April 2005
Does anyone know a cheap way of getting the codes for this, i popped into my local ford dealers, and they thought about asked why i wanted to get such an old stereo working, and then said it would cost me £20.
I dont mind paying a little money, but i could get a second hand stereo for less than that.....
Also it was locked out by the last user... after he took it from his mondao...
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Any views/experience of Citreon's Sensodrive? I have no experience of it but I have read comments, to the effect that it produces jerky changes. Has it not been improved? Read more
I read in a What car? mag that a couple brought one of those silly Pluriel things a couple of years back, in the space of a few months they had endless problems with the transmission because it kept changing down to 2nd gear whilst cruising along at certain speeds!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
Looking to get a new car currently own a fiesta and was going to to get a Rover 75 until all the problems with the company so I am currently weighing up whether to get a Mk2 Vectra T reg onwards or a Honda accord. Does anyone have any experience with these cars and can offer a recommendation ??. Read more
My Wife has a 2002 Vectra and I have a 2004 Accord - Just go for the Accord [absolutely superb]
H.
You will be aware that Red Ken has stitched you up from driving around Central London on four wheels. Now seems the authorities do not want you around in your petrol parrot?
tinyurl.com/bw8wd
DVD Read more
Actually I was thinking of taking out a third mortgage and going for a Chinook gunship......
Now where did I put that BlackHawk Down DVD?
But no, we must stick to motoring, so I shall resignedly sit in the Monday morning 40 minute queue to pay my expressway toll like a good citizen while my betters clatter overhead disdainfully to the landing pads on their office buildings.
But come the Revolution.......
I'm looking at getting a new car from my Fiesta, as it is too small. I find Mondeo's quite comfy, but a little too big for my needs. Although I do have a soft spot for VW's, as we have owned one for almost as long as I can remember!
So, my questions are:
How comfy is the Golf for a six foot tall (Maybe just over) person? (My knees touch the steering wheel in Fiesta when I brake. How adjustable is the seat?
How much is a T reg 1.6, with 100,000 miles worth? Apparently it's still on the original timing belt, so that'll be due up. Are there any other horrendous costs?
I don't have a spec for it unfortunately, but I know it has air con - would it have r/c/l and other toys? That's the only problem, at least the Mondy would have a CD player, etc.
Also...which engine is better? The 8v or 16v 1.6? Obviously the 8v is cheaper to insure, but less economical apprently. Is this a noticeable difference in economy or just 'on paper'?
I like the low down grunt of 8v's and the revviness of 16v's. I guess the 8v can't be too bad if the 16v was introduced so late (2000)
Also, looking on carsurvey.org there seem to be some right horror stories out there...This is a little unsettling as I don't have vast amounts of cash. Any thoughts on this? How easy are DIY tasks othe Golfs like changing the window motors etc, that seems to be a common fault.
Thanks for any tips.
Tim Read more
I've said it several times before on this site but I wouldn't touch a Golf with a bargepole. 1 Mk 3 (2.0 petrol GTi) and 2 Mk 4s (1 TDi 110 and 1 TDi 130) in succession qualify me to state that they're not worth the hype. Mechanically, they're sound but all the electrical faults become depressing after a while. The GTi suffered air con failure, the 110 was a real lemon and ran to 17 separate faults and the 130's wipers failed three times in pouring rain on busy motorways. Not clever! All the dealers did (when I was towed in - embarrassing in a 12 month old car!!!) was change the wiper motor despite my protests that it must be some sort of wiring fault that was causing them to fail. Listen to the advice on the thread and go for a Focus or my 15 years of experience with Vauxhalls suggest you might try an Astra. Very underrated, nicer (petrol) engines, just as well built and FAR more reliable. I now have a "posh Vectra" (i.e. a Saab 93) which is great and, most importantly, reliable.
Finally, I accept that all cars have their fans and those who hate them but you only have to look at all these reliability surveys to prove to yourself that Golfs really aren't that good. And they're distinctly average to drive without the sport suspension pack. By the way, all three of mine were new and I didn't keep any of them past the end of the warranty period.
Has anyone used or heard of the company called SuperChips? Basically what they do is re-program your ECU to improve performance etc.
NB: I have a dual fuel Vectra which simply doesn't run quite as smoothly when running on LPG compared to petrol (new plugs and leads helped a bit but didn't completely resolve the problems), I'm thinking of trying these guys to iron out the problem further.
What I'd like to hear are any stories good or bad regarding the company and whether anyone has any advise as to whether this is a good way to resolve the problem (NB: it's gonna cost around £300 so if you think it's a bad idea please shout),
John B Read more
Hi,
I've used Superchips once and found them to give a good service and improvement to the vehicle. More Recently I have used Upsolute www.upsolute.com who visit your house to do the remap. They are equally as good as Superchips and for the Cdi and Tgi engines Much cheaper.
Hi all
After my wife had written off the escort (no injuries thankfully), I was looking for a replacement.
I saw a Mazda 323 diesel at auction. 2000 W, 95k miles warranted px from a main dealer, metallic silver, good condition.
£2500.
I thought it was a good price, am I right?
Just waiting to see the smile on her face when she gets home.
Jonathan Read more
Ok lads bought a used BMW 330d 2 weeks ago from a large (40 car) trader. Was initially pleased with the car but it had 3 problems:
1. Front nearside headlight worked intermittently
2. Front nearside leak from waterjets (think it's related to the headlight spray nozzle)
3. Serious rumbling noise from underneath car whenever engine is at load (e.g. accelerating in 5th gear from 60mph)
I noticed the above problems within a day of owning the car.
So I took out a BMW technician from a dealer on the following Tuesday (had the car 9 days at this point). He confirmed the rumbling noise sounds bad and should get it fixed.
So I phone up the trader - he recommends a warranty claim. I phone up the warranty company and they say it sounds like the car was faulty at sale. They book it in for inspection at a garage nearby.
I drop the car in this morning. The garage just phoned with an update - apparently the front headlight bulb needed replacing. I'm sure this isn't the case as it works intermittently - it's the bit that the bulb fits into that is a loose fit.
Secondly they say re: the headlamp washer fluid: "Yeah mate we looked into it and you've run out of wash fluid - that's why the warning light came on!!". I explain that I'm not a halfwit and that the actual problem is the leak, not the fact that the warning light is on. They're looking into this now.
But thirdly re: the rumbling they firstly tried to fob me off with 'probably it's windnoise'. Then I insist it's not, they tell me that they can't take the car out for a testdrive as both back tyres are illegal. I'm NOT happy about this. I knew they were quite low but I don't think they're illegal.
So right now I feel like I've had it with the car - do I have any grounds to go to a solicitor and try to reject this car?!
Cheers Rich Read more
Just to give you a quick update: Trader replaced flywheel and propshaft and clutch. He got car back from garage, found it to still have the same rumbling problem - as before, under load you'd get a rumbling / grinding from under the car...
So he offered me a full refund which I accepted - this included everything I paid for the car including the warranty. So I'm very happy and think the trader really has come good in this situation...
I'll be writing to him to confirm that I'm very happy with the outcome and thanks for being so decent about things (and cc:ing in trading standars)
Cheers for all your advice
Rich
Can anyone comment on these as to the best model to get and which engines are the most reliable?
I'm think about N - R reg on a XJ series
Thanks Read more
Orson:
I'd be surprised if the main dealer service did anything but touch the bare minimum on a service. Most dealers are frightened to death of the V12 and push them back out the door as quickly as they can. The symptoms of bad vacuum advance are not particularly obvious, apart from a poor fuel consumption, as mentioned in the link in my previous message. A good modification is to disconnect the 15 minute timer that disables vacuum advance below a water temperature of 45 degrees C. There seems to be no real reason for this system, and removing it has no effect on the car, apart from improving fuel consumption in the first 15 minutes of driving. The auxiliary air valve does a fine job of regulating the idle to the engine temperature as it is warming up, and the ECU sensors adjust to air and coolant temperature. I suggest you download the free book "Experience in a Book" by Kirby Palm. This is a distillation of several years of information from the Jag-Lovers XJ-S forum and is probably the most useful book on the XJ-S you can get. It's available in PDF and MS Word formats. There is an extensive section on the distributor that should be required reading for all Jaguar V12 owners. It's at: www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/
Happy reading!
Will be presenting a feature on 'the future of the car' including contribution from James May. Read more
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Whats the serial number of the unit?