November 2005
For the first time ever, I was a rear seat passenger in my daughters car.
It got me thinking of all the times she was sat behind me when she was really young and all the things she did which drove me to distraction.
What could I do to get my own back? Every 30 seconds give her "Are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? Are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? Are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? Are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?" interspersed with kicking the back of the drivers seat, wiping sticky fingers on the window, wiping a snotty nose on the window and licking it, demanding to stop for a wee then not doing one down the drain hole and within 10 minutes of getting back in the car, this bit deleted as not within the context of the BR - DD, spilling ribena out of my non spill mug on the upholstery, screaming at a pitch that makes her eardrum throb, projectile vomiting down the back of the drivers seat.
What would you do to get your own back? Read more
What a contrast to the Top Gear survey. The Rover 25 was not far from the bottom in the latter but comes third in this one.
Which one do we believe??
Same cars but contrast of 100 places!!
aol.whatcar.com/News_SpecialReport.asp?NA_ID=217350&EL_ID=3142814#
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i am 40,i took part in the survey which was by the internet.
My car is fitted with an auxillary heater that cuts in if its less than 5 degrees outside - can this temperature setting be changed as it takes ages to warm up if its just a bit higher than this even though the temperature in the car must be lower!
Would be ideal if it was 7 or 8 degrees and must be better for fuel economy as well as engine is up to temperature 3 times faster!! Read more
I think these units are made by webasto. If so, have a word with them about the cut-in temp, but I suspect it's set by the vehicle itself. However, you can get a unit to control it either via a timer or remote control, also from webasto.
Hi
This may seem like a stupid queation, but i recently kerbed my Golf GTI while going about 30 miles an hour and as a result a lump has appeared in the outer wall of the tyre, do you think its new tyre time or what, im asking on here cos if i go to a tyre place they're guaranteed to say yes just so i spend money on a new one.
Cheers Read more
No the odd size tyre is best put on a non traction wheel to avoid destabilising the car in corners and under braking. Regards Peter
Having read the modbile phone starting/pre heating thread, I started thinking (dangerous I know).
I would personally like to see a device that can STOP the car with a mobile phone, and return a GPS position for the car's whereabouts for recovery after attempted theft.
Imagine how many cars would be stopped from falling into the wrong hands, and how many dangerous police pursuits would be saved. Read more
Saw a recent report in the Australian papers. Lady found her new top of the line Holden missing. Holden have a tracking system in this model and she phoned the Holden help line. They tracked the car with GPS, informed the police and then when they saw on the GPS that the car had pulled into a driveway they immobilised it. Police rolled up and nicked the thieves. All done very efficiently and safely.
Trouble with this sort of thing is that the thieves won't stop taking the cars. They will car jack and take the owners also so that no one will report the car missing. That is what has been happening in Africa.
I was recently (Friday) hit from the rear in my 1982 Citroen Dyane. I was sat in a traffic jam, driver behind was tending to her child in the rear seat and hit the o/s/r corner of my car. Upshot of this is that the car is probably an insurance write-off.
I have notified my insurance company, and have subsequently been contacted by angel assistance. There is talk of my agreed value classic car insurance policy - but I am getting confused, since I can't see why my insurance should be involved.
Unfortunately, I don't have the insurance details of the other driver, since it was a company car, and they didnt have the details. I have all the other details of the driver though - and it checks out through royal mail website.
Can anyone offer some advice - should I be getting angel assistance to chase the other insurance company for repairs? Do I have a choice whose insurance this is dealt with? I have two claims in the past 12 months (one attempted theft, one collision - it's not been a good driving year :( ) I dont want another on my record (esp, if my insurance pays out!)
Thanks in advance
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My wife had an idiot in a BMW go into the front wing of her Minor while she was stationary at a roundabout. He offered to pay etc etc, but seemed too keen to do so. So we put it through our classic insurance. They coughed up for repairs at a Minor specialist, the legal cover insurance chased and got the excess back and the next year's premium was the same £77. Apparently they had some trouble with the other guy but I never did get the whole story. I was happy to let the insurance company do what they are paid for.
Take a bow - Footman James.
Hi,I was wondering if anyone has got any ideas regarding my starting problems.I went to start it this morning bearing in mind it was very cold with a heavy frost,I pre-heated it in the usual way but it wouldn't fire,I tried it again and once again there was no joy,now I know the glow plugs are ok as I checked them last weekend,the pre heat light comes on and goes out very quickly after about 4-5 seconds.I managed to get it started in the end by putting 1 jump lead on + and shorting the glow plugs out and then it started fine,it was almost as if it didn't preheat or for not long enough,has anyone got any ideas to help me out.I was wondering if the preheat relay was faulty???
Thanks Andrew...
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I do like my Diesels to be Turbocharged for that extra OOMPH!!!! Read more
Hi,my car is fitted with the "L" series engine which is made by Landrover.When I had the Glowplugs out I checked the voltage and they are 12v.Thanks for your input.
Andrew...
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I do like my Diesels to be Turbocharged for that extra OOMPH!!!!
The time has come for renewing my Breakdown cover,and shell out some quid for another years worth of breakdown cover.
Between the three mentioned above, apparently there is one which gives you additional benefits while in the US/Europe i.e discounts with other purchases eg car hire etc.
Having searched high and low the only advantage is in possibly getting some additional discount on Hertz rental in the US with AA membership which sways the choice towards AA,however I would be interested to know if there are any other discounts with the others.
Thanks in advance.
John
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ADAC Germany covers just about everthing in any country any car 75 euros
For those with digital, BBC 4 tonight 10.00 Car Crash, The Delorean Story, followed at 11.00 by Rover: The Long Goodbye. Read more
Saw the delorean story. Always liked the car, with a better . more powerful engine, may have been a success, although the scandels killed the company more then the car (which was selling wellm in the US, at least)..
I've been using autoglym Leather Cream to rejuvinate the dried and cracked leather on my 1949 Bentley with impressive results. The leather is now soft and supple and a pleasure to sit in. However, throughout the summer and autumn to my horror the seats having been covered in white mould, what I'm assuming is mildew.
The mildew cleans off but soon reappears within weeks. My garage is dry but I can only keep the mildew at bay by running a dehumidifier from inside the car. I'm reluctant to keep cleaning it as presumably that puts more moisture back into the leather. It's particulalrly bad around the seams and stitching. Admittedly I did put rather a lot of autoglym care cream on the seat, as the leather was responding so well. I suppose the cream is an emulsified oil/water mixture and therefore puts moisture into the leather and its that the mould feeds on. Presumably I need to clean it with somwthing like a fungicide, but don't want to damage the leather.
I've owned the car for many years and had not experienced any such problems before, until I'd using the autoglym cream. I would appreciate any thoughts on how to remedy.
Greg. Read more
Autoglym sent out a rep yesterday. He's wasn't convinced that it is mildew but spent a couple of hours giving the leather a really deep clean with various products, and left a few free samples as well. We'll see what happens over the next fews weeks and they're prepared to investigated further if needs be. An impressive and professional service, completely free of charge. I can't argue with that!
GP
Browse
Make rude faces at other droivers, and use your finger to write obscenities on the window-glass.
Then look shocked when the drivers of the aforesaid rude-face victims cut up your daughter and yell abuse at her.