April 2006
i am looking for a new car and would like a golf. i have seen 2 which i like the look of. 1st is a 1997 mk3 1.9 tdi and the other a 1997 mk3 1.8se. The tdi has 110k on the clock and the SE has 89k. both same price at £1750 ono. Is this to pricey for them? What is the best one? anything to look out for Read more
Popped into my local Alfa dealer on Saturday for a closer look at the Brera.
Staff very friendly and happy for myself and 13 year old son to kick the tyres etc. Had a great half hour or so and putting aside the usual Alfa "concerns" I reckon that Alfa must have the most desirable range of new cars available under 25k.
Brera is very good looker with more space than I had expected. However, overall I prefer the lines of the GT coupe. Anyone out there lucky enough to own one?
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IanS
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That'd be me then! And mine was run on main dealer servicing, could be even cheaper if you can use an indie. I'd buy another in the blink of an eye, if I had a big chunk of money to go into a car! A guy over on Pistonheads has just bought his first one & wondered why he didn't do it years ago.
At the mo I'll live with a 3K Porsche that's cost me 25PPM over 22K Miles this year. Although their have been several 166s on E Bay recently for low money, but that'll have to wait until work gives me a petrol card, as I fancy a V6.
Roughly speaking of course, how much are we talking about for the part only for one of these monsters? The current one has snapped in half!
Also, how much of a job is it to change? This could swing whether it goes to an independent or a main dealer.
Thanks,
Adam
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Lol - No! Although I do like the raised driving position!
It's my uncle's car/truck/behemoth. Quite impressed at the dealership though. Ryders Mitsubishi in Bootle, Liverpool. Not the first time they've been really helpful either.
Three months ago my girlfriend bought a Rover 216 T-reg 1.6 from an independent car dealer with 70k on the clock. We didn't notice any problems with car at all until we drove to a friend's house. He said he'd had lots of Rovers and said the engine sounded like a bag of spanners and "on the way out". She has done 1,000 miles since she bought it.
Booked it into a good local garage and they said the engine was terrible and needs a rebuild at a cost of around £800 quid. I've booked it into a Rover-approved dealership for them to give me a quote on it as well, and a more detailed explanation on what's wrong.
Assuming it's something serious that would cost a lot to repair, what recourse do I have under the law, specifically the Sales of Goods Act? I've contacted the garage who sold it and they flatly refused to have anything to do with it, saying it was my problem. When I quoted the Sales of Goods Act, they hung up on me.
I have no idea about how to proceed and any help by you folks would be greatly appreciated. Read more
(1) My main point was that if you want a warranted used car then buy one with a warranty.
(2) In this particular case then I think you have a strong argument as even an old car should be able to do 1000 miles without the engine giving in.
Go on then, reconcile these two statements and I might think you're onto something. He didn't buy a car with warranty, yet you think he's got an argument...., sounds a bit mystical (sic) to me.
Gone are the days when a dealer could sell you a car 'trade sale, sold as seen' with HGF/needing a new 'box. Even if that car costs £200, it has to be in working order as a car. Whether the aircon or heater blower works, or the seat springs are gone, is another matter.
Signing a bit of paper confirming that you have made a trade purchase cannot suddenly make you a trader. Only business-to-business sales reduce the seller's obligations.
Bought new last September. I have never had anything like the fuel consumption given in the handbook, in fact the best extra urban I have achieved is 26mpg which is the urban fuel consumption figure !
Has anyone else encountered the same problem and if so, any ideas ? Read more
My Vectra diesel didn't seem to fully loosen up until about 20,000 miles. Economy improved by about 5-10% from the 17,000 miles I bought the car despite extensive "italian tuning", or maybe because of? :)
I know this can be an emotive issue but just to let any interested party know, I received a reply to an e-mail to Sainsbury's asking if they use a detergent additive in their petrol.
The reponse I got back was that Sainsbury's can confirm that all their petrol does contain detergent additives as an ingredient.
I am now considering using Sainsbury's intead of the normal Shell I try and use. Read more
Interesting. Reading this thread there seem to be quite a few
people that believe:
a. There is no money to be made in retailing petrol.
b. An unbranded fuel to BS EN 228 is inferior to
a branded fuel to BS EN 228.
Just shows that all the money spent by oil companies on
lobbying and advertising is not spend in vain!
Regarding point 'b', surely BS standards are only a minimum requirement/quality to be met. If a certain fuel companys additives enable their fuel to surpass the BS standard, as opposed to just meeting it, then it's a better fuel. No?
I'm sure you guys already know this, but it caught me out today.
I went to the Post Office to buy a new tax disc, armed with MOT certificate (done the day before), reminder letter, and current certificate of insurance - valid until 30th of this month. I was told the insurance certificate was not acceptable because it didn't refer to the period for which the tax disc would run.
Now the insurance has been renewed, but the new certificate hasn't actually arrived, so I thought I'd get the disc while the old one was still valid. Nope! The assistant in the Post Office said that even if my current certificate had run one single day into May she could have issued the disc!
It's not disaster of course - the new certificate should arrive before the end of the week - just a nuisance.
Something to bear in mind, though.
If, however, I'd bought the disc online then presumeably I would have been OK because the new insurance would show on the computers even if I don't physically have the certificate (??)
I'll maybe do that anyway. Does anyone know if the disc arrives fairly quickly?
If I buy the disc online but it fails to arrive until after 30th April, can I continue to drive the car legally - presumeably 'displaying' the disc is what it's all about?
Graeme Read more
Don't forget you can only renew online if you either have a new style computerised MOT or do not need an MOT.
Hi,
I've been reading up about bioethanol and there seems to be some confusion about what is required to convert a standard fuel-injected petrol car to run on 85% bioethanol.
As far as i can tell the main thing is to replace any natural rubber seals/pipes in the fuel system with synthetic rubber equivalents. It also seems that some modification to the injector pulse widths is necessary, but i'm unsure as to whether this would be dealt with automatically by the closed-loop control of the engine management?
The reason i ask is that i have a crazy idea to convert my mk3 fiesta 1.1 CFI to run on bioethanol.
Does anyone out there have any experience of bioethanol conversion or know of any third-party conversion kits?
Cheers,
G Read more
Water is still an issue as bioethanol is 85% ethanol and 15% petrol. These mix nicely as long as the ethanol is nice and dry but if you get above about ~1.5% water content then they separate which is not great. Also, ethanol gets more acidic as you add water IIRC which is not good for the oil.
I've done some more research into this and it seems that cars made later than 1988 will have a fuel system that is not corroded or damaged by ethanol. I have found one after-market conversion kit retailing for around $240 for a multi-point injection system which extends the injector pulse-width by ~30% to compensate for the lower calorific value of ethanol.
Now i need to figure out how to achieve the same result on the CFI system (time to fetch the maplin catalog and my trusty soldering iron)
G
The parking sensors on my mums Honda FRV go haywire in the rain. They just give off a long, loud beep that is nothing like what they do when it's dry.
What could be causing this? I'm regularly nagging her to book it in to get them looked at but don't seem to be getting anywhere (although I'll book it in myself if I have to!!)
thanks for any help
--
If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished Read more
Just rang the garage who is doing the MOT test on my car and they have said that they couldn't do it as the system is down, has anyone else experienced this problem today?? Read more
Testers were not pleased;yes,they can issue old-type MOT's but when the system comes back up,they have to transfer all the info to the computerised system;similarly,if they gave you a hand-written MOT you can go back and ask for a copy of the computerised one.
Browse
TDI every time. As much torque as a VR6 and 56mpg. I have a 1997 Vento that has done 160K and never failed (135k by myself). Just Cat 3 written off, it's off for a new MOT soon. I may be selling later.
Personally I'd try and find a Vento rather than a Golf. they drive better, cost less and can carry much more. And yes, I've had both in mk3 form. Just avoid white :-) Not high on the image stakes, but 1250 should find a good one.
regards,
daren