March 2006
I have seen you mention an auto box specialist on a couple of occasions,but cant find the topics any where, Any chance of the details? Got a problem with a cvt multitronic audi surging at low revs.
Thanks
Matt Read more
With all the different factors such as oil prices, congestion, parking, corporate social responsibility, environmental concerns, company car schemes etc, is it just a matter of time before luxury cars are extinct?
Currently, since a lot of big cars with big engines depreciate so rapidly, they are good value for money at 3-5 years old.
Will this continue to be the case?
Will the government make harsher changes to taxes to motivate you out of that 10 year old 7 series and into a newer small car?
Some industry planners have mentioned that the UK luxury car market will shrink by 25% over the next few years. Read more
I wouldn't call myself rich but just over a year ago we had enough savings to buy, say, a brand-new Land Rover Discovery TDV6. But we used it to pay off our mortgage and I still drive round in an 11 year-old car worth £1000 at most!!
Rather than bore you all with the "shall I shan't we, ooh, which one" questions - you may be interested to know we have just bought the new Sony Nav-U70T system without forum consultation on Friday last.
I DID go to my room and think about what I've done, but now I've done that I'll let you know what it's like, as I couldn't find much in the way of reviews or other user reports, it being a new unit. So this is by way of a two day mini-first impression review, in case anyone is considering one.
We preferred it to the Tom Tom unit. The screen was clearer somehow, and it's a nice looker. It probably doesn't have quite so many features as TomTom but to my mind that's an advantage. It also has TMC out of the box, which, it turns out, works very well indeed. Basically, as you drive, if there's any traffic problems on your route it throws up a message with the option to evade or ignore them - and a recommendation as to which you should do. Nice, simple, works a treat.
Voice is clear, although even at full volume is lost in the car we used over the weekend. Not surprising as it's a very noisy car. In one of the others it will be fine no doubt. It's a small point, but the voice is polite and pleasant. The Mercedes and Audi units always sound a bit imperative to me. My Lexus satnav lady is much more natural and pleasant, and this one is too. A plus.
The screen is sharp and updates very quickly. Recalculation of the route if you go wrong happens VERY fast - a turn onto the motorway (in fact deliberate) resulted in a new route being worked out by the end of the slip road. It also doesn't do that irritating thing of trying to re-route you back to the original for miles after it's obvious a new route is better (a la Lexus I'm afraid)
Three D map zooms in and out automatically as you approach junctions nicely, and there's a two D one too that shows points of interest etc. There seem to be about a billion of those.
We haven't yet worked out if anything can be done with speed cameras - not built in as poi. Not sure also about displaying points of interest on the 3d display. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. A setting somewhere I think.
Other features like waypoints, unexpected roadblocks and "find my nearest bank" or "find me a restarant in Cambridge" type things too, as you might expect. Ability to save itineraries under a name. Well designed menus mean you never have to press more than four or five buttons at max to achieve anything.
Finally, the cradle it comes with is rock solid. We had a four hour journey on Saturday and the battery was still going strong - we didn't use the in car charger at all, although it comes with it as well as a mains charger - it automatically dims at night, the screen is a good but unobtrusive size and it feels like a top quality unit.
Has all of Europe in, so is comparable to Tomtom7. Costs a bit more but does have the traffic stuff straight way, no subscriptions or anything.
Cost £430, worth every penny so far. You can get a cheaper unit that is the same but just has the UK in it if you prefer. Prices will no doubt fall.
Lovely little gadget. Read more
In Midhurst on Sunday for an autojumble just walking back after unloading some purchases, (old pub stuff,managed to persuade the missus that the whisky etc would better in old optics and holders)and walking around a corner it was like the scene from one of those Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (showing off because i can remember their names)Sherlock Holmes films where it is perpetually foggy," it was a real peasouper guv an no mistake"
As the fog receded so did a BMW !, why do they do that ? follow a cloud and normally a BMW will be atached to it. Read more
Ah ! But if we all decided to not to buy new ones and drove our cars into the groud, there would be no cast offs for you to buy.
Go to page 321 of the hardback edition of Hitch Hiker's Guide to te Universe and see what happened to a certain spiritual being when He applied similar logic.
Glad to report that a 535d will present bedfordri with a cloud of blue smoke when floored - oh and the accelerator didn't jam open.
Just bought an M reg 1.4 Escort Hatchback basic model and am surprised on how much fuel it uses.
It is doing about 25-30 mpg, is this normal ?, if not what should i looking for as this is a bit more technical than the old Range Rover.
Cheers
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Aroun town that would be expected. On long runs 35mpg + should be possible.
A basic servcie: oil/plugs/filters and clean out all breathers would probably help. If air filter is dirty worth 2-3mpg...
madf
The Ford Ka came out in 1996. Other than a new engine and a few changes to the interior trim, it is still pretty well identical today, and still going. Apparently it will reach 10 years in September.
Any other mainstream vehicles still in production, effectively unchanged, after 10 years? If not, what are the closest? And do models get replaced more often these days?
(Obviously the word 'mainstream' is a little difficult to define, but I realise that there will be things like Morgans which will be pretty much unchanged for a lot longer.)
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>>I see the baby has woken up for his evening feed<<
I didn't want you to think I'd gone or anything.
Hello all
A friend of mine has been told by her local garage that the HG has gone on her W reg 1.4l astra. She has been quoted £600 for repairs which i think is a bit pricey. This is not a dealer but a local indie. I have told her to shop around, but i was wondering if any backroomers have any experience of this repair on this engine and what she should be paying.
I am curious as to why the gasket has gone anyway, the car has only done around 30K, but is mainly used for short trips.
Thanks Read more
Thanks for the reply. I havnt actually seen the car myself, but the garage told my friend it is leaking into the water system (pressurising). She reports no water loss or decrease in performance. She has not even lifted the bonnet herself to have a look!
I may be able to have a look at it later and will see if i can perform the usual tests.
In the handbook for my elderly neighbour's new Corsa, it says "Switch off all auxiliary electrical loads (e.g. air conditioning, heated rear window) when not needed" in the interests of fuel economy. The best advice for air conditioning seems to be "use it or lose it", which is what I told her. Hence, she's confused. Any views? Read more
I don't know about not using a/c below 5 degrees - my a/c comes on automatically when I choose the demister blower so I don't have a choice.
I must admit that I do tend to turn it off unless its really warm ... which I guess now isn't the right thing to do - from what Im reading on here I guess the concensus is to leave it on all the time unless you really need to turn it off.
Im a little confused tho, I must admit :/
I recently wrote a letter to Vauxhall to complain about all the problems I've had with my SXi. Received a reply earlier in the week with a voucher worth £1000 off a new or Network Q car which is valid until March 2008! Now I'm not sure what to do, do I trade my car in now for a new or used car or do I wait until closer to 2008? My car has been valued at £8000 if I trade it in and obviously it will depreciate more by 2008. Anyone any advice? Read more
Read your voucher carefully I bet it says.....
"only valid on the full list price of the car" or something like that...
In effect its the same discount you would get from a dealer anyway, and in effect is not worth the paper its printed on.
If this is the case then only discuss the cost to change, rather than negotiating a discount or trade in value. The full list price does not apply then as you have not negotiated that down. Then hit them with the voucher as part of the payment.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
We are going down to the Dordogne this year.
Sadly we have to travel on the last weekend in July so the roads will be quite busy. Because of the number of sailings we won't be using Speedferries but the Chunnel (affordable with Tesco Vouchers). Conventional ferries are too slow/delayed at peak times. We will be travelling across at about 11:00 Friday to arrive 16:00 Saturday (after Supermarket stop).
We will be doing an overnight stop. In previous years we have stopped off at Le Mans (slow bits before now autoroute hopefully) and now nearly all autoroute to Limoges down. We have also stopped off at Orleans (too near on the way back) and spent hours running through Evreux and Dreux going down. I don't want to drive through Paris. I'm not sure that even the Peripherique is a good idea so we have gone via Rouen.
Any ideas or recommendations?
Thanks,
Simon
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No, I went via Evreux, Dreux and Chartres which I think you will find is a better route.
The N 143 from Tours to Chateauroux can be dreadful so I decided not to chance it. The N 154 has been improved further since last October, when I travelled home, so you shouldn't have much of a problem. Beware of travelling through Chartres, as opposed to going around, as they are doing some work in the centre. Unless anyone has been through in the past two weeks and knows better.
Browse
Well, FATE is your best bet - URL already given.
Derek King at 'The Mechanical Workshop' in Leicestershire has been doing auto for about 30 years and gets a lot of Ford CVT's to rebuild. To be honest I suspect few transmission repairers have seen an Audi Multitronic - most will still be within the dealer network and major repairs will be 'unit swaps'.
Having seen the service manual for a Multitronic I would say its best to get shot of it if its your own car. The technology is fraught to say the least - they depend on about 50 variables being 'spot on' to work properly - looks a complete nightmare to repair - if indeed its possible (could be Audi-only factory rebuild).