October 2005
I have just acquired my latest gadget, an O2 XDA Exec. It is a PDA, phone and just about everything else all rolled into one. I intend to replace my mobile phone and rather scratchy Palm PDA, which I have never really liked, with my new toy. I had a Psion 5 at one time, which hinged open to reveal a good size screen with a modest keyboard. The Exec has a similar capability and in addition the screen swivels round to fold flat similar to a tablet pc. Well, I just couldnt resist it and got one last week. I intend to run Tom Tom on it as well so that I have one machine that does everything that I can use in the office, car etc. However my enquiries suggest that PDAs with Windows Mobile v5 are very new and that Tom Tom or other systems are not yet upgraded to run on these machines. My daughters boyfriend has a Dell Axim which has a sat nav system bundled with it and we are going to try that shortly, but I would be very interested to hear of any experiences with sat nav running on WM5. Also although the Exec has bluetooth,I understand that some PDAs, especially the Ipaqs, had a problem with bluetooth gps receivers. Would it be advisable to go for a wired one instead?
I hope this is sufficiently car topic oriented, apologies if not.
Thanks MGs Read more
I have just had a trip to Notts. from Surrey, not a bad route (M25 J10 to J17? M40 to J10, A43 to M1 J15A to J21A) althogh I do find the roundabouts on the A43 a bit tedious.
What I hate are the prices in the motorway service areas - £1.85 to £1.95 for a cup of coffee? As before we bought nothing, used the loos and drove on.
The prices are the same as the Kings Road, but the setting is different! Does anyone ever actually stop for a meal at these places? Read more
I gather you haven't tried the Deli sandwiches then?
The breakfast one is a bit rubbish, and the only other two that I have tried are the Sweet Chilli Chicken and the Chicken Tikka, but both of those are gorgeous, and, the Tikka one is actually pretty healthy...
I take it this range has spread to the rest of the country by now? You lot aren't still lagging behind the North East are you? :-)
Blue
Before you all jump in, yes I will be getting a Honda Civic or TGoyota as my next car!
But in the mean time, the clutch has gone on my Golf, as has the center bracket for the exhaust, 6 months after I bought it from VW on their approved used scheme. They have offered to replace the clutch (apparantly it was 'weak' as opposed to 'worn') but still want me to pay £118 towards a new cover or something. They are also refusing to fix the exhaust bracket under warrenty. They're quoting £200 for this but I'll prob get a local garage to weld it for £50 or so if I have to pay myself.
Am I lucky that they're doing anything at all for me, or should I try and get them to sort the whole lot out? Considering I paid about 1.5k over used price to get dealer 'peace of mind', it doesn't appear to have been worthwhile so far...
Any advice please... (apart from 'told you so'!!)
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Airflow meter on these is essentially a 'solid state' device - there are no moving parts. Most airflow meters should last the life of the vehicle (10+ years).
I think my omega v6 has an oil blockage on left hand side
little bit of knocking
do i need to take the head off?
Any help please Read more
Knocking or tapping?
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Steve
have 1985 vw golf 1.3 petrol . Keeps burning points .Have changed coil and condenser also new leads.Burns points after doing roughfly 20 to 30 miles.Any help appreciated.
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thank,s to everyone for their replys and help.I think number-cruncher, may have hit nail on head wrong coil fitted.thank,s again. If any more probs will come back to you.
Does anyone know of any websites that are free that will give the real depreciation of a car over say 1 to 6 years. I am starting to look for a new motor, at the moment I lease, but it occured to me that I could buy some cars "possibly" on a 5 year loan to keep the payments down then sell it at 3 years, pay off the loan and then start again. Maybe I am totally wrong and it's a bad idea, if so please let me know as I obviously don't want to make a mistake on something like this. I can borrow at about 5% fixed at the moment the rate on my lease is more like 9.9%
Thanks
Bill Read more
P 2051,
Its not that I am totally driven by the depreciation but it is something that needs to be factored in.
Having looked at the What Car depreciation charts, the car I am looking at will be about 1 year old and will have first year deprectiation much higher than an other I could have chosen. Deprecitation after that is within 1.5%. I will probably buy it over 5 years fully financed, sell it at 3 years and hopefully get about £3500 from the deal after paying off the finance. As an example £18,000 over 5 years is £343 per month. I sell the car and pay off the rest of the loan which leaves me with £3500 based on figures from various sites, thats £3500/36 months = £97. £97 from the £343 = £246 per month real payments, not allowing for any interest I could have earned etc, etc. So I get to drive a £28,000 car for 3 years for £246 per month or £2950 per year. This works out at £29 month more than I am paying for my 2.2 DCi Primera on lease. There is probably a big flaw in this, but neither I or my work collegues can see it. Maybe you or someone else can, I hope you do, so I don't make an expensive mistake.
Bill
**** This thread locked. Details of location and meet up time here:- ****
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=36440
Espada left it in my charge and I clean forgot whilst he was away!
So...fair warning. We'll definitely be having a Christmas meet but it's open to suggestions as to when and where we have it. This guarantees that everyone who could come, *should* be able to.
Feel free to post your suggestions for both the venue and the day we have it and we'll take it from there.
Cheers,
Adam
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Would we ever!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
Ok, before I start this thread, I acknowledge that cars now are safer than at any time before.
However, each new model I drive, the doors seem to be getting lighter and lighter. When I was growing up, you partly judged how "robust" a car was, by how heavy the doors felt as you closed them. In my Volvo S80, the doors feel much lighter than my friend's 2002 Vectra. Is the steel lighter but more rigid now? Do they think they can make the doors lighter just because you have 8 airbags now to cushion the impact?
It doesn't matter what cars I drive these days, they all seem to have lighter doors compared with the model from 5 or 10 years ago. From a psychological perspective, I just liked the feeling of security when you close the doors of a big, heavy car. Even the latest big Mercs and Beemers don't feel as solid as the mid-90s models. Read more
Its not just doors that are lighter. The bonnet on
my old 306 weighed a ton in comparison to the the
one on my current Focus.
Different hinge arrangements could make a difference to the force you need to apply to lift the bonnet. Also the weight of the sound deadening material will make a difference. (I'm assuming that you haven't actually removed the bonnet from the car, removed the insulation, and then lifted it.)
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L\'escargot.
I wonder if anyone out there has a view on this? HJ gives it a mention but suggests it's only specially imported into UK, maybe that's changed.
www.toyota.com.ph/showroom/hilux/index.html
This truck reminded me of the Ford F150 I had, and I've been looking at it for some weeks now. Test drive Monday I hope.
Comes out at roughly £13,600 OTR for 4X4 turbo diesel 3 liter with M/T. 4X2 with 2.5 liters is a lot cheaper at £9,900 , but hell, what's the use of 4X2 to anybody? ;+). Locally assembled in Philippines. Will probably go up in January as does everything here but I'd like to get an '06 reg-o on it and could perhaps reserve one now for delivery then.
Only spec fault I could find was no leather but I know the Swiss guy who manages all the leatherwork here for BMW and Merc in the Philippines so I think that could be fixed.
Also looked at:
Mitsubishi L200 Strada - dated now, probably due for facelift. I had one of the box shaped ones and reckoned it was the best 4WD I've ever driven (we do a good bit of volcano and jungle-bashing over here).
Nissan Frontier - ditto re looks.
Isuzu - terrible rattly engine but very gutsy. Horrible color schemes. Er...puke yellow anyone?
Ford Trekker - very ordinary basic workhorse, much cheaper but well, ordinary.
Fords F-150/350 etc -- now out of reach pricewise since gov't slapped a luxury tax on them 2 years ago.
All and any thoughts welcome if you've been up close and personal with the HiLux.
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HAte? you wot? that looks the bees knees to me.
I've recently bought a Nissan Primera "R" reg 1.6L - 16 valve - with 50K on the clock.
To be safe I'm going to do an oil change and fit a new oil filter.
I was wondering if anyone could advise on which type of oil + filter I should put in this car + advise on the recommended oil change times ?
Cheers
Mack
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Cheers everyone.
Done a web search and found a local Nissan dealer only 2 miles away. I'll definately pop along and see them next week.
Mack
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Regarding SD cards,it is the Chinese and Taiwanese ones that give problems,pay a bit more for a Japanese or American one.I paid £73 for a 1gb 32x Lexar with made in USA stamped on it.