November 2006
I am think of getting a Skoda Fabia VRS, probably a 2005 plate with 50K miles on the clock. My concern is that I remember the days when my parents cars were knackered after 60-70K miles and I still usually part with cars after they have done 60-70K as a maximum ( my fiesta just sold had 51K from an S Plate.
Can anyone give me some good advice as I dont really trust the fellas in the actual garages.....
Cheers Read more
Does anyone know when this car is out - all i have seen so far is a release date for November
Read more
Available now.
Reading write up/test of Volvo's new C30, clearly this once "stuffy" car maker is trying to target the younger market with this sport coupe - a great looker, particularly (for me) for its welcome deep glass tailgate that enables decent rear vision for the driver. It goes against the trend to use less glass - e.g. a dangerous feature of the latest Honda Civic, in my view. Wonder if the C30 will appear as 5 door eventually? It's a great looking car and should give models like the too expensive Audi A3 and the weird looking BMW 1 series some cause for concern. BTW, has the C30 really got Focus mechanics?
EH Read more
Further to my thread some time ago seeking information on this car for a friend, I got to drive it yesterday along the ghastly A12 to Colchester, in conditions varying from damp to bucketing down, with the sort of weekday traffic that implies.
It went very well indeed, like a rocket by my 90bhp Escort standards. Of course like most modern cars can be driven lazily or otherwise. Quite refined too, although I thought I was aware of more transmission parts whirling round than usual, a very slight vibration or rumble. The car sits quite high, and this example had big wheels and low-profile tyres also bad for refinement of feel. Busy traffic and rain meant that I only saw over 90mph once, and briefly. But it could obviously keep up with almost any traffic.
The notable quality was sure-footedness. Just once, exiting a wet roundabout, I gave it some clog in second and felt the transmission doing its thing: the car turned in as if on rails. Amazing. Of course with the owner, a more nervous driver than me although very experienced, sitting next to me I didn't try hard to provoke it, and don't think I would have done anyway. I seem to have grown out of that sort of thing.
The engine water temperature gauge stopped working en route. When the car was started again after lunch it worked again, then later stopped once more. I advised the owner to get the bad contact or whatver fixed soon. I found it difficult to adjust the driving seat to a comfortable position.
I had forgotten what purgatory public transport can be in morning rush hour. Even a dozen oysters for lunch at the Mersea fish shack didn't make me look forward to tubing it back home. Read more
Great post; glad you enjoyed the car. My BX 4x4 was just the same. Aware of more mechanical stuff going on under the floor and a ludicrous amount of grip when pressing on, even though it didn't have any clever electronics.
Hawkeye
-----------------------------
Stranger in a strange land
Just wondered what they are like for general use and what the choice is out there?
Ive heard of them and while I have a mountain bike, I wouldnt mind something that can do a bit of the work for me and save me taking my van into town etc as I live in the countryside.
Are there many makes and what sort of costs are involved?
Read more
Stunorthants,
My route to work is a couple of miles of fairly hilly town roads and I decided to save on fuel costs and get a bit more fresh air, and bought a Powabyke 5 speed Euro. I thought that the £600 cost would soon be recouped in fuel saving. Sadly, the bike is now stored with my treadmill, exersize bike and pedometer. Not that the bike is to blame though.
It's great for pottering about at walking pace, and on the flat reaches it's 15mph max speed easily. (I must check the speed with my now unused Satnav). Headwinds and moderate hills are no problem but the motor gets a bit noisy under load and seems to be asking for a helping shove on the pedals. There is one short sharp hill on my route that has most cyclists dismounted and pushing their bikes, or standing on the pedals wobbling all over the place. The Powabyke grinds it's way up, but by the top I'm in bottom gear giving considerable pedal assistance. Tyre pressures are important and they must be pumped up to the recommended 70psi otherwise the bike slows down and the motor whines a bit. (It's a lot more comfy with softer tyres though).
The bike attracts a fair bit of attention, and every eye in a bus queue will be watching as you glide past. Dogs seem to be attracted to the noise of the motor and I used to throttle back and pedal whenever a dog was nearby.
The bike and it's power pack weigh a ton, a loose connector left me powerless about 1/4 mile from home and I had to pedal it. I thought then that if it had happened a mile from home I would have to hide the power pack somewhere, pedal home, and use my car to recover the power pack.
The power pack is actually three 12v sealed lead acid batteries connected in series giving 36v. My local dealer says that 3yrs is the max life and he sells an exchange pack for about £90. The batteries are available cheaper elswhere though, and with a bit of patience and fiddling about anyone could fit three new batteries into the housing, saving about £45.
Other running costs are next to nothing but electrical spare parts are expensive and prone to failure. The local dealer tells me that the 36v charger is unreliable and that he sells an improved one for about £80.
The owners manual recommends that the bike isn't left in the rain all day, draw your own conclusions from that !
The Powabyke website is good with lots of links. The Powabyke itself is good, as long as you accept that it's Chinese and relatively cheap.
It's a nice morning, my battery pack is fully charged - I might just go for a spin, bit of shopping in the panniers and a couple of pints on the way back.
proposed new zone
your comments invited at
www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/low-emission-zone/
"
Low Emission Zone
To improve air quality in London - which is currently among the worst in Europe - the Mayor and TfL are proposing to designate Greater London as a Low Emission Zone. The objectives of the proposed Low Emission Zone are two-fold: .... "
Read more
1) Ban all private cars or prevent them by taxing them out of the Capital
2) Ban all heavy polluting delivery/maintenance/works vehicles
3) Build large, fee, safe and secure car parks outside London
4) Subsidise taxis, clean up the tube, build better buses
Nothing wrong with that, I might even support it.
The difficulty is the amount of politicians that only target 1) and the general idiotic behaviour of the electorate that encourage them to behave in that way.
Whilst discussing the rise in the congestion tax on another forum, a friend mentioned he had received a leaflet from Transport for London, with the following proposal:
"Anyone else had the TFL leaflet on diesel vechicles through the letter box this week???
if your diesel van/car isn't euro4 compliant then he wants to charge you 200 pounds per day to be within the m25... even if you live there!!!!!!
if he gets his way it'll start in 2007."
I hadn't heard this before. Looks like he wants to raise a few more quid for another trip to Cuba! (Hope he stays there!) Read more
Stop whingeing.
Southerners have the Houses of Parliament, Tate Modern, The Olympics, The Thames Barrier and a London Mayor who for all his faults is at least vaguely connected to the electorate - see his prior Conservative opponents - and for that matter his prior Labour opponents.
Not to mention having the M25, the BA wheel, the Dome and probably the first supercasino.
And Thames Water.
You are all spoilt for choice. If you want us northerners to pay for it, think again.
Mind you whingeing is what southerners appear good for.
:-)
madf
Dear All,
Apologies for what is probably a much repeated subject but please contribute if you can....
I am looking for suggestions or recomendations for a small 4 or 5 door car (fiesta size) to use as a second family car and for short but frequent commute (25 mile roundtrip per day).
Don't need thrills just reliability and economy. I'm thinking diesel but some would argue that at current fuel prices this can be a false economy on smaller cars.
budget is about £2k
At the mo considering Corsa, Fiesta or polo but at this budget I can't find much that is less than 6yrs old and about 80k miles. Most Polos in this price bracket are 8 to 10 yrs old.
Any suggestions ? Read more
I'd second the Almera, i have one, a R reg that we bought in 1999. Done 70k, a couple of dents, battery packed up and um that's it in all that time.
And i can get 40 mpg on a run, 35mpg day to day Bath to Bristol. And it goes well too.
Look for a 1.4 with the whited out rear indicators i think S reg onwards, most of them have aircon. Mine doesn't but i still survived the summer. Should be able to get one for between £1000 - £1500. In fact here's a S reg one with alloys and aircon for a grand (third one down)
tinyurl.com/tm2g3
Goodnight John Boy...
Just wanted to know what the best way to clean the underside prior to Hammeriting over any scrapes/patches where the underseal has come away would be? I was thinking of using Gunk but the only problem is of course it needs to be washed off leaving the underside wet.
I'll mainly be focussing on the sills/jacking areas.
Is painting straight over with normal silver Hammerite OK for the sills?
i'll probably use Hammerite underseal for the jacking areas/any other parts.
Read more
Cool thanks guys.
Always had difficulty with glare at night. However, just got new glasses. Prescription change is very minor but this time I had a non-reflective coating added and they really do reduce glare. Read more
Browse
"I dont really trust the fellas in the actual garages"
I'd trust a high mileage more than a low one, as it suggests they're not trying to be dishonest. As others have said, 50k is barely run-in these days, and much preferable to lower miles over a longer period. My daughter-in-law was recently tempted by a 7-year old Escort with 24k on it - I told her to run away from it!