January 2006
Quite why the almost brand new dual carriageway A43 needs roadworks I don't know but they are there from now until end of March at the earliest and it is a mess.
Southbound you must exit by the Silverstone exit at the latest and plot a route that take you to where the A43 meet the M1 at 15a.
Northbound you need to plan a route from 15a joining the A43 at the top end of Towcester.
You have been warned. Read more
Am thinking of getting one of these as a birthday present for dad.
Are they worth having or is it best to just save your money and go to the local petrol station?
If they are worth having have you any recommendations on which one to get?
Ta
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If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished Read more
Oh, and by the way, if you have 4 cars on
your drive, 3 of which are owned by members of the
family who don't seem to think that tyre pressure needs checking,
it's very useful!
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Phil
I couldn't agree more if you have lots of cars to check it is quicker, My three local Tyre dealers (one independent)all say don't trust any supermarket gauge, Te independent dealer has his gauge checked every 4 weeks !! I wouldn't care to guess how frequently the supermarkets are done. On top of that most Gauges can be used to pump up Bike tyres, footballs and in some cases Inflatables.
It can make life so much easier
Hi, We are moving the family (2 plus 2) to Oz later this year. I am planning to sell the Astra and the Seat Alhambra for about £3K + £14K. I will buy two second hand cars over in Sydney, for about the same money or less. One should be a people carrier for my wife to ferry the kids about, the other should be a largish/good-looking/well-handling car for myself. I usually carry small tools and equipment with me, but nothing too large. A few years ago I would have bought a 4x4, but now I think they are just to heavy, fuel inefficient etc.
Any tips on what to buy down-under? Practicalities, what to look out for? Many thanks, Big-G.
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The Vectra was a sales disaster. They tried to sell it for a premium price. I think it was about AU$32,000 speaking from memory. No one touched it. Very few sold. They then dropped the price several thousand but still no one wanted it. The same thing happened when Ford imported Mondeos in the 90's. Couldn't shift them. The market here used to be either hatchbacks of Corolla size or Commodore, Falcon size cars. That has changed a bit since the Japs brought out really good mid size cars like the 6, the Accord and the Liberty/Legacy. They sell quite well.
As you said it is a totally different market out here.
Anyone else been in the past or going this year?
Been wanting to go for a few years but always shyied away from it nearer the time. Booked our tickets for the race and ferry at the weekend so it's definatly going to happen this year.
Anyone got any advise to give to a couple of Le Mans virgins? Read more
Yep that was a great 3 minutes.
Some of the comments we got about the Zafira were very funny, people really did think we had it for a three day test drive, even though we were there for 6 days. lol
Just keep the how to get onto the track quiet, as we don't want too many people knowing about it ;)
Mods, I'm happy for you to pass my e-mail address on to Richy.
Just to report that I've just had 2 tyres (Dunlop SP2000E) fitted to the back of the Mondeo. All ordered through BlackCircles (no Costco within 100 miles) and very pleased with service. I was given a 9am appointment and job was done inside 20 mins.
Icing on the cake was that the fitting company (Central Tyres) manager's best price was £10 per tyre more than I paid through Black Circles.
_______
IanS
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Won't be using them, the only fitter locally is a highly dodgy garage I wouldn't trut him with a wheelbarrow.
(in fact he'd prbably cut and shut that as well)
I have to go to the Holiday Inn in Guildford tomorrow for 12 (noon). It is apparently on the A3, but i don't know whether it's on the east bound or west bound side. I can always turn around somewhere if need be.
Coming from the west and up the M3, am i best leaving at junction 4 and down the A331 then head east along A31, or stay on until J3 and straight down A322?
All advice appreciated Read more
I wont argue, I do it various ways, J5, J4, and J3 (Lightwater) though getting off the M3 early is adviable in rush hour times and J4 can be busy.
Recent corrosion reports in the MB Club:
W215 CL500 2001
W215 CL500 2002
W215 CL55 AMG
R129 SL 1999
Note that these are models at the top of the range.
And found on an MB complaints-from-owners site on the Web:
"1st Dec 2005, 12:35 I work for a MB Dealer as a Bodyshop Manager and am sorry for all you MB owners as I have yet to see a model that does not rust the new SL's (WDB230) as-well!!!"
As an MB owner all this makes me sad, but also glad that mine pre-date the era of lousy paintwork.
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Hey all,
Anyone got/had an E39 540i or 535i?
How do the running costs, excluding fuel consumption, compare with the 6 cylinder models? Is it worth the extra expense? Whats the reliability like? How reliable are the auto boxes?
Found out I can insure one..
Cheers :) Read more
Head over to BMW Land, its an owners forum, free to sign up and lots of V8 E39 owners over there. They are a friendly lot so you can ask them opinions and questions etc.
Hello
T reg 306 TDI 90 95,000 miles
I have just been through a 2 month ordeal with my 306. I would appreciate any advice on the following so's I now which garage to trust...
1.Car wont start one lunchtime. Not battery or fuel and this is first time this has happened.
2. I towed it 1st garage who tried a new ignition aerial with no luck, refitted the original and said take it to better equiped garage.
3. 2nd garage removed ECU and sent away to Bosch for diagnostics which reported back saying ECU needs repair to fuel pump, however they can't do anything as secondary fault reported which might be imobilisor. 2nd garage thought car was imobilised due to 1st garage 'playing around' with ignition aerial. As 2nd garage are not Peugeot dealers they could not reset the imobilkos. There is no Peugeot dealer in the Shetland Islands where I live, and so I was advised to send car on ferry to Abderdeen to nearest dealer. This was done at cost of £300!
4. 3rd garage then tested ECU AGAIN and found simple fault - coroded wiring between ECU/Ignition to the fuel pump. Car finally running again after 2 months. However as I could only seem to speak to the receptionist I never found out if imobilisor was a problem and if the car really needed to be sent to specialist.
If you have persevered with this tale until now, I would apreciate any thoughts on the above problems. I have three garage bills to pay, 2 month's car hire and ferry costs!! (about £1000 in all)
We towed the car a few times between the 1st and 2nd garage and were told that we might have 'spiked the ECU' by doing this and trying to jump start it - is this possible?
Anyway the car is runing again. I ain't buying another Peugoet for risk of this kind of thing happening again. Pitty as I really like the car.
cheers
Tystie
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Tystie
There may not have been anything actually wrong with the immobilizer; just a loss of a power feed from the relay module. Do you have any details on the invoice as to whether any parts were changed. [Or that ECU "fuel-pump" repaired?]
If the spare key's been wiped from the ECU's key-list, it'll need a good scanner to re-introduce it. You can re-synch the remote locking part [details in the handbook] but the chipped-key immobilizer is a different matter.
As most recent cars need plugging-in to do almost any repair on now; [wait 'til you meet CAN-BUS!] this lack of access to specialist diagnostic back-up is going to be a real nightmare up there.
Have the Islands Council ever even discussed the social changes this will bring? The costs of running/maintaining a car [not an optional luxury item for you!] that has to travel back to the dealers for absolutely everything will be prohibitive. Perhaps they should consider sponsoring/supporting local provision?
If your only choice is those two, I'd go for the A3; [I wouldn't wish a Golf on anyone.] They're both dripping with trouble-prone ECU's; [up to 25] but you can get a home-user laptop-based diag kit [VAG-COM] for them. Once you get up to speed with it, fixing all the others will be a nice little sideline for you!
Or you could always get a Series 3 Land-Rover.... No electronic problems on those at all!
We all drive LHD cars so this means we use our left hand to do the vast majority of functions within our cars. Now through the law of averages most of us are right handed so are we altering the course of nature by using our left hand for these functions?
If evolution was to take it's course in 1000 years we'd all be ambidextrous? (in the UK at least)
To me personally I still find some difficulty using my left hand, this is why I prefer LHD over RHD.
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I read that RHD cars are safer than LHD for most
people, as most people are right handed.
Therefore, their 'best' hand is used for car control in one
handed situations such as gearchange or stick brake application.
Also, if a diver falls asleep at the the wheel, if
they are right handed they tend to steer to the left
(verge) and left handed steer to the right (oncoming traffic), thus
as most people are right handed, there are fewer head on
collisions as a result of this in a RHD country. Maybe
it's time that left-handed people had an insurance premium hike?
;o)
Haven't you got this completely wrong?
I drive a RHD car and use my left hand for gearchange.
How would right handed steer to the left?
Browse
Or use the A43 as far as Croughton and turn right just after the USAF radio place directly onto the A421. In fact to go as far north as where these works are (between Towcester and the M1)will take you out of your way.