January 2006
Last Friday, I took SWMBO and her children to see their Grandparents in Cromer for the New Year weekend. We left reasonably early to avoid the bad weather everyone was going on about but about 15 miles away from Cromer, it all got rather snowy. All was well until the road which leads down ("down" being the operative word here) into the town.
I was driving SWMBO's car which is an automatic Nissan Almera and I've not driven a FWD car on the snow for years. "Look at that car in front" pipes up a small boy in the back. "He's swerving all over the place!". At that moment, I lost control of the car, despite remembering something which Sir Jackie Stewart saying about one of his sons stuffing a car on a snowy slope because he didn't know about putting the car into "2" instead of "D" in such conditions.
After much wheel twirling, pushing the brakes to the floor (you do this with and ABS-equipped car right?) and praying, the car straightened up again, only to go off sideways again. I didn't know whether to aim for the kerb, or try to go around the stationary car in front, hoping to make the gap between said car and the petrol tanker on the other side of the road which was having trouble getting up the slope I was skating down.
Eventually more by luck than judgement, I bounced it into and off the kerb and came to a halt. I have honestly never been as scared in my life. The back of the car in front seemed to be getting ever closer and although I missed it by say, 15-20 feet, heading towards a stationary object without having any control of the car is not something I'd like to do again.
So Backroomers, what should I have done? I thought I was doing the correct thing. Put it in "2" for engine braking and keep my foot off the throttle. When it got away from me, I briefly tried pumping the brakes but then pushed the pedal to the floor. I didn't expect the car to snake about as much as it did, but maybe it was a combination of the snow and the slope. In many ways I'm glad I wasn't driving my own RWD car as I'm sure we'd have gone backwards into the car or the petrol tanker.
All comments gratefully received!
CM
P.S. And yes, it was a case of "New underpants please Umpire" afterwards!!
P.P.S. The car is going to have the tracking checked tomorrow. It's fine at 40mph and below but at 70mph it steers to the left slightly and not in a straight line. Read more
my airbag light has started to flash. not always but quite regularly. as usual the handbook tells you to take it to the nearest renault dealer. probably lots of money, can this be fixed at home by someone who has a bit of mechanical knowledge. Read more
Look to see if you have disturbed a cable under the seat normal cause.
Is it possible for me to hire an A-frame towing dolly & if so where from & how much? Only need it for the day so I can bring my new plaything home. TIA Read more
im not sure if you are aware but if the towed vehicle has any wheels on the ground then it is alledgedlly liable for road tax mot and insurance as it is seen by the constabulary as a broken down vehicle being transported for repairs.I strongly suggest you hire a brenderup car transporter trailer or equivalent or pay a company to deliver it for you,they usually charge a £1 a mile
Following a period of starting problems, in March 2005 I replaced the battery in my '96 Civic 1.5, which rectified the problem (see www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=29456 - thanks for all the advice).
Over the past three weeks the <10 month old battery has gone completely flat when the car has been left parked up for two or three days. Once jump-started and given a good run, engine starts the following morning no problem. I commute 100 miles per day Mon-Fri, so this is not likely to be a problem during the week, but the car is not used at weekends, so I need to get this sorted to avoid having to jump-start every Monday morning!
Battery was purchased from Halfords (3 yr guarantee) so I took the car down to the store near to my place of work to get it checked today. "Good Battery," says helpful Halfords chap. He suggests that something is draining the battery. I've already checked for interior lights stuck on etc, nothing evident. I will have access to a friend's multimeter at the weekend so I'm planning on checking for high background current drain and pulling out fuses until I find the culprit circuit. The car does not have an alarm/immobiliser, just a digital clock as far as I can tell - how many mA should I expect to read? What else should I check? Car runs/starts perfectly otherwise, no other symptoms.
Any advice/suggestions gratefully received as usual.
Ed. Read more
Try www.maplin.co.uk/Home.aspx?C=Newsletter&U=P13-4
at £7:99 (halfway down the page) there is no reason not to.
>>
Looks like they have revamped the page.
New link?
I bought a multimeter that works fine except for running costs.
If I forget to switch it to off ...Doh! another £2 for a battery.
Are they all like this?
Hi,
My wife has a 1999 Corsa Club 1.2 16v which has covered 25k miles. Since the MOT (12 weeks ago) we have noticed 2 problems :-
1. There is a low 'hissing' noise that seems to be coming from the drivers footwell. Normally and sharp jump on the brakes stops this, but I'm unable to find out where and why it is doing this.
2. There seems to be a strange smell coming into the car. It reminds me of petrol fumes. It doesn't happen all the time, but is very noticeable when it does. From what I can see, there doesn't seem to be any leaks in the engine bay.
Ironically, both of these problems seemed to start just after the MOT test (which the car passed). I can't see how the MOT tester could have caused them and haven't returned to ask...
Any ideas?
John Read more
Involves removing brake master cylinder,so best left to the experts IMO!
--
Steve
Hi All
Many thanks to all who helped on my previous post.
I currently have a Toyota Avensis on a contract lease which I intend to get out of by purchasing the car out of the contract.
I am estimating that Toyota will offer me a figure of around 13K for the car. Its 9 months old and done just over 26000 miles as a rep-mobile!!!
The car, for you info, is a D4-D T4 2.0 Diesel.
Any tips on haggling with Toyota Financial Services to get the price down and most importantly, what its the best way to finance this purchase?
Thanks all.
Mike Read more
You want a Cahoot flexible loan - you can repay these as you wish and you only pay interest calculated daily on the outstanding balance. The minimum payments aren't huge either, and they seem to hand them out fairly freely.
Having been stung (£120 from Geneva to Courchevel) before can anyone advise on bus or train to go from Chambery airport to La Plagne (Montalbert) and back which I am told is a one hour journey. Web quote from local transfer company is £169 (bear in mind flight is only £48-50 return) or would it be worth hiring a car. Read more
French Railways Web Site
You may need a taxi to / from the station....
www.sncf.com/indexe.htm
good luck, and please post how you got on.
Hi there. I'm looking to buy a new car from an on line broker. They are called Sonnauto. Before I hand over my hard earned cash, anybody know of this company ?? Thanks Read more
Didn't know how current this was, yes, I have heard and bought from them. My experience was a positive one, I had certain options on my order which apparently conflicted with the model, so I was always kept in the loop. It is always daunting buying off any internet company, but even more so when its as big a purchase as a car. E-mails were replied to and phone calls answered at every stage. Car was delivered slightly later than planned due to delays at the Ford factory, but aside from that the car arrived when they said it would, and I must say I was very pleased. The discounts comparable to other internet car companies was also very good and I don't believe I could have beaten the deal. A recommended company.
I've got £5k to spend on a large family size car (Vectra size minimum).
Must be diesel.
Preferably hatchback.
Will consider the "sexier" looking estates (Avant/spootwagon style) but no repmobile estates (Passat, mondeo style)
Want something with a bit of Kudos.
Want something that's not going to cost the earth to maintain.
Ideas? Read more
Ah - just spotted the bit about it 'must be Diesel'....
£2,000+ (nigh on 16%) off at Drivethedeal.
They seem to get good reviews and I have a dealer nearby.
Is there a drawback?
--
Stevie
Lakland 44-02 Sunburst Read more
"It's an intersting exercise: any given price band includes cars of very diffrent sizes."
Those of us who are interested in cars and read car mags, tend to see the world in terms of categories (small hatch, rep/family, compact exec etc.). Not everyone sees the world in those terms.
Browse
Aged seventeen, myself and my friend in the car. I'm driving. My friend's driving test is the following day. We're driving back from Flint to Wrexham and we're going past the village of Hope (there's probably a pun in there somewhere) on an NSL road, doing roughly 60. The road is clear and straight with one junction on the right half way along it.
Emerging from this junction and turning left (ie towards us) is a lorry. No problems there you'd think, except that at the same time four lads in an Audi 80 turn right from the same junction, straight into our path. They'd presumably thought that if the lorry was safe to go, so were they. Bit of a miscalculation there.
As I stomp on the brakes and lock up all four wheels the driver of the Audi realises what he's done and puts his foot to the floor, trying to get out of the way. Two ghostly white faces stare through the back window at the pair of headlights screeching towards them, slowly turning sideways as my car rotates, still carving flat-spots into all four tyres. I turn into the skid to try and control it but it's useless - my wheels are locked and even if I were to realise that taking my foot off the brake briefly may help, my right leg won't listen to reason and just presses harder.
At the point where the Audi begins to pull away (ie it is now travelling faster than we are) the gap has been reduced to two or three feet. Another fraction of a second on my reflexes, or another suitcase in the boot of the Audi and we'd have hit. We both continue on our way. Nothing more needs to be said.
The following day my friend passed his test.