March 2004
I caught an ITV programme on Sunday about learner drivers. I might have imagined it but I'm sure one of the manouevres completed by a learner during the test was to reverse into a parking bay!!
Surely this is hardly a difficult manoeuvre since the car is simply going straight, albeit in reverse. Is this one of the three (or is it four now) required to complete the test??
I always thought the reverse around a corner was a bit pointless, but surely they could have dreamt up a more challenging reversing task.
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When I recently took my wife's 306 to our independent Peugeout specialist to have something checked out, I came away with knowledge relating to something different that I thought I'd pass on.
Although the 306 uses normal 'twin blade' automotive fuses, for the radio circuit, and also that for the cigarette lighter, the fuse panel actually has three sockets arranged in a vertical plane, not just two as you might expect.
If either of these fuses is placed in the upper position (ie using the top and middle socket) the cigarette lighter and radio will be ignition switch controlled. If, however, the fuse is placed in the lower position (ie using the middle and bottom socket), the radio or cigarette lighter as appropriate will now be permanently live.
No more losing the radio station, or interrupting cell phone charging, when the engine's off, but a passenger is sitting in the car.
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Possibly, DL, but I only have front e/w, and haven't had 'kids' in my car for many a year! Grand-kids now arriving, but won't be fit for a front seat for a good while yet.
All
My girlfriend has just discovered that the used Mercedes she purchased from a UK Mercedes Benz dealership was an import and that it is worth approx £3k less than an equivalent UK car.
She was never told this at the point of purchase and none of her sales documenetation states it either. Indeed, the M-B HPI Check doesn't even mention it ??!! Only her V5 tells the truth, which you don't get until after the sale from a dealership.
She was also charged full UK price at the time of sell, not an adjusted price to reflect the import status.
She is looking to the supplying dealer to buy the car back from her now at the standard UK trade price. They are trying to wriggle out of it saying that the M-B franchise has been bought by another group now and so they cannot be held responsible for the mis-selling (even though the actual salespseron is still employed by them in the M-B dealership).
Any ideas on how we can take this further and get back what we are due ??
Needless to say, we will NEVER buy another Mercedes and feel a high degree of anguish at such blatant rogue dealing. Read more
Miktu - pls let us know how you get on!!
Question: Can one view the log book or eqivlant from a dealer if car is brand new?
Thanks in advance
MM
Where can I get a reliable guide to the price I should be paying for a used car? Let me give you an example. I'm interested in a 2001/51 VW Passat Estate 2.5 V6 TDi Tiptronic with 41k miles. Dealer (in Gloucester) wants £15490. I've found the following variances in guidance for dealer prices for this car:
Parker's online: £15240 (30k mileage, so 41k would be, say, £15000?)
Parker's booklet: £14690 (again, 30k mileage, so 41k would be £14500?)
WhatCar? online: £12334 (non-Tiptronic, so add £500?)
This is crazy! A £2.5k variance?? How can I start haggling with the dealer without an authoratative valuation? Even Parker's can't agree between its online and booklet prices.
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But a lot of dealers will ask an extra grand or so just to allow for p/x. Go without anything to chop in and you can usually quickly bring that down a bit.
How time flies.... Read more
thanks dave,, you know i really must pay more attention, it's been a long day//
I refer specifically to this year's Hondas and Toyotas, and their minivans. Talk about ugly. They used to make such pleasant looking cars, now their creations are the automotive equivalent of overweight ungainly middle-aged women waddling back from the January sales at Harvey Nichols.
Maybe the designer went off for a boozy lunch and left the apprentice to finish the job. Or else manufacturers feel they are compelled to produce something 'different' every few years to sell new models and since every possible normal shape has already been tried they come up with something that looks like a bulbous bloated blancmange mould and launch expensive marketing campaigns to convince people if they don't have one of these they will somehow slip down the consumerism ladder. Couldn't let that happen, could we?
Or is it some mad demented Eurotopia scheme where there are so many regulations which have to be complied with, complied by those overpaid unelected over-pensioned seat warmers in Brussels that the only way to build a vehicle that satisfies them results in something looking like a lump of play dough on wheels?
I like my Lynx. It has a front end with a bonnet and an engine under it. In the middle is the bit where people sit. At the back is a boot where the errand boy parks Growlette's 14 plastic bags of shopping from the supermart every week.
'nuff said.
+
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>>>>>But car firms don't sell cars really, they sell finance, consumables and servicing. The car is just a means for the end to most of main manufacturers.
You're right on. Like McDonalds is really in the real estate business when you get down to it.
Hi
A friend of mine has just had a split hose replaced on his 1.4L petrol Citroen Xsara. I forget what hose it was, either MAP sensor or Lambda sensor. Anyway, it was causing the car to run rich and the oil to smell of petrol, even after a 15 mile journey!
He thinks the lack of power is due to the car needing a tune-up, he's going to get it "Krypton tuned", or whatever it's called, soon.
Is he wasting his money? I have suspicions lack of power now is because the engine's not running over-rich any more, i.e. it was the fault which was giving him the extra oomf. Any ideas?
Thanks for your time.
Mike Farrow Read more
Thank you all.
I told him before to disconnect the battery, at least now I know I wasn't telling him the wrong thing :-)
I think he's a bit dubious to do anything to the car himself. It still has warranty which he took out when he bought it second hand (definately worth the money: new air-con radiator/cooling fan/headlamp [all thanks to being in an RTC previously!]).
The funniest part is that even though the hose is right near the top of the engine compartment and easily unplugable, Cirtoen charged him £14 to fit it!
Mike Farrow
My Saxo is startting to get "reluctant" when starting an usually has some smoke at the exhaust when it does start.
I seem to remember at the last service being told that the glowplugs may need replacing soon.
a. Are these symptoms of glowplugs needing replaced?
b. How much should I expect to pay for them
c. Is it an easy diy job to do?
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Well over a year later, finally was forced into changing the glow plugs as the car had got steadily worse.
For anyone out there contemplating doing this, I would echo madf's comments - it really is a piece of cake. I am in no way mechanically minded but was able to do the job in under half an hour. Plugs were £6 each.
So if you want to feel good about being able to do something under the bonnet of your diesel Saxo - go and change the glow plugs!!
The Nissan X-Trail that Honest John drove off-road (road test April 2002), was that the 6 speed diesel sport version with the standard sport tyres or was it fitted with offroad tyres?
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On a standard BMW radio the reception is generally fine, by which I mean I am mainly tuned to FM (when not playing CDs).
However I also tune in to medium wave for sport and occasionally also to long wave, and would like to improve reception quality and number of listenable stations on these bands.
Is there some form of in-line booster whch might help?
Oz (as was) Read more
Thanks for info and advice. Much appreciated.
Oz (as was)
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I can read maps... I just have to turn them around so they face the way we're going. Well, I thought it was logical!