February 2004
******* Thread now closed, please see volume 36 ********
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=20157
In this thread you may ask any question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
It does not need to be motoring related. In fact, in this thread it should not be.
No Questions About PC\'s. They now go in another Thread.
No politics
No Speeding, speed cameras, traffic calming
No arguments or slanging matches
Nothing which I think is not following the spirit of the thread
Nothing that risks the future of this site (please see the small print for details www.honestjohn.co.uk/credits/index.htm )
Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
However, as has been said a couple of times, there is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.
This is Volume 35. Previous Volumes will not be deleted,
A list of previous volumes can be found here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18847
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i currently own a1.9s tdi golf year 2000.
is it possible to put another golf engine in. the new engine is a year 2003 1.9 tdi pd 130hp. i have the 6 speed box the brain and all of the ancillaries.
thankyou, john. Read more
I am looking at buying an ex demo Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sport. It has quite a lot of extras and is in good condition. It was registered in October 03 and has done 2,500 miles.
I am waiting for the Audi dealer to give me a price and he has already stated the type of discounts i could get if buying a new model.
The question is, how much should i expect the ex demo car to be from say the book price as new,with the extras taken into account. In other words if the model and spec new was £21,000 and he has already stated i would be looking at a 7% discount off that price, how much should i be looking at the ex demo for?
Thanks in advance. Read more
PR - If the car's an ex-demo, it's VATable in the same way as a new one as it's a business asset.
As for the price - it's a new Audi with a very limited second hand market. All I can suggest is looking at AutoTrader on the left hand side and
Don't buy a car with too much spec though, because you won't get the money for the options back. Ask yourself, will you really get 5% of the pleasure from the car from a sunroof? Or, in terms of the amount that sunroof will add to the depreciation, possibly 10%?
Finally, www.broker4cars.co.uk has Audi A3 2.0 TDis, brand new, on an 04 plate if you want, for £18k. Okay, that might not be quite the spec you want but it is a UK car and the difference in second hand value between that and a fully specced one will be surprisingly small.
It's not just "Rip off Britain" as far as lube oil is concerned!
I have just had a major service on my Skoda Fabia 1.9tdi. The Skoda dealership in Marbella is owned by the Vw dealer (surprise!) and Skoda servicing has just been transferred to the VW outlet - so thay can charge VW prices to Skoda owners I guess!
Any road up, the car was filled with 4.5 litres of oil at a cost of 55 euros plus VAT - around £44! The oil used is BP Viscostatic 5000 5W-40 to VW specs. I only used to pay around £30 for 4 litres of Mobil 1 in UK .
Never again!
Roger. Read more
Just taken up National car centres offer of engine oil change and new filter today for £15 all in, thats 5 litres Duckhams QXR semi synthetic using a Coopers oil filter, complete drain off via sump plug done in 20 min. I was not given any sales patter about other things which suprised me as I was fully ready for it, that is a good deal I can't even buy the oil alone for that price, let alone the filter and the time and mess involved in crawling under the motor. Sometimes you can drop lucky although not often, if they're still doing it when the motor is due again I will re-visit them.
Checking through a few old threads on Subaru ownership and I notice that insurance costs are always an issue, due to the suprisingly high insurance group that Subaru's are put into, particualry the non-turbo versions.
This is just a note to let you know the new Legacy / Outback has actually dropped at least two groups from 15 or 16 to 13 or 12 (can't get a definitive answer from anyone yet).
This means my new Outback 2.5 SE Auto costs no more to insure than the recently departed X-Trail diesel - good news !
So if you are looking at the new Legacy, bear this in mind......
Oh, and the mpg is vastly improved - I'm getting an easy 32 -35 with varied driving and no long trips yet.
jd
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Insurance was a major issue when I decided not to bring back my MY99 Outback from Oz...it was group 16 when I checked. Glad to see it has reduced somewhat...to a similar level as my V40 for the 2.0 Legacy and not too outrageous for the Outback.
See my thread on insurance groups:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=19...2
which I was using to check up on possible replacement cars..(the legacy as is happens).
My wife would like the Outback again so hopefully she will not take too much convincing!
thanks
Ian
I presently own a 2000W Mondeo 2ltr GLX. I was happily driving along today, when the petrol light came on. I pulled into the next decent petrol station (Shell), and filled the tank. I put 59.08 litres in the car. When i arrived home i had a look in the handbook for the car. It states that the tank capacity is 58.5 litres. Which is correct, the handbook or the pump? And if the pump is incorrect, what can i do about it?
Ben Read more
error on the pump which only amounted to £1-2, so nothing
to worry about.
except that you are one of hundreds of people using that pump each week. That's an awful lot of money for nothing to the petrol station.
I'm about to become a contractor and thought I would take advantage of buying a CDV tax free.
I've not really started looking but my personal fav at the moment is the MG ZR express TD because:
A: We have a 98 200SD and I know how to service it easily (once past the warrenty).
B: I like (Well actually I love the look of the van) the MG looks.
C: They are pretty cheap (buying new and most spares from the scrappers).
I plan to keep the car until it dies - the 200 has 150K miles on the clock and still going strong, so depreciation is less of a worry for me.
What other CDV should I be looking at? I want a diesel engine and preferably a bit of poke (e.g. turbo and probs intercooler)
Cheers for your help.
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I'd forgotten all about the MG van, wow, go for that one, it looks great, far better than your average CDV!
Blue
Working on my Herald last night - trying to trace a coolant leak near the heater area.
Needed to test if a liquid was coolant or rainwater. I did so by tasting it. Coolant (water+antifreeze) tastes horrible so this method is efficient.
My question - how dangerous is this? I realise antifreeze is said to be poisonous - but is the odd drop OK? Don't winemakers add it to boost the alcohol levels?
PS
Anyone know how the heater valve attaches to the heat exchanger on a 1969 Triumph Herald? The heater is made by Smiths. It looks like they just push together with lots of goo. Can this be correct?
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If (and this is a fairly big IF) I remember my A Level biology correctly; if you drink antifreeze you should immediately drink ethanol. This will bind to the active sites of the enzymes antifreeze affects (can't remember the name of it right now) and inhibit them, preventing damage.
I believe this is still the common cure in hospitals today.
Ive just got a 2001 mondeo it came with only 1 key - I can get a new one for the reasonable price of £21 . BUT . the handbook says I need 2 keys to code another and my local dealer says Io need the car "booked in" at a cost of nearly £100 to get the new key coded. Is there a way around this?
Mick Read more
There was previous discussion of this subject here;
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=13...2
I know that there was a thread running here recently about private sales, sold as seen, and what to write on the receipt. My search skills aren't up to much and I can't find the thread. Friend has a prospective buyer for her car and wanted to tell her what to put on the receipt. Read more
Try " If this car is rubbish I will haunt you till your dying day"
Roger.
Browse
>>you are required to enter a pin on a machine where the attendant doesn't see the keypad
Yeah but everyone in the queue behind you can! Surely you'll just get echoes of the cash point scams where some bloke/woman would stand where they could see you enter your pin number and then mug you for your card 5 mins later before withdrawing all your hard earned cash!
(am I sounding paranoid?)
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Fill what's empty, empty what's full and scratch where it itches!