January 2004
96 Escort LX.
In intermittent mode the wipers run constant rather than ... intermittently.
When the stick is returned to off (from int. or from normal, or fast wipe) the blades just stop on screen and don't return to the rest position.
What's the most likely problem here?
I haven't looked at it yet but I'm guessing either a dodgy stick switch, relay or limit switch in the wiper motor?
Read more
The missus' dad is handing back his company 523i and buying his own car for up to £20k. He's looking for ideas. It needs to be "fun, fast, stylish, big enough for 4 adults and not boring". It'll probably need to be new unless there's a particularly tempting reason for going second-hand.
In the running at the moment is the Mini Cooper S. A possibility is the Mazda RX-8 (though some reports say the rear seating is too small). I'm going to suggest also the Saab 9-3 2.0 Aero HOT as I've just seen it for under £20k on this website. Also the Seat Leon Cupra R. He can't have a Civic Type-R as I've got one!
What do you reckon?
Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability. Read more
I got my new Fiesta back in September/October and ever since I have been trying to sell my old car.
The car is an X reg Nissan Micra S in Silver. I am advertising it at near enough book price - £3400.
The car has only done 23,000 miles and is in near perfect condition.
I have spent close to £250 on Autotrader adverts and another £50 on an MOT to help it sell.
The only thing I can think of is location - South Humberside.
I have had quite a few calls with people wanting to negotiate a rock bottom price before even coming to see the car. I had one chap the other day offering £2500! I've had other offers of £3000 which I think is too little but perhaps I should have accepted.
Am I asking too much, am I unlucky, or does no one want to buy a car of this type privately?
Many thanks. Read more
I'm not willing to spend
another penny on advertising until early March.
Try putting it on boxer.ebid.co.uk - registration, auction, even successful sale is free!
It may not get quite the attention it would on eBay but it is a highly used site.
Started couple of days ago with the Idle speed being erratic, either ticking over very slow or at 2500 rpm. Now once the engine warms up it idles at 4000rpm ..... any ideas please. Read more
Thanks Andrew, the cleaning did the trick.
I bought a six month old new shape 1.8 litre Vectra Elegance five door from a local Network Q dealer at the beginning of December. It immeadiatly had a brake pad wear sensor fail which took the dealer a month to get a replacement for, meantime the drivers door glass began to rattle in the frame and the cruise control packed up....the pad sensor was replaced and another sensor diagnosed as the CC problem, despite being back in and had the CC sensor replaced CC still doesnt work. Meanwhile the dashboard has taken to internal ressonating / rattling and the dealers attempts to localise this have resulted in the car smelling like its developed an electrical fault .... obviously I\'m not happy .... has anyone else had similar experience ... ironically the car is great to drive! Read more
Anyone??
Having problems removing spark plugs caps on this engine. special tool attached to HT lead for this but still unable to pull cap completely clear of plug without catching on inlet/outlet maifold. Suggestions please.
Read more
The front wheel drive Vectra with transverse engine is different to the Omega, which is rear wheel drive and with a completely different inlet manifold.
In the summer of last year a friend of mine was looking for a good secondhand tow car to lug his small caravan around the UK. I suggested a Subaru Legacy and went with him to look at a few in the local area (Midlands) - he was looking for something in the £6-10k price band.
Eventually he bought a Freelander (against my advice). The car turned out to be a nightmare of unreliability and thankfully he managed to offload it in a cash sale to a dealer yesterday lunchtime.
Anyway, yesterday I was clicking through the Autotrader website and decided to look at Subarus again for him. I was absolutely staggered to see many of the car we had seen last summer (June/July) still up for sale!. We are not talking about 'old nails' here, but very tidy Legacy saloons with 15-40k mileages and either just in, or just out, of warranty.
One car we looked at (2000 reg., a 2.5GX with aircon etc and about 25k on it) was up at £8.5k in the summer and is still there now at £7.5k
Why are these excellent cars seemingly so unloved?
Read more
My son pointed out an article in the 3 Feb 2004 Autocar magazine, page 23, author John Coates, 'Insider Dealing' It praises the Legacy in an almost indecent manner.
You're driving along a single carriageway A road. Not that much traffic about so you're making good progress, cruising at 60-65 mph, maybe a little more. It's rural, with some good straights and easy curves.
You come across a convoy of slower vehicles, five or six cars following a truck or an ambling Micra or Metro. You can tell by a bit of observation and the cars' positioningt that no-one is inclined to overtake. But you want to get by and move on.
So you see a safe opportunity to pass half the convoy, and out you go. But your pulling in to the gap between two of the cars brings a flash of headlamps and perhaps an angry toot from the car behind you, and maybe in your mirror you can see the guy (it's a guy) shaking his head. Never mind, you see another good opportunity to pass the rest and you do so, and disappear into the distance leaving the convoy, in its original order, behind.
So what's the problem of the headlamp flashers, head shakers and horn blasters? Is it that they just don't want you to make quicker progress? Is it that they feel you've 'cut them up' (because they hadn't left a decent gap for overtaking vehicles to pull into)? In the worst cases the driver speeds up to close the gap in front, leaving you exposed to danger on the 'wrong' side of the road.
Me, I live and let live. If people want to drive faster, then fine. If they have a quicker car and can create/exploit more overtaking opportunities, so be it. I leave a good gap between me and the vehicle in front. If someone fills it, I drop back a little. If the road is busy and I know that if I overtake I'll come across another convoy after a quarter of a mile, I just relax and go with the flow. If others want to pass me, then I'll get there just a few seconds later than I would have done. I can live with that.
Any of you backroomers had the same experiences? Got any insights? Or are you headlight flashers and head shakers? Read more
Personally, I do the sums.
Clear road for 20 miles, I travel at 60. I'll get there in 20 minutes.
Slow traffic for 20 miles, I have to travel at 40. I'll get there in 30 minutes.
To me these are are reasonably extreme figures - 40mph is unusually slow, even behind a lorry. More likely to be 50.
20 miles without the convoy dissipating or me turning off on another road is a reasonbly long distance. More likely to be less than that.
So even at these "extremes" (which can be argued about) I am ten minutes worse off by sticking where I am. Most of the time I'm going to be two or three minutes worse off. Who cares? Relax.
I've noticed that HJ sometimes moans about tiptronic autoboxes being counter-intuitive in 'manual mode'. He reckons it should be nudge forward to change down, nudge back to change up. (He comments favourably on the new Mazda 3 which operates that way.)
Maybe there's a logic in nudging forward to make further onward/forward progress. But to me it doesn't feel right. I'm with HJ: pull back to change up - and I did make the odd mistake when I test drove a BMW 3 with tiptronic.
But are most manufacturers getting it wrong? If so, how can they have made the mistake? Why are they still making it?
What's the Backroom view? Are HJ and I in the minority? Read more
I have an MGF, and now I've got the hang of what at first seemed very complicated (what with the steering wheel paddles and the sports mode and all) I never get the direction wrong, and I think a forward movement for moving up the gears makes perfect sense. But it would be interesting to see what every one else thinks. (Mind you, I'm a bit lazy lots of the time, and just stick it in sport mode. And as the car has a twitchy rear end I sometimes don't even do that if it's a bit wet on the road, because it's so easy to be too heavy on the acceleration.)
A steptronic box seemed a good idea at the time.....
Carole
PS Are tiptronic and steptronic the same thing, just a manufacturer's different terminology?
From an earlier thread I've decided to get rid of the Omega and get an Impreza WRX. I went to a dealer today and now the fun starts...
Generally impressed with the dealer - very helpful and not pushy and ready to talk deals. He looked at the Omega and gave me the values from his copy of Glass's against a new WRX. He even phoned his 'trade contact' to verify the price.
However, I knew I was going to take a hit but he was quoting £6500 trade in on a 2001 X reg Omega 3.0 Elite (Leather) 53K miles. He'd give me an extra £1000 against the WRX.
I've just been on to the Glass's link and got the following figures:
Trade in - excellent: £ 8,540.00
Trade in - average: £ 7,620.00
Trade in - below average: £ 6,680.00
Retail price: £ 11,200.00
He said the car was 'mint' condition. So I assume there's a fast one being pulled unless there are different versions of Glass's? Any advice appreciated
Paul Read more
HJ - that's very much appreciated. I'll keep an eye/ear out.
Paul
Browse
"I think the Peugeot 406 Coupe is still a stunning looking car"
Agreed, but he's going to really notice the difference in quality compared to a 5 series. It'll also start to look subtly dated when the 407 saloon comes out.