March 2006
Just in case anyone is worried about selling on eBay - don't be.
I have sold 6 cars over the last 6 months via eBay and no problems. The last two both sold within **5 hours** on a Buy It Now! Buyers came, inspected, paid the money (cash only) and took away. Best of all its cheaper than Autotrader. Read more
Hi all,
I recently left an ad for my gf's car on the classifieds section here, also in autotrader, and on my work intranet. Have had not a peep of interest, except from those awful 'car matching' companies.
It's a 2000V 318Ci, E46, 69k, lilac blue in colour, not leather but autochanger & autodim rear view mirror. Very good condition. I put it in at £9k.
Is the price too high? Is this a bad time of year? Any suggestions (ebay, for example)? She's already found a Honda Accord owned by a friend's father- we're keen to sell, as Accord's owner is waiting to take delivery of his new company car.
Ta in advance,
Alex.
--
Dr Alex Mears
MG BGT 1971
If you are in a hole stop digging...unless
you are a miner. Read more
I agree with much that has been said. My experience of the BMW is that it is a good car, but not 2.5 times as good as the Accord that will replace it. And also not as good (in my opinion) as my old Leon Cupra (which sold for £8500- for a 53 plate). Still, you pays your money... and the 3-series coupe carries a certain kudos, if you like that sort of thing (personally I don't)
I do like Saabs (especially the latest 9-3), but have heard stories about questionable reliability recently- if it were my money (on a modern car), I'd be looking at Japanese or poss VAG (Skoda or SEAT rather than VW or Audi). Then again, I bought a 35 year-old British car, so my sanity may be questionable itself!!
I'm going to re-advertise at £8000, take £7500 (or rather she will!), should hope to get a nibble.
Cheers for your input!
--
Dr Alex Mears
MG BGT 1971
If you are in a hole stop digging...unless
you are a miner.
SWMBO's 1.4 Puma "squeals" when the clutch is taking up when moving off from rest. Has anybody come across this before and is is something to be investigated or just lived with? Other than the noise there's no sign of any malfunction. Read more
Clutch release bearing? Loose alternator drive belt?
Not only me then.
Hi, I'm a bit of a newbie. Not really a car expert but know enough to know my Astra isn't running right at the minute.
I seem to be allsorts of problems with the thing at the moment and when I've taken it to the garage, they hook it up to the computer and tell me it's alright, it doesn't have anything wrong with it.
It seems to have an intermittent sluggishness problem. The fuel gauge seems to stick every now and then so I have to guess how much is in there. My fuel economy seems to have plummeted too. My radio seems to be possessed and have a mind of it's own. When it's cold, and I've been driving my car for a while, when I finally stop my fan is on for quite some time and there's a smell - bit like clutch burning. Running temperature is generally just above half way on the gauge as a norm.
A while ago, my engine management light came on, and I had a problem when I was slowing down to pull up and park, it would labour, oil light would flash, and then rev itself a bit or cut out. (Oil levels are fine) But just before I dropped it in garage it stopped doing this and hasn't since.
Now, like I say, I'm not the most technical of people, but surely this is all wrong and there is something up with the thing - even if some teenager in an overall says computer says no.
Any advice? Read more
Astra Woman
An '98 Astra-G on an S-plate should have the X14XE engine. That's one of those that suffer from coolant temp sensor problems. If you can find a competant garage with suitable live-data reading equipment; [that's most of them now] they'll be able to compare the actual engine temp to the one that the sensor is sending the ECU.
Although there hundreds of other possibilities, that would be the closest fit with most of your described symptoms. [The burning smell is indeed very likely to be caused by seized front brake calipers.]
You've got £3,000. You've got a regular commute of an hour motorway, forty-five minutes country roads, and half hour through town so not just handling but ride is important too. It's cheap-to-run, and fits for four/five people with a decent sized boot. You need the basic luxuries, a/c, CD, elec wins etc...
What 3 cars would you choose for you shortlist? Read more
My suggestion is given how much time you will be spending in the car, you need something that is durable as well as reliable, and quiet too.
Go for the mini-cabbers favourite, Toyota Avensis. Boring and bland, but a good choice, IMHO.
They have just closed the A415 in Oxfordshire for the second time in a year with 2 weeks notice. From Cheddar's comment, the A road through Banwell is also closed. There are many medium to major roadworks occuring around Oxfordshire that I know of (as well as some real major ones like the A40 and A34)
Time and time again we have March madness where every little bit of cash has to be spent in a few weeks causing traffic chaos. Cant this money be allocated and the cash spent over a properly profiled duration?
StarGazer Read more
Time and time again we have March madness where every little
bit of cash has to be spent in a few weeks
causing traffic chaos. Cant this money be allocated and the cash spent over a properly profiled duration?
StarGazer
Be nice wouldn't it? I suppose the counterargument without being an apologist for councils is that the money "might" be needed earlier in the year for emergency works, and when it comes round to the last quarter, you've got to spend the money left.
Crazy system, i quite agree with you.
I was reading the article on the best motorway services:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4781082.stm
Have a look at the archive picture at the top...4 star for 51.9 pence!
StarGazer Read more
Probably arrived in a late-model 'prestige make' car that he had bought for cash a few days earlier. You wouldn't want him soiling the white hide seats would you?
Mondeo 1.8TD 1995 N-reg. If I park it on even a slight gradient it won't start... has anyone any ideas? Everywhere I've phoned has said it might be the non-return valve (not mentioned in Haynes anywhere!). It's also been a right wotsit to start anyway but, having read an old thread on here, I think it might confirm my thought that it could be the glow plugs??
I had intended to change them anyway.. but does anyone have any technical advice on the easiest way to perform this task.. I'm not particularly mechanically minded!!
Thanks in anticipation of some great advice. Simon Read more
Well Thanks for your help the rac man put a rubber glove over the filter and it worked , that was untill i went out the next morning so i went to fords and as suggested by the replies i bought a new filter assembly. £64 got it home fitted it in 5 minutes and the transformation is amazing not just when starting on a slope nose up but through the whole rev range we just didnt realise how bad it had become over the last 3 years it now pulls through the entire rev range in all first 4 gears havent tried the 5th yet,its like driving a new car , the next job is to have a go at fitting new glow plugs as its still difficult to start in the cold mornings but is ok when its warmed up . Q do i have to remove anything out the way of the glow plugs , as two out of the four look like they will come out easy but the other two look to be behind the diesl pipes , Do they all come out ok? your help would be gratfully recived,
and thanks for the help with the air leak :O)
Last weekend i had a short test drive in an 05 Mondeo 2.0LX petrol auto. It meets all my needs and at £8k ish is real value.
But has the auto box been fixed? HJ identified the problem in "car-by-car"and others refer to it but has Ford done anything to later models that will make it last beyond 60/70 k?
Is the auto diesel a better bet? Read more
I tried the DSG in a 2.0tdi Altea. Fabulous, one constant surge of power. A bit shunty at town speed and the Altea not for me. I guess my ideal car would be a Passat with DSG/Tdi. Too pricey for me, need a couple of years depreciation first.
Thanks for input so far, anyone with more info on the Mondeo petrol autobox lifespan? Obviously some will do 100k.
Browse
A friend of mine bidded (bad?!) on a Merc C220 last week, assured it was genuine etc. He did a HPI test and it was Cat D. Now I know this can happen anywhere etc. etc. but it does show that bad things happen on e-bay... just a word of warning.