June 2005
Hi all - Still flushed with success and gaining confidence Mrs V is on at me to get her that new motor. We've had a few test drives but I still think she should wait a while and have told her that she needs to consider the potential insurance costs which, although I'll be buying the car, she will have to pay in future.
At present, although she has only been driving about 2 years and passed her test just a few months ago, she gets a very good deal from a well known insurer who effectively match my full NCD (from another company) to her premium thereby reducing the cost substantially. This I'm told is just a gesture of goodwill which is not guaranteed.
Given the hassle I've had in the past getting quotes (the companies I've tried need the actual car's details first) the past, how best do I get a reasonable idea of what she might expect to pay for the small selection of cars which we're considering? How big a factor is the insurance grouping as to, say, the value of the cars?
According to Parker's her current car is grouped 4-6 (value £800) but the target cars are 6-7
and valued at around £4k.
I'm slightly concerned about getting onto her current company and asking them as doing so might make them less competitive in the future by say reconsidering or removing their current very generous offer.
Would a broker be a good bet to get some general idea as to what the insurance implications of the new car would be or are the days when you could get that sort of help long gone? Read more
I am probably going to get slated for saying this but as ID cards could well be on the way at a cost to the taxpayer of between 10-20billion pounds surely some of this money would of beenbetter spent making Rover a viable car producer, by clearing out the deadwood management, investing in new cars thus saving a few thousand jobs and some manafacturing industry in this country.
I know that in the real world EU regulations would prohibit this and that generally most people would hate to see their tax money go to Rover - but personally I would rather this than it wasted on ID cards.
Any thoughts on this ?? Read more
Invoking the time-honoured right of a moderator to lock a thread when it has no hope of staying on a motoring theme (and I sympathise with the anti-ID card views)
Thread locked.
No Do$h - Alfa-driving Backroom Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
Did anyone see the accident near Tolworth? Looked like some sort of 4x4 had rolled, it was laying on the banking upside down. Had the air ambulance out.
Traffic backed up for miles and miles, luckily I was heading back to Weybridge! Read more
Ah, I used it in the 1980's when there was not so much traffic but people still whizzed down the sliproads to join, maybe they took more care 20 to 30 years ago than people do now? I never saw an accident on this stretch in the 13 months I used it.
Prompted by the 2CV thread, wondered what car you learnt to drive in? My instructor's car was a red Datsun 100A (don't see many of those now). I passed in 1976 - 1st time of course!
Was n't allowed to practice in Dad's car (1976 Alfasud) so the Datsun was my only learner vehicle.
Read more
It was 1975 in a Mk1 escort in purple of all colours. Can't remember if it was a 1300E or not. Passed first time as with the bike test, (wow that's another story), and the instructor would not let me or any of his pupils drive home after the test. Toooo excited apparently. Happy happy days and ones that I long for! Life seems so mundane now. Compliance compliance and compliance.
Very BEST Regards as ever,
Martin D.
This isn't a personal advert for myself, so i am sticking it here but if the mods feel its appropriate they can move it.
I was in my local oxfam in amersham browsing at the books as you do, and there were Haynes manuals for the Type 3 volkswagen, and a workshop manual for a BMW 2002, together with a manual on how to tune a Ford 10 engine from 1954.
Don't know but they may be interest to someone on here. Read more
There's a chap who is often to be found at one of my local Car Boot Sales (Basildon, Essex) who has absolutely boxes and boxes of car manuals, mainly Haynes, but a few others, too.
We bought one off him for my Brother's Sierra; I think we paid £2.50 for it.
Lloyds pharmacies are flogging off a Halina digital camera at £9.99 with all the bits. Cheaper than a throwaway film camera, even if it is only a 640 x 480 pixel picture. Good enough for the purpose. The camera spec is at tinyurl.com/buo5e and the Home page has a branch finder. Read more
Oh -- and a car charger cord. You can make calls while charging. Just don't start the engine while charging the phone.
I know its handy for losing people when being followed but friends of the earth are not too happy. Doesn't smoke too bad on tickover but blue smoke pours out of the exhaust when any load is put on the engine. Can anyone please point me in the right direction as to whether it is rings, valves or something else?
The centre console light also go out when I switch the headlights on - any ideas?
Read more
Nope: it's usually a case of taking off the cylinder head and the sump and that's it! Like previous poster says: if engine isn't already out and the damage to the cylinder isn't too bad then it can be fixed easily enough in situ.
A recent thread about the new 3 series discussed the latest BMW styling, I posted to say how the 5 Series, Z4 etc has grown on me. I had been thinking that the previous 5 would be a bit of a modern classic due to the controversy over the new one however today I saw a couple of new 5's and an 02 plate 530d in short order which made the older car look very dated.
On the otherhand I do not like the new Audi corporate grill, an A4 of, for instance, '02 vintage looks much fresher also the new A6 is very bland, but for that grill, compared with the '98 on model. The best execution of the Audi type grill is the similar one on the new Golf GTi.
To round of the German marques, the CLS is intersting (saw - rather heard - a CLS 55 AMG the other day!) and the new S looks great in pics.
Any thoughts? Read more
Next to the Honda Accord Estate car, the rear end of a Beemer 3 or 5 series looks positively ravishing. I sat behind an Accord estate yesterday and was gob smacked at how ugly it was.
GREAT SITE!! Can anyone help me with this.....?
I am just starting on my first engine rebuild project after purchasing a second hand 2.5 V6 Vauxhall Omega engine.
There are a few marks on the cylinder bores, for which I have been quoted £20.00 plus VAT per cylinder for boreing and honing.
I was impressed with this price but nearly fainted when I was quoted £110.00 plus VAT for each piston!!
Can anyone give me advice/ help on a) keeping costs to a minimum and b) alternative options....
Cheers....
Read more
I didn't realise to do it yourself would be so expensive, I was looking forward to the challenge!!!
Next job on the escort is fitting new timing belt kit. I purchased the full kit from Ford including pulleys etc.
Any advice on who makes a good engine locking kit?
Also any tips on what to watch out for during the belt change would be appreciated.
Cheers
Rob Read more
Biker, to do the job properly you'll need a timing dowel to position the crankshaft ready for the belt replacement.
This dowel screws into the block below the pump through its support bracket. You'll have to remove a 10mm headed plug, but a bi-hex socket will not fit you'll need a pure hexagon socket (6 sided) for the dowel to be screwed in. Then you can with shorten drills of mm dia to postition the cam and pump.
The Haynes manual gives details of the dowel length and drill diameter required, if you're in a position to make one as I did.
Browse
Michael - yes you're right to an extent but the problem for her is, without going into our personal circumstances, that whilst I will be buying her he car SHE will be paying for the insurance etc. and needs to be sure she is willing/able to do so.
Thanks for the other feedback too guys.