September 2006
Saw this film last night on BBC3. I know it has been discussed on here previously, but it has to have some of the best car chase scenes in the whole of cinema history.
Anyway, what really annoys me about all films is the way that they ignore the real life potential of the cars on the screen. An Audi S8 wth nitrous injection will be more than able to pull away from a 205(!) in a few seconds. Why make a point of getting a character to demand an S8 with nitrous, if they didn't use it to its full potential. They even ignored (in the screenplay) the fact that the BMW in the final scene was an M5!
It's the same in American films. They get two cars chasing, but on a open road, the faster one still can't get ahead or pull away.
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Hello everyone,
I'm a complete newbie here and hope my query is appropriate.
I'm looking to change my old Renault Clio for a bigger car. I've got up to £9,500 tops to play with and want something diesel and an estate.
Diesel for the obvious consumption concerns and estate because I have a dog, could be getting another in the not too distant future. I also don't want anything with sky-high miles - preferrably under 40k.
I've been looking at Parkers, Whatcar and this website and think I should be looking at (in order of preference) Ford Focus 1.8TDCi, 2) Skoda Octavia 1.9 Elegance (it's 110bhp, I think the Ambiente at 90bhp may be a little underpowered as I may buy something to tow in a few years) 3) Vauxhall Astra (if I can get a new shape in my budget).
I also love the look of the Renault Megane 1.9 dci but am worried by the reliability score. I wouldn't touch a Pug 307 for the same reason.
Ideally I'd go for a Japanese car but they don't really come in my price bracket. Though out of desperation I have driven a n inexpensive old-style 113bhp Nissan X-Trail (not the new 136bhp) and loved it - if I could be persuaded of its reliability and reasonable costs.
Despite my eco-concerns with a 4x4 one would be pretty handy as I spend many weekends in the year parking on wet and muddy fields at dog shows - though I've only been REALLY worried in my Clio once or twice.
I am at a loss what to do. Diesel estates in my price range seem to be like hens' teeth...it seems to me I can either go up a price bracket and there's plenty of choice or down a price bracket and settle for something older and with more miles on the clock, which I'm loathe to do.
Am I looking for something that doesn't exist or can anyone suggest an alternative?
I look forward to hearing from you.
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Have a look out for a mazda 6 estate.I reckon you may just about get one for that money.
Basically my alarm works fine apart from the fact the keyfob doesnt turn it off!!
The doors unlock ok but without the rapid indicator flickering, then as soon as you open anything the alarm blares and doesnt stop until you put key in the ignition and press the button on the inside..... Then the indicators flicker as they should and the alarm stops ----- just like it should do when I unlock the car with the keyfob.
The control box is fine, and Ive tried the one from my spare car which I know worked, and the result was the same. Its baffling me but there must be an easy solution.... Read more
Some might remember I had a conversion done on my toyot carina e 2.0 engine in Poland. I have done about 15,000 miles, and the conversion has paid itself with a nice profit of £200 so far.
My father got a conversion done on his toyota camry 2.4 litre vvti year 2002 car, and it ran wonderfully for 600 miles or so. It now judders on gas, but is fine on petrol.
Any ideas what this might be, and where he might be able to sort it out in England. He lives in Brighton (SW London).
Also to say the camry is a brilliant car. We brought it recently, it got us to Poland near the Russian border in 24 hours from the UK. 1500 miles or so. Amazing and wonderfully confortable. 39mpg on petrol, gas about 26mpg (careful driving...90 miles per hour max). Best car I have every driven in fact.
Thanks again Read more
Try him direct:
ralf@njumaen.de
This is getting a pain, tried the usual - new wipers(bosch), cleaned it &, the blades, using halfords screenwash, scrubbed with washing up liquid etc but I cannot get rid of it.
Anyone got any ideas ?
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I use
Bohle professional glass cleaner aerosol
from the local trade glass supplier, quite cheap too.
The cheapest method is to use plain clean water and a bit of folded newspaper.
Hi, I know this convo has been mulled over many times but I can't find it in the forum search. I need to know what the main cause of car deaths are for some homework. Can someone help me please. This isn't cheating is it?
Thanks
School Boy
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Point is the difference between damage at 29mph and 31mph impact
is negligable. I think on the whole kids would prefer not
to be run over at all but that idiotic think advert
infers said child does not mind being hit at 30 mph.
I think that's an inference drawn by a perverse viewer :)
I have always understood that advert to mean "you may be unlucky enough or stoopid enoughto hit a child, in which case it's mucho better to hit them at 30 rather than 35 -- that small speed difference makes a big difference to the child"
You should also bear in mind the difference to injury between being bounced off the front of a
car and being hit more slowly and being run over by the wheels.
That's largely a matter of vehicle design, rather than speed, hence the attention being (belatedly) given to the issue by NCAP.
They went under the bus. Had the bus hit them more quickly they would have
probably been bounced clear and may have survived.
Having seen a few such impacts, I doubt it. The bluff front of a bus tends to splat people by design, and you'd have to do a lot of speed to bounce off meaningfully, by which time you'd be mangled anyway by the impact.
On the whole I think it is better to stop people being hit at all and have
drivers pay more attention to what is going on around them.
I don't think anyone would argue against the idea that it's better not to be hit at all, but that need not be an either/or alternative to moderating speeds so as to reduce the severity of impacts that do occur.
Pedestrians also need to take responsibility and make sure they cross the road safely.
Hmm. True up to a point, but drivers also need to take responsibility by recognising that on many steeets there are no "safe" crossing points, and to recognise that many roads are in shared-use
Guys, my daughter's AX is a 1.1 made in 1992 and it has an unusual starting problem.
The car will not start when cold on the key, the starter turns over rapidly but there's no spark I've checked. But after a short push it always bump starts first time and then for the rest of the day it starts just fine on the key! Leave it overnight and you are back to square one, the things I have changed to try and cure it are the HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm and they made no change at all. Jump leads make no difference either.
Any clues on this please ? Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Regards,
Steve D. Read more
Cheers dieselnut, I will give that a go. But as I work shifts it will be probably be next weekend when I can tackle it. I will let you know though, thanks again.
Regards,
Steve.
Hi, I need to find out if I have the modified fuel injectors fiited to my car. I have contacted Lexus and their records show that they have not fitted any. However, they may have been fitted by an Independant. Can anybody advise how can I identify original and modified injectors. i.e Part Numbers or colour etc? Also I cannot obtain a service manual for this vehicle and Haynes aren't publishing one either. Thanks for any advice. Read more
THanks Highspeed, I'll look into it.
It was with great sadness that I learned today that Lord Strathcarron of Banchor has died at the age of 82.
President of the Guild of Motoring Writers for more than 30 years, some of you may remember him as the motoring correspondent for The Field, as well as contributing to Advanced Motoring and Hoot! a website magazine.
An Old Etonian, David William Anthony Blyth Macpherson to give him his full name, was a pilot, appeared in vintage motor car racing and was a champion of transport on two wheels as well as speaking on motoring subjects in the House of Lords.
He founded the Strathcarron automotive supply company, remaining a consultant to the firm right up until his death at the end of August.
A charming and delightful man who treated everyone as an equal, I spent many an hour in his company over dinner at various events; we were regularly entertained about his vast fund of stories about his motoring experiences, many of them extremely amusing.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by Read more
Met Lord Strathcarron on the same occasion as Clarkson. ne turned up on time and was a gentleman, the other was an hour late and expected everything to start again for him.
Hi
This morning My 2001 A4 TDi 130BHP threw its fan belt. The problem appears to be that the pulley on the alternator has moved forward and the fan belt came off and was running on the shaft between the pulley and the alternator itself .
As far as I know the car was pulled off the road and stopped within a few minutes of it happening. Am I likely to have done any lasting damage to the car? It did sound like a bag of spanners!
What would have caused this? Can the pulley just move forward on the shaft? Or has the shaft pulled out of the alternator? Can an alternator seize and cause this to happen?
The guy who sold me the car is fixing it for me, which is good as I guess I am not paying for it, but like free Kitchen fitting, in a way I would rather be paying for it so I have some sort of control of the quality of the work. What should I look for when I get it back?
The above is for my peace of mind more than anything else. I was very impressed by the guy who sold me the car, and to be fair I expected him to walk away from me today, so far I am more than happy.
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Good good, that does not sound too bad. At least if it has just floated off the shaft it is unlikely to have inflicted too much stress on anything else.
It has 80k on the clock if I remember correctly.
As I said I am pretty sure I caught it as soon as it happened and only drove a few hundred meters to pull it off the road somewhere convient so there was only a few of the fan vanes with a small nick in them. Think the size of a segment of a 5p with a chord across 1/4 of the circumference Nothng to worry about.
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I spent the enire film convinced it was Meryl Streep, which shows how many films I see.
Disappointed with the plot! Good Lord that was stupid and unsatisfying! Have to admit the car chases were not very thrilling either - left the room to get a drink in the middle of one of them, it was so silly.
Ooh, I've turned into James May over the weekend. Sorry!