January 2006
Item in Lincolnshire Echo 5th January 2005:
A Bosnian immigrant was arrested after he was seen driving at 94mph in a 70mph limit with his children standing on the back seat. He also did not have a driving license, was driving without insurance and without a valid MOT certificate. (He also didn't speak English when arrested)
He was fined as follows:
£200 for driving without insurance
£100 for speeding
£43 costs
6 points on his license
Does this mean that for having no MOT and no license, he was unpunished?
It is worrying how many similar cases there are driving around and what the consequences are if they crash into somebody. Read more
I am considering selling my 1993 240SE Estate and buying an XC70 2.5 T Estate I have been offered. Clearly a big step in technology. Anyone got any views about the XC70 it's 3 years old and done 110k motorway miles, but it is mint. FVWSH and appears to have had no repairs just the standard services. Comments welcome. Regards Peter Read more
I dont know much about the AWD system, but your comments sound the same as for Audis quattro system - the handbook is most explicit that you must replace the tyres on each axle together with identical new tyres to avoid transmission damage
Can anyone help me with fixing a rear screen washer leak. Water is leaking through the vent holes of the internal rear trim between reaqr windscreen and side panels of my estate. I don't see any means of easily removing this to see what the problem is. Any help appreciated. Thanks. Read more
Looking to buy a 'new' or 'nearly new' Astra SXi Sports Hatch.
Went to my local dealer (network q) and talked through a trade in for my existing Corsa SXi 03 Reg and the spec I wanted. Was really looking for a nearly new, just based on price, but it has to be a 55 plate or newer so I can legally fit my new private reg.
Anyway to cut to the chase the local dealer offered me a crap deal, perhaps he thought I was too young and looked like a soft touch, but he was not interetsed in haggling and offered a poor price on P/X.
Since then i've been scouring the internet brokers and have come up with some great 'looking' deals on the same car which would make it actually cheaper to buy the vehicle 'brand new' rather than the nearly new one from the dealer.
The question is, would buying now be a mistake? What date will an order made via say UK Car Broker receive an '06 registered vehicle. Is it likely to be any orders taken say mid Feb (with delivery after March) or will it be any vehicles actually ordered from March onwards. Or infact will it take much longer for these '06 models to filter through and will it affect the price at what these brokers can offer the vehicles?
Would you say that financially its best to buy now or it would make a big difference in re-sale price to wait until March 1st?
Cheers.
Pubfootie. Read more
Dont know what deal you were offered, but have you tried the car supermarkets? Motorpoint have brand new SXi's for 10999 - although they may / may not be imports.
On the whole the 06 / 55 plate bit depends on what deal you get to start with - yes the 55 will be worth less because it will always be 6 months older but because of that you will pay less for it, so overall its swings and roundabouts
While accelerating up the slip road yesterday night I held second gear until about 4000rpm - should I be horrified at the enormous cloud of muck that showed up in the lights of the car behind? Read more
Some soot on heavy acceleration normal for older diesels. They function best if slightly overfueled in this particular circumstance. Newer euro 4 diesels, especially if they have a filter, emit virtually nothing visible. They actually emit fewer v small particles (pc 10's and smaller) than direct injection petrol engines.
Does anyone know which is the mute pin on the Clarion PU-2473A standard fit CD radio? My car kit has 3 options and I do not want to make an expensive mistake.
Many thanks
John Read more
Found it! It's mute input 1. Very easy to find. Just back probe the 3 possible options with a test lamp. The correct one is the pin that lights "ext mute" on the display.
Anybody on the forum got one of these motors??? Have checked out H.J`s car x car but ubfortunately not too much info.
I ask because there are several locally and all seem to be travelling at a serious rate of knots, and IMHO are quite a cute looking motor. I am interested to know any feedback re ride/handling and performance, as reliability is sure to be spot on. Read more
My swift has a full size spare (well came with 175 alloys + 165 steel) - moved upto 195 alloys and spare fits in protrudes by 2 cm
Off-topic - a team of BMW engineers came with the new 3 series to India to test the car out and had a big problem with run-flats - dealers are 1000 km apart and no spare wheel well - they got 5 punctures testing on bad roads
I have ordered some tyres off the internet and now need them fitting. Any suggestions on the cheapest national place to do this? ie, Kwik fit etc? Read more
I've paid between £10 and £15, per tyre, at different local national chains, which is not bad when you think, it includes new valve, removal and disposal of old tyre, fitting new tyre and balancing. I've saved between £40 and £50 on the price of each tyre, by buying them online, so I'm still well in pocket. Most nationals are ok if you produce the printed off invoice or if the label with your delivery address and name is still on the tyre. One explained to me that they did not want to be seen to be fitting stolen tyres (where would you steal them from ?).
A friend of mine has been offered a 95 XM estate 2.0l manual, can somebody here enlighten me what they are like & what to look out for. Its got 129k & the timing belt has been done just recently. Is it worth £600. MOT 6mths & couple of months tax. Advice much appreciated thanks Read more
Get it weighed at local weighbridge and offer steel scrap value.
I've had a Peugeot 406 for 3 years and the cruise control worked fine, now when I switch it on it works for about 30 seconds and then turns off and will not go again until the engine is restarted and then the same thing happens again. Any ideas? Read more
Browse
Crushing cars still impacts more than trying to fine those of no fixed adress who cannot aford fines and will mearly move on. A crushed car is £200 that the crooks will have to find again.
I recently did a call out at a local factory, 60% were poles. On talking to the foreman He told me that they are now trying to reduce numbers due to the fact that the workers ( suplied via agency) spoke v poor english ignored h and s rules.