March 2004
I've been looking at Audis recently and would like to hear comments on their Quattro 4WD system. Taking a car with the same engine (eg the A6 2.4) there seems little benefit in terms of performance (bhp, top speed, 0-60) and a drop of about 5mpg on the Quattro version.
Therefore unless you live up a muddy track or live in a snowy country just what exactly is the point/benefit of 4WD?
Comments much appreciated Read more
I have recently bought from a fleet a Audi A4 TDI Quattro Tpitronic.
Leafing through the paperwork I am able to tell exactly what work the car has had done to it over its lifetime (since 9/99, 130,000 miles) and how much it has cost.
Dealer Servicing and repairs have cost £5200.
Per mile this equates to 4p per mile.
Depreciation has been aproximately £17000
Per mile = 13p
Fuel economy circa 35mpg
per mile = 10p
Road tax at £165 per year
Per mile = 0.5p
So in total 27.5p per mile.(Didn'nt bother with insurance)
All very interesting I thought, I wonder how this compares to other backroomers cars / published data.
I had always thought that depreciation was the biggest cost of motoring but looking at the figures it is a reasonably close run thing with fuel.
If the fuel economy had been 25mpg it would have equalled depreciation costs. This for a car that has depreciated a lot.
Have I made a mistake or is fuel really the main cost in driving a car. Or is the fact the car has done high mileage in a short time having an unusual effect?
Read more
And out of that three and a half thousand quid for fuel, two and three quarter thousand is tax.
Hi, have had the new head gasket fitted. Done about 50 miles so far with no loss of water. However, temp is still operating very hot and blowers still not up to scratch heatwise.
I rang garage and they advised it was an air lock, does this seem reasonable? Read more
I assume from whats been said the cooling fan/s are electric.if the temp switch isnt working the fan wont work.not certain about yours but its usually located around thermostat area.may be built into temp gauge sender unit.If not switch would usually be next to sender unit.my guess would be the sender switch to fan is faulty.and no it wont run all the time
My 2003 Golf 1.6 has had a difficult gearchange from new. The dealer wants to remove and dismantle the gearbox to cure it. This seems a bit worrying on a 2000 mile car.
Can anyone tell me if this is a common fault and what are they likely to do inside the box?
My VW dealer has been very helpful in getting this sorted. Read more
I to have a 2003 1.6SE Golf with a very tight gearbox, also when changing from 2nd to 3rd the gearbox goes tight and won`t engage any gear at all until you bring it back to the neutral position and give it a wiggle. I thought that it might just need "running in" but I have now done 13500 miles and will tell the dealer when my service light comes on, anybody else had the experience of the "ghost gear" ? or what could be the problem ?
I have a VW Golf Mk2, 87000 miles.
I thought I\'d check my wheel bearings by lifting each corner of the car and by holding the top and bottom of the wheel providing a tilting force.
The nearside rear wheel has a slight click when I do this, does this indicate future wheel bearing trouble? or is the click due to something else possibly?
There are no rumbling or humming noises whilst driving? Read more
87,000 on a G Unless they have been changed then you are overdue for new drums, shoes, bearings and replacement slave cylinders. Remove a drum and peel back the seal and you will find fluid that has weeped past the piston seals. Time for new ones my friend. Not expensive from eurocarparts.co.uk or GSF and change your fluid at the same time. Regards Peter
I'm sure this won't be censored . . .
I normally read the Telegraph, but a friend gave me the motoring supplement from The Independent yesterday. Good stuff! Headlines:
* Spectacular renaissance of a British legend [DB9]
* Engineering alone cannot create sweetness and light
* Can anything be done to stop the new breed of boy-racer cyclists?
* I need room for seven [Which Car]
* Herr Bitter looks for the sweet taste of success
* Last chance to buy [Audi A6]
* The last hurrah of a great French name [Brian Sewell on Panhard]
* Book review: If you love rust, this book could be for you [Alfa-Romeo]
* Top ten Ducatis
* How to acquire the car of your dreams [cheap supercars]
* Me and my cars [Al Murray]
* Fast-food fuel can be clean and mean
* Rust, economy freewheeling and chipped paintwork
* Another Bangle mangle [back page: new BMW 5-series]
See enjoyment.independent.co.uk/motoring/
Read more
* Another Bangle mangle [back page: new BMW 5-series]
I did enjoy their shredding of the BMW! I wonder does someone in BMW collect these things and make the Bangler read them ...
Thursday 25th (tomorrow) is free UK listing day for cars. This means that if you post your auction between midnight tonight and midnight tomorrow you will be spared the usual £6 listing fee - but not the £18 (IIRC) success fee if it goes.
Apologies to those registered, who will already know this. Read more
And throw this one in as well and you'll have 2.8 cars for the price of 1. Two of these cars even have the same picture, as one of them has been swiped from another seller!
tinyurl.com/3chmb
I had a recall for my new Peugeot 307 due to a fault with the car milometer software potentially recording more miles than is being driven.
-This issue was originally featured in BBC Watchdog. I called their customer line to ask what they intended to do to compensate me.
I suggested they do a test measuring the mileage the car was being driven versus the count on the milometer. The reply was both curt and unhelpful.
There is apparently ?no way of measuring what mileage the car has done versus the count on the milometer? and further I will receive no compensation for being sold a car that has an incorrect milometer even though they new about the fault when I was sold the car.
Any advice appreciated... Read more
...the MPG figures must be fantastic!
Visited BCA Auctions today. Amazed at a 51reg Fiat Stilo 1.2 Dynamic, nominal miles, sold for just £3100. OK, it had a very small ciggy burn in the passenger seat and some minor scratches, but that is very cheap motoring. Highest price for a Stilo was one £4100. At the other end of the scale, £270 for an 'N' reg mondeo in OK nick with 90'000m seemed good value as well. Once the wifes Clio is sold (bought at auction a year ago), I will definitely buy from there again. Read more
Did it definitely sell ?
He didn't mutter the dreaded word 'provisional' ??
having followed haynes to the word on a mission to replace the head gasket, ive come to the head bolts. im not being able to loosen them at all. im using a 3/8 torx-e socket with an 3\" extension. can anyone help??? Read more
Dizzy
It's a fine point, and I'm sure you're right they don't go far beyond the elastic limit. If they did it would be hard to guarantee clamping load ad the load/ extension curve would be dropping rapidly. However, by definition, once they exceed yield and don't return to the original size then that is plastic deformation.
Regards
John S
Browse
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If I had the choice of a small (Fiesta size) 4wd car I would buy it. I drove fwd and rwd cars then an Audi A4 quattro and a Subaru Impreza turbo.
If you drive normally in normal road conditions , 4wd is not much better than fwd (ignore rwd - it is useless in bad conditions).
But in rain and more so in snow, 4wd is unbeatable. Tracion is sooooo much better. (rwd is a waste of time in snow).
But we have so little snow the extra costs versus benefits are debatable.
The new 4wd small Fiat should be interesting tho..
madf