July 2004
Anyone else used one for a practical joke ? Fitted one to my mates car the other day. He drives out of work with his car sounding like an old style kettle !!! The 30 mile journey back to Bishop Auckland must have seemed like an eternity. Funny thing was he rang his mate who was a mechanic and described the symptoms. The mechanic said "..sounds like you need a new catalyst". My mate was actually quite relieved when I took the little insert out of his exhaust pipe. Apparently I saved him £400 ! Read more
Got my renewal notice through last week. Fairly reasonable, but Mrs Other has accrued an SP30 since last time. Out of interest, I tried a fresh quote with Tesco Online with the new details. It came to £2 more than the renewal amount. Fair enough. Phone Tesco to renew and give updated details, and told renewal amount would be another £40 or so.
Told Tesco person that online was only a couple of quid more, and got the explanation that this was because of the online discount. There was no way they could simply match this price, and I'd just have to let my insurance lapse and then take out a new policy. This isn't the first time I've encountered this piece of insurance silliness, so I just let it pass and went online.
I'd looked at probably a dozen other companies and found Tesco still the cheapest, but then I remembered BR's singing the praises of Liverpool Victoria. Tried them, and got the quote down by £35 from the original Tesco renewal quote. Bye bye Tesco! If they'd just been sensible in the first place...
So thanks BR - I shall consider Saturday night's curry as paid for! Read more
I tried them too. They did get back to me within an hour, but weren't very competitive - L&V were £70 cheaper than their lowest quote.
I'm thinking of buying one of these so that my son can drive it, and am going to look at a 75000mile example on saturday from private buyer, also possibly looking at a similar car from a dealer in the same area. What sort of problems should I be looking for, apart from those in the car-by-car breakdown on this site? Please, only comments on this car and not its suitability or viable alternatives...cheers. Read more
Have you looked at getting anything like and Astra?
Mike H did state at the start of this thread "Please, only comments on this car and not its suitability or viable alternatives...cheers."
Honest John,
I run a January 2001 X plate Renault Espace 2.2DCi. The vehicle covers approx 15,000 miles per annum and is used on a combination of 4, 14 & 150 mile round trips regularly. Since about 15 months old it has suffered from a recurring starting problem. This basically arises when you go to start the engine
and although the ignition is firing it point blankly refuses to start the engine. It has been to my local Renault dealer numerous times and has had various remedies eg. new immobiliser, new ignition computer, new injectors. The end result is we get a working car back but the fault re-occurs on average every 8 months and results in a few days back at the dealership. Most recently the car now suffers from a lack of 'pull' in the lower gears 1st, 2nd and 3rd but appears fine at 50mph upwards.
Any thoughts? Can you recommend a independent Renault specialist local to Reading?
Many thanks
Equilibrium
Read more
Hi,
I had a similar problem with my 02 Reg 2.2 dci espace. Try replacing the injectors to cure the starting problem. My espace pulled like a metro in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I took it to a Specialist they said it was a bad case of turbo lag ( the time it takes befor the turbo increases the power output), A new turbo is about £1,500, I didn't bother, I just bought a performance chip for £150.
Hope this has helped!
Can anyone recommend an independent Mercedes servicing garage in South East London / North West Kent - preferably within 5/10 miles of Blackheath.
I have a 300DT and want a local garage that uses Mercedes parts but does not charge main dealer service rates and offers a more customer friendly approach than Mercedes do at present.
Thanks. Read more
Pick up a copy of the mercedes Enthusiast - you will find a list in the back
Hello people,
I have a budget of around £6000 with which to buy my first car. I would like a 5-door hatchback (with power-steering, electric windows etc.) I like the look of the audi a3's but for that price the mileages are very high.
Any recommendations would be really appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
K Read more
I wouldn't personally worry about the mileage on an A3... you'll probably find they're mostly motorway miles and modern engines (especially German ones) will run and run. 100,000 is barely run-in for some of these cars. I would worry about insurance costs, repair and servicing costs and stealability.
Personally, if you're looking for a mid-sized hatchback with some toys, a bit of style and a good drive, I don't think you'll do much better than a Focus.
Browse
They are a pestilence. Every darn jeepney in Manila has one. There are an estimated 27,000 legal jeepneys in Metro and probably half as many again illegal. If you imagine these rattletraps stop on average about every 100m to pick up/put down passengers (every slowdown sets off a whistle, a bird call, a croaking frog, you name it)......need I go on.