October 2005
Hi
Would Ford Ka owners give me an idea of what my servicing costs are likely to be. Fords offer three years servicing plus two years RAC breakdown cover for £470. This is based on the first two services costing £140 each and the third at £190 with basically the cost of the RAC cover thrown in. Does this sound like a good deal to you?
Many thanks for any advice offered.
Johno Read more
Does anyone think before the times are set for these? The area around Albany Road in Cardiff is now virtually all residents parking. Albany Road is a very popular shopping area so gets plenty of shoppers! On a recent visit to Cardiff we needed to go to Albany Road and tried to find a space. Street after street was devoid of cars as residents were at work, but every one was residents parking only between 8am and 7pm. All these spaces were not being utilised during the day. Wouldn't it make sense to make it residents only between the hours of say 3pm and 10 am so that between these hours there are five hours a day when the roads are free for shoppers to park? Read more
There's very little pay and display parking near Albany Road, either, unfortunately (I know the area well).
If you do need to go there again davey, try parking on Cottrell Road. You have to drive down various side streets to get there but there is a fair amount of free parking (in both senses - zero cost and available) on there on a regular basis.
Hi all,
I have just done a deal on a Mini Cooper S from a main dealer and have agreed a part-ex value subject to visual inspection etc, no problems there as car is as described. Part-ex is a 52 plate scenic and the deal they have given me is about £750 less than I would have expected. I am happy with this as I got a great deal on the car and knocked £500 off their list price so swings and roundabouts.
Is there any point in trying to sell my car privately / ebay / trader prior to the handover in a couple of weeks or is this over-complicating things ?
Part-ex offered is £4200, 2003 52 plate, expression, 28K miles, FSH, silver, good condition.
Many thanks in advance for your replies.
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Just to tie up loose ends the scenic is the petrol 1.6 16v, no alloys, aircon, twin sunroofs.
I am not too worried about getting stitched up by the dealer as I did this before when buying a car over the phone and we had no problems with px values, that was a Saab dealer so hopefully BMW will be equaully (dis) honourable. :-)
Ah sod the bangernomics. You only live once, unless you believe in the eternal soul.
I've always driven big, solid cars, and last year my car hit a tree and the paramedics reckoned the size of the car was a major factor in me walking away without even a scratch. The car didn't even have airbags!
I have a budget of 8k. Plus another couple of grand to cover insurance and perhaps an LPG conversion if the car doesn't already have it.
I loved the comfort of the LS400, but fancy something more driver oriented. Any experiences of owning 7 series(94-02), S class(91-99) or A8 (95-03)? Do LPG conversions work well with those cars? Would love to get a Jaguar XJ8, but I'm a big lad and I'm so cramped in those cars. I'm not fussed about mileage.
I read somewhere that the average heart rate of a driver of a luxury car is about 8 beats a minute lower than that of a driver of a small engined small car. Read more
Hmmm, good idea but alas I miss the thrust of a 4 litre V8.
I would appreciate the views of anyone who has experience of this car as I am thinking of buying one (actually the wife has 'persuaded' me into getting her one).
My budget is about £8k and I have seen two locally that appear to suit. One is a 52 plate 1.8 Elegance with 18k miles and the other is an 02 2.0 DTI Elegance with 21k miles. Which would be the best buy?
Another point I am wary of is that the diesel one is a private sale and I have never bought privately before. What are the pitfalls that I should watch out for and would this influence anyones choice in any way? Read more
Demand they fit a spare wheel lock if it's not got one already fitted, lots of reports about em being stolen from a standard cradle.
One of my neighbours is selling cars on my road. I've nothing against someone trying to make an honest living but he's taking up the few parking spaces there are.
I heard something on the radio about it being illegal to sell two cars on the road within 500m of each other. Is this correct and who should I report him to, the police or the council? Read more
Such is life in communities that some find a van obstructing view on flowery garden deeply upsetting while others feel uneasy about a line of flowery underpants in next door garden obstructing soothing sight of their precious van. People complain to councils about neighbours erecting satellite dishes, but they don't find their fugly pink fake stone wall cladding an offence to good taste. A brick wall that's too high, a brick wall that's too small and a point blank lack of it isn't good either.
I am trawling ebay for a set of wheels from my 1.9D ZX. Will 306 wheels bolt straight on, the 306 seems to be a ZX in a nicer body?
:-) Read more
Thanks Richard they are 4 hole.
Not motoring related,but hey,who cares.
Have we lost one of the greatest comedy actors of recent time or what?
Pure comic genius.
Fork/four candles!!!!!!
RIP Ronnie Barker. Read more
RB and Motoring.
Seem to recall the pilot for Porridge started off with Fletch being transported in a Mk1 Transit of dubious age. I think he sneaked off to do No1s in the petrol filler and it broke down on the moors.
Evenin'
After my regular check-over of fluid levels a few days ago I found my battery needed topping up. It's been performing fine, but took about half a litre.
After a brief drive this morning I noticed the breather was overflowing by a small amount. Infact I smelt it before I saw it. Thought initially this was just down to my overfilling the cells. Just got back in this evening and it's still dripping, and also a slight trace of steam? I've done about three hundred and fifty miles or so today. Can any possible overfill still be escaping after such a distance - or is it time for replacement?
Simon
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An alternator rating is designed to the maximum demand of all
the electrical loads of the vehicle and leave a few amps
3 of 4 to keep the battery floated at about 14.4
to 14.75 volts tops. the excess power of the alternator is
not just dumped into the battery. Keep an eye or hand
should I say, on the new battery temp and if it
remains cool then fine, but beware and take care. Regards Peter
>>
Absolutely right, the fact you have a heavy-duty alternator should make no difference 'amp-wise', as it is the batterys internal resistance which governs whether a ton of current flows in or not. All a heavy duty alternator does for you is to allow extra wattage for additional devices whilst still maintaining normal levels of charge to the battery if needed. In esscence you could put a 150amp alternator on a car which normally has a 60amp alternator and it should make no difference to the battery charging, as the maximum charge voltage would be pegged at say 14.7v, meaning that the current would equal the voltage divided by the battery resistance at any time.
My car has 195/65/15s on steels, and I want to get some 7j 15" alloys.
Will my existing tyres fit these or will I have to buy new ones? If so what size?
Thanks, Britney Read more
I have found that the most accurate calculator is here:
www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
You can also input a number of different tyre sizes and
it will compare the vital statistics of them all in a list.
You may find that choice is a bit limited in 15" these days.
I'm having some difficulty finding suitable 215/70-15 tyres
for my Jaguar without making an appointment to see my bank manager. For performance tyres, the best ranges seem to be in 16" and above. I was able to change from 205/55-16 to 225/50-16 on my VR-4, with the overall ratio being within 1%.
Browse
For reference the prices charged by Thames Valley Ford in Slough are between £120 and £180 for minor and middle services, but as yet no major service. Those figures exclude extras such as new tyres etc. Leif