June 2006
Chaps,
I'm looking for a six seater and like the Honda Stream. There are two 04 reg Streams at my local Honda dealer, a manual with 10k miles for c.£10k and an auto with 15k miles for just under £11k.
Does anybody have any experience of these cars? The CBCB is a bit short. An alternative choice would be the Corolla Verso.
All comments appreciated, good or bad
Thanks Read more
Well, I?ve now done 14k miles in the Accord, so I thought I would share my impressions of it now it?s had time to settle down. Overall, I?m delighted with it, I look forward to driving it, it?s fast, comfortable, and vastly better at twisty back roads than I could have ever imagined.
The interior has shown no signs of deterioration so far ? there are no squeaks or rattles, and for me the seats are fabulous, although my girlfriend doesn?t get on with them so well. They seem to be sized around a taller person, and she finds that the passenger seat doesn?t offer the back support she?d like, and it doesn?t have all the adjustments of the drivers seat. Another minor niggle ? why electric seats without memory? I don?t understand.
The heating system is another niggle for GF. She hates having cold air blown on her. The dual zone climate is brilliant, as she can always have it set to 2-3 degrees hotter than me, but there is no easy way to get it just to blow the air out onto the window, her default setting in all cars. Doesn?t worry me at all, but again shows how cleverer isn?t always better.
On the move, the main impression is enough power for rapid progress to be completely effortless. There?s loads of torque from about 1500 RPM, and almost no turbo lag from about 2000. Coupled with long gearing, back roads need nothing more than an occasional change from third to fourth to make extremely fast progress.
The steering is very nicely weighted, with plenty of feedback and good feel, although with the 17? tyres this goes a bit toward tramlining. I don?t find it a problem but others have. Handling doesn?t appear to be electronically managed either ? it has ESP as standard, but the light has only ever come on twice, both times to correct offside wheel spin when pulling out on a wet road with quite a bit of lock.
Cruising is massively smooth, the ride is a fantastic compromise between limo and hot-hatch, and the handling remains completely solid when empty or fully loaded. Road noise is a little more than expected, but I think that?s the big wheels making a difference, and it?s certainly not annoying on most surfaces. The fantastic stereo tends to cover it anyway, although there is no aux input for an mp3 player, which is annoying. I believe I can have one fitted for £100 if I decide that the 6-disc changer is annoying me.
Brakes are powerful, but need more of a shove than my last car, which I?m still getting used to. Saying that, when I first drove the Xsara I nearly head-butted the steering wheel first time I touched the brakes, so this isn?t really a criticism. I did get a little brake-fade when slowing for a fifth successive roundabout when FULLY loaded, which I was a bit surprised by.
So far, so good. What I wish I?d known about when I bought it was how thirsty it is. Despite several false dawns, I still only get 40 mpg. The engine has loosened up nicely, power reserves are huge, and I don?t drive that gently (or particularly hard), but on cruise on long trips I?d expect more. Feedback from Honda is that this is what they?d expect, and a full check reveals everything is working as they think it should be. For such a large, powerful car, on the face of it 40 mpg is great. But buy a Passat or a Octavia, and you?ll be getting 55 on the motorway. That?s a big difference. Saying that, I got 38 on a long trip fully loaded with hilly sections on A roads and with 2 bikes on the roof, so it?s not particularly sensitive to how hard you drive it or other factors, which is good. On the same trip in my old Xsara I would expect a 30% drop in MPG with bikes and load. And it has now completely stopped burning oil, as predicted.
Honda dealers have been uniformly fantastic so far, whereas I never even got to drive a Passat as the VW dealers I tried were rude and ?couldn?t be bothered? (quote in one case).
So, fabulous car, absolutely love it, no complaints other than thirst.
Gord. Read more
All rings a bell for me. Nice isn't it?
As Ms. Smith said '...More money than sense...'
I thought the wife was wavering away from the 4X4 at some points during the discussion, but Husband seemed to be fixed & set for his Range Rover.
Regards,
John R @ Home Read more
From a press release by the SMMT today. It doesn't address
the emotive issues of status seeking and jealously (which is where
we started) but is concerned with the more important factual issues.
The emotive issues of status seeking and jealousy have been discussed and, as pointed out by Aprilia, the SMMT would say 'that' wouldn't they?
As for the 'most important factual issue' - this morning, when I saw another SUV driver negotiating a roundabout whilst using a mobile phone, I was reminded why they are so reviled - it's their sheer arrogance. This was demonstrated by researchers at Imperial College who observed that SUV drivers were 4 times more likely than others to use a mobile handset and 26% more likely not to 'belt up'. Reported Daily Telegraph June 23.
I recently followed for several miles an ancient two-wheeled agricultural implement that was being towed at 60 to 70 mph by a 4x4 thingy. The LH tyre of the implement was completely devoid of tread and it had a 25mm wide strip all the way round that was showing the canvas. Don't agricultural implements that are towed on the road have to abide by the same rules as other vehicles?
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L\'escargot. Read more
Of note whilst a tractor is a motor vehiucle as far as Registration with DVLA is concerned if used on a road and has to be, provided it is used only for agriculture, horticulture or forestry, used only on public roads passing between differne t areas of land occupied by the same person and distanec does not exceed more than 1.5 kilometres, then it is exempt from duty.
Sched 2 VERA 1994
dvd,actually what you refer to here about the 1.5km limit is a taxation class called limited use ,a tractor on the road is limited to 15 miles goods outwards and unlimited distance goods inwards(might be taxed as an agricultural machine)one of your fellow officers is trying to standardise ag regulations
info here www.agricultural-vehicles.co.uk/Questions.htm#Q16
the grampian police checks mentioned were general vehicle checks as well as would you believe checking cattle passports ,there are more severe checks kept on livestock movement than any terrorists but why it has to be done at the roadside is beyond reason when it causes delay to other motorists
Hi,my car is pinking at around 50-60mph in third gear only during up hill accleration. Had dealer check car out. Said there were no error codes. Suggested changing coils packs. Which I did. Pinking went away for couple of months then came back.Car now pinks at around 30-40mph.
Cleaned MAF and thottle body. Changed spark plugs. Compression test reads 15.0 bar on all cylinders except one which reads 15.5bar.
Car does not suffer from MPG or performance problems. Anyone provide and help/advice
Thanks
Read more
Try running it on Supermarket petrol....
Am off to Cambridge tomorrow lunchtime and wonder if anyone knows of any areas I need to avoid at the moment? Have not seen mention of any particular roadwork horrors or bottle necks but you may know better! M3, M25, M11 is presently planned. Return route was going to be on Friday afternoon, but on reflection might make that Saturday if I can bear TWO nights in student digs!! Read more
Thanks for all help - brilliant journey stopping briefly at South Mimms and used the Baldock by-pass. Happily making progress while hearing of hold-ups due to fire/accident etc on the original route. Got to Cherry Hinton in no time and will follow advice on the return journey. Scenic route on way home to avoid Lyndhurst!! Many thanks again.
remember years ago that for mot test they revved diesel cars at high revs for a period of time. this is to check emmissions at high load. (at lot of engine failure occured due to cambelt breaking) is that practice still current. i was at a mot test centre and a tester just revved a diesel slightly checking emissions at lower rev range Read more
A clutch driven plate is very carefully matched to the drivetrain in order to avoid torsional resonances. If you look at a typical driven plate, there will be either springs of differing rates or windows of differing working lengths (you need to look carefully to see where additional springs become effective as torque is applied) or both. Almost without exception, the torsional stiffness of a driven plate assembly increases non linearly with applied torque in order to control drivetrain oscillation.
There is indeed more danger of torsional oscillation damage through revving in the lowest gear, both from the point of view of increased engine acceleration and the reduced damping effect of the load. However, the engine acceleration rate even in a low gear is usually about an order of magnitude less than the unloaded acceleration rate. I spent many happy hours designing big diesel governors which would catch an engine off load and yet give stable control on the governor run-out. For some large scale applications the engine has to be protected even if the load is suddenly removed as in the case of a shaft breakage. The diesel engines we can afford will not necessarily enjoy this level of protection.
659.
I have an '03 corsa sxi which is still giving me problems changing gear...its not major and never refuses to change,but it feels notchy and not smooth..had it checked out under warranty to be told its normal.would anyone recommend a synth oil,or should I pursue it further under warranty with vauxhall?
comments appeciated
J Read more
Many thanks for the info,I think I'll hit the local v/hall garage,and demand they sort it out.
I am considering buying a 3 Series BMW but only have limited funds.
I notice that you can now get a N reg "bargain" for about £2K, but i have not been involved with BMW's before. I am therefore hoping that you guys could give me some good pointers and let me know of any pitfalls to look out for.
Thanks, Carl Read more
Came across a red 316 a few years ago that belonged to a fellow who lived in our basement, who was leaving and wanted to sell it for £600. I said I'd look at it.
It had an MoT and started and ran more or less OK, bit thrashy, probably needed the valve clearances doing. Second and third gears were hideously noisy although it ran OK in top (four speeds). The clutch pedal was six inches higher than the others necessitating a Peter Crouch-like technique when changing gear. There was a big clonk somewhere in the front suspension. The interior, especially the seats, was utterly, utterly disgusting, more disgusting than one would have thought possible in a car less than ten years old.
I figured it was worth £300 and pushed it to a journalist friend, explaining that he would have to get it thoroughly done over by a proper mechanic and put in a reconditioned or secondhand gearbox. The mechanic he went to told him (wrongly, I'm sure) that the gearbox was all right and it really needed a back axle. Being an automotive slob, he just kept the ghastly thing as it was and ran it for a couple of years. BMWs are tough, but that one was probably the nastiest road-legal car I have ever seen.
Is the 2.0 dCi engine fitted to the Laguna the same engine that will soon appear in the Megane? Read more
I think so, If it has
Capacity: 1995cc
Power: 150bhp
The gearbox ratios will be different between the two models,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Browse
If you look on Honda website there is a 2004 Reg Stream with 10 mls on the clock - over budget but a 2 year old "New Car"