May 2005
How did Mazda get away with using suicide doors on the RX8 if they're illegal under EU regulations? Read more
After 5 months of suffering discomfort and now back problems in my S reg Mondeo Verona, looks like I'll have to sell it.
Two questions:-
1) Are there any companies who could replace the foam in the seat with something softer and more forgiving?
Someone I spoke to said that modern car seats are injection moulded, so I reckon this is unlikely.
2) Can anyone recommend a suitable replacement? Don't care about the make of the car as long as the seats are decent.
I was thinking about Laguna/406. Read more
Although the basic ergonomics are excellent to begin with, I am very particular about easily regaining exactly "my" seating position after someone else has used my car. This was one of several factors in me specifying our V70 2.4T with SE trim; doing so gained triple memory seats plus keyfob encoding (otherwise an £850 option). The keyfob encoding means His and Hers automatic adjustment on unlocking the car and opening the driver's door. The wing mirrors adjust too, though sadly not the interior mirror or reach and rake adjustable steering column!
On a more basic level, such easy adjustment was also a factor in me choosing my MG Metro back in 1984; How anyone can tolerate a three door car with tilting seats that do not resume their previously adjusted position is beyond me. The MG did, but I read just the other day of several current model cars with exactly this problem.
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...1
Not sure it's as new as they'd have you believe looking at the pedals and what looks like a bottle of Sunny Delight in the passenger door but still a classic nonetheless.
Whilst it's worth that price for such a "classic" car, I certainly wouldn't pay it.
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Adam Read more
Well it's sold for £8900. Hope buyer is happy!
On my last trip tp Costco I was in the car section and noticed that they had, if I recall correctly, 5l Chevron 'fully synthetic' oil for around the £10 mark (plus VAT). Although I'm not in the market for any oil I recalled previous threads here about the virtues, ingredients and costs of various oils and I couldn't help wondering if this was a very good deal or not.
Similarly, they had 5l of a well known alloy wheel cleaner (can't recall the name just now) for about £6.
Given the wide variation in the price of auto bits & pieces I'd be interested to hear whether these offers are any good.
I must say that everything I've bought for my car at Costco to date has been of excellent quality and far cheaper than I could find anywhere else. Read more
Someone's got their wires crossed here - I think Madf just meant the oil sold by Costco which was being referred to (i.e. Chevron), not oil actually branded 'Costco'.
As you say, Kirkland is their 'own' brand and all of the stuff I've bought with that name has been excellent.
Can anybody advise. If a car is advertised as Cat D registered, I assume this means a note has been placed on its insurance records that car is subject to Cat D and will show up in future sales checks.
Can it be removed with an engineers report and inspection? I have seen a car I like but am concerned about resale.
Thanks
Read more
www.autoligninspections.co.uk/inspections.html can reclassify from condition alert to condition inspected- not sure if cat d is a condition alert status tho
9000
I have held off asking this question for ages, but cannot help myself. Why do people want to drive modified Clios/Saxos etc? I understand being young and I understand going fast, and I understand wanting to show off in a vain attempt to pull women... I am not that old myself! BUT WHY do they drive around town continually? WHY don't they go and drive fast on challenging roads that are fun? Some chavs MUST read this forum, please explain cos I don't get it!
AND my last point... what is good about having an exhaust that sounds as if it's blowing? Please help! Read more
Incidentally, I've seen evidence of the trend being reversed. With some
teenagers, the 'in' thing is now having everything exactly as standard.
Really? If this is the case, i'm well cool :-0
While others my age were trying to stuff the biggest alloys on their car, I was trying to keep mine as VW intended, which included the removal of non - genuine mud flaps etc.
But I've always thought I was old before my time (or just plain square), reading practical classics and all that.
Now, where's my pipe and slippers
The much vaunted Thommo in funds situation has yet to emerge so I've gone for another cheap car. I still have 3 motorbikes though...
The car I went for was an old guy I knows Seat Toledo.
We agreed he would get trade in values for it and I would be offered it at a matching price for cash plus a bit.
It is an R reg SXE. 2 litre, slush box, genuine 30,000 miles, full Seat main dealer history, always garaged, the phrase 'eat your dinner off it' could have been coined for this car.
Most dealers refused to even countenance it as a trade in. The best trade in offer he got was £1,000 and that seemed to be on a jacked up price for the new car. Basically no one wanted to know. We agreed on £1,100 cash.
As HJ said on a previous thread its a MKII Jetta with an extended boot floor.
OK its not the prettiest of vehicles but it is in all senses a modern vehicle air bags and all and I can not fault the build quality and think it will be fairly cheap to run too as its basic enough to be serviced by non-specialists.
OK second hand vehicles of all types are cheap at present but why are these cars so unloved? Read more
Rover 45 was also available as a hatchback, infact its most common in hatchback guise.
hi
i am after finding a trust worthy mechanic in the Milton Keynes area, i have a proton H reg (dont laff ) and its making a horrible banging noise, i did have probs with the drive shaft and think its all connected but i need someone who i can trust to come and check it over for me....cheeply :) Read more
all the wheel nuts were loose
someone had only put that on for me a month ago
It's always best to re-check the wheel nuts are still tight after a few miles of being fitted.
I have a Focus 1.8 Ghia that hesitates badly after being started.
The fault occurs after the car has been stood a few hours. What happens is it starts up as normal, but won't rev up/hesitates. After trying to rev it up a couple of times everything is back to normal. Once up to temperature the fault doesn't occur. It's slowly got worse over the past two weeks.
I'm reluctant to take it to my local ford dealer, has anyone experienced similar problems? Read more
Mine did what yours is doing vin only a lot worse. Turned out to be the coil pack.
65,000 miles (ish). Same car.
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Adam
At MOT last month, had advisory note that front tyres wearing badly on inside edge. Took car to my local garage for other MOT work and mentioned this. They said looks like camber, which they do not have gear to adjust. Went back for re-test (thru' national tyre supplier) and they said no camber adjustment on an Astra, could be tracking. Been back to my original garage this morning, who checked tracking and said its spot on.
Tyres now almost illegal, wearing badly over inner edge for width of about 1". Rest of tyre has over 6mm tread. Any suggestions what could be causing this, any remedial work which could be done and an idea of cost would be appreciated. Can't afford to keep replacing perfectly good tyres because 1" is worn out!!!!
Thanks, Lesley Read more
Ackerman Principle
That's a bit of a myth really. When you do the geometry, in full, tedious detail, it doesn't work in the simple way it is laid out in countless automotive textbooks. I'm sure you were taught it - I have been taught it a couple of times - but it is wrong! Most cars make some nod in the direction towards an Ackerman type layout, and I don't dispute that the inner wheel has to rotate further in a corner, and making the effective steering rod length shorter than the effective length between the "king pins" acheives this.
However, I meant that the wheels on 2CVs show how if you have a lot of castor angle in the straight ahead position, that becomes lots of "effective" camber as you wind in steering lock. 2CVs exemplify this, it looks like the wheel is going to flop over! As the wheel cambers on turns, it has the possibility to wear more on one edge.
I agree with the point made by DD, particularly if someone has used the lower wishbones as jacking points - they certainly aren't strong enough for that.
number_cruncher
Close. The rear quarterlight windows have buttons on to electically open the doors.
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Adam