October 2003
Just had a drive of my mates brand new £35,000 Merc CLK. It's a nice car with lots of fancy gadgets and electric motors. However, it drives no better than a mondeo and the interior trim feels flimsy and is not a patch on the solid feel my MGZT has. It has lots of grey plastic and some dodgy leather seats. It looks lovely, but is it really worth £21,000 more than the £14,000 I paid for my three month old car. I don't think so! How much are you prepared to pay for a badge? Read more
Anyone else catch the "premiere" of this on Discovery Home & Leisure last night? (Would just like to point out that Friday night is pub night for me!)
If not, brief synopsis: Mike Brewer (of Deals on Wheels/Driven fame) has £1,000 to buy and "restore" modern classics, with the help of mechanic Edd China (the bloke who built the "James Bond" Rover 800 on Top Gear and also, I think, the bloke who built the motorised sofa I saw on a Jeremy Clarkson video a few years back).
Each car takes up two half-hour episodes. MB finds and buys the car, and EC does the necessary repairs. Then MB tries to sell for a profit. Last night we had a Mini Mk2 850 and a Saab 900 Turbo. Later cars (from what I could make out from the opening titles) will be Porsche 924, Mercedes Benz 280E (W123), Ford Capri Mk3, and VW Golf GTI Mk1.
Must say I thought it was quite enjoyable entertainment. The buying and selling bit resembles Deals on Wheels, giving you good pointers on what to look for. The restoration bit is a touch lightweight, but then I suppose they don't want to alienate the audience by getting totally bogged down in mechanics.
Two things spring to mind from last night's episodes: the Mini needed a total respray and a new A-post, but nothing was mentioned of repairing other rust spots (although MB did say the inner wings were "sound"), which could be a bit misleading...and they still didn't manage to get the sidelights working properly on the Saab even after changing the indicator/light units to clear lenses!
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I've gone of Mark Evans a bit - most of his recent 'do it up' consists of sending bits to other people to fix. 600 quid for the triumph engine??
Small problem with an in-dash CD player; the car is still underwarranty BTW. When playing a CD the device occasionally pauses and the display shows the disc info (No of tracks, duration of disc etc) and then resumes exactly where it left off. The effect is thus like pressing a 'Pause' button and is more annoying than serious. I have tried a lens cleaning disc to no effect so is it off to the dealer for a warranty fix or is there something else I can try first? Read more
No, I am playing old run of the mill saddo music! Trad jazz, light classics and all bought not copied and not the new SA-CD format which I don't understand and probably can't afford anyway! The car is going to be at an airport car park for the next week so no further comments or thanks from me for a few days!
Does anyone know where the news about forthcoming facelift models appears.There is no mention of anything on parkers/whatcar or on the honest john car by car breakdown news area.
Very useful to avoid the chances of being stuck with an out of date model months/days after you have bought it!
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... and dealers will lie to shift stock before they have to offer big discounts on the newly obsolescent model. It pays to do your research before buying.
Where can I get a brand spankin new/ or a very shiney VW badge, front and rear for my Mk. 3 Golf?
Also, the trim on the driver side at the rear is coming loose. Is there a cheap way of securing it properly?
Many thanks,
Olafs Read more
Go to your local VW dealer. a lot cheaper than you think for the badges (but not much else!)
I paid £6 for a GTI badge for my MK3 Golf GTI after some oik nicked it.
No I'm not thinking of buying it but I thought worthy of a mention.
In this weeks South West Auto Trader.
N Reg dark blue MOT 6 Speed box 140 bhp model very light rear damage drive away easy repair £800 ono - Private sale.
No mention of mileage or pre accident condition, though this seems to be a well specd car.
The damage cannot be seen from the photo, which makes me suspect its limite to the near side rear.
If anyone's interested the phone number is 01626 332167 or 07780 955435.
Is this likely to be a good deal or is it just indicative of the car market?
Hugo Read more
Could be corner and/or floorpan damage, which might look cosmetically not much but the insurance company wouldn't pay for and dealer would never touch as is.
My father's Audi 80 was written off at five years old for damage that was superficially nothing to worry about but which cost £3,600 to repair on a car worth a little over £4,000.
It was perfectly driveable but uneconomic and while this could be an excellent banger, unless the repair really is cosmetic, e.g., new bootlid, bumper and nothing else, I can't see how there's any money left in this car unless you can do everything yourself or very cheaply.
I understand BMW are recommending Castrol TWS (10W-60) for use in the M3 & M5`s, because of excessive oil consumption using the ultra thin SLX (0W-30).
Have Googled a search without much success and was wondering if any B.R`s know what sort of price this oil retails in comparison to SLX.?? Read more
Hello All
I have got a Peugeot 306 Turbo Diesel on a 1997 R plate.
The probelm I have is that the interior heating fan does not operate and also the the heated rear screen does not work.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Are the two faults related to each other?
I have checked all the fuses and they are all fine, so if anyone has further clues or info as to what the problem is and how I can fix it, I would appreciate it
Looking forward to your replies
Chris
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306 Heater fan failure to work - is often caused by burnt relay contacts. Open the fusebox cover (near to your RH shin) and remove the top LH relay, in a row of three.
Check the connections on this relay and perhaps the others while you are there. Look for telltale signs of overheating & burning.
What a shame Fiat have decided not to import the new model Barchetta into the UK, apparently my local Fiat dealer has had to return quite a few deposits.
Anyone know of an import agency that can supply one?
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DTR Sports do import them and know a lot about the car. There are some others - there used to be a place not far from East Grinstead who also sold them.
All that needs changing for the MOT are the rear fog light & reversing light swapped, mph added to the speedo and the headlights adjusted. DTR used to do an all-in-one service for about £200.
SVA does not apply as long as the barchetta you import has the European Type Certificate.
Been told a little while ago by a citroen specialist that the accumulator sphere needs changing on my Xantia VSX, and I want to do it before I sell the car.
I assume this is the one that is supported off the engine block, not the one supported off the inside front engine bay.
Apparently, I have to undo a 12mm bolt to allow the sphere to drain into the resevior before I take it off.
However, after taking off all the air filter housing etc to get to it I find it is impossible to undo. I mean both hands on the "£$!¬$$ thing and twist with all my might (RH thread on the new part). Even this does not shift it!
How are you supposd to get these things off and is the method above correct?
MM - I guess you're the BR authority on this??
Hugo Read more
Hugo,
Another couple of sites which are very good for Citroen advice, should you need any in the future are
www.citroenz.com/forum/
www.andyspares.com/discussionforum/forum.asp?FORUM...3
And there is also David Woollard's site
www.woollard.com.btinternet.co.uk/
which has an excellent Technical notepad section on sphere removal, air-con problems and ABS fault finding (which may also be useful for other cars though I don't know enough about it to be sure of that)
P.S. Is David Woollard M.M in disguise - they are both from East Anglia and experts on Cits??
Browse
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Confirms what Ive seen about Mercs, Theyre still good , but not that good.