January 2005

Forum Always trust your mapping package

Badger on 23 January 2005

With acknowledgemnets to Pocket GPS World, have a look at the latest Microsoft route planning technology:-

Go to tinyurl.com/4dcn5 and enter the following:

Start: Norway, city Haugesund
End: Norway, city Trondheim

Then press "Get Directions" and lean back for a nice chuckle... NAVTEQ maps, by the way.
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mfarrow on 23 January 2005

The most obvious flaw in this program is that it fails to take ferry crossings into accounts when it's calculating distance. A flaw I hope you can disable (i.e. "Don't go by Ferry" option) in AutoRoute.

Or should there be a "cheapest route" option?

Question VW passat 2001 - Central locking

wonderwheels on 23 January 2005

Hi.One thing after another with this heap of junk.The rear driver's side door lock isn't working with the keyfob.You can open and close the door manually but not with the c/locking.It has played up before, but now it is completely "gone".Is this an expensive job and is it possible to do the work myself? Read more

wonderwheels on 25 January 2005

Thanks for the info.Is it possible to repair an actuator or am I as well obtaining a replacement?.Thinking of selling the car and don't want to start spending a great deal of money.It was the passenger side electric window last week and the dreaded "timing belt change" is due very soon,along with brakes,service and 2 x new tyres.Aaarrrgh!!

Question Buying An Alfa Romeo 156

Ross Lavery on 23 January 2005

Hi there,

Im looking to buy an alfa romeo 156 and may be going to view one today, Being a Peugeot technician I dont know too much about these.

Can anyone help me, what are the pitfalls of these, what goes wrong whats good and bad e.t.c

The car Im Intrested in as a 1998 Model 2.5 V6 In red with "sport pack 3" Fitted, full momo leather with 79,000 miles and FSH.

Many thanks for any replies Read more

geoffster on 24 January 2005

Go to Alfaowner chat room. Watch out for service costs. I have had 2 156 2.5's & talk of them being unreliable is unfounded in my opinion.

Forum CAP or Glass's - which is best?

jeremyb on 23 January 2005

As a new trader, which should I subscribe to? They are both so expensive - is there an alternative?

Ta

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blue_haddock on 23 January 2005

Generally i use Glass's for most PX's, occasionally refer to cap for a 2nd opinion.

Forum Car Finance Laws

king chris on 23 January 2005

Hi,

I'm in the process of purchasing a used car thru my business from a Car Supermarket.

I asked if it was possible for them to post the forms for me and another director to sign, and then arrange delivery as the supermarket is not that close.

I've been told that new FSA regulations require the signer to be present.

Fair enough.

I arranged to collect the car next Saturday anyway as its the exact spec I wanted.

I asked for them to fax me a copy of the agreement so I could read the terms and check all the details before making a 200 mile trip to sign and collect.

I was told it?s illegal to send finance documents out,

Anyone know if this is the case or a made up story?

Thanks

Chris Read more

v8man on 23 January 2005

The finance agreements for my last 2 bikes were sent to me for signing - no probs. I just picked up my shiney new bike when its ready. Job done!
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"

Question Vibration. Ford Focus.

tonyb on 23 January 2005

After telling my chum about all the good advice on this site he has asked me to pose the following.....!

He also has a Focus Ghia 1.8. He's notice a lot of vibration coming from the front end, possibly from the engine. whilst driving it vibrates the whole car, however, when he takes his foot off of the gas and just 'coasts' along, theres no vibration at all. Press foot back down and the car starts shaking again! It happens at all speeds and even when revving the car whilst stationary. He also says that it is MAJOR vibration, not just the odd shake!! Can be felt through the floor, steering wheel an pedals...Any thoughts or educated guesses!!! Oh, and when he puts the key in before starting theres a little yellow light with a picture of an engine in it that is illuminated. It goes out once the engine has been started (whats this light for!!)
Your pal,
Tone
-x- Read more

Cabsusa on 23 January 2005

I agree with mjm. Must be something like that, or possibly an exhaust downpipe making illicit contact; or, both!

Should not be too serious to fix, given inteeligent machanic.

AS

Forum Insurance: change car / add young driver

Savvy Sue on 23 January 2005

After not visiting The Back Room for a couple of years or more, it's time for a new car, and I therefore seek your combined advice on the thorny topic of adding our son to our policy...

Said son is 17 (not 18 till July), still learning, takes his first test on 1 March. Current car is large Saab, uninsurable for him but needs to be replaced by something smaller anyway. We haven't yet decided what to replace it with, but a low insurance group is a major factor.

So here's the questions:

1. Will the value of the car we buy make much difference to the cost of adding son? I suspect not a lot, because we're insuring against what he might do to the rest of you out there ...

2. Will passing his test and doing Pass Plus make much difference to the cost of adding son? If it will, it's worth waiting to see how he gets without additional practice. If it won't, we might as well bite the bullet and do it sooner rather than later.

3. At the mo we just have me and Mr SS as named drivers. On a smaller car, might it be worth going for an Any Driver policy, and then naming son? I realise this might push premium up and will certainly attract a big excess for son, but might this be cheaper than 3 named drivers, one of them being son?

4. Any other suggestions for getting young driver's costs down? Had a quick look through previous posts but didn't spot anything much, apologies if I missed something! Did also start to have a theoretical conversation with the insurer, but didn't find them that helpful once I stopped asking for insurance on a particular car!

Son really is likely to be just an occasional driver: he's not a petrol head and is mostly learning now because I suggested it was the best time of his life to do so: hardly any commitments, few financial worries, etc. Plus he'll hopefully be off to Uni in October and I don't anticipate him running a car then! But I expect to be 'off the road' for a few months after Easter and having another driver in the family could be useful.

Looking forward to insightful comments from Mark et al ... Read more

Peter D on 24 January 2005

I’ve been through this 3 times ( 3 Children ) I purchased low group cars for them VW 1L Polo Coupes and the like and they insured the car in there own names with me as a named driver. The Pass Plus paid dividends with discounts worth twice what the course cost and an up front first years NCD. (Norwich Union ) (Direct Line was best deal when my Daughter passes her test.) Rather that finding a fix consider the longer term solution 1 to 2 years because it does not get all that much cheaper to get stand alone insurance until they are well over 20.

Forum Micronet Showroom

cti on 22 January 2005

Does anyone have any experience of this firm.

They seem to have fantastic prices (re VW Touran) - but have yet to return a phone call?

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william on 30 January 2005

I watched on tv 4 weeks ago (Watchdog) re Virgin it wasnt too good. I think the easy answer is dont pay up front for the car and only pay for it until you see what you are getting for your money.

Question VW PD Engine hard to start when hot.

LongDriver {P} on 22 January 2005

Well actually it's in my Galaxy, but as the PD engines are all the same, I'll post the problem here as well as on www.fordgalaxy.org.uk:

Cold starting 100% ok, ie on first engine turnover.

Hot starting takes 20 cranks with accelerator pedal pumping.

Galaxy accelerator is fly-by-wire, so don't understand why pumpoing it helps!

Any clues on the cause of this?

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