June 2005
**** Thread closed. Discussion continues in Vol 17 ****
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=33...8
Richard Hammonds maths is a little suspect. 27500 minus 15000 = 12500 in my house.
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"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do" Read more
I've been considering buying a car at auction due to the cheaper prices, but I'm not sure I'm spending enough to really benefit with much savings or to be in a position to buy from the companies with a good reputation like Motability seem to have.
I was hoping to spend a maximum of £1,000 or if possible a bit lower for a smallish cheap insurance car, but I'm wondering if the ex motability cars go for that kind of price. In fact do any of the ex police, ex Motability etc. go for around that price?
Also, the only info I could find on auction fees was for Classic cars which seemed to be a minmum fee of £150. Is this the case for all BCA auctions? Read more
Well it was this site where I seen reports of cars at auction going for that price and lower.
Mercedes have them, BMW have them(i think) Now the Golf mk5 The new Passat (probably) New Seat Leon, Toledo and the new Octavia.. etc etc
What i'm talking about is throttle pedals that are firmly mounted to the floor.
What is this current trend all about?
I find them thoroughly irritating and uncomfortable to use and not to mention there was a safety issue a few years back with the Ford Explorer's pedal getting wrapped up in footwell mat and wedging open the throttle with disasterous concequences.
So why are the Germans gradually introducing it to all their cars?, and your thoughts? Read more
My hot tip for readers of this thread; if
your gas pedal has a rubber pad on it, remove it
and keep it for when you sell the car on.
Most i've seen tend to be a solid one piece item, like my Mondeo.
I am trying to find out the cost of running a used Bentley.
Obviously I would expect my fuel bill to just about double, based on getting around 30-35 MPG at present. Insurance would also be a bit more.
What I'm interested in are the servicing costs more than anything.
As an example, a 1992 Bentley Turbo R for 19K:
...76,000 miles from new with main dealer service history...A new engine was fitted 10,000 miles ago (due to flood damage) by Hanwells of London costing £19,700.
I realise they are a tank of a car but really nice to drive.
Comparing this car to a NEW Vectra / Mondeo I would expect it to depreciate but even if it dropped in price as fast, after another five years of ownership It would still be a nice car to have.
What I'm driving at is the idea of buying a car that I would be happy to own for a decade or so and how this would compare to your average buy. In other words, breaking the depreciation cycle of newer car ownership. This would be a car that would be as far as possible maintained by an independant specialist (that I may be able to locate).
What are your thoughts?
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If you want to get ahead - get a Van! Read more
I have found the Bentley Drivers Club Bulletin Board at:
www.bdcl.org/forum/
Which is quite useful. One thing I did dig up though was a topic about the "Skoda Continental GT?" and couple of pics at:
www.autointell.com/european_companies/volkswagen/s...m
Makes me wonder about the newer RR and Bentley cars. I would have thought that pre BMW / VAG cars would be holding their value nicely now, even though the later cars are probably better.
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If you want to get ahead - get a Van!
Is it less harmful to redline a diesel than a petrol?
Just an idea, but I know that petrols redline due to the fact you can only make bits of metal go so fast before things start to go wrong.
BUT I know the diesel combustion cycle takes longer...so to me, it seems that as diesels still use the same basic engine design (pistons, con rods etc), it seems that a diesel almost restricts itself. as the same sort of engine design (4 cylinder) can rev some 4000rpm higher when it's a petrol.
Obviously thrashing them from cold is still a no no.
Read more
Further point 1800rpm in 4th on my TDCi 130 Mondeo is approx 40mph, thus acclerating to 4000 (well short of the redline) will take me to nearly 90!
A similar petrol engined car would have to be in 2nd or 3rd pulling approx 12mph/1000 to be near it's max torque peak and would need to rev to nearly 8000rpm to reach 90 in the same gear!
hi - my van's coming up to 100,000 and so needs the main belt changed -it's the isuzu engine. Do i really need to change the 2 tensioners as my local vauxhall dealer 'suggests' ?(he really was saying just to be safe) - i'm skint , and dont want to have to spend another 80 quid on 2 tensioners unless i have to - cant seem to get them anywhere else, so it's these or nothing.
anyone know how many hours this job should take? (by a mechanic, i dont think i can do it myself...)
any help most appreciated.
toffy Read more
toffyapple,
Perhaps you could come back, this time without the use of expletives, that are obviously upsetting the swearfilter.
FYI, this is a swear free forum, so also please don't try and get around it by either by deliberately mispelling a word, or replacing the middle letters with characters, stars, dots or anything else.
Thanks in advance.
DD. BR Mod.
I inherited a VW Golf S 1.4 recently with only 16000 miles on the clock. I thought it would sail through the MOT, but has failed on emissions level. (1.054 was the lowest it would go from memory).
I was told that the garage would be able to diagnose whether it was a faulty lambda sensor, or whether I'd need a new cat. I've taken it to a garage, who straight away replaced the lambda (no mention of cleaning it), and now say that this hasn't made any difference, and that I'll need to fork out £365 plus VAT for a VW cat.
Is this the only option? Is the fact that it has done a low mileage the problem? The car had not been driven for a fortnight when I took it to the MOT centre (a very short drive) - could this be a problem?
Many thanks for any suggestions - I feel like I might be being ripped off. Read more
Lambda is the Greek letter used to signify the excess air ratio. If Lambda is greater than 1, the engine is running weak. The Greek symbol for excess fuel ratio is phi, which is equal to the reciprocal of lambda, q.v., www.shef.ac.uk/mecheng/staff/fcgan/MEC345/MEC345-0...f
However, I suspect the OP was refering to the CO level when the figuew of 1.054 was quoted. If so, there is a good chance that a new cat will bring that down.
Number_Cruncher
My posh tinted rain sensitive windscreen has an 8 inch crack in it. The insurance policy says my excess is £50 but only if I use Autoglass or Auto Windscreen. If I don't use them, insurers only pay £150 towards the cost.
My question is, will Autoglass replace like-for-like, or will they just supply a windscreen minus the bells and whistles?
Also, if I go back to BMW, whats the likely cost for the full monty? Read more
I suspect that the market for fancy BMW screens to be replaced is so small as to put off anyone making pattern copies. It is not like knocking out brake pads or clutch parts, so even if not marked BMW it is likely to come out of the same factory.
Is there a record for a car with the highest mileage on? Also what is the highest mileage car you have ever seen for sale?
I once saw a Skoda Octavia TDI with 420k on the clock for sale. Probably an old taxi.
Read more
Irv also has other cars. As in the Saab example above, in 1987 (when the P1800 hit it's first million miles) Volvo gave him a brand new 780 Coupe. He sold that on recently with a mere 470,000 miles on the clock, in perfect working order, of course:
tinyurl.com/7xhm5d
It'd be interesting to see how Irv would get on with a modern (post-Ford) Volvo...
*****This Volume is now closed. Please see Volume 79, which can be found here*****
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=32678
In this thread you may ask any question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
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Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
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I agree...hence potential clawback scenario. Strictly speaking it is not a contract though, just the rule PayPal have concerning burden of proof.
From a business point of view eBayers are touchy about postage costs and there is the extra time spent doing RD's to consider, so I just go with proof of posting.
At the moment, the amount of problems mean it is best to admit defeat gracefully and refund before it is snatched back as the amounts are small in the whole scheme of things.
If the amount of problems increased dramatically, I would have to rethink this method.
Browse
Holy bejesus.
Got in late after going to the theatre and watched TG....
and I quote
"Go. Go, go, go, go, go, go"
"Slipstream, Mr Slipstream, I'm coming. Closer, closer, closer, closer."
"Yaaaaaa. Now it's working."
Much as I like JC, RH & JM, I will demand a refund of my licence fee if Sabine isn't added as a regular to TG. Or the news. Or the idents for BBC3.
VBH? Pah!!!!
-- Lee Having a Fabialous time.