I returned to my car, MkIII Golf, on Friday and noticed the O/S/F wheel was in a puddle but assumed it was water. No such luck, as soon as I pulled away I realised I had no power steering so parked up and looked underneath. Yep a perforated high pressure pipe from the steering box to the N/S rack was to blame. It was clear from the car park that when I reversed into the slot the leak started and slowly emptied the contents whilst I was away. Anyway, I called the GreenFlag office and arranged a truck. Whilst waiting I called VW and tried to arrange a replacement pipe. ? No sir we can not supply that part as it is part of the rack and that will be £452.00 plus vat. I phoned GSF and Euro parts but rack only. !!! So had the car delivered to my drive and started work. Cut the pipe and removed the banjo coupling from the steering box and then spent 2 hours removing the ½ inch AF compression fitting from the rack a bit of oxyacetylene shifted it eventually. Then spent 2 hours fabrication a new 6mm copper pipe, complicated shape but worth the effort. Fitted the new pipe, filled her up with fluid and hey pesto, perfect. A long job but the thought of having to change the rack and £452.00 plus vat was a no no. I did consider the scrap yard but these pipes are prone to corrosion as they are steel and very exposed, add to this that they yard owners would not want you disabling a whole rack for a single pipe so I decided to make my own. Not easy but great satisfaction when I drove off for a test drive. Tools required ½? open hex ring. 14 mm spanner oxyacetylene 300mm of 6mm copper (1/4?) 6mm drill, flaring tool, several skinned knuckles, six cups of tea and a bacon sandwich, and a load of luck for it to fit first time, Oh and a litre and a half of steering servo fluid. Read more

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Personally being of very Methodist tastes I say that this is a good thing. Read more

Our company has a deal with some yellow-and-black car rental mob, and whenever we go anywhere, we get to drive Nissan Almeras.
I always thought it was a gutless piece-of-rubbish when I travelled inland (ie at very high altitude) where there is a marked effect on performance due to the thin air.
At times, you had to change down to 4th or even 3rd to get any 'poke' out of the engine when travelling up inclines, and the airconditioner running was also like having a sack of weights in the boot ...
Yesterday, I managed to drive one at the coast - and though the performance was slightly better, it was hardly the quickest thing about, and left a lot to be desired when overtaking, etc.
What i wonder about, is HOW Nissan hopes to impress people, and make them buy these cars, when it is obvious to EVERYONE I've spoken to who's driven them, that they are a bland, underpowered lump, with few redeeeming features?
If I hire a car, onew of my first thoughts is always going to be: "Mmmmm, this is nice, I may consider buying one?" OR "This is trash - not for me ever!"
Surely Nissan should realise this? Or are they just trying to shift units? Read more

Morning,

Has anyone driven or owned one of the following automatic cars ?

Picanto auto, Charade auto, Corsa auto or Polo auto and care to comment on whether they are any good?

Cheers

autouk Read more

I believe all motorist should be aware of the DVLA CONSULTATION ON FEE PROPOSALS Annex B Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment

This may be boring but you should read this as it outlines proposed changes in the way revenue is raised and in particular additional new fees that will apply for example to register a change of keeper and even an annual fee of bewteen £2.50 and £4.50 for every vehicle owned irrespective of whether it is on the road or not!

Check out www.dvla.gov.uk/public/consult/driver_fee/df_annex...m

Particularly point 21!

Bear in mind that once any of these fees are introduced they will soon be just another acceptable fee to be paid annually and no doubt will be increased year upon year.

There was an article in this months Practical Classics and the FHBVC have already started a petition (which I signed at the Classic Motorshow today) but this will affect ALL vehicle owners so we need to start telling the government right now that we are not prepared to pay even more stealth taxes on our motoring related activities.

Comments?

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