May 2006
This morning I had to drive from the Midlands to Surrey. I woke up to heavy rain, please note I said heavy not torrential not monsoon just heavy and lets remember this is Southern England not Western Australia so rain is not unheard of here.
Now seeing the heavy rain I KNEW there would be chaos on the roads and indeed there was. I avoided the motorways as I knew they would be shut as indeed the M1 was from some hours but even going cross country some lorry driver overturned his truck on the roundabout over the M40 and someone drove in to the central barrier on the A34 near the Botley turn causing at least a 5 mile tailback on the Oxford bypass.
Luckily for me these incidents were all on the other carriageways and I made my way along relatively unscathed.
The point of this rant is that I PREDICTED all this from seeing the heavy rain, just as I can confidently predict that the whole country will grind to a halt at the first sign of snow.
But the question is why are we now so bad drivers that we can seemingly not cope with any conditions other than perfect without chaos ensuing?
Its not like we're all driving around in Cortinas with bald tyres there is not one modern vehicle that can't cope with heavy rain now there is there?
Rant over. Read more
Read the Eos ad write-up at the weekend, looked at the pics, and thought that it looks solid, but very un-exciting. Does the panel agree? Read more
>>I've read elsewhere of a 206CC>>
A rather different kettle of fish...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
I recently brought a tiptronic automatic. I think they are great! There are two modes of driving - automatic or manual. So I can have automatic gear changes when I want them and manual gear changes when I want them - it's the best of both worlds.
The best bit is there is no clutch pedal - so no rolling back on hills, no stalling, ease of stopping and starting especially in traffic. It seems that most automatics are tiptronic these days. On top of that my car also has sport and snow modes.
Anyone else think tiptronic cars are good?
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Also like my Vectra. LED display on the dash indicating which gear you're in when in tiptronic mode.
Hi,
I'm looking at a 1998 Mk4 Golf SE TDI with 130k on the clock.
It was serviced regular by VW up until 98k and then locally my a friend of the family (not 100% sure about this).
It sounds ok, but I don't have a clue about cars. I have 2 Q's:
How many miles I can get out of this engine?
What should I be looking out for?
Thanks,
Paddy
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>>Don't hold it at full throttle with engine labouring away. I've heard this is twice as bad in turbo cars although I forget the precise time. Turbo loading or something like that.
Applies on all engines,turbo or not,should not be laboured ie use the revs as engine is designed for,which many dont and wonder why they get problems!
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Steve
I want to buy a VW Golf diesel,but which are better? non turbo or turbo diesel>?The turbo diesels seem to cost more to buy,and they are more to insure,and Ive also read that the turbo`s can go wrong,whereas the non turbo`s are cheaper to buy/insure,in theory less to go wrong on them.but ultimately less power.They both seem to give a similar mpg,any thoughts much appreciated,Tony Read more
TDi everytime. Overtaking has to be planned about a week in advance with the SDi.
Hello,
I've been having the following problem for quite a while now, and would appreciate any help.
When I have the A/C on in the car, it works well and blows nice and cold. But when I turn it off all the windows in the car steam up. The non A/C air also smells a bit damp / musty.
I have recently bought a A/C 'cleaner' which is supposed to kill bacteria in the system, but I am reluctant to use it before sorting out the condensation problem.
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As an update.
I changed the pollen filter - it was very very dirty. In and around the filter were lots of leaves and very wet mud. About 4 hand fulls worth. Leaves and muck had blocked the drainage hole behind the bulk head. I am guessing this is what was causing the smell and some of the condensation.
I used the A/C treatment after cleaning all the muck out, and I am pleased to report that the damp smell has all but gone and the condensation is a lot less now.
CAR: 1996 Vectra 1.7td
Problem: Brother-in-law has had clutch & hydraulic slave cylinder replaced, but slave cylinder appears to be leaking (hydraulic fluid leaking from gearbox), this has happened straight away after fitting, so either it's a faulty part OR the mechanic has made a mistake somewhere along the line, I'm not 100% confident in the mechanic to be honest, & if anyone has any experience or opinions, I would be most grateful. Read more
We were asked to source genuine Oil & Air Filters this morning for a Copen. No problems doing that, the customer gets what the customer wants but I thought you would like to know thw prices.
Oil Filter £10.70 + Vat (It is tiny!!), Air Filter £39.03 + vat!!
The air filter is a funny design but it weighs next to nothing, talk about rip-off! Read more
You seriously think ford make their own filters?
They don't, sorry!
But they do buy an awful lot of them!
For 1992 Astra SRi estate at what coolant temperature should the radiator cooling fan start up?
I was surprised this AM when an M3 jam caused a rise in the gauge indicator temperature higher than expected.
The fan does work.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the temp gauge reads low, normal thermostat temp = 88degC shows as 84 (engine temp has been checked with electronic thermometer = 88)
So when the gauge shows 90 I worry?
This the second Vauxhall I've had with a low reading temp gauge.
Any views on this would be welcome
regards
WBD
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Heh1..I was sat in that queue, like I am every Monday morning :-(.
Anyway, on my Omegas with X20XEV engine the fan starts up when the temperature gauage is just about halfway, and runs at full speed when it is three quarters of the way up. This seems pretty typical for all the VXs I've owned / driven ( roughly a dozen).
I've avoided any mention of actual temepratures because the Omega has a different scaling to other VXs I've had.
The rad. on my '95 Omega is starting to clog up methinks, as the fan cuts in quicker than it used to.:-/
Has anyone got any info on an upcoming replacement for the Berlingo/Partner?
Our local Peugot dealer is offering huge discounts on the one remaining Partner model available in the UK market, the de-rated 90bhp 1.6 HDI Escapade. They had no explanation as to why it had been rechipped to give only 90 as against 110bhp which is its usual power output in other models in the Citroen/Peugot range.
Is this actually a run-out sales deal from Peugot in advance of a new model??
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"I wonder who paid for it?"
The owners of these dismal cars did. Thema 8.32 excepted.
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Interesting the original poster mentioned the M40 and A34.
I reckon the A43 from the MI to the M40 , then the A34 to the M4, has become in effect an outer M25 , but wasnt engineered that way .
Listen to the traffic reports as to how often accidents are around J10 M40 or between 10 and 9, where people doing this route get off the M40 again, and from my obeservation dont allow for the short distance 10-9 and don't get over early enough