July 2004
Is it just me, or have other BRs noticed an increasing number of birds, usually pigeons or doves, congregating on roads and refusing to budge when a car comes along? This leaves the driver, especially if he is being followed by another vehicle, with no option other than to plough on, with fatal consequences to the bird(s). Distressing to the driver and passengers, too.
What do you do in such a situation?
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In the car-by-car breakdown HJ adds RECOMMENDED in relation to the Mondeo and the V70. HJ then goes on to list a raft of faults and problems for each car.
In view of these faults I can\'t see why these cars are recommended over (say) a Jap equivalent.
Is it that the qualities of each of these cars outweighs their faults? Or are the faults in reality limited to a small number of cars, with general reliability being pretty good?
Due to experiences in my Dad\'s old Renaults and Citroens as a kid, I have a phobia about unreliable cars. His Renault 16 used to overheat on every long trip. Read more
Driving down the M1 at the weekend got me thinking. Which cars were considered good looking from the time they first appeared and still appear good looking now. I'm excluding the exotica from this, just the cars we see most days.
The only criterion is the looks, I'm not talking about reliability, your good or bad experiences etc.
My nominations are, in no particular order:
Citroen Xantia (both saloon and estate)
Mercedes 190
First Renault Clio
Alfa 156 (had to include that, even at the risk of all the usual anti-Alfa reactions we get here).
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It's a no-brainer.
Jag E-Type. Period.
Flicking through Autoexpress last night whilst in the supermarket I noticed a feature and supposed picture of the new Focus dash. It must have taken a lot of imagination by Ford to decide to 'borrow' the instrument cluster from Audi - same layout, same Aluminium trim, same computer readout block, even the numbers looked like the same font! Read more
The Mondeo is such a blatant styling copy of the Passat I'm surprised VW didn't sue them in a passing-off legal action.
The irony is that Fords are, in many cases, better made and more reliable than VWs these days - according to surveys in Germany of all places.
Dear all Please Help!
The Valet has put in the wrong code for the immobiliser 5 times and it has locked out! does anyone know how long it takes to reset before I can enter in the correct one ?
Many thanks.....! Read more
On the later keypad with a S button you just leave the ignition switched on untill the beeping and red light stops flashing 30mins.
Then stick the correct code in.
Early ones with a D/N button only lock out for about 1 minute.
Broken into earlier this year. They nicked £1000 in cash. Contents policy covers us up to £500 and they are happy with bank statements showing 4x£250 cash withdrawls a couple of days earlier.
My buildings policy also covers us for £500 stolen in the home. Can we claim on this policy as well on the basis that we are not gaiing from the second claim?
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Either needs a new bearing or needs balancing, I should think - just like a car wheel.
You could try small bits of blu-tac to see if it is the balance.
My understanding is that 'normal aspiration' is just a (hopefully advanced) form of traditional carburetter (i.e. fuel is drawn into cylinders from tank by a mixture of gravity and suction) whereas 'fuel injection' is where fuel is pumped into the cylinders.
What I find surprising is that some F1 cars and many other high performance cars and motorbikes have 'normal aspiration'. I can remember people like Jaguar and Kawasaki boasting about 'normal aspiration' when they previously boasted about 'digital fuel injection'.
Surely electronic engine fuel flow control & measurement systems, and engine management systems are able to out-perform 'gravity & suction' these days? Read more
If you think you have fuel-injection problems, think of what pilots go through:
www.lycoming.textron.com/main.jsp?bodyPage=/suppor...l
Very illuminating and somewhat alarming letter from a retired GP in this months IAM mag.
He states that when he was practising he was advised by the Medical Defence Union that if he were to inform the DVLA that one of his patients was medically unfit to drive it would be considered a breach of doctor/patient confidentiality and he would be subject to disciplinary action by the GMC. The same would also apply if he informed the family of his patient of the same facts. All he was able to do was inform the patient that he should not drive a vehicle, but if the patient ignored him there was nothing he could do.
While one has to respect the right of an individual to have his medical records kept private, surely in a case where that condition proves a risk to the lives of others a GP should be duty bound to inform the nescessary authorities.
I wonder how many people, particularly those whose ability is deteriorating with age are continuing to drive knowing full well they shouldn't? Read more
Fortunately the IAM seems to have got this one wrong.
(I cut and pasted the text below from the dvla fitness to drive guidance for medical practitioners)
Notification to DVLA
It is the duty of the licence holder or licence applicant to notify DVLA of any medical condition, which may affect safe driving. On occasions however, there are circumstances in which the licence holder cannot, or will not do so.
The GMC has issued clear guidelines* applicable to such circumstances, which state:
"1. The DVLA is legally responsible for deciding if a person is medically unfit to drive. They need to know when driving licence holders have a condition, which may, now or in the future, affect their safety as a driver.
2. Therefore, where patients have such conditions, you should:
* Make sure that the patients understand that the condition may impair their ability to drive. If a patient is incapable of understanding this advice, for example because of dementia, you should inform the DVLA immediately.
* Explain to patients that they have a legal duty to inform the DVLA about the condition.
3. If the patients refuse to accept the diagnosis or the effect of the condition on their ability to drive, you can suggest that the patients seek a second opinion, and make appropriate arrangements for the patients to do so. You should advise patients not to drive until the second opinion has been obtained.
4 If patients continue to drive when they are not fit to do so, you should make every reasonable effort to persuade them to stop. This may include telling their next of kin.
Revised January 2003
5 If you do not manage to persuade patients to stop driving, or you are given or find evidence that a patient is continuing to drive contrary to advice, you should disclose relevant medical information immediately, in confidence, to the medical adviser at DVLA.
6 Before giving information to the DVLA you should inform the patient of your decision to do so. Once the DVLA has been informed, you should also write to the patient, to confirm that a disclosure has been made."
(*Reproduced with kind permission of the General Medical Council)
Hello all,
Not a problem yet, just advice. I feel stupid asking but I will anyway. As you may or may not know I recently took possession of a '99 Focus 1.8 Ghia. Anway - I've read the Car by car breakdown and it says somethign along the lines of "fleet managers reckon on only 60,000 for timing belts"
Now I am no mechanic by any means so I have no idea what I'm on about but if this snaps am I right in thinking it takes pretty much the whole engine with it?
If so, how long before I need to replace it and how much will it cost?
The car is pushing nearly 59,000 miles and runs perfectly.
Many thanks
Adam Read more
father in law owns a focus insisted on changing his belt
at 50000 miles with a new tensioner kit cost around 160
fitted i believe,thats london prices though.
My local Ford main dealer in SW London, who I have always found is the most expensive in the country, quotes on the Ford web site just £230. Labour is about £80 per hour plus VAT.
I have a day out and go to a dealer near the south coast but only 50 miles away where they quote £163.
As I said before get a quote on the Ford webs site.
...once again gotta say...very new...would be
interesting to know who the moderators are and also the
big posters...genuinly curious...cos all I see at the mo...
...are lots of names...anyone got the chutzpah to say
...just would like to know...once more *big grin* Read more
1. All replies to this thread have been deleted.
2. Thank you to those who took the trouble to comment positively about the moderators and HJ.
3. Any questions relating to how this site is moderated should be emailed to either Mark, Alan or myself. Our email addresses can be found in the Announcements forum under the heading "Welcome".
4. There are also other guidelines mentioned at the top of this page.
5. The phrase "chutzpah" as used above by Quinn, means audacity.
DD. BR Moderator.
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Are the birds suicidal or just a little mentally slow?. When I was learning to drive about a year ago, we were travelling on a long, straight and exposed piece of road with a 60 limit. From the left I saw what looked like a pigeon flying at the normal height above the fields. But as the road has been raised upon an embankment style construction, it is somewhat higher than the field. However, the bird did not adjust its course and flew at a right angle into the traffic. Bird ping-pong ensued, where the oncoming Clio 172 batted it with its windscreen on to my side of the road. As I had nowhere to go (single carriage way) there was no other option but to plough on, whereby I gave it a swift boot with my headlamp, resulting in it somersaulting over the roof, spraying blood and guts over the windscreen.
Volkswagen 1: Bird 0