March 2006
Chaps,
My colleague at work came up with a dead good idea for our corporate event (jolly). Going endurance racing!
I know very little about endurance racing. What he means is racing in a normal everyday car round and round a grass track, i.e. how they destroyed the under £1500 coupes on Top Gear.
Does anyone know where this goes on in within a hour of Bristol? I'll do a google myself, i just wondered if anyone knew.
Now the main question for discussion: what is the optimum car for driving around a grass track for a large number of laps with, er, contact. Petrol or Diesel? FWD or RWD? Mondeo or Sierra?
My favourite would be a MkII Granada, but I doubt i'll find one. I have a contender, but i'll keep it under wraps until i get some response.
Budget - as cheap as possible!
TIA Read more
Hi guys, don't know if anyone is still around tonight but...
My old golf has just failed it's MOT today on a worn suspension arm thing. 92pounds plus VAT to replace it, and some more to realign the steering afterwards, apparently. 142 total including VAT. I took the car in for a service and MOT.
Now, do i just say yes? i.e. does that price sound about right? Or am i possibly getting sucked into paying for work that doesn't need to be done. If it was just a service, then i'd be right to be careful, but an MOT is completely above board....right??????
Get 2nd opinion or just trust and go ahead? I told the bloke to give me an evening to think about it!!!
many thanks
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I know the chain you are on about - I used them once to fit a complete exhaust and 2 tyres, price was the best in the area for the work but then they tried to tell me i needed 2 rear cylinders and a wheel bearing - none of which needed doing, So they may get more business on things like tyres if they are the cheapest, but other then that I will steer clear - It could of course be the individual branch rather then the chain, but my feeling is they are all on bonuses so all look to get as much work as possible.
I am trying to find out what a hall sender looks like for a 1985 (B reg?) Audi Coupe GT 1998cc (I think).
It's actually my mothers who lives in France (had the car from new!!) but it cuts out for no reason and starts ok a few minutes later. Various relays have been replaced by the local garages to no avail and after investigation by moi it may well be the hall sender (or sensor as some might know it). However, rather than go the expense of getting a brand new one (£200) and seeing if it works I ordered a 2nd hand one from a guy who specialises in Audi Coupes. He sent it to me but it was not what I was expecting but still sent it to france - only for Dad to email saying he thinks it's the wrong one. Before I go back to the Audi guy I just am trying to find out what it should look like!!
Many thanks if you can help.
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must be a yank site - IIRC the american audi 100 was named the 4000 and the audi 200 the 5000
A small deep hole resulting from a stone has appeared on the windscreen. I do not have windscreen insurance. Can I fill it with epoxy resin? Or what is best? Regards, Mike. Read more
Thanks for the replies. The hole is very small but deep under the tax disc.Cheers, Mike.
On setting one, my heater fan makes an irritating chirpy squeaking noise. How viable is the idea of getting it out and greasing it a bit? Or am I likely to end up messing with some electric current and setting my dashboard on fire?
Car is a Fiat Coupe, although I'd guess that's irrelevant. {not neccessarily, as other owners may also have a similar squeak and could advise, hence why I've added it to the subject header - DD} Read more
Right. Cheers all. Touch wood, the light oiling seems to have helped a lot for now (it sometimes squeaks now on setting 1 only when turning left, which I can cope with) but if it gets worse again, I may try the ATF.
It now seems that Halfords no longer provide a cut-to-size service for door mirror glass replacement (as used a few years ago).
Does anyone know who can do this? Read more
When I was in the motor trade (few years ago) the local glazier would cut one for a couple of quid. Flat glass and not shatterproof, but it did the job.
I have been looking at the brand new Renault Megane 1.9DCi 130 Dynamique models for sale at £9999 (3dr) and £10999 (5dr) on www.motorpoint.co.uk, a saving of almost £5k against the UK list price.
I called Motorpoint to ask about the warranty and was told that the vehicles were built for the Cyprus market but would be covered by the manufacturers warranty. They could not be any more specific.
These models at UK dealers come with a 3 year / 60,000 mile warranty with 10,000 mile / 12 months service intervals.
Renault UK Customer Services tell me that because the vehicles were destined for Cyprus they would need to be serviced to that country's schedule, which is every 6000 miles or 12 months, and that the warranty would only be for 2 years / 25,000 miles.
I can understand why they are saying this in principle, it is obviously a method to try to discourage people from buying the imports in the first place. What I find annoying is that the car is to the same spec as the UK equivalent, yet they are able to make such a restrictive condition just because they feel like it.
What do others think on this? Read more
It is quite interesting that many goods sold in this country
(particularly electical/electronic goods) still only come with a one year warranty.
Yet, for example, digital cameras bought from France come with a
2 year warranty, when the same camera bought in the UK
has only a 1 year warranty. Sony were notorious for
offering only 90 day warranties on their digital cameras at one
time (in the US I think).
I thought I'd read some time ago that the EU were insisting on 2yr w'tees for everything.
However, warranty is 'in addition to your statutory rights' - and they, amongst other things, demand that the item should work for a reasonable period of time. Difficulty is with the timing, but with domestic appliances for example, it's generally considered to be 5yrs.
I've never understood why the same principle's don't appear to be applied to cars? Although, to be fair, when both rear springs broke on wife's 4 yr old Clio (and this was a 1998 car with a 1 yr w'tee) Renault replaced FOC after nothing more than a firm request.
I know from an earlier thread that late October to early November is the best time to buy at auction, but it will be a new car (Civic, Golf, Mazda3, Octavia). Would I be right in thinking no-one is buying a new car in summer? Or will the best time be early October?
I won't have a trade-in and I know the best places to look are HJ's "Week's Best Deals".
Ta.
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Stevie
Lakland 44-02 Sunburst Read more
Towards the end of the month?
Afternoon everyone
We picked up a brand new Nissan X-Trail last week. We got the 2.2 diesel version with a reported 37 mpg. However, on my rough calculations we are only getting approx 28mpg and yet we are driving very sedately at the moment.
I'm aware that on new cars, they are not fully economical and takes time for the engine to bed down before becoming more economical. However, this does seems to be a remarkable low fuel economy rate.
How many miles does diesel engines needs to cover before they become more economical? And when this occurs, can I expect an improvement of approx 10mpg?
Thanks.
PS - Apologies to those who has seen this post elsewhere!
SVM Read more
You have had the car for a week. YOu cant work out the average MPG in a weeks driving, it needs to be averaged over a 1000 miles. YOu dont mention what kind of driving you have been doing (urban, school run, motorway driving)
Dont treat this thing gently, they really need to be worked to get them run in and perform nicely later.
About 10k is right before you get any idea of what this thing is going to give you.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Just been offered an old Bmw 735 E32 1988 7 series for about £700. Tempted to buy it as a second car for a bit of fun, however the car by car breakdown doesn't seem too happy about these cars, suggesting I should get it checked out by a specialist before I part with any money.
All well a good if the car cost 10 times as much, but not at this price.
Other web sites have been a little more encouraging, basically saying that if you stick to using specialists, don't worry about every little thing (heated cup holders and the like) and as long as the engine and gearbox are in good working order and you check the obvious, the costs should be pretty low (as long as you ignore the oil well draining thirst).
Anybody got any thoughts on these cars?
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Near you there will be one or more independant BMW specialists.
These people know more than some BMW dealers,the one near me gets more calls from our local BMW dealer than he makes to them!
See if they can keep the thing running for a year whatever the electrics do,you might have to get secondhand parts for them to use.
But what a lovely,lovely car for the price of a long weekend in Paris.
Robin
Browse
Mare, your proposed race sounds like it will be the best fun you can have on 4 wheels, I am most jealous, keep us posted how it goes!
The Saab sounds like a good bet too - with the solid bumpers in the old Volvo style!...
My first car after Uni was an old Audi 80 quattro, when it finally died (wheel came off when driving home from work), I got it bodge-fixed and ended up selling it spares/repair. I was wanting to take it banger racing, but they wouldnt allow it because it was 4 wheel drive. The traction could have been an unfair advantage on the muddy track, but I dont think it would have taken a lot of crash damage in the condition it was in!