On purchasing the missus' 1995 306 SR Sedan four years ago, I noticed that the headlamp aim was a tad high, so wound the beam down. A couple of years later, I wound it down again. Now, I need to do it again.

The car drives beautifully, handling with pin sharp alacrity and riding as you'd more likely expect of one of Jaguar's best efforts, but the static rear ride height "looks" a little reduced (aesthetically comparing wheel arch with wheel) even when parked on level ground with hand brake off and half a tank of fuel. The ride height, front and back, is identical to within a couple of millimetres (ie experimental error) on both sides of the car.

I can't see any evidence of broken springs or mounts and there is no corrosion, so wonder if the relatively soft and compliant nature of the springs fitted to this model of 306 are more disposed to sag over time? Can other 306 owners or BRers familiar with them comment, please?

If so, given 11 years and about 42k miles, I'll change the rear dampers and springs whilst I'm at it. Read more

I am road legal again, only twelve days late.

When a fortnight ago I put my jalopy in for its test, the exhaust analyser at the test centre broke down. By then the MoT men were able to tell me the car needed a front bottom balljoint and a spot of welding.

When that had been done, the car went in for its test again. Everything major was OK, but there was a small leak from the return pipe union into the steering fluid reservoir, and the nearside front tyre had insufficient tread depth (after about 15,000 miles at most).

OK. Two new front tyres, bit of juggling with jubilee clips, leak fixed. So today the test centre had to go through the whole lot again. And they nearly failed it again because I hadn't cleaned all the power steering fluid off the things it had dripped on.

Tests now take twice as long as they did, with a lot of the time being taken up fiddling with the computer and getting a connection. The men constantly have to work out what the new rules mean, with much argument and discussion. They told me the latest change in the regulations came yesterday and had been 'in my favour'. Well, thanks, authorities!

But I don't understand how test centres can even break even, even if half the punters are paying £66 like me. Does that pay three guys for two hours? Not in this country it doesn't.

Memo to self: do it in good time next year. Read more

Hi all,

I hope this falls within the remit of this forum as I'd appreciate the opinions and advice of the more learned amongst you! It's a motoring holiday, so hopefully, can be considered on topic.

I'm taking a friend of mine on a road trip of sorts towards the end of next month - we intend to get a Ferry to France, drive over to the Nurburgring for a day or so, and then spend the next week or so having a poke around Switzerland and France, hopefully taking in Nice.

Now, in true student fashion, it's intended to be quite random. I notice that Formule 1 appears to be the French equivilent of a Travelodge - great prices (30 euros a night? Brilliant) and hopefully although its hardly 5 stars, consistent quality. Ideally, I'd like to book simply return ferry crossings and as for the rest of the time, see what happens.

Has anyone used Formule 1 hotels? Would they be suitable? Are the very tempting rates only available if you book online in advance - what sort of money does it cost to just pitch up on the night?

Any other recommendations from a Motoring holiday in France?

With any luck I'll have my shiney new E39 5 Series by then, but I'm sadly not holding my breath at the moment! Read more

I was reading the threads about Honda Jazz versus Nissan Note as I though the Note would be good for my parents. My mother has decided she does not like the view out of the Honda windscreen(!).

Today I wandered into a local Nissan dealer to look at the Note. It all seems very nice and reasonably well built and very spacious in the back. But I though that the drivers seats was both too long and also too low at the front. I looked for a tilt lever, but could not find one. I'm not sure I would find it comfortable.

Has anyone else spotted this, before I ring my father and tell him to have a look.

Read more

Under new European rules it seems that in future only licensed dismantlers will be permitted to scrap old cars.
At the moment, anyone can scrap a car. I have sometimes aquired a car as a source of spares, kept it for a few years (on SORN) gradually removing bits, then finally taken off anything remaining of possible use, and got a scrap man to remove the carcass.
The exact moment at which a car is scrapped for DVLA purposes is only the moment when one decides the car is never going to be put back into use. It is not necessarily the point at which the car is physically dismantled. A car can be in bits, but still on SORN.

So in future there are going to be a lot of non-existent cars still held on SORN, because it will be easier to do that than go through the route of getting it officially dismantled, doubtless at some expense.

Is there anything in the regulations defining a moment when a car can no longer be considered as SORNed - eg when a certain % of its components have been removed and canibalised? Read more