I have a question.

Do the official mpg figures reflect real world experience more closely for some cars (or engines) than for others?

I find that with both my vehicles, the quoted combined figure is remarkably close to what I get in the real world. However, I hear of plenty of drivers who find that they get nothing like the quoted combined figure. This could be due to the way I drive, or the conditions I drive in, of course. (And I sort of get the impression that people with Honda Accord diesel engines don't usually get the mileage they expect, but people with VAG diesels do.)

The most obvious way of testing this is when a driver who regularly keeps a record of fuel consumption changes cars. In most cases the driving style and conditions will remain unchanged, so any large discrepancy would be attributable to the difference between the engines. Read more

I've had a 2000 A6 quattro from new. It's only done 23K miles and has been religiously serviced throughout its life. I had been hoping to keep it for ten years. Recently it had its 50,000 mile service and came back with an unsolicited "estimate" from the Audi franchise for work apparently required as follows :

1) Replace rear tie bar bushes, worn to excess.
2) Replace secondary sump gasket due to leakage
3) Replace drivers door latch due to activating while driving
4) Replace high level brake light LEDs
5) Replace LAMBDA probes due to no activity in probes

£956 if you please.

I smell a rat. The car was MOTd only a month ago with a LAMDA reading of 0.97. There is no evidence of oil leaking nor any change in the oil level. Most of the brake light LEDs still work. The central locking control unit, I have learned, is located at the bottom of the passenger door cavity - essentially at the bottom of a water tank. It's not surprising if it short circuits so Audi should eat that one.

The other thing that's bothering me is that in addition to the service itself they charged £22 to replace the wiper blades "due to juddering." The old ones were fine. The new ones judder as well. All wiper blades judder on every Audi I've ever had and it may be a coincidence but needless replacement of wiper blades is one of the most notorious swindles perpetrated by garages on unsuspecting punters.

What it seems to amount to is that on every item that can be independently verified the garage is wrong. And on everything that can't be checked by me they're saying "trust us."

Am I being taken for a mug ?



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This has Probably been answered some where already but can find it?
I have a p-reg 306 D-turbo and the tacho seems to cut in and out when ever it feel like it when it works it read rpm correctly it been like this since june last year. I think It one of three things

The hall sensor need to be taken out and cleaned No idea how to remove the weather cap without damaging it.

The wire from hall sensor has a fualt same problem again

There is a loose earth connecting somewhere in the dash again no idea where this connection is, Evey time you touch the brake the clock autodims.

Or the is a dodgy relay in the tachometer circuit if there is one i have looked in the hayne fairly tail manual to find out info on how to fix these problems to no avail.

Could do with feed back from some one with experienace. I would like to dianosed it first before spending money on an auto electrician.

Also can someone recmended me a good rear wiper blade that clean the whole window inside of missing the top with out streaking.
Triple blade type no idea what they are called though

Cheer for some help if any
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While reading the threads 'advice needed over court decision' and 'obscured vision from junctions' it occured to me that road traffic accident investigation principles seem to be contrary to other forms of accident investigation.

To me, at least, RTA's seem to be investigated on the basis of looking for fault to apportion blame. Is this due to the confrontationary nature of insurance and also the need to provide evidence for court in the event of an offence having been committed? If so I feel great opportunities are being missed to improve road safety which the current approach certainly seems to be failing to achieve.

In most other walks of life, aircraft accident investigation, workplace accidents, etc. the investigation is designed to provide evidence if an offence has been committed but its primary function is to discover cause. Once cause has been established recommendations are then made as to try and prevent a reoccurence of the same type of accident.

I always ask myself the question when people refer to 'blackspots', if it is known why is something not done to prevent it recurring? I know the answer is going to be financial but with true costs of even minor injury accidents, let alone fatals, running into ten of thousands of pounds apart from personal misery surely it would become cost effective.

As an example, a local dual carriageway suffered three fatal crossover accidents before money was found to put crash barriers in. If the barriers had gone in after the first, or even second accident, not only would three people still be alive but the medical, police and court costs saved would probably have paid most of the cost of the barriers.
Just seems daft to me that we don't investigate properly and put remedial measures in place in a timely fashion.
Cockle Read more

I'm about to change the front tyres on my car, and have been looking around at what to get. Currently I have Conti Sport Contact II's fitted, and I noticed on the web that these come in a V and W speed rating ie 205/55/16 91W fitted to the car now.

However, there is a huge difference in price between the V & W spec tyres.

Given that both speed ratings are well in excess of the cars capabilities, why shouldn't I just go for the lower V rating ?

Comments please. Read more