October 2006
We need to buy a car (at least 1.5 litre), either a Vauxhall, Mazda or Suzuki (Fiat maybe) for roundabouts 10K. We will be doing less than 8,000 miles/yr in it, mainly semi-rural driving. We have a dog so a sort of long-ish hatchback would be better.
What car would you recommend?
Are Vauxhalls reliable? Read more
I do apologise if this has already been asked, but I would like advice on where to buy, 2 to 3 year old cars or value cars.
Obviously I am going to ask the question, where do the used cars dealers get theirs from.
I have been into two used car dealers recently and was told by one tell us what you want and we will get the vehicle on line (we only use four dedicated web sites- quote) it will take approximately three weeks
What i would like to know is what are these web sites, or is it a big secret
I have read through a lot of the threads recently and have seen site like trade-sales.co.uk drive the deal and autobytel but they all seem to be selling new cars.
I hope you can share these sites with me if you know of any and point me in the right direction, thank you very much in advance.
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I suggest you take a week's holiday from your 'proper' job, and go and work for a used car supplier. It might dampen your ardour. Do you really know enough about cars to be buying & selling them?
Gentleman just walked into surgery with a strained shoulder, from changing a wheel on his car, parked in an airport car park. Tyre not punctured but ripped off the rim! New car with 60 miles recorded when parked and picked up with an extra 200 miles on it a wrecked tyre! No names but it was off site at Birmingham. Formal complaint entered and obvious lessons for those of us who park with an organisation that requires to leave them the keys!
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With such car parks it's well worth noting the mileage of the vehicle on the paperwork and getting both parties to sign it and get a copy. Any decent company wouldn't have a problem with this.
Honda's Jazz (unless you buy the 'Sport' model) comes with a continuously operating rear wiper, which drives me *bonkers*.
Years ago I was able to buy an intermittant kit to fit to a Capri (I did say it was years ago!) - does anyone of such kits are still available?
I was hoping if it was a matter of just popping in a relay but the dealer sucked through their teeth and said it's much more involved than that. Read more
It appears that all is needed is ...
That's to allow variable intermittant operation of the front wipers. I want intermittant operation of the rear wiper.
Very interesting though - I've searched for Jazz / Fit forums and haven't seen that one previously.
Hello
My girlfriends Fiat Punto has failed it's MOT on emissions, was wondering if there is a common problem with these models at this age (1994) or if anyone else has had this problem and could advise.
Called a tuning centre and they said it must be a fault as there was nothing to adjust.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Cheers
Minski Read more
I had one that failed emissions. (petrol 1100 I think it was). At the back of the rear silencer, on the can , there is a small hole about big enough for a pencil to go through. This rusts out a bit and will cause emission fail. Plug the hole with some exhaust putty for MOT. Also a good idea to go along length of exhaust and band it with a hammer to loosen of all the crap in the pipes and silencers. After that take it for a good HARD run to blow all the crap out. Mines passed after that. Remember to remove putty after it passes. Mechanic friend told me this and it does work.
I have a W reg Pug 306 1.4 LX and whilst my son was out in it last night,the engine died (all the lights went out etc).Thanks to Kwik Fit the car is now home but the electric locking doesnt work and when you try and turn the car on,the "normal ignition lights" go out but the STOP,ABS and HAndbrake light flicker very dimly.Suiffice to say the car doesnt start.The car was serviced two weeks ago and has always run without a problem.....any ideas ????
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Looks like its a major short in the engine..guy from homestart was fab but couldnt help so my little car is going into the garage on Thursday for an electrical dude to cast his beady over it.If I can find out what the issue is,I will post it so that anyone who has a similar prob can refer...again,thanks to all who have contributed.
We were just about to purchase an 18 month old small hatch from a main dealer. We had been told the car had not been serviced by the garage as it had didnt need one as it had been serviced at 13k (present mileage 15k). When I asked to see the service book I found the service had been done by a German dealer garage, I stated that I wasnt impressed with this and it didnt seem right. I was then told that it didnt matter because the selling dealer had serviced it anyway (30 minutes previously I was told they hadnt)
Anyway they did manage to pull off some kind of proof from a database that the garage in Germany had seen the vehicle, but the recorded mileage was different to that written in the book.
I suppose my question is would anyone else be slightly suspicious in these circumstances?, also if we pull out the deal can they retain our deposit?
On another note one of the dents that they said they would pull out hasnt been done properly. I really dont want the car, but equally cant afford to lose the deposit. Read more
Indeed Jammonds - good move and I am glad to hear that you are out of the deal - something lese will turn up and good luck with whatever it is!
Don't know if anyone has seen this Spanish bank robber video before?
Tried to make getaway on motor cycle
www.cyclevids.com/showvideo.php?id=418
OUCH!
As this contains footage of a motorcycle accident, viewers of a sensitive disposition etc etc.... smokie, BR Moderator Read more
Micky, do a 'Google' search and you'll see that it was back in 2004 and covered by quite a few news agencies.
Took my 95N Fiesta classic 1.8 diesel for it's MOT today and it failed on the following:
-both front and 1 rear brake pipe corroded (1 rear was done last year)
-Offside front suspension balljoint escessive play
-hand brake efficiency only 13% (they say it needs a new cable, I reckon it just wants the adjstment tighting)
All in they quoted me £300 to get it to pass. I don't think it's worth it. The car has done 110k, current MOT runs out at the end of Dec as does the Tax.
Your views would be appreiciated. Read more
Glad you got it sorted. I couldn't personally bring myself to scrap a car with that little wrong with it, but I'm daft and get emotionally attached to cars.
Cheers
DP
This subject is the result from yet another interesting article in the latest edition of Car magazine. They have interviewed Takeo Fukui - CEO of a well known car company and his views are that independence suits car companies best and I suppose that when you consider who are the most successful car companies at the moment (financially) they are all indpendent - BMW, Toyota & Honda. Any history these had with mergers etc ended in disaster for them (particularly Honda and BMW with Rover).
He states that too much is made of platform sharing and common componenets and it does not necessarily make cars cheaper, it makes for compromises. He thinks platform sharing is now a very old fashioned engineering way of thinking. So should other companies keep doing it and in fact do we buy compromised cars when we buy a car that shares componenets and platforms with other models and makes ?
(PS- Martin - this is not my VW thing again by the way - it is meant for a meaningful discussion with like minded people). Read more
Including BMC, Austin, Rover in any discussion is a bit pointless as they never used the platforms they already had.
Manufacturers have usually continued platforms from one model to another as a continuous development / cost saving measure - eg Ford Escort Mk1 / 2 were built on the same platform (floorpan, suspension, transmission, engines) and there are many other examples.
BMC never developed / evolved the platforms for any of it's models, a trait followed by Austin-Rover and Rover. They always kept models in production too long and incurred the cost of completely new replacements.
Just think what might have been if the BMC 1100/1300 platform had been evolved (including engine/gearbox).
Browse
9 photos
2003 BMW 3 SERIES 320d Sport 5dr Diesel Touring (trade)
33,000 miles
MANUAL
RED
Diesel
Manual, 33,000 miles, RED, F(BMW)SH, SPORTS PACKAGE, LEATHER INTERIOR, MV2'S, ON V CAR NOW FULLY REPAIRED. NO PART EX'S/NO TIMEWASTERS - VERY CHEAP. £10,000. no