December 2006
Motorists in Dundee have been warned to get their cars serviced before winter sets in.
The news comes after a large number of cars were found to be in a dangerous condition during recent free vehicle safety checks.
Trading Standards Officers carried out checks over three days at Kingsway Retail Park.
The tests revealed vehicles with safety faults including defective tyres, blown bulbs and worn wiper blades.
Of 139 vehicles tested, a quarter had some sort of safety defect that would make the vehicle fail an MoT.
These results show that motorists must not be complacent about the safety of their vehicles
Julie Sturrock
Dundee City Council
A further 45% had some other issue which merited an advisory note including wrong tyre pressures, or oil or fluid levels requiring topping up.
Dundee City Council's environmental sustainability services convener, Julie Sturrock, said: "This is an annual exercise which is always very much welcomed by local motorists.
"I'm pleased that our officers have been able to check three times more vehicles than last year, but these results show that motorists must not be complacent about the safety of their vehicles."
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Prompted by the thread "Mini luxury cars"; what is luxury?
Where does the line lie between genuine luxury and merely something that makes you feel good? A bit special?
To open the debate with my motoring interpretation of the word:
Luxury is about more than slapping a bit of faux walnut on the dash, leather on the seats, a bit of deep pile in the foot wells, and subduing the hard working turbo diesel to a distant thrum.
Luxury is about style and panache. About having a genuinely sumptious interior, beautifully and painstakingly crafted from the highest quality materials.
It is about prestige, genuine exclusivity, and price in absolute (not relative to the market sector for the car) terms. About allure. Dare I say it, about excess, about extravagance, again in absolute terms and not relative to our own pockets.
There are many mass produced cars that will happily sit all day at illegal speeds, with better than reasonable ride comfort, without assaulting the ears, and with a decent sound system. Bums can probably be parked on analine leather, marvel can be had at contrast piping or stitching, and a feeling of one upmanship can be had over the poverty spec version with fabric seats and single slot CD.
All of this can make a most comfortable car to live with, even as the "mini" sector car that prompted this thread, but none of it makes a luxury car any more than Sainsbury's can ever sell a luxury hamper.
So, by my definition a mini luxury car is an oxymoron.
Mini cars, yes, very comfortable and well appointed mini cars, yes, mini cars that will please you and I, yes, but luxury mini cars, no.
My V70 is refined, comfortable, leather appointed, mile munching, and an altogether most agreeable place to spend time, but is it a luxury car? Well according to the Wikipidia definition it is in terms of price, but I would still say "No" on the basis of what else I have written. The same is true of the absurdly overpriced 56 plate Range Rover owned elsewhere in the family.
On the other hand, the Bentley owned by the same relative most certainly is a luxury car, with it's exquisite materials, beautiful construction, and "this is just u-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e" factor as the gentleman's drawing room on wheels pulverizes wind, road surface, (as an aside, not to mention sports cars) in to submission without breaking a sweat or causing a raising of voice.
So, that's my interpretation.
Not right, not wrong, just my interpretation.
Where does yours lie? Read more
I think that luxury is relative but your standards rise very quickly, so what you perceive as luxurious today rapidly becomes commonplace and your expectations rise. Next time round you probably want the same or better. It's called the consumer society and it's best to resist if you can. You can end up with very big holes in your pockets.
JH
Took my 2 month/450 miles old Smax into the dealer today to have a steering "clonk" noise looked at. When the service guy pulled out of the space, he clipped the kerb and damaged the alloy wheel. We opted for the 18" wheels, so I'm not too happy. We have also been incredibly careful with the car and have not damaged any of the wheels before he did this.
It was on their land, with their service guy driving it. I was in the passenger seat and inwardly thought "aaargh" when the car bumped past the kerb. I have poinetd the damage out to him. It is small, but I know that once an alloy wheel has it's surface broken like this, it's never the same again :-(
Should I / Can I demand a new alloy replacement and is there any particular legislation that I can point them at? Read more
We used to farm it out to a bloke who came round in a van and resprayed the damaged new and used cars in the car park... :-)
(before I set anybody off twisting about this I should probably point out that any badly damaged new cars were taken to our approved bodyshop where they were resprayed)
Blue
can anybody help me !! i have had passat for just over a year, its been excellent however it recenttl started cutting out on me, after a change of fuel fliter everything seemed ok, howevr ive noticed now that before its warmed up sometimes it idles and stalls , then its a pain to start up! a bit of a drama when your at the lights, ive checked the glow plugs and had them cleaned but its only when starting ina morning, can anybody give me some advice on what it could be? my mates a mechanic [vw] but he is away , any help would be greatly appreciated , please contact me at xxiiipfa@hotmail.com
yours Read more
That'll be the coolant temperature sensor.
4-pin sensor on the rear of the head.
Corolla Verso delivered early September 2006
The car recently refused to start, or rather started and stalled immediately a number of times. It was carted away to the dealer by a local breakdown driver who started it using the accelerator pedal, thus racing a stone-cold engine (I was not present or I would have told him to stop). Having warmed up the engine, the fault disappeared, and the dealer was only able to reproduce the fault later in the day when the engine was cold. When I collected the car, I was told that the engine control calculator had become "de-programmed" (how the hell does that happen?) and was not taking into account the engine temperature on start-up. They said they had re-programmed it and if the problem happened again I should start it with my foot on the pedal. Needless to say I am not very pleased as I am not prepared to take the risk of having to wait several minutes with my foot on the pedal while the engine warms up or take the risk of it stalling every time I change gear. Added to this I have noticed that when the engine is cold it now idles normally at about 900rpm until I turn on the heater blower at which point it jumps to 1100-1200rpm. The rear screen heater, lights etc. do not have this effect.
Does anyone have any thoughts about the problem so that I can be a bit more clued-up (and forceful) with the dealer if (or when) the problem comes back? Read more
Hello everyone, I bought a P plate 1.4CL Polo from a local trader. The car has got full service history and its done 73k miles. Its very clean inside out so it suggests the car has been looked after very well. Even though the car was serviced by VW at 64k miles they never changed the timing belt on it. I just want to know why and when it should had been changed? Also car has got light creamy coloured stuff on the oil filler cap. I cleaned it and after starting up the car for few minutes it comes back on. Trader said to me its due to "condensation" and its definitely not an indication of head gasket problem! Shall I fully service the car? I won't be taking it to VW for servicing and I'll be doing the job myself! Read more
But you should undo the 4 bolts at the back ;-)
Can anyone out there please confirm if the autobox used by Fiat on the Panda/Punto and by Subaru on the Justy, is the Fuji SG-CVT3 ?
Thank you. Read more
Despite Mr Brown adding 1 1/2p to the price of fuel, isn't it odd how both my local Sainsburies and local Esso have just hiked their diesel by 4p?! Very strange! Anyone else noticed that? Read more
Little bit like when he puts a penny or two on a pint of beer it always seems to go up 5p in the pub...........
My local mein host always used to argue that it kept it simpler for the bar staff if all the prices were in 5p multiples, I pointed out that they didn't need it simple because they never add anything up these days as the till does it for them, all they do is push the right button for a pint of wallop and it adds it all up. Mind you after three or four budgets doing that, his clientele having disappeared, the pub became an estate agents :-)
My wife has been looking for an Aygo since she test drove one a few months ago. At the time there were a number of ex demos around at dealers for around the £6500 mark ? 5 door + or sport with aircon. We have checked C1 and 107, but 5 door with aircon are very rare.
Since then prices seem to have been ?realigned? and dealers have increased asking prices by at least £500-1000. She found one for sale privately, but a HPI check revealed outstanding finance, despite the seller stating she paid cash for the car when we asked her directly, so we walked.
With nothing better to do than surf the net my wife has now found two more ? both 12 months old, 5 door Sport with aircon.
Car One 12 months old 23,000 miles £6791 ? 30 miles away
Car Two 12 months old 5,500 miles £6,995 ? 200 miles away
She called the dealer of car 1 and the fun started.
?The price on screen is £6,999 ? £6791 is a web price.
It has no tax so we?ll throw that in, it?s only £40 a year so hardly a deal maker.
Told them it was too high
Rang back half an hour later ? we can do it for £6,600
We won?t do the trip to look until he gets to £6,500 and then start negotiations.
Now rang back we can do it for £6,500 if you pay a deposit over the phone. Needless to say that received a no.
Mileage isn?t much of an issue as we will do low mileage so by the time we get rid the mileage will be in line with what is expected after 3 or 4 years.
Tyres, brakes and bodywork will get a close inspection and we expect a lengthy test drive.
She is looking for as near as £6,000 as possible. Parkers for the same car with 10,000 miles and no aircon is £6495. Glasses suggest £5730 as a part ex price.
Any other tips?
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These are low priced cars to start with, so it's dificult to expect there to be a great discount, 'cos the dealer didn't have the margin to start with.
As you've already found a couple which were pre-reg/demonstrators of some kind - possibly only registered to reach targets, it's not like the dealer has stuffed himself with a heavy investment $£$£$.
While I like to save a penny where I can, you'd be better off having NEW - that's new registration, new tax disc, new fuel in the tank, new bottoms on seats (yours) new warranty....
All for not much more than you'd earn filling the shelves in Tesco, with the time & effort & fuel your using!!
VB
I can't find the thread involved, but forum members may remember some of my recent postings about a bus driver in my town who was seriously injured in an accident involving a car driver who failed to stop at a give way junction.
Fortunately the bus driver is making reasonable progress, but many people in the town are up in arms at what appears to be an extremely lenient sentence for the car driver, who has a history of motoring offences.
Details of the court case at:
tinyurl.com/t5atf
I'm aware that magistrates' courts have limited punishment powers and that a magistrates' clerk will provide all the advice that magistrates require, but it still seems staggering that someone's life, along with that of his family, should be affected so much whilst the person responsible for that situation appears to get off almost scot-free.
The comment by the defendant's solicitor that: ?This is a very satisfactory result for my client.? almost beggers belief.
This is the original reporting of the accident for those who are not aware of the original postings:
tinyurl.com/yy4xyh
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by Read more
The reason for the one-third discount on sentencing is not to reward offenders for facing up to the consequences of their actions, but to stop them going for a trial when they would otherwise have nothing to lose. If the CPS loses its evdience, the police or civilian witnesses fail to turn up, etc., then there is a chance that even someone who is caught red-handed will get off. Even if everything goes smoothly, the court's time is expensive and if every defendant pleaded not guilty (if only to retain the privileges of a remand prisoner) the system would be overwhelmed. At a guess, I would say that no more than 1 in 10 cases will actually make it from the police station to trial without a guilty plea being entered.
I won't express my personal opinions too forcefully here but I would be firmly against a sanction for exercising your right to enter a not guilty plea.
It's interesting to see that the Magistrates chose not to make the two four-month sentences run consecutively as that would have been in their powers (they can only impose a maximum of two consecutive sentences of six months). Also, theoretically handling stolen goods is the most serious offence (the only one also triable in the Crown Court) but they imposed a lesser sentence for that so it must have been for something comparatively trivial.
Apart from the handling sentence, and the fact that the sentences were concurrent and not consecutive, the Magistrates basically sentenced using the maximum of their powers (although given the above, I can see why the solicitor would be pretty happy about it, probably fully expecting consecutive sentences).
Browse
The German Old Bill might have been going to something important.........how do you know he/she wasn't bothered?