April 2004
A two-question query?.
1. I thought Bi-Xenons headlights were intended to ?last the life of the car? or so I read in What Car? A few years back. I have recently seen 2 year-old cars of all makes with one bulb failed. Obviously not true?.
2. My wife?s car has Bi-Xenons fitted..they work OK but there is a warning label under the bonnet stating that they must only be changed by a dealer, plus there is a warning 'Warning: Risk of Death! 25,000 Volts DC? label as well. Nasty. But how easy/difficult are they to change??
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I've got it in the back of my mind somewhere that there's a useful European law (surprise, surprise!) that says that if you buy a used car and a fault develops that can be shown to have been present at the date of purchase, the seller is responsible.
Does this ring any bells with anyone? Read more
Excellent. Well done! (Does your calculation of profit allow for financing costs (loss of interest on money on deposit) as well? You don't have to answer, just so long as you know the answer.)
Can anyone tell me how much a 1990 (H) Audi 100 2.0E is worth. It has done 95K.
It's with the garage at the moment and will need brake shoes, cylinders, hand-brake cable, rear light cluster, a full service and replacement exhaust front section (and maybe a cat as well) to make it roadworthy.
I don't know whether the cost of the jobs will exceed the value of the car!
Thanks in advance
Paul Read more
Provided you're not in the Highlands, look for a sub £100 one on ebay with MOT & driveable, drive it to your local garage, get them to move the parts across, and put it back on ebay with no reserve, buyer to collect. You probably won't lose anything, and with the savings on the parts you won't have to buy, you'll be well in profit.
My 1996 astra makes a creaking noise when I steer left or right. The colder the weather, the worse the noise. In fact it's pretty much non-existent in warm weather. It's coming from the front end somewhere (seems to be top of struts). Any advice will be very appreciated.
Pete
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Yeah i suppose it that type of noise. The steering is still acting normal but i would like to get it done at some point because it is annoying.
I'll look into how much it will cost to have the swivel bearing re-greased.
Thanks, Pete
Car 1 approaches roundabout and begins to enter. Car 2 enters roundabout rapidly from opposite direction at a speed and in a position that imply going straight on, but without signalling turns right across the path of car 1. Minor collision avoided. Give way to traffic on roundabouts, yes, but would the absence of a signal spread the blame had there been an independently witnessed collision? Read more
I don't think you can beat the technique everyone in Devon uses:
1) Coming up to roundabout, aim your car so you're driving over the middle of the white lines separating lanes, and on a course that will take you approximately straight through the roundabout.
2) Assume no one is coming.
3) Close eyes.
4) Floor it.
5) Rely on the edge of the pavement to guide your wheels in the right direction.
Never fails. ;) If you see another car on the roundabout, continue as normal while sounding horn and shaking fist. After all, it's YOUR roundabout...
Interested in Passat tdi 130 s/h, and interested in readers experiences with both the Passat and the Rover. Do-able s/h for £8k ? - I am going to clock up a mega mileage, so 50k would be OK.
Somewhat concerned about running costs on the Rover - the VW can be serviced at my local Skoda dealer, and of course lots of parts are on the Superb, too (thinking more in terms of broken headlamps, mirrors or electrical bits). So interested in readers experience with the Rover. How reliable is the diesel Rover - BMW engine, of course, but is it expensive for parts (chain-cam engine, tho) ? . Needs to be VERY COMFORTABLE - now doing 250 miles per day ... :-(( Read more
I agree on the VW service bit - swear our New Beetle sometimes had a service consisting of a park in the sunshine round the back... mind you, my Toyota did too...
Trick wih VW's is to use your Skoda dealer - much nicer !
Didn't know VW weren't fixing the wishbone fault uder warranty... not good ...
6 months ago my sister in law had an accident. T boned at a set of lights - no fault of hers. The car was written off due to it being uneconomic to repair. All paperwork was sent to the insurance company and the relevant parts of the V5 sent to the DVLA. She was paid out and thought that was the end of the matter. She has now started to receive penalty notices for numerous traffic offences, speeding, parking, congestion charge etc etc - it looks like the car was bought from the wreckers yard, been repaired and not registered. Despite informing the DVLA again and the police the notices keep appearing. She is becoming a little annoyed with it all, any advice on how she should deal with it? I\'d be tempted to do nothing and have my day in court! Read more
How about contacting the insurance company that wrote the car off. Technically when they paid you out they also bought the car off you and thus it became their property to do with what they wished. So therefore they surely are responsible for what happens once it became their property. Pass the buck...
...but not really about private plates...
I've found out that if I buy a car registered in a certain area of Glasgow, it would come prefixed with my initials, which would be nice :)
If I decide to buy a new car, and wanted the registration prefixed like that, can I request that it be registered in Glasgow, or would I have to go to Glasgow to buy it?
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Initials? 'Names' that use 4s, 7s and suchlike? Forget 'em. Two a penny and dead corny. Buy a distinctive plate for some other resson.
Or buy a new car and choose from what the dealer has available. Might have some nice letters. Or maybe not...
Er....sorry... I mean Best Of Top Gear is back on BBC2, Sundays 8-9. I think the new series starts in May.
Enjoy! :)
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Er - who IS Richard Hammond?
Roger.
MoT due end of this month so I put my 1995 Nissan QX 3.0 through MoT in Saturday. Everything passed but we have great difficulties getting it through emission. Car has done 125k. Printout as follows
Fast Idle @ 3000rpm:
CO = 0.287% (Max. 0.300%) *1
HC = 26ppm (Max 200ppm)
Lambda = 1.004 (limits = 0.970 - 1.030) *2
Natural idle @ 675rpm:
CO = 0.450% (Max. 0.500%) *3
*1 Started at 1.5% and I have to rev it to 6000rpm for more than a min to bring it back within limit @ 3000rpm
*2 Fluctuate from 0.93 to 1.2 and drop again at 20 seconds interval. Tester timed the drop so I can pass.
*3 Fluctuate from 3.5% to 0.2% and back up to over 3% and drop again at 20 seconds interval. Tester timed the drop so I can pass.
Engine does not have manual adjustment. I don't fancy paying out a lot of money to sort the emission out as the car only worth £1.4k to £1.8k max. A new cat would be around £400 and I do not know how much are the oxygen sensor or other engine management sensors or unit.
From these symptoms, what could it be? As it has 12.5 months MoT now, is it time to cut my losses and sell it?
Any advice welcome.
Thank you very much.
Gazza Read more
Thank you.
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Thanks Geoff!
I suspected the same. So what does the Xenon bulb acutally look like? Is it the same shape as an ordinary halogen bulb, or bigger?
Having read the owners manual for my wife's car it says that the rear centre brake, Xenon and door mirror indicator bulbs should only be changed by the dealer. There's nothing like designing-in the need for the dealer to turn a profit at the owner's expense!!