December 2005
According to today's Daily Mail (I only read it under extreme prejudice etc.) a young woman was driving on the M6 and got lost. After seeing a patrol car on the hard shoulder, she pulled up and asked for directions.(!)
Officer told her where she needed to turn, then handed her a £30 fixed penalty for stopping on the hard shoulder. Writer of letter furious, but am I the only person who thinks that it was completely reasonable for him to do this?
Surely if you get lost on the motorway you pull off at the next junction or services to consult a map, not look for a police car on the hard shoulder!! Read more
Well, round 2 of my Corolla saga is the crash repairer thinks the car written off - Insurance Company sending engineer to confirm. Car probably worth £2,000 (2001 S but with 165k miles), so cost of repair - maybe £1500 - nearly equal to worth of the car.
Advise - the car is actually very sound other than this - should I use the settlement to fix the car ? How does one put a car (legally) back on the road once fixed after a write-off ? Will it still be worth anything when I come to sell the car ?
Option 2 is to buy something else with the settlement, but with only £2000 I'm not going to get very much .... and I will be changing the car in 6 months time, anyway ... Read more
I'm going to take the car to a smaller repair place - this was a Skoda garage, in fact, that quoted me that - and get an alternate quote .... !
A new British company making a new car: www.connaughtmotorco.com
Will it get off the ground or die a slow quiet death?
I think it's got something different to offer from the usual suspects, your thoughts? Read more
Good luck to them, certainly hope they can make a success of it. But will it only attract eccentric buyers who buy things like Bristols? Big wheelarches remind me of that MG-SVR and it will probably sell like one too. Front lights remind me slightly of late '60's Alfa GTA. I cant believe it only weighs 850kgs, would be interesting to see a proper road test of it. I dont think they would get away with putting a 4-cyl engine in a £60k sports coupe, could make do with a V6. But I suppose the V10 is one of its quirky selling features? At least its only 2 valves per cylinder to reduce the complexity a bit.
Quite a few years ago I recall it was normal practise that when a truck overtook another truck on a motorway the truck being overtook would flash its headlights when the rear of the passing truck had gone by, presumably to signal it was safe to pull back in.
Unless I am mistaken this practice seems to have completely dissapeared now. For other backroomers that recall this, am I right in the purpose stated and any ideas as to why it has ceased. Was it outlawed for some reason or as it seems like it was a courtesy gesture has this just dissapeared in the hurry and stress of modern life. Read more
I still see it every day on the M4 and M5.
Also most do it when I'm towing my trailer with or without the Boat.
I have always had a soft spot for French cars(no, not a bog in the south of Ireland)and once owned a Simca which was comfy and decent to drive. However, it tended to have bits drop off or rot away but it seemed to add to the character of the car. What are other peoples experiences of French motors? Read more
Most of the French cars I have been in were hire/courtesy cars. Renault Clio (not bad, but backwards wipers mean its a no-no for me, rain isn't cleared well enough for RHD), Pug 206 (awful seating-pedal position and the seat was very soft - took it back after a day and swapped it), Pug 307, two of these (both with less than 1,000 miles) on both the engine management light was on constantly, back wiper didn't work on one.
I also have a neighbour who had a 307 for 18 months and it spent a good part of this in the garage.
An uncle has just got rid of his Safran which had nearly 200,000 on the clock and he had no trouble.
Best French car we have owned were our two smarts.
Needless to say I will be avoiding French motors, unless it's another smart!
My car doesn't like starting when it's warm. I have to use the throttle to get it to fire and then it just dies. It's an auto so I have to keep revs on with right foot whist using left foot on brake to select a gear and it seems a little unsure about selecting the gear. When I release the brake pedal all is fine, although it does feel a bit hesitant when I pull away from a junction - just a split second delay between throttle and motion.
Talking to an auto specialist he suggested I may have problems with the alternator spiking.
Any thoughts? Read more
Shouldn't go higher than about 14.5 Volts. Check it with an accurate DMM, rather relying on dashboard voltmeter, which may be a bit out of calibration.
Hi All,
Just need some views on prices i've been quoted for a service and my brakes to be done.
I've got a new shape mondeo 1.8LX gave Ford a ring in Bolton to get a price for a standard annual service as mine is now due, quoted £135.00 which seems pretty resonable to me. Just wondered (I should of asked them, I know!) what does the standard service involve? Oul and filtern change? Plugs? air filter? im not to sure these days.
Then I asked them to quote me to change my front and rear brake pads, £167.36. I thought that was bit steep? Used to have my clios brakes done £35 for front and £40 rear at kwik-fit or £22 in total if I did them myself. I know at Ford all the parts will top notch own brand but do you think thats a bit steep?
Any thoughts
thanks
Lee Read more
Thanks again guys, good advice as always.
Espada, I'll check out that garage in Newton Heath for sure and see what they charge.
Guys,
The only reason I looked at ford was because the car has had ALL servicing and its last brake changes done at a dealer, am i just being silly wanting genuine ford parts? or are the 3rd party ones just as good? I'll look around for prices.
As for my tyres MW, I could save £28 by putting the GT's on instead of goodyears, but not sure how good the GT's are?.
Thanks cheddar and bikemade,
I've got my Haynes manual and its a 3 spanner rating for brake pads to be changed, yet my clio was only 1 or 2 spanners? looks very similar to do though? I might let a proper mechanic do my brakes this time :) might end up killing myself if I cock it up :)
Thanks again guys
I am driving down to Penzance this week (leaving about 3:30 am) on Friday. Question: Would you go A303 and A30 or M4 / M5
The AA states road works on A303 but not sure if this is of concern now.
Thanks for your help.
Read more
Well I went the A303 route and then A358 to join M5 before Exeter. Journey time from Bromley to Penzance was 5 hours 35 minutes, so pretty clear the whole way.
Yesterday came back via M5 / M4 and it took 6 hours 45 minutes but it was later in the day and the traffic was busy but kept moving.
Thanks for all your previous help.
Would people recommend budget tyres or part worn branded tyres? Any suggestions gratefully received Read more
I had some Kumho Ecsta fitted on my Chevy Z28 when I had trouble obtaining the OEM Goodyears. They will be replaced with another set of the same when the time comes. Highly recommended for 'performance' cars.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=28...4
Kevin...
Hello,
Does anyone have any experience of running either a new Panda 1.3 diesel or (long shot I know) the new Rio diesel. I am considering both these cars as the solution to my commute!
Thanks in advance
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Its not the populaity of Kia's in this country but abroad thats the problem, I read that orginally 17500 Rio's were heading here for 2006 but due to supply problems its only going to be 6000 now.
It must be the largest supply chain screw up since one of teh large super markets a few years ago. Marketing a product and then changing the unique selling point just as you start to advertise it. Crazy
I think Kia sales may be steady or actually go down this year in the UK, same with Hyundai.
Browse
I haven't seen the letter (Daily Mail isn't my usual cup of tea either!), but I suspect that this one may have come down to an attitude test. It'd be interesting to hear the police officer's account of how she approached him, and how she responded when he told her that she should not have stopped there.
I've done stupid things in my time, and I have always found traffic officers to be very resaonable if I am suitably apologetic, acknowledging that I have made a mistake and thanking them for setting me right.