March 2006
Hi Guys and Ladies,
Going to change my tyres this week and wanting to pay Kwik Fit / ATS prices, anyone recommend a good independent in the Manchester Area (north/central) for tyres? Looking for Goodyear NT5's 205/55/16 or similar brand.
thanks
Lee Read more
I have to carry-out some work on our Peugeot 306 which involves draining the coolant. As I have a full bottle of VW G12 antifreeze I was going to use this for the refill. Am I risking disaster? Or if I make sure I completely flush the old stuff out should I be okay? Or should I just use "normal" antifreeze? Read more
My Glysantin G33 mix is apparently ethylene glycol based AND OAT.
www.performancechemicals.basf.com/ev-wcms-in/inter...s
A trade centre near me has plenty of one year old new Focus 'Trend' Tdci 90s. They look to be good value at 12000 Euros (about 7,800 pounds??) with 18000kms (about 12000 miles)on them. The estate is 13000 euros. They will have and one years factory gaurantee left on them. They will be due their first service after being bought.
I was just wondering if this car feels underpowered, it having the smallest power output on the new Focus diesel range???
Any experiences???
This centre is in Grenoble, France. You often see good deals on good cars in which the French have little interest, e.g. Fords, Skodas, Nissans. The French buy French cars.' Why'would start a very interesting thread.
You can take a look at ac38.com
Then click on 'notre stock'
The word 'break' means estate. Otherwise, you should understand I think. Cheers and thanks to all for the pleasure of reading your
postings. Read more
>>it's the torque and there is plenty of that.>>
Plus knowing exactly when to change up...:-)
Which is what many people don't understand about diesels.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
I am currently looking at a Ford Focus estate for a new company car and have a few questions
Why has Ford appeared to have replaced the PSA 1.6 diesel with the old 1.8 ?
(I know this has been covered in a topic on the C-Max recently but if anyone knows any more it would be much appreciated as I have a mental scar with Ford diesels dating back 10 years to my first company car, a 1.8d Escort)
How will either engine compare to the 1.9 Tdi 105 ?
I do around 50k miles a year mainly on A road dual carriageways and single ones with lots of hills and good overtaking oppertunities
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I seem to recall there were supply problems with the PSA diesels early on in the Focus 2's life. A friend couldn't even get a build date for a 2.0 TDCi 136 he wanted to order. He was told by a dealer that PSA were apparently prioritising their own models when allocating engines, and Ford were simply getting what was left over. Plus of course the diesel Focus is itself a massive seller.
Maybe this situation has something to do with it??
On Monday I visited a local retail park and parked next to a new Lexus 300. When getting out of the car I noticed a mobile phone in the pocket between the seats and thought 'there's an invitation for a local scroat'. I then look in the car further and there was a Nikon SLR digital camera sat on the passenger seat. Needless to say sitting on the backseat was a lovely looking Dell laptop!!
There was so much hi-tech gear in there I was suspicious of it being a set up, but I have the feeling the owner was just plain stupid! How many times do we need to be told not to leave valuables on siplay? Read more
Around 1960 a frisky Guards officer of my acquaintance stole a
Lancia B20 in Chelsea and drove it to Oxford and back,
making the return trip on the old A40 from Headington roundabout
to Denham in an alleged 37 minutes (I wasn't present so
didn't time it myself).
Afterwards he returned the Lancia to its parking place. We used
to wonder whether the owner had even noticed.
Denham Eh! Did you ever use the Lambert Arms P.H. just off the Denham roundabout on the way into Uxbridge? circa 73-77
Happy days..............M.D.
Guys - My 2002 Mazda 323TD has just failed the N Ireland MOT because the smoke readings exceeded the limits by a wide margin (avg 8.7m-1). My local franchised Mazda dealer prepared the car for me (£600, including new timing belt!) and they will be taking the car in again for adjustment/retest. My question is can they reduce the readout down to 3.0m-1 simply by adjustment or am I looking at a major part replacement? Read more
Im not familiar with the 323 but on some diesels the injection timing is mechanically controlled (eg a seperate belt that drives the pump) and there is plenty of scope for incorrect adjustment of the pump to cause problems. If the dealer has just replaced the timing belt then I would have thought that they will have had an impact on the injection timing.
My company has suffered twice in two visits to a well known auction in witney,
First time a towbar pin and jump socket were removed from our recovery van and today the blighters removed all the lenses from our light bar(breaking them in the process)
Now im not blaming the auction as the van was 500 yards from the site but us traders need to be aware that these lowlifes are targeting recovery/breakdown vehicles in the surrounding roads BEWARE
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Hi there, I am thinking of buying a vw polo 1.4SE W reg (2000) 75 BHP. The car has covered 23000 miles and seems in good condition..there a two slight scrapes on the rear bumper but thats about it. It has full service history, with the last two services from local garages. In the last service the tooth belt, which I assume is the cam belt, was changed. The car has had 2 female owners. Please can anyone advise on particular areas/issues that need to be considered. many thanks in advance. Read more
Stating the obvious - check out HJ/s comments. Beware - german cars are not what they were. I believe some polos have had gearbox problems. I have seen three such cases in my local garage recently.
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Dear Mods,
Please could you move my thread to somewhere where Pugugly might see it. I have gone and done the wrong thread thing again. {Done - DD}
I need L plates.
PS adverse possession thingie... I just bought a copy of his deeds from the land registry and find that he is supposed to have planted two cypress hedges across two gaps and they should be always kept at 4 feet.
:)
Hey guys..
As most of you know, I've decided to buy a 5 Series as my next car. Well, almost.
I keep thinking that a 3 Series would be almost as good in some ways, and better in others. I initially discounted them becuase I didn't think I'd be able to get one for my budget - £10k absolute tops (would be happier with 7-9k) - as I'd want a facelift sport.
However, it would appear that Glass's trade value for 2001-2003 325i and 330i Sports is between £7k and £10k if I go for something with between 80 and 130k on the clock. Especially as I want a manual, whereas most people want an auto, and although I'd prefer Leather, I don't mind the Alcantara thats standard.
Is this wide of the mark? Can I really expect to get a decent example of a 330i or a 325i in Sport trim for this sort of money? How do these values compare to those of 530i/525i Sports?
I'm using Glass's Guide's 'Average' condition trade-in values to give me an idea of auction value - as these seem to tally with the amounts cars in HJ's auction reports are actually selling for. I'd probably either go up myself, or perhaps get Joe Dowd to source me one.
Anyone own one? What do you think? How does it compare to the 5 Series? What sort of fuel economy do you get?
Evo Magazine suggests that the 330i is quite a rocketship, doing 0-60 in 5.9 seconds. I'm suprised I can even get an insurance quote, but hey, I won't knock it. Read more
But will you be able to afford to fuel it, the
rate the Chinese are expanding there won't be any oil left...
I was reading an article earlier in the week, if the
Chinese economy keeps expanding at its current rate, they will need
to build two new nuclear power stations every year for the
next 15 years.
I think every month will be nearer the mark.


I've also used Thistlethwaites in Bolton and had good prices and good service.
Preston might be a bit too far for you to go- but Jewel Tyres on Fylde Road, Presotn are good in my experience. Its a small back place off Fylde Road, no thrill's but good prices and don't expect to pay on plastic !