December 2005

Forum How Many Corsa's Can You Find?

Dynamic Dave on 30 December 2005

www.corsaseek.co.uk

Have played it 3 times, but have only managed to find 4 so far.
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mare on 30 December 2005

That damn A-Team van keeps getting in my way.

dons copius amount of jewellery and dubious haircut

"Shut up fool!"

Jewellery and haircut off.

Forum voluntary termination

bart on 29 December 2005

I am just about to send my car back to a finance company now I have paid 50% off the borrowed amount. I have had numerous faults on the car but have not replaced both elec. front window motors which failed a while back (£600 bill to fix). Can anyone tell me if this is unsatisfactory condition or can I send it back like this without being billed. If it is unsatisfactory I asume replacing them myself will be cheaper than thier bill. Any advice appreciated. thanks

{Finance company name removed as per the forum policies. DD}
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DrS on 31 December 2005

These voluntary terminations, IMO can very powerful tools for avoiding hefty mileage penalties on pcp deals.
I sent a Rover back with 60,000 on the clock, racked up in two and a bit years, against a supposed allowance of 15,000 per year over 3 years.
The finance company didn't object.
When collecting the vehicle, the guy didn't check anything, although to be fair, the car was pristine, anyway.

Net effect was that I avoided paying a remaining 9k for a car which had a trade value, after Rover's demise, of about 4k.
Phew!

Question clarion car radio

deggers on 29 December 2005

i have bought a used 2001 hyudai accent which has a clarion car radio model
rab2671r i have no code for this radio and the previous owner (1) when i contacted him niether had any info on this
if i were to remove the battery for some reason i presume it would not work after reinstalling the battery
i heard there was a way round this by putting a pp9 battery connected to a cigarette lighter plug or across the battery terminals before disconnecting them to keep the radio code on
any advice please,thankyou
deggers Read more

AR-CoolC on 29 December 2005

In my radio fitting days, I only ever fitted a few Clarions, but AFAIR they had no codes in them.

I was a fair few years ago now mind.

Forum 306 engine costs

thomp1983 on 29 December 2005

hi could someone tell me what would be worth more,

306 1.9td engine with gearbox fully serviced showing 133k

or

the engine broken up and sold as refurbed cylinder head, injection pump and turbo?

cheers
chris Read more

blue_haddock on 29 December 2005

To be honest - not a lot! as a unit i'd guess £150 if it appeared in good condition.

Question VW Golf Mk2 1.6 Auto choke(1988)

Negger on 29 December 2005

My trusty Golf, 1988, high mileage but generally good running order has started intermittent misfiring, and now wont start at all! Have checked all obvious, and run through tests in Haynes. Appears to be a very weak, intermittent spark ? Can someone suggest what problem may be ?, Coil ? - How can you test it with a basic multimeter ? (Transistorised ignition!) Regards to all Read more

dannyboy on 13 March 2006

i remember a number of years back i had an 18oo gl golf and had similar trouble,all we did was swap to a manual choke and had no trouble at all after that, cant say i remember the price though :)

Forum how many brands have you driven

nutty_nissan on 29 December 2005

I was bored the other day, and decided to recall all the different brands I had ever driven (whether as a test drive or owned or a friend's car).

14 was my final count in 15 years of motoring. Are there people out there who have only ever driven the same brand their entire life? Read more

RB on 5 January 2006

Just realised I hit 25 years of driving in 05.

So, in order of ownership/stewardship:

DAF 55 - incredible acceleration and marvellous at traffic light grandprixs.
Vauxhall Chevette GLS hatch - nice velour seats and fully carpeted load area including the back of the rear seat back - best not go into details. Sadly demonstrated the impact-absorbing qualities of the droopsnoot, but hey, I was young.
VW Polo "breadvan".
MG Metro.
VW Polo saloon (my excuse was that it looked like a small Audi).
Ford Escort(s).
Ford Mondeo.
Volvo 340 1.7.
Volvo 340 Variomatic - so misunderstood by the "experts".
Rover 100.
Renault Clio II.
DAF 33 - still got it. Still belts along. Looks so sweet.
Vauxhall Vectra.
SEAT Toledo - first diesel car and now I know I want to go back diesel.
MG ZTT - Well I like it and it's such a shame about MGR.

Forum Snowchains

PhilDS on 29 December 2005

I'm off on a skiing trip to France at the end of Jan and will be taking my car for the first time.
I drive a 2004 Alhambra TDi. Can anyone recommend the best snowchans to use and where I might get them? I don't want to spend a fortune and in fact will be saying goodbye to the car within a fortnight of the trip so renting may be an option.
Have seen 9mm chains as cheap as £29 to buy or £35 to rent up to c.£300. Handbook says I need 15mm chains or smaller. Read more

barchettaman on 31 December 2005

In that case, get steel wheels, fit winter tyres, forget about chains, leave alloys at home. Job done.
Drive to resort trouble free.
By the way, it is extremely likely at this time of year that snow will be falling at valley altitudes, not just on access roads to the resort, and a French autoroute is definitely not a place you want to be on in a car with snow chains.
Good luck BTW to all driving to the Alps this winter, and have a ball.

Forum An unusual place to look to buy..

Stuartli on 29 December 2005

...a Subaru WRX....:-)

tinyurl.com/7dhdh
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by Read more

Question Rover 45 2.0 TDi starting problems

Dave B. on 29 December 2005

I have a 2000 (W) Rover 45 which does not like starting in the cold weather. I had new glowplugs fitted about a month ago which seemed to have improved the problem, but with this latest cold spell it has gone back to not starting properly. I have tried leaving the glow plug light on for longer before trying to start it, but the only thing which seems to eventually work is to pump the accelerator until it eventually catches. The car has covered 74,000 miles and although the battery appears to be the original the cranking speed seems fine and the battery condition indicator has always been green. Under normal conditions I hardly turn the key and she is away and runs great returning approx. 50-54mpg.

Any ideas would be most welcome!
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Dave B. on 4 January 2006

Been trying second bust method with the glowplugs and so far so good. very frosty this morning and she fired up no problem.

Thanks to all for your advice!

Forum irresponsible OLD drivers!

Happy Blue! on 29 December 2005

Driving up the M1 yesterday morning. Traffic heavy but motoring reasonably well. In a line of traffic which included Nissan Skyline, BMW M3 csl and Disco 3 and my Scooby. Pick up a flash of colour in the mirrors - yellow. It gets closer and looks like Ferrari F40. It is weaving in and out of lanes and frequently straddling lanes. Gets closer and can't recognise car, but it eventually gets past me and it's a Porsche Carrera GT; driver is about 55 years old. Looks respectable.

Traffic now too heavy for anything more than 65mph and Porker still weaving all over the show, finding gaps where there are none and causing other cars to swerve or brake sharply. Eventually, SWMBO rang the police who said they would monitor and at the next service station a cop car was waiting at the slip road with lights on. He pulls out and gently follows porker for several miles during which time we all overtake yellow car, whose average speed is serverly reduced.

Glad to see some notice paid to ad hoc phone calls to police.

BTW - got a mention on Classic FM last night for advising of stationary traffic on M6 in Staffordshire - my claim to fame!

--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive? Read more

bedfordrl on 30 December 2005

A few years ago my sister got married and had her reception in a pub in Petersfield.
The pub is right next to the exit from the main car park.
Me and my daughter were wandering off into town to find some cigars and were walking into the car park, approaching the exit were a line of cars headed by a VERY old man in a Metro (he looked a bit like Magnus Pikes Grandfather and must have been in his eighties at least),he was dithering about where and if to park and was proceeding at a crawl.
Behind him was a Golf being driven by a shrivelled up elderly woman (who looked like Nefetiti does now),she was annoyed at the ditheringly leisurely pace Magnus's Grandad was travelling at and gave him a loud blast of her horn,quick as a flash and with the skill only someone with experience of the usage of trafficators can muster,his arm shot out of his open window and up came two fingers,this enraged Nefetiti who drove closer and blasted her horn again,he replied with his horn and exited the car park with Nefetiti following and the last we saw and heard of them they were still balsting their horns at each other.
All this in front of my then 11 year old daughter.
I think she now knows that most of us are hypocrites.