September 2003
I am setting up a delivery service for petfood in very busy streets in a busy town where parking is difficult and need to buy a newish used vehicle to suit this, and for personal use at the same time without being a van. Must have 5 doors and air con, It must be easy to park shortish in length - ideally diesel and my budget is #6,000 for a used vehicle. Any ideas anyone? Oh and it must be a totally reliable make! Read more
I am currently looking for a new secondhand vehicle up to £5000.
Spec require is as follows, reasonable fuel economy, saloon or estate, aircon alloys etc. I know this is very vague but there is so much out there, on the list so far is:
Alpha 156
Passat
V40
406
Is there anything else I should be looking at and any reason not to plump for one of the above?
Thanks in advance
Steve
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Having recently become a dad,and have the ever increasing need for space in my car,i've been looking into the mini mpv market ie zafira,piccaso,scenic etc,and for the life of me can't understand the concept of these vehicles as they offer no more space than a decent sized estate and are extremely dull to drive. Am i missing something here or are manufacturers just following suit? Read more
But then went and bought an A4 cabriolet for me !!!!
My brother had another car run into the back of his car in July, his car being an ?X? reg Nissan Primera. There was no damage to the other party?s car although there was damage to the boot, bumper and under floor on the Primera.
It was repaired three weeks later, and when he picked it up from the repairers, the airbag warning light was flashing indicating a fault. When he informed the repairers that the airbag fault light had come on in between him dropping it off for repair and picking it up, they denied any responsibility.
He took it for ?diagnosis? at the Nissan dealer (for £25.00) who informed him that the left hand airbag module was showing open circuit.
Now the question is, who or what caused it?
The repairers deny any responsibility, probably quite rightly.
The insurance company deny any liability, as it was not deployed in the accident (but apparently would have repaired it had it been the drivers side airbag, but not the passenger side).
The Nissan garage wants £350 to repair it, and has suggested that it was caused by the accident, but because there was nobody in the passenger seat, the seat belt sensor didn?t detect the belt tensioning and has somehow caused the airbag to open circuit, but not deploy.
Has anybody got an explaination, or is it just fair wear and tear! Should he just get it repaired and pay the charge himself?The car has done 70,000 miles and so is out of warranty.
Reggie
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It did require a connection into the ECU - where I believe you can view a log of errors logged by the system. This car audio place (used to be very near to Shepards Bush R'bout) had the required connection and software to do it. Some Bosch ECU's can be reset with a combination of pedals/ ignition/ other "user operable" interfaces. I've had 17 alfas, and some allowed you to reset the keycode with the brakes!
I'm looking to buy my mates 405 1.6 petrol (n reg) but it suffers from an intermitant stalling problem, he has had it checked out, but no one can find anything wrong with it, has anyone got any ideas as to what could be causing the problem?
Cheers Read more
Most likely just a dirty throttle body and idle speed control valve. A lazy O2 sensor can cause this problem if it is running the engine occasionally overly rich as you come to idle.
HTH
Andrew
Simplicate and add lightness!
What with winter coming on, we've decided that the better half could do with something a bit more practical during the wet, cold months. Much as we love her LHD 1981 Beetle, it's notoriously bad at steaming in the rain and takes a good 3 or 4 miles before any heat makes its way to the cabin.
As an interim fix we have first refusal on Mk3 VW Golf 1.8GL Petrol 4 Door Saloon. Some of you may know it as a Vento :)
Good news
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It's L Reg, 110k, no rust, good tyres, a new CD Player, everything works (I've tested it all) apart from the OSR electric window. Taxed until April, MOT until February. New exhaust too. All fluids look ok, and it's been serviced on a regular basis. Drives well, interior could do with a steam clean but apart from that it's great.
Insurance for the both of us is quite reasonable. Fuel consumption doesn't matter as it'll only be doing 40 miles a week.
Bad News
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1) Brakes seem a bit unresponsive compared to my 2002 Focus. Pads and disc's look okay so it might just be needing some new brake fluid.
2) Appears to be on the original timing belt.
3) Clutch slips like a good 'un.
Questions
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1) Are soggy brakes indicative of a VW?
2) The timing belt looks easy to access, how much should a back-street garage in Hampshire charge for changing this?
3) Is it just likely to need a new clutch? Could it be a seized self-adjuster? What 'extra' parts are worth changing if it does need a new clutch? (eg, worth a new clutch cable, and what's-the-name-of-that washer that's worth changing at the same time?)
4) Anything else I should look out for on this car?
5) What is it worth in it's current condition? Although we have been offered it for next to free (well, a crate of cheap plonk).
Many thanks for all replies!
Steve Read more
In the same position as you, but with a Golf. Owned by a mate for the last 5 years, the car is a 96N 1.8GL which he was about to chop in at a dealer for £2,200 so I took it off him instead.
Clutch cable is stiff (this is common on RHD Golfs where the cable bends several times between pedal and bell housing). The cambelt is due (68k miles) and he missed the last service. I'm dropping it in at Wheelbase, Hersham next week for a going over. My budget with them is £600 so for less than £3k I'll have reliable transport that won't hurt much at all when I sell in a year or so.
My friend had only ever used a car wash, so half a day with the Autoglym and a vacuum, the car looks fantastic.
Noticed that my two rear tyres are approaching the limit marks and will need changing before November's MOT.
The vehicle if you don't know by now is an 2.0GLS Auto estate.
Handling with the current tyres is not great as I lost the back end once going at a fair pace round a roundabout.
I travel about 1000 miles a month majority on the A12 so I'm looking for a decent all weather tyre at a not too horrendous price if anyone can help?
Also would it be cheaper to buy the tyres from the net and get a local garage to balance wheels/fit the tyres?
Cheers
Daz Read more
Thank you Volvoman, you are THE man!
anyone here help just got a stolen and recovered ford escort
now have to get a vic check and then get a new log book saying that its been damaged and repaired but no damaged occured it is
a sound vehicle only the locks got changed never in an accident at all help please.
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Go to www.parkers.co.uk/advice/message_board/topic.asp?T...4 for a flowchart that will explain all.
Blue
Just read the test in this month's Car magazine. Check out E-bay
for one advocate's soul for sale. I want one now ! Read more
Are you tiring of the 530d already PU, or are you possibly warming to that superb limousine style ride and comfort, which is vastly superior to the 3 series ???
We should all type very quietly on Monday when posting to the BR...hope the meet went well.
Matt35. Read more
Thank you very much, eMBe and Blue, for making my day! :)
HF
Kangoo would be handy with it's twin side sliding doors.
PP