September 2004
Was going to post the details of an unmarked car doing the rounds on the M8 in the Speed Thread, when, by chance I discovered that the husband of one of my work colleagues is driving it!
Transpires that they are not targetting speeders, although they will if it excessive, but they are more looking for bad drivers and unroadworthy vehicles. Both times I had seen it, it had pulled battered old Transits over.
Amongst their "captures" so far are apparently 4 drivers who were tailgating them, 2 drivers who used the hard shoulder to beat traffic queues, and 6 drivers who were middle lane hogging. On top of that there is the usual using phones, seatbelts etc.
So, for once, I say full power to them, they are now targetting the kind of drivers who annoy so many of the Backroom! Unfortunately, I didn't get any more details like what punishments they are handing out, no doubt unless they are imposing fines, the police will probably make them change tactics and get them to start catching speeders instead! Read more
the proton gen 2 looks very impressive for the price.
great value
great engine - lots of power
although will it be trouble free?
not to mention all the lotus influence
while some reviewers have said the interior looks alittle cheap - it also looks impressive from a style point of view.
will their be a diesel version?
far better than the new cerato form kia.
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is it me, or are the cerato headlights the exact same as the mark 2 hyundai accent?
there are other similaritys such as the bonnet, general shape of bumper, grille is similar size. Read more
its quite obvious - the cerato wont sell in bigger numbers than 4000 a year in the uk.
it will take a heavy depreciation, second hand buyers will avoid them due to parts high cost.
its not going to be as refined as others, and certainly no where near as safe.
it wil probably be more reliable, and has a greater warranty.
i just cant see it being worth more than 3k after 3 years and 60,000 miles.
its the same as the rio - ao the 51 plate lx model 1.3 - they have been going for £1500 at auction with around 50,000 miles.
good car - will go on for another 70,ooo miles trouble free if correctly serviced - but who wants to drive around in a unsafe, unresponsive, piece of grey mish mash, which you cant buy parts for.
I have a y plate hyundai accent - it will run forever until the rust finishes it of, but i am going to struggle to get rid of it.
Anyone got a good car-hire co they can recommend (cheap) ? Need to hire a car for 2 weeks in Slovenia .... most the normal ones (Hertz, etc) seem a bit expensive .... Read more
I've also found auto-europe to be good. Its worth bearing in mind though that they are an agent and your car will be supplied by one of the major car hire firms. Not all prices incluse excess cover insurance (e.g Budget) and if not, its worth taking the optional cover with auto-europe.
I had a bad experience in Austria recently. On returing the car, the hire desk found a couple of hairline scrathces, that I think may well have already been on the car when I collected it. I denied liability. As I signed the pre-hire inspection (without seeing the car - doh!), the hire company maintained I was liable and took £300 from my credit card to cover the "repair", though I find it hard to beleive they actually had any intention of getting the work done!
Hi,
Has anyone ever change the front wheel bearings? and if so is it difficult & do you need any special tools?
Thanks in advance Read more
Hello, my friend.
Hello Mark, RLBS.
Sometimes people make mistakes.
Your car is fitted with twin bearings.
If you do not use a press, one row will fall apart.
If you do, it's a very easy (12 minute ) job.
One for a bit of fun.
Which make of car causes the biggest tailbacks or are driven badly (no indicators etc) or sit at crossroads/roundabouts waiting for a 60 gap to cross/join; you get my gist here. My other half and I have come up with our top 3.
In descending order (ie worst culprits first)
1. Metro (Maestros used to be the worst but not too many left on the road now)
2. Escort
3. Micra
I might add that any Rover (esp 200 series) is well up there.
Maybe we can get a top 10 if enough people are game. Read more
As for HJ not wearing his hat, well JBJ I simply
cannot imagine that. Although you have had a different experience of
the pleasure of meeting him than I have. :)
Tell all!!!
I bought a brand new Ford Fiesta (1.4 "Flame") a couple of weeks ago and overall, I have been very pleased with my new car.
However, recently I have been getting glass splinters in my hands if I touch the rear parcel shelf - causing itching and irritation for several days afterwards. The parcel shelf seems to be made from some kind of glass fibre material - took me a while to figure out where the splinters were actually coming from.
Rather unhappy about this, I took the car back to the dealer and they compared it to another brand new Fiesta, which as far as I could tell was exactly the same. The rep confidently ran his hands all over the underside of the parcel shelf and made me feel silly for raising the issue (boy I bet he has itchy hands now!!). They told me there was no point in ordering a new shelf as the replacement would have the same problem.
I told them I would write to Ford about it and drove home feeling silly for having wasted an hour of my life :(.
So, has anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions how to take this up with Ford? I appreciate one solution is not to touch the rear parcel shelf, but I'm troubled that Ford are selling cars in this condition. Read more
I had the same problem many years ago after using fibreglass on the underside to re-inforce a weakened parcel shelf. Solved by using Copydex(tm) to stick black woollen felt to the surface. Done properly as it was, it looked smart and OEM in nature too.
hi anyone know if a pug 306 steering rack is the same rack on a 309 my steering rack on the 306 is leaking fluid from the back under the rack ive got the car on axle stands ready to pull this out i was looking in the haynes manual but am suprized that it shows you sod all anyone have any help on the racks or any help at all let me know and thanks Read more
The trouble is, with one from a scrapyard you have no assurances that its any better than the leaky one you have! As DL says a new one would be the only option. As I mentioned in a previous post, they can be had for about £65 + vat from somewhere like GSF.
My mum needs a new car as she has decided to sell her 94L Volvo 850 T5 Auto (offers invited, its only done 75k miles).
As she will be driving in heavy traffic a lot of the time, i wish to buy her an automatic. She wants something relatively small (ie focus sized, or perhaps smaller) with reasonable performance- i have advised her she will find most things slow after the 225 bhp volvo- and air-conditioning, if possible. We hope to spend around 5k on this car. The car will only cover at most 6k a year so fuel economy is irrelevant. Reliability is an important criterion for the new vehicle as it will be required every weekday without fail, so no Renaults.
I have a little knowledge of the cars available in this price bracket, but dont know much about automatics- which cars should i look for? I initially thought focus 1.6 auto, but then worried about lack of performance. I have seen 2ltr Focus autos i think but they have the dodgy Ford box dont they? Help. Honda civic? Read more
The car my late mother had, and now being driven by the wife is a Nissan Almera 1.6 SLX Auto 1999 on a T plate.
My mother was a fairly tall lady @ about 5'10" and was also quite well built. She found the car very comfortable. My wife @ 5'4" and a slighter build also finds it comfortable, as do I 6'4" and - erm - a little overweight, though because of the sun roof I am limited by headroom.
The point I'm making is that it effectively suited all 3 of us quite well, depite our different builds.
In addition the GLX is well specced with AC and a sun roof EW, EM ABS etc, and at 23,000 miles was valued at around £2k for probate purposes. I bought it off the estate for that and I think I got a bargain, though I doubt it would have fetched more on the open market.
Ben, there are plenty of good ones around and they cost very little. HJs car by car breakdown slates the N15 (earlier model) for its looks - only IIRC. It is reliable, handles well and is really practical. I cannot recommend it enough for your mum's needs.
In actual fact some of the BR may remember, I tried every trick in the book to get the wife back on the road. This was the one that worked. Any sniff at taking it away or selling it is met with such hostility you would think she gave birth to the thing!
Hugo
PS, sorry this one is NOT for sale!
working in and out of the motor trade, i have always taken a personal and buisness interest in cars.
With a fair ammount of knowledge of motors and a fair/good understanding of the industry and buyers trends, i am tempted to go part-time in work and buy and sell cars with the rest of my time.
I have had various jobs form finding cars for customers to being a vehicle finance manager.
I currently buy a car form a BCA or mainhein auction, keep it a few months and sell it on for slighlty more than the purchase cost.
I was wondering about some set-up costs?
how much is it to open an account with BCC?
Am i best to sell them purely through the auto trader?
What do i do about the cars v5 (ie, register or will i take the part of a trader?)
I also have a few old work collegues who work at various dealers who always give me first look at their part ex\'s before ethey go through the auction which has been profitable in the past.
I have space to store 3/5 cars - and dont really wish to go above this sort of ammount while i get started of.
this is at my home where i will hope to sell them from.
any help or ideas - mucho appreciated
Read more
Good advice so far.
If you plan to be a Limited Company you will need to file accounts with Companies House....
Hello
Should my air conditioning hiss loudly after i have finished using it.
I hear the his when i switch the engine off and get out of the car.
--
(iam not a mechanic)
Martin Winters Read more
Hi
Sounds like a pressure relief valve that operates when there is no more coldness being made
--
(iam not a mechanic)
Martin Winters
>>police driver training>>
Very common in fact. One of my mates is a traffic cop - when he was undergoing training some years ago on the M62 he was doing speeds varying from 50 to 120mph according to instructions.
For most of the time a Rover driver kept pace with him and, eventually, it was decided to pull him over.
Turned out he thought because someone else was doing these speeds it was OK for him to do so as well.
Given a firm telling off and sent on his way...:-)