Hello all-knowing ones, a bit of advice would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for a new/nearly new economical, reliable not too expensive runaround and was thinking of a Yaris.

The local Toyota dealer is advertising an ex demo 55 reg 1.0 Colour Collection with 935 miles on the clock for £7495. They have added air con and alloys. The What Car Target Price is £7277. I think the air con & alloys would come to about £1000, but do you think £7495 is a bit steep considering it has been driven by god knows who and there is a new model coming out 1st Jan?

My mum got a pre-reg 1.4 D4D Yaris with metallic paint from the same dealer with only delivery miles for £7995 in August which was a good deal but I'm not so sure about this one - it seems a bit expensive (or is it just my wishful thinking?!)

What do you think? Opinions very welcome (but please don't tell me to get a skoda instead - I'm in my 20's and am not quite 'there' yet!)

Ta! Read more

My Wife inherited a "W" reg 2.0lt Focus Ghia two months or so and it came with fsh (not all Ford) and 48k miles.
We are very pleased with the car but even after a short run it "Smells" hot.
Lift the bonnet and the heat hits you and when you switch off the engine, it creaks with the sound of metal contracting.
It does not use any water or oil and the temperature gauge remains steady, just under the half way point. A test staion revealed the emissions were OK.
Is this normal for the model and if not has anyone got any ideas on what could be wrong?
Any help welcomed. Read more

..and the other one resting on the gear lever? Well, don't, unless you want to damage the gear linkage.
I dont do this but my ex - who does - called at 7.30 this morning saying 'I've got no gears!'. I went and rescued the kids leaving her to wait for the AA.
Nice man came and pinged the gear selector cable back into place (2002 Corsa 1.2 - not quite sure how this was done), and told her to get a new cable ASAP.
You have been warned... Read more

Hi,

Been having problems with the tailend breaking away on the 330D auto in the last few weeks.(registered Dec '54, bought 2nd hand in June this year - as bmw approved with 1600 miles on clock - if it's age is a factor at any point).

No occasion has been at high speed or rapid acceleration for the conditions (damp roads at worse)..

Once was when I exited a round-a-bout and another when turning right at some lights...both times the rear-end parted company then came back into line. Never had the back end break away on any previous Beemer.

Was wondering about poss causes, given that the tyres have plenty of tread (10,000 miles from new) and pressures are ok.

The one potential issue is that the OSR tyre has been replaced twice due to punctures, so I'm guessing it has only done about 1,000 of the 11,500 miles now clocked. Is it possible that different tread depths/tyre circumferences could cause what i am experiencing?

I dread the thought of buying yet another tyre, but if it cures the problem, I will do it asap as it seems less than safe at present.

Informed opinion more than welcomed :-)

Thanks in anticipation,

Graham. Read more

my golf misfires at cold and idles rough, ive changed most the ignition side of things, and ive set up the carb..

i carried out a cylinder leakage test:
cylinder 1.. 8%
cylinder 2 ..8-9%
cylinder 3.. 30%
cylinder 4.. 35%

this is at cold. i accept one and 2 as the car has covered 173 000 miles and you are going to lose some compression through wear ect. cylinders 3&4 are excessive, and with air bein supplied ( through the spark plug hole, with valves closed )i can hear a hissing through the filler cap and dipstick, its also present down the exhuast from number 4. there is no bubbles in the coolent. so this leads me to believe its valve seal failure, as piston ring failure would result in alota blue smoke..

so heres the question does anyone have any experiance in cylinder head/valve seal replacement on this engine? or is it better to take it to a vw specialist, approx prices? Read more