My gf is looking to trade up from her Clio and she says she wants a new model Beetle, Does anyone have any experience of these cars? Are they reliable? I have done some research and I'd be looking for an early 99/00 one with a budget of around £5k.

I have read that there are problems with Oil Consumption on these engines? I was thinking of the 1.6L as it seems to be highly recom. for MPG. Is there any reason other than performance to choose a 2.0L? I gather that these engines are CamBelt driven, can anyone let me know what the change interval is please? Plastic tensioners breaking-Can these be changed independantly of the cambelt?

Also I've learned that when the Beetle first came on the market it was in the LHD model but I want to avoid this however I have read a few sites that say to check the VIN to see if the car is an original RHD???? What does that mean? Have they converted from LHD to RHD? Would that affect the resale value/Insurance/servicing of the car? Is there a particular code to look for in the VIN? Should I only accept Original UK cars? I presume it would say on the V5 if it is an import/registered as new in the UK after import within 6 months of Manu?

I also read in the cbc that a load of Beetles were dumped in the UK market without A/C, is it good to avoid cars without A/C?

And finally can I please ask if there are any other common faults that I should check for ?

All comments are much appreciated!
Clouddz Read more

Wonder if any of you can help out.
I purchased a new PC about 6 months ago and in common with many now it came without a serial port which in the great scheme of things is no great problem, however......
My old reliable Casio personal organiser only works via a serial connection to talk to Outlook so SWMBO decided that she would buy me a nice shiny new Sharp one which works via USB. Only problem is I find the nice Sharp a real pain to use, my old Casio did exactly what I needed and was a doddle to use so I'd really like to go back to what I know.
I've had a quick trawl round Google and found that there are lots of USB-Serial convertors around ranging from modem type boxes to simple cable adaptors. But I have also seen some reports that some kit doesn't work with XP even though it says it does on the tin. Therefore working on the basis that a good recommendation is worth hours of Googling, has anyone here used such an animal or able to make a recommendation.

I'm using Outlook in Office Professional Edition 2003 with XP Home.
Cockle Read more

Is there such stuff?

I have a perished petrol pipe and the garage I take the car to is 40 miles away and before I get there it will either a) burst completely b) i'll pass out due to the stench of petrol. I only noticed the petrol smell this morning (had to abandon trip to supermarket and go back home and get another car :-) ) and I can see the pipes around the petrol pump are cracked nastily and the one after the pump has wet marks on the paint below so it must be coming out there when the engine is running.
teabelly Read more

2 Months ago I had my nsf shock absorber changed at service by renault.

It was not right from the moment they changed it. Ended up getting a 4 wheel alignment done as they recommended, which was all done at my expense. Car now drives as you would expect on decent flat roads, but on rough ground or over man hole covers you feel the car twitch. I think this has something to do with my front nearside tyre wearing excessively more than the rest of my tyres.

Would the change of a single shock absorber be the reason for this wear?

The car is a 1.6 X reg done 66k Read more

Hi,

As a regular reader of HJ's column in the ST I know how important it is to get timing belts replaced. Well SWMBO's 51 reg Fiesta 1.2 Zetec is coming up for its 50k service and according to the schedule this is the time for the belt to be chaged. Should I make sure the tensioner or anything else be changed at the same time?

Thanks for your advice. Read more