December 2006
I'm in the process of looking at an Almera as a replacement for the wifes Fiesta. This is on the basis that we can use this as a family car and I can do my mid-life crisis thing!!'
It's at a Mazda main dealer. O2 reg, 1.5 'Hurricane' (not sure which model it's based on), 26'000m, FSH, 5dr, excellent condition. It's up for £4495 which seems a tad expensive. Prices on autotrader are all over the place.
Anybody in the trade who can give me an idea. Read more
I will be selling my car to my parents next month. Having looked in the local papers for the prices, I then tried the official online sites & found that they are considerably less than the local average here. My car is a Toyota Corolla 1.3i SE 16v, 1999 with 45,500 on the clock from new. When the garage did it's MOT & heard it was going to be sold they offered to sell it for me if I'd wanted, even though for them it would have been an 'old' car. A 2001 V reg standard Corolla there went for £3600 the previous week, they had people fighting over it & they ended up pushing the price right up! Whilst I realise mine is two years older, Corolla's of my type/age are extremely sought after in this area as they deal well with rural roads, rarely need parts (I've owned it five years, all it's ever needed was a new battery!) & seem to run forever.
How do I work out a fair price without ripping my parents off? I'm surprised at the huge difference in local prices, between £700 & £1000, (this both for private and trade) more than the national guide says. I need the money but also want to be fair as well. Any help on this would be appreciated, especially as it's also quite a delicate situation too! I'm no longer able to drive so need taxi fare money for as many years as possible especially as I live in the middle of nowhere.
Any advice would be gratefully recieved :-)
Cheers :-) Read more
Just because some people are asking higher prices doesn't mean they're achieving them.
I've been looking for a 10-year old Shogun/Pajero at the moment, and the majority on eBay aren't meeting their reserve because people aren't accepting that the value of them has dropped dramatically over the last couple of years. So there is a huge spread of prices in autotrader - but some have been there for weeks and weeks.
Just got the Feb issue of Car Magazine. Its rather good as per usual, but 'noticed Jason Barlow is omitted from the Editor's credit - any ideas? Read more
Ooops "repetitive" of course...
madf
A little warning for anyone with factory-spec 17"/18" BMW alloys as fitted 4-8 years ago (made by BBS I think).
Today my trader friend bought me a nice fully-historied 2001 E39 5-series to look at - bought it at auction before Xmas and now valeting it etc. Done 55k. It had a 'vibration' from the back. Judging by service records the orginal owner had it at a dealer and they changed a rear suspension bush (at considerable expense).
Anyway, I have seen this before so took a careful look at both rear wheels.
As I've seen 3-4 times before, one of the back wheels was slightly buckled.
If you look at these wheels you'll see that they are very weak on the inside, all the support (the spokes) is at the outer edge of the wheel and so they can buckle easily at the inside.
You can't really repair a buckled alloy - a brand new one is £250+ I think. Anyway, he went off to ring some BMW breakers for a replacement.
Incidentally, this car also had the ragged 1-2 synchro when cold. Not much you can do about that. Read more
Very nice car. If you don't mind me asking what
sort of money would buy an example in the same condition
(age, mileage etc) as yours?
I was very lucky with mine, you'd need £8k+ to get one as nice as mine but there are not many around with that sort of mileage in that sort of condition. So you'd probably need a lower mileage one.
530i Sport's start at about £7k for 2000-X plates with over 100k on, and finish at about £18k for low mileage, fully loaded 03 plate Automatic Champagne II editions. Leather and Automatic Gearbox adds to the value, as does Communications Pack (Satnav, TV and phone). Cheapest to get hold of is a manual with the cloth/alcantara seats - its wrong spec so demand is less. Can find bargains that way.
We've a 2004 C-max with the touch screen DVD and connot find an way possible to set the clock. It is currently in 24hr mode 12 hours out and 10 mins fast. The hand book says hold the menu button in for as short time but this only brings up a "Diag enter PIN" prompt which I assume is diagnostics. The clock cant be set using the crap on-board trip on the indicator stalk. Any ideas or places/poeple to talk to as Ford want me to "book it in"..............no chance at £80 an hour. Read more
My C-Max TDci 2.0 Ghia has just returned from the Ford dealer for its two year service. For the first time in those two years the clock was at the right time! Mind you I have just popped out to buy a paper and see its back to its old self. At least a stopped clock is right twice a day!
My student daughter has just bought a V-reg Micra (1999) with the 5 speed manual gearbox and we have a very basic question to ask of anyone who has such a car.
Every 5 speed gearbox that I have driven has had the gear-lever spring loaded in the 3-4 plane. This has been done in such a way that in order to get 1-2, you have to push against a spring and to get 3-4 you just move the lever back and forth. To get 5 (and reverse) you have to pull against a spring.
My daughter's Micra seems a combination of spring loading, to select 5 (and reverse), but 1-2 and 3-4 are non spring loaded and the gear-lever must be moved by hand to engage these gears. For example to change from 2 to 3 one has to "forward", "across" and "forward" the lever by hand, there is no spring assistance to move the lever to the 3-4 plane.
My question is, is this right, or do we have a fault?
Read more
Whatever it is, it is not the broken spring problem that my daughter had, as the effect there was to make the gear lever 'floppy' in the "H" part of the gate and without any spring bias to 3-4. Sorry that I cannot help any further.
Hi,
We have to pick up a passenger who is traveling from Taunton to Maldon, Essex and take him to Chesterfield. We will be leaving Maldon and travelling on the 2nd January to Chesterfield arriving at about 15:00.
Does the BR have any suggestions about where to swap?
The Taunton/Maldon driver says he will call about an hour away from a suggested pickup point so we will know when to leave. He hasn't told us where we may be meeting so I'd like some suggestions. Our normal route is local roads/M11/A14/M1 but we are likely to have to endure the M25 and bottom M1 roadworks.
Is there a web site that lists which Service Areas have shared carparks or pedestrian access to both sides of a motorway.
Thanks,
Simon Read more
My interpretation was same as MM, ie that subject wished to travel from Taunton to Chesterfield and that this required co ordination and handover between vehicles routing Taunton/Maldon and Maldon/Chesterfield.
Services built as mirror images on both sides of the motorway with a connecting bridge is a 1960's solution. The current answer is one set of buildins incorporated in a juction in the manner of M25 South Mimms,indeed that would be another suitable handover. Chesterfield bound vehicle has choice of routing direct M1 via j21 or doubling back to m11. On 2 January I'd be inclined to accept short delay in M1 roadworks.
J21A seems to allow unresrtricted access between M25 and A405.- the old north orbital road. J21 allows access to m1 North only
My Subaru Legacy Outback was bought 2nd hand, at 60,000 miles. It has Goodyear Geolanders, sized 215/55 R16.
I had noticed one or two other models with 60, rather than 55 profile tyres, and the dealer now tells me this (i.e. 60) is the recommended size for the car.
What impact will a lower than recommended profile have on the car? I'm trying to work out if the car has in fact travelled around 9% further than indicated on the mileometer. or am I simple? Read more
Well, blow me down etc.
That's beyond my little brain!
Driving through a small town in N Yorkshire this morning. Road reduced to one lane for maybe 200 metres, but with a curve so you couldn't see the other end of the restriction. Traffic lights there but not working. Speed camera van at one end.
Question: where were the two police officers I saw? Were they
(a) sitting in the van or
(b) one at each end of the restriction, directing traffic to ensure no accidents?
Am I cynical, or just old enough to remember when the police accepted their first duty was to the public? Read more
Thats the one escort man!
--
Fullchat
does any1 know if the 6 speed box from the 2.0 tdci cmax will mate to the 1.6 tdci or not? many thanks
Read more
This model is too new for any kind of mod like this to have been performed. I doubt you will get many responses. You need to think about gear ratios as well. Whether the six speed box will physically fit is one issue, whether the 1.6 engine has the torque to drive it is a different problem. I suspect the sixth gear is quite high.
Browse
On the face of it, I think I'd hold fire, or look elsewhere:
- you reckon the Nissan is still a tad overpriced;
- you're left with the hassle of disposing of your wife's Fiesta, which could take weeks and leave you well out of pocket as you fund the new purchase.
Doesn't seem to me that the dealer is desperate to do business with you. Leave him to stew for the rest of the month at least!