August 2006
I'm just curious from a design point of view what backroomers think of the new square format Car magazine. Somebody just pushed an issue under my nose and asked me what I thought and what the UK market would make of it.
Firstly, I'd love to know the rational for the shortened, square format. Great way to lose your mast-head behind all the other mags on the shelf.
It's nice to see they've cleaned up the Bulletin pages and got rid of the uneccessary design flourishes but when I got to the first feature i.e. the Veyron... well I'm shocked quite frankly. I'm staring at huge golden, elegant serif drop caps that seem to have been lifted straight from Vogue or Elle. By the time you get to the American muscle car feature, they've grown to about 10 cm tall. The Renault article and Bentley article have superfluous drop caps i.e. a large cap plus the first word in full - Nnever Sseen that before.
Excessive use of gold, lots of white space and women's typography. It's just too pretty and effeminate. Perhaps I'm too set in my ways in believing car mags should look a bit butch, but I'm looking at the cover with it's white border and artsy photography and it's just screaming "interior design/photography magazine" at me.
Barlow makes a comment at the bottom of his intro "You will not be able to confuse CAR magazine for any other title out there" Damned right, boyfriend. Read more
My daughter's headlights are very poor. They have been fitted with uprated bulbs by boyfriend but they are still pertty hopeless. She tends to drive on full beam. Taking them apart the reflectors do not look overly dull and the glass is not dull or marked. A new seat would be hideously expensive but the danger of getting s/h ones from a breakers is no telling if they will be ok ,bearing in the mind the current ones appear to be fine.
Any suggestions ? Read more
If the headlamp reflectors have become dirty and dull over time, you can try removing the headlamp units and washing them out with plenty of clean soapy water.
Remove all bulbs and pour the soapy water in through the headlamp bulb aperture. Shake well and rinse out with plenty of clean water. Afterwards use some dishwasher rinsing aid, such as Finish, to prevent streaks etc.
I tried this on a Golf III once and the results were brilliant (pardon the pun!).
What with the latest petrol engines with direct injection, seems nothing is really new...
Rolls-Royce Crecy - 2-stroke 90 degree V12 26L liquid cooled, direct petrol injection, stratified charge injection, variable blade superchargers .... Crecy number 10 achieved 2500 hp on 21 December 1944. Subsequently single cylinder tests achieved the equivalent of 5000 bhp for the complete engine ... that's 190 BHP/Litre !
That'll do in my Skoda ! Read more
detroit weasel by any perchance? starting backwards occasionally if not careful
Posting on behalf of a friend. He has a 54 plate ZR.
The drivers side door lock sometimes makes an awful grinding noise when locking or unlocking.
It sounds like cogs grinding but he's been told that they use a solenoid and if they don't get enough power they make a noise similar as they fire repeatedly. (This is the jist of what I was told, I've slept since then ;o)
Any ideas? He's had the door cards out but it's just a sealed unit... Read more
Thanks for that sgreenwood - less encouraging but worth knowing!
We have had a 54 reg Scenic 2 from new. The leather on the side of the bolster on the drivers seat as started to crack. Is this something the warranty will cover?
It's a company car, but we intend to purchase it at the end of the lease, so could do with this sorted. Read more
Turns out the side of the bolster is vinyl, so it's not actually leather which has split. Warranty claim is in process ...
Did anyone else see the piece in the DT on Saturday regading the North Wales Police Deputy Chief Constable's blog, and to think that this guy is a public employee!
www.north-wales.police.uk/nwp/public/en/blogs/view...2
5
I quote: "Is it now time to banish motorcycles completely from our National Parks?", so if I lived in Exford or Keswick or Dolgellau or Whitby (yes Whitby!) I would not be allowed to ride a motorcycle - ridiculous! I suggest it should be questioned as to whether someone who makes such an ill thought out statement should be able to hold such a senior office.
To declare an interest - I have an aftermarket exhaust on my ZRX 1100, it is more efficient than the standard one and being made of titanium is much lighter than the steel original, that would probably have rusted through by now anyway, however it is road legal, if the powers at be have an issue with the noise emmitted from EC approved standard or road-legal aftermarket systems then surely they should campaign for a reduction in the allowable noise limit rather than suggest banning a whole category of transport.
Yes, many motorcyclists run illegal race cans that are rather noisy however to suggest banning motorcycles because of an inconsiderate few is like banning cars because because of the Saxo brigade's big bass booming or banning football because there is the odd punch up after a game.
Seems to me that Deputy Chief Constable Clive Wolfendale should get his boys out with noise meters tackoling the issue? No, of course not, they have not got time because they are too busy enforcing often inappropriate speed limits, penalising almost innocent motorists based on a 1/1000 sec snapshot in time that bears absolutely no relationship to the other 99.9999% of their journey and doing nothing to deter - yet alone catch - other road users who are drugged up or drunk, perhaps driving illegal, untaxed, uninsured, unsafe vehicles - or riding noisy motorbikes!
Regards.
Read more
I think mountainkat you will find that North Wales police have been targeting bikers for years: they bought a helicopter specially for this purpose.
I have had a few biking holidays in North Wales, but not any more. We clear off down to the South of France now (and Germany for the Nurburgring), with the added bonus of not getting rained on every day!
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
I have a 2001 ford fiesta 1.6 zetec s, i used a power washer to clean all the rubbish out of my wheel arches about a year ago and after i had cleaned them i turned the ignition and the indicator clicker was going crazy!! it was clicking really fast but the indicators werent flashing, eventually it calmed down but now every time its starts raining or gets damp it does it again occasionally!!! any ideas what it is??? Read more
Years ago, flashers were thermally operated.
The current flow heated something which broke the circuit until it cooled down again enough to make a contact again. Thus when one of the bulbs failed, it clicked more rapidly, because the circuit did not stay broken as long.
So, one of the first tests you could usefully do, is to take out one of the indicator bulbs to see if your car does this. If it does, your problem could be caused by a bulb failing to make contact. You, being in the car, would not see the faulty bulb.
I have not tried taking a bulb out on my recent cars, and I always change my bulbs before they wear out -- when they look black. Flashers may no longer be thermally operated but, I guess, the speeding up clicking process will probably still take place (electronically?) to indicate that something is wrong. So clean the bulb contacts and make sure they are contacting properly.
I am importing a 2007 ford focus from the US. I am having a difficult time getting insurance. The dealer wont supply it until i get a registration. The only info i have on it is the VIN. Any suggestions to help me out i only have 2 weeks left!!
Thanks Read more
But you can import a RHD vehicle from Europe, and save money. But anything from USA will be LHD so you're not saving when you factor in depreciation. And import costs will be quite high (type approval, VAT etc).
So I agree this thread must be a windup. i hope it is because the OP surely cannot think this is a good idea.
Folks,
I know this is a common problem (but I can't find out how to search the back room database effectively yet)...
Since it was 2...My Micra Twister 1.0L (98/R). Has had the following problem:
In the morning (almost exclusively) if it doesn't start first time, it doesn't start!
Luckily, I've always lived on a street with a hill and I can bump start it 100% of the time (which is fine unless I stall it right at the bottom of the hill). Point here is it would always catch and start.
Last 2 days, however, it wouldn't catch first time and wouldn't bump either (got the wife to give me as tow start yesterday which was a funny experience as she had never done it before - big terrano pulling little micra all over the road).
Wish I had got something done in the warranty. However, found several hints about resoldering throttle control PCBs and suggestions about air flow sensors. Would appreciate some sound advice on adjustments or which bits to replace (hopefully I can get them from the local scappie).
Thanks... Read more
Folks,
Thanks for all your help...The Silver-Dart lives again...
Swapped in another throttle body from the scappies and running fine now.
Best regards to you all...
ScottieDog
Has this been mentioned elsewhere?
I have just read the letter in HJ's column in Sat's DT about the Civic handbrake "failure" on the m/way hard shoulder. I am (almost) lost for words! How the person can have the temerity to write in to complain!
It is up to the driver to ensure that the car is securely parked, how could the car roll more than a few inched without the driver being aware of it yet alone across three lanes of a motorway!
Why-oh-why were they not prosecuted for dangerous driving, not taking due care, wrongful use of the hardshoulder etc etc?
And then to admit that they let that car roll down their drive way demolishing a wall in the process, thank god a child was not playing in the path of the out-of-control car!
Sheer incompetence!
Am I being harsh? Read more
Must be something wrong with this guy's handbrake. I had my Civic for 35,000 miles and not once did the handbrake slip - not even slightly.
Do you think he knows that to get it to work you have to pull the lever up until you encounter resistance? Or does he think that the little red light looking a bit like this ( ! ) means that the brakes are off, and so he moves the handbrake lever down until it goes out? (A bit like the guy a few weeks back who asked why he had to turn his Passat's traction control on every time he started the car, because the yellow light stayed off otherwise...)
What. A. Plonker.
Browse
Perhaps the format will look better and more appealing lying on the coffee table at a dealership with all of its square-cut brochures.