I would like to import a trabant from Germany but am told that the reg plate stays with the owner and I don't fancy driving back with no reg plate or insurance. Could somebody let me know how this is done?
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I have just mentioned in another thread my current experience with the auto gearbox in our C5. Basically, I took the car to the local main dealer to sort out an engine management fault and I was persuaded to have an update to the engine's software to help trace the problem. I was initially told that the original software had a fault and that the update had sorted it out. This proved not to be the case but the problem was ulitimately sorted out.

What I didn't know, at the time, was that an update to the auto gearbox software was required at the same time as the engine software was updated. The result of this software update is the characteristics of the gearbox have been changed for the worse. I, and my wife, always thought this was one of the best auto boxes we had ever experienced but now it is not as smooth in its changes and the changes are also rather erratic. It seems to change down at higher speeds than it used to when, really, the torque of the engine should be able to manage without changing gear until a lower speed is reached. For example, negotiating islands and tight bends at speeds of between 30 and 40 mph used to be no problem for 3rd gear, but it will now change down to 2nd gear at about 35 mph. Also, I recently had a very odd occurence when travelling on the A50, when I was travelling at about 85 mph and pushed the throttle pedal down to accelerate past a line of cars. The gearbox kicked down to 3rd gear which, with all of the torque that the engine has, seems ridiculous. The gearbox was locked in 4th gear at the time, there was no extra load on the car, no incline and no reason to explain this behaviour, which also happened once, recently, when my wife was driving the car.

I have talked to the technician, who did the update, and he has told me that it is not possible to re-install the old software. How they sort this one out now, I don't know, but the car is going back to the dealer next week. It is very annoying to think that I have paid for something that has made the car less enjoyable to drive. Read more

Okay firstly thank you to the posters who responded to the rover 25 52' topic,

I'm now reduced my search down to a Honda civic 1.5i 2 door hatchback....

here is my reasoning....
Honda: good brand with low depreaciation
1.5i (lower insurance group)
2 door (looks more sporty than 4 door and plus there is only myself and my g/friend)
having had a look on a very popular auto website i've seen quite a few with not bad mileage and FSH,

what sort of things should I be looking out for if I were to get this car?

and any other suggestions for a similar car?
thank you for your suggestions.. Read more

Hi folks,

Back in June, my wife's car was hit in a pub carpark by another driver who didn't stop. A couple of witnesses took down details and we reported the matter to the police. Fortunately the car is still driveable - dented wing and bumper.

Its now October, and we still don't have the details of the third party, or even know if they were insured. We have not made a claim through our own insurance company yet. The only response from the police so far has been to send us (and presumably the other witnesses) a form to complete describing what we saw - I asssume this means the third party is denying responsibility?

Is there any way we can force the pace? Read more

Last night when I parked up I noticed a piece of trim was missing from my 2005 Mk 6 Fiesta, I don't know it's name - below the bumper there are 3 grilles set in the front bumper/spoiler - on higher spec models they have foglamps here. My offside piece is missing - any idea what this is called and is it easy to replace?

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