Discussion elsewhere about deterioration in tyres and suspension systems prompted me to do a Google search. For anyone who doubts that bad road surfaces damage cars, here's a helpful page describing the things that happen when you hit a pot-hole:

www.caaquebec.com/en/automobile/a_ch_14.asp

I'm becoming increasingly angry about the disregard of the highway authorities in respect of such damage. And, of course, they add insult to injury by building "safety" humps that cause further damage.

And, just as a footnote, I live in a town where almost all the road surfaces are in poor condition. The one that wasn't was the main road, the A1081. Guess which one is being completely reconstructed? It involves the total closure of the main route through the town for five weeks. The BP garage trapped in the closed section is receiving no compensation for total collapse of trade, so its staff say. The explanation? I guess the local authority has no money do deal with the side roads (eye-watering increases in council tax notwithstanding) and the Highways Agency does what it wants with the trunk road, especially if it needs to spend money to justify next year's budget.

Any insights -- especially from insiders or ex-insiders -- into all this nonsense would be appreciated. Read more

My wife took delivery of her new laptop at the weekend. She took it out of the box switched it on, the computer immediately detected a wireless hotspot and connected itself. She clicked on explorer and she was on the internet. She then called me and asked who's the connection was and should she be connecting to the internet? I was away so had no idea. All this is new to me so an explanation would be helpful. Read more

It just dawned on me today that the mirrors on my Scenic are actually mounted on the car body as opposed to on the door. Having a look around the car park today I couldn't see any other cars like this - they all seem to be door mounted.

Anyone know of any modern cars other than Scenic that have them body mounted?


[You can tell I sit in the car while SWMBO goes into the shops] Read more

Help. I have a 97 VW passat 1.8T 20V Estate, 3 months ago the red oil light kept coming on intermitently but more and more frequent,(every 10 minutes), so took it to VAG who did a full service and changed the cambelt as I requested but couldn't find a problem with the oil pump/oil light, 3,000 miles/3 months later the same problem has started again, oil level is OK, 82,000 miles on the clock. Any ideas??
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We are looking to downsize from a full size MPV as we can no longer justify the running costs of the car and don't need quite so much space. We are looking for a smaller car, something economical (in excess of 40mpg) such as a small petrol or diesel. The car should seat 5 comfortably, be of decent quality (it needs to last) and have a boot big enough to fit a small inflatable boat when folded up (about 1.0m by 0.5m). Budget about 16-19k. Have already looked at the C-Max but i'm not a fan - the rear seats are awkward and we have had appaling aftersales service from Ford in the past. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for your time. Read more