I think he is throwing away 96 pounds a year on this (futile if not illegal!) scheme.
What about the other assertion that him and around 20 of his pals held valid motor insurance policies for one car and used this as a vehicle (ahem) to build their no claims discount. Bear in mind that none of them were ever even in the car! I think if a policy exists for a car then insurers will insist that any other persons who want to be insured for it need to be added as named drivers(?). I'd be interseted to hear an insurer's view on these issues.
I was thinking about downsizing from my BMW 330 to a new Clio or something nondescript. Now I see I can have a Nissan Almera Pulse with cd and aircon for £7250! My brother bought an old 100k Nissan Sunny once as a stop gap car. It had well over a 100k miles. In the year he had it it never broke down. returned 40 mpg and was sold with another 30k miles on it at a profit! The car still lives three years later with over 200k on it. Whats the catch with the Almera? Are they really so bad? Is it an old model? Why are they so cheap?
I'm confused! Read more
Can't agree at all that the Almera feels cheap. They are very solidly made (would put many a European brand to shame) and the engineering is near enough faultless. The ride and handling is pretty good too - although the 1.5 is a bit sluggish. I believe they rate highly on NCAP into the bargain.
'Image' is another issue - and very much in the eye of the beholder.
Came across this good site via the search engines and thought I would ask a question for other car nuts to ask :)
Bought a car recently that is my pride and joy after riding about in a 1986 Toyota Carina, and want to keep it in prestine condition if I can...
In immaculate condition for year 1998..and beyond garage inspection had only one very small dent on o/f door which is nothing to worry about.
I now after a week have a small dent on the driver side door just above the plastic trim. Most proabably caused after leaving it in a multi-storey.
Best way to get rid of this?
Just ordered Ding King a U.S. kit for removing dents and dings...not sure it will work, but seems a lot cheaper than taking to a dent specialist at £55+
Is it a losing battle keeping a car in immaculate condition and have I wasted my money?
Thanks guys and girls,
Jason Clark Read more
Dentmaster sorted four dents out in my Golf for £70. I didn't even know that two of them existed. He was very thorough. Much better than having it sprayed despite what the VW dealer advised me(you'll be able to tell etc. etc.).
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Glad you got it sorted, Kev. Did you go all the way to France in the end, or did the French dealer do his stuff without you being there?