July 2006
Does anyone know where I can get a speedo cable for a 1997/R 1.2 Clio please. GSF don't do one and Renault dealer is pricey. Maybe it's the same as a Renault 5? Read more
What with the high cost of french s/h cars I'm minded to buy a RHD car in England, run it here for a while to make sure any bugs are sorted out and then drive it to the french holiday house where (with right-hand dipping headlights) it will live out it's natural life. It certainly won't have much retained local value as RHD!
I'd make sure I took a clutch cable too.
I would use it for airport trips, taking rubbish to the dump and towing a trailer for the bigger items of rubbish. I imagine it would be pressed into carrying building materials as well.
I am prepared to spend a couple of thousand pounds to get me a pretty reasonable run-about. But what to buy? I like the idea of a Citroen Xsara Picasso (horrible to look at, but it will do the job) and could maybe get a 80000 mile Y reg or 51 for just over £2k. A Berlingo or similar looks more pricey.
It would want to be french and a hatchback, estate or MPV for the dump trips. Diesel or petrol - it's all the same as I don't expect to do more than a couple of thousand miles a year if even that.
Any views? Read more
Slight downside 102,000 miles - but the service history is just
so good I couldn't say no.
In nine years, that is only a little over 11K a year, which is only about average.
Well annoyed with Tesco, in that if you should fill up at a TESCO EXTRA STORE, where the fuel is supplied by Esso or whoever, other than obviously by themselves they DO NOT accept the 5p of a litre voucher. Surely if the site is owned and advertised on Tesco's web site as a petrol station they should accept their vouchers. Read more
While it would indeed be nice for Esso to accept the voucher, I can't see why you'd expect it, when the petrol station clearly isn't a Tesco one.
The time has come to choose my wife's next lease car.
As the cost is heavily subsidised, we have decided that it would make sense for her to drive the larger car. Whilst I'm happy with my Toledo, the saloon bodystyle does have some compromises in terms of load lugging for our regular camping trips, so we decided a small estate would be ideal, eventually i can then downsize to something smaller.
We narrowed the list down to the folowing cars:
Alfa 159 Sportwagon 1.9 diesel Lusso
Skoda Octavia 2.0TDi L+K estate
VW Passat 2.0TDi SE estate
Audi A4 2.0TDi SE Avant
BMW 320d SE Touring
Not surprisingly, the Skoda came out cheapest. But much to our surprise, the Alfa is only £10 more a month. The tax is a little more on the Alfa however. The VW is same price as the Alfa. The Audi and BMW are both significantly more expensive.
So, we now have a head vs heart decision, the Alfa or the Skoda? We've looked at both, but test driven neither yet. Both of us love the styling of the Alfa, and as this is a fully maintained/insured lease deal, the reliability concerns are less. However, the Skoda is (slightly) better equipped, slightly cheaper, and something at the back of my mind is saying...the Skoda might just be a better proposition for our 15k miles a year.
Does anyone have any experience of these two cars, specifically with these power plants? VW group diesels are often critised for their lack of refinement, but seem to offer reliably good economy. By comparison, I've not heard much about the 1.9 150 Fiat/GM engine.
Your comments much appreciated! Read more
Glad you chose the Alfa over the Skoda, given the circumstances. But it's such a shame about the price difference, because I definitely agree with HJ that the BMW would've been the one to go for, if at all justifiable. We chose it after trying all the (so-called) competition - forget all the badge-related image nonsense, it's simply the best car!
If I have missed reference to this problem I apologise for starting it as a new topic...
But I need help regarding my 1995 Mercedes W202 model. After driving around 200 miles today, in very hot weather, with aircon on full blast, I noticed on arrival home that the passenger footwell carpet was damp - further inspection showed it to be soaked in what seems like ordinary water. On removing a panel below the glove compartment (three self tapping screws), I found water was coming out of what I believe is a pollen filter. Can any one enlighten me as to the problem and how it might be fixed. I will really appreciate any advice since I am due to use the car again shortly for a long run in this seemingly never ending hot weather. NOTE The car stayed out for six nights while I was away (it is normally garaged), but only a 25 minute shower of rain occured during those few days. Dampness was totally absent before today. Thank you.
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Thank you elekie&a/c doctor for you advice. I am grateful for your detailed comment, because this morning I poured water onto the windscreen and saw that the usual drainage system was working, with water egressing out under, and across the width of the vehicle. So your diagnosis re the a/c drain tubes is almost certainly the right one. I just hope I can remove the panels easily otherwise it's off to the local MB agent!
i have read recent threads on this subject but.......im just wondering what may be the most obvious causes of this problem?
I lock the doors via the key lock (remote doesnt work) they automatically pop up. I thought it may be the 'dodgey' door loom as ive had problems with electric windows.
This is a bit arkward to say the least to sort out so is there any way around this?
Thanks Read more
Also similar problem...
I was working on the door inners and when putting the bits back together the button used for locking from the inside was stuck in the up position and kept the door from locking.
Whilst travelling back home from shopping a thunderstorm errupted & the rain started to pour down like i've never seen before.
Because of the rain i ended up slowing right down to 30 mph (bareing in mind it was on a 50 mph stretch of road), my wipers on full speed, my vision through the windscreen became impared despite the wipers, then i realised my windscreen was actually misting up. At the time my vents were blowing cold air inside the cabin at speed II with my driver side window an inch or so down.
After the changing the vents to hot air full blast re-directing it to the windscreen it took ages to de-mist the windscreen especially at the driver's half of the windscreen!
Should have i done anythin to prevent it misting like that in the first place?
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-) Read more
People who have trouble
with aircon causing misting from condensation are usually using it occasionally
rather than constantly.
That's me! But i'm only following the recommendations in the manual which says to switch it off when it's not needed. Fortunately the electrically heated front screen gets rid of the misting in a matter of seconds.
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L\'escargot.
my girlfriend has been giving a mk4 vw golf 1600 for work use.....it appears how ever you drive it the revs sort of hang there when you change gear...making you look like your a really bad driver
is this normal that the revs hang up like that...i know vectras do it
is there a knack to driving them? Read more
If it does it when you drive it aswell then there may be a fault in the Idle spepper motor. If the car is supplied for business use then let the company garage fix it. Regards Peter
Lexus are currently testing a 5 litre V8 powered IS to compete with the M3 and RS4.
These cars must make sense to someone. Read more
I've had a new IS250 Auto for about 1000 miles now and I love it.
It handles beautifully, has a thoughtful interior, is much faster than the IS200 and is sooooo quiet (especially with 16" wheels). The base model (2.5l V6) costs about the same as a similarly equiped 320i (2.0l 4 cyl).
I'm besotted with it and the chassis could certainly handle more power.
Sadly, the Swiss watch dials have gone (I loved them) but the new dials do a sweep from zero to top when you switch on, which still makes me grin.
I am sure I have read a similar thread recently, but for the life of me I can't find it...so I will pose this question again.
SWMBO sister wants to borrow our 2nd car for a week or so, I don't really have a problem with this but don't want her to drive on our insurance as she has not got the best record!!!! I have said she can use it as long as she gets her own insurance for it, she reckons you can't have 2 policies on one car, and our insurance company seen to agree with that!! I am sure that the previous thread about this it was said that there is nothing to stop 2 policies on one car but obviously you would only be able to claim from one if there was a problem.
So can the BR's please clarify for me, Thanks. Read more
>>Insurance companies will not allow two policies on one vehicle
Of course they will. There are many reasons why that might be so. What about when a garage is servicing your car and road-testing it ? Or do you think that they are doing that on your insurance ? It also can happen when more than one policy you have offers you similar cover - legal cover for example. Typically house insurance and motor insurance can offer you liability insurance. The claim should be made on the most applicable and immediate policy and if they both are eligible then it should be made pro-rata accoridng to premium and proportion of cover.
Its just not usually the best way of doing things for members of the public. Insurance companies don't like it because of potential abuse, but it is not up to them other than the fact that they may choose to insure the risk or not themselves.
However, was it me, I wouldn't lend her the car in the first place, but if I was going to I would cancel/suspend my insurance and insist on seeing proof of her insurance (of which I would keep a photocopy) before she could take the car - just to avoid any potential "mistakes" which might end up with me having an aiding and abetting issue.
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Thanks, I'll give them a try