January 2006
Believe it or not - my mate (the one who bought the Ibiza 130 a while ago) wants to change cars...AGAIN.
He has three choices and wants impartial opinions. I keep telling him the RS naturally but he thinks I may be somewhat biased.
1) Ford Focus RS
2) Seat Leon Cupra R
3) Porsche Boxtser S
I know you're all probably going to say the Porsche but assume that's an outside chance of being able to afford it so just assume it's a possibility whilst the other two are definites.
The RS is the best one isn't it?
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I'm toying with the idea of buying a 2-year old Mercedes C-class in the Spring.
Does anyone know if a new model C-class is due out later this year? If so, it would make the old-shape model look dated pretty quickly. That said, I suppose that a new model would drive down prices for the 2-year old model I'd be looking to buy!
Thanks, Nick. Read more
Bill Payer,
Your pic's are a lot better.
Nice combination of new S Class/CLS styling.
Hope the interior looks as good.
Hi
am having trouble starting takes about 3 to 4 minutes just doesn't seem to want fire up, am now having to charge new battery any ideas?
Terry Read more
Battery puff that is,during cranking all power is sent to starter ie highest current draw.as on bump start coil is fed so it starts,
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Steve
Any idea what would cause both (nearside & offside) front inner brake pads to wear the discs faster than the respective outer pads. I replaced the discs and pads at the same time about 20K ago.
Is it possible for the outer pad carrier assembly to be sticking on the caliper assy as the inner discs operate directly from the caliper piston. When i stripped them down to replace the pads i cleaned the 2 fescilized stubs and lighted greased them with LM grease, could this be stopping/hindering the reactive action of the outer pads??
Car is a 97 Mondeo, brakes lock up well, and pulls up in a straight line with no obvious brake mismatch. Read more
I think its a fairly common happening. Possible reasons I've heard:-
Sliding pin calipers
Different airflow/muckflow through wheels.
hi all, first posting. my ever faithful mini has a little problem, when hot the tickover is sometimes rock solid at 850 rpm but sometimes it hovers between 700 and 1000 rpm. this dos not cause any problems but it is annoying. its a 1996 single point injection model, the first car i have ever owned without a carburetor!
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sounds like an air leak somewhere between the air filter and the inlet manifold..
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www.storme.co.uk
which car? Read more
I would be suprised if the R32 has residual performance similar to that of the Mk4. The Mk4 R32 was launched over 4 years after the rest of the Mk4 Range, and was only ever available in small quantities until it was discontinued only a year or two after production started.
It would appear none of this is the case with the new R32. It is available not that long after the rest of the range and presumably has many years of production left.
Reading a nine year old copy of Autocar earlier this evening (in the bath!) and was intrigued by a comparison test between a standard Jaguar XK8 and a XKR SVO.
The road-tester kept mentioning how the standard car suffererd terribly from brake fade whereas the XKR with it's larger Brembo brakes did not.
Now although i've heard the term brake fade before i've never really understood what it means or it's implecations or indeed how to achieve it.
So in laymans terms could anyone in backroom explain this technical term and it's effects on ordinary motorists like me?
Have you had it? Read more
There can be many reasons for a reduction in actual or percieved braking efficiency however "fade" refers to the effect caused by the surface of the pad melting and therefore reducing the amount of friction between the pad and disc. My Dolomite Sprint used to suffer from this, the brakes were just not up to the job, revised pads (can't remember the spec) helped though required more of a heave on the pedal when cold.
I get on well with my father-in-law, not only because he?s a violent womaniser who abandoned his wife and children, but because of the way he laid his cards on the table when we met. His first words to me were - You may think I?m just a Polish peasant but I?ve got enough money in the bank to fly to England and kill you if you harm my daughter. Fair enough. Anyway, I had an argument with him on New year?s eve that might interest backroomers. He told me I was stupid to sell the old 605 with only 130k miles on the clock as his Passat is now showing 487k and still going strong. That?s rubbish I said, you?ve told me on several occasions that it?s on its third engine. You can?t claim starship mileages if the engine, the very heart of the car, has been changed. You?re disqualified, I told him. He wasn?t having any of it.
Remember when Trigger received a medal from Peckham Council for having the same broom last for 20 years? When asked about his achievement he replied - it?s had four new heads and three new handles. Well I think this is the same thing. And I?m right, aren?t I? Read more
He?s a taxi driver so I guess it doesn?t take quite so long to build the miles up (km in his case, sorry I didn?t clarify). In fact I did offer him my 605, perfect for taxi work, I only wanted 500 squid for it because lets face it, it?s useless in Poland being RHD, and basically I would have given it to him but he wasn?t interested. I got a lucky break, a lad in Lodz heard me talking about it at a party and bought it there and then. He?s converted it to LHD and I saw it last week, they?ve done a fantastic job. He?s really pleased and so he should be, when it was valued for registration for the import tax (axiza) they estimated it to be worth about 2,200. A throw away car in the UK, but a cherished vehicle here. Cost to convert was 800.
I used to think there was a business opportunity there, but the conversion was beset by problems, every time they thought they were getting there they found something else, which meant often driving hundreds of kilometres to scrappies trying to find parts for a car that was never very popular. Typical problems- wiring loom too short to reach the dash in it?s new position, airbag, mine was a facelifted version and the first dash they found was the old version. Stuff like that. But there are garages that specialise in that here, I?ve been checking them out for my 406 - again worth here more than twice what I paid in the UK.
is this common on 2.2 ltr petrol 150 bhp engines that the car started missing i brought it to the vauxhall garage they said it was the coil pack on top of the spark plugs i ordered one it would take a few days to get it so i stayed driving the car then it stopped on the road towed it home parts arrived i fitted it their was a bang from the engine it still would not start i took out the spark plugs one was damaged looking down the plug hole i could see the piston no 4 was damaged so i took off the head to find that a valve had broke and damaged the piston real bad , but on closer inspection there was 2 valve marks dents in every piston the pistons have hit the valves the timing chain is not broke and the key ways are fine on the timing gears on the cams shaftsthe only one i havent checked yet is the gear on the crank shaft
has any one ever seen this to happen
ps the car year is 01 Read more
hase,
Can we have some punctuation in the reply please as it will make it easier to read? Thanks.
Chris M
Was looking at buying an Ibiza cupra with the Audi 20v turbo engine (which was a very good price) but when checking car over found no oil on dipstick at all!
Had let car stand for at least half hour for any to drain back.
Car had a full history and had a major service end of August.
There was no oil light on and engine sounded fine when I heard it run earlier on.
Was I right to asume the worst or do you think that there might have been enough oil in for there to be no problems?
Thanks for any help. Read more
the turbo may have eaten all the oil?
Browse
8 and a half grand.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=37674&...t