December 2006
I've recently bought an approved used BMW, and decided to upgrade the DVD for the Sat Nav system to the latest version. (It came with the 2003 disc, I've bought the 2006 version) Got one quite cheaply on Ebay (brand new and sealed). The disc doesn't work properly, and reading the instructions it seems that the cars software has to be upgraded to a later version for the disc to work. I took it into a BMW dealer, who tried one of their own discs in it, which produced the same results.
I asked how much it would cost to upgrade the software, and was quoted "at least £150 - £200"!!! It seems the upgrade process is difficult and "doesn't always work properly" and that sometimes they need the car for several days to get it working!!!
I asked for the work to be done under warranty.... not unreasonable, the car is just less than 3 years old, and surely a DVD based sat nav system is designed specifically so that the customer can upgrade the discs. As far as I'm concerned the car is faulty"and that BMW should pay for the software to be upgraded...
On the basis that new versions of software are constantly being released to "bug fix" potential faults, wouldn't you expect a BMW approved used car to be at the latest software level when you buy it?
Am I being unreasonable?? I realise that buying the DVD on ebay probably didn't go down well, but even so......! Read more
I have an 05 Fabia vRS and am looking to replace it with a new car. Something more exciting, probably a hot hatch, but still with room at the weekend for swmbo and 2 kids. I do around 12-15K miles pa, at my own expense. My daily journey to work is 10 miles each way, a mix of urban and country A roads. A key factor is the car's width: I have a narrow parking space between two garages, so any test drive will have to include this. The Fabia isn't a problem, and I could go a little wider but not too much. I also appreciate reliability and quality.
Cars I have considered so far are the Clio 197, Swift Sport, Fiesta ST and Focus ST, with the Clio towards the top end of my price range. The Focus would probably be affordable as my father is a Ford pensioner so I would be entitled to a discount, probably between 20 and 25%.
Does anyone have any experience of the cars on my shortlist, or alternative suggestions? Read more
Nearly new Civic Type R ?
P
Much has been said about Warranties - what they cover / do not cover. My experience was it did not cover what went wrong BUT
Is there warranty cover available where you take the first say £250 of the claim?
i.e. If you have a car you expect bills - a few Hundred pounds is not unsual but where it really hurts is if
on a 3/4/5 year old car the Engine goes bang, the auto box refuses to change up/down, the ABS Pump does not. The ECU decides it has had its day.
If this was possible to get such cover the premiums might be a more manageable amount (£200 / £300 / yr rather than £700+) and have sufficient cover to cover a wider range of faults Read more
Take a look at www.warrantyworks.co.uk - I have no connection with them but they have been recommended to me by a couple of people. I am looking to change my car in the next month or so and will be purchasing a warranty from them when I do. HTH, Mark.
Hi,
Anyone know where i can get hold of some of the above oil, as i've just had a quick fit special (they did a good job as i watched from a distance by the way) and can't seem to find any in Halfords etc.
thanks, Carl Read more
95% of automotive oil sold in Europe comes from just the 5 big oil suppliers. OEM's (like Halfords, Motorquip, Ford, GM etc) sell re-labelled oil from these suppliers.
Basically, if the oil meets the appropriate SAE and manufacturers specification then it will do the job - just buy the cheapest which meets your car's requirements.
I have just bought the said car on a Y plate has done only 33000 miles.
First time i drove the car in the dark and there were no dash lights, so speedo, instuments, whole central console lights not lit up!!
lastnight i turned the lights on and the left main beam was out...... but all the dash lights were working!! set off driving all the dash lights went out and so did the left side light. at this point i had stopped the car..... turned the lights off and back on all main beam and side lights ok but no dash lights....!!!
any ideas?? Read more
How old is this Mondeo?
I know some of the earlier ones around 1994 / 95 time had a re call for the headlight switch.
Hi,
I was driving on the motorway at about 60mph in heavy rain when I had to brake hard to avoid a car wheel which rolled in front of my car . The brakes worked well but I felt a 'clunk' in the brake pedal and when I tried to brake afterwards the pedal was really loose and went to the floor with very little braking. There is still a little braking power but only when the pedal is to the floor. Am I looking at an expensive repair bill? Read more
Sounds like some part of the hydraulic system has failed or pads/shoes have disldged.
Difficult tosay if its expensive but..........................
it is your brakes, please sort as a matter of urgency before using car more.
Most people will:
- Be using public transport a lot more ? because it is more widely available, works better, and is cheaper in most cases than using a car
- Be using cars pretty much only for essential journeys ? because the cost is otherwise prohibitive
- Have either changed jobs or moved house ? in order to be able to commute by public transport with reasonable convenience (or be ?tele-commuting? from home)
- Be driving smaller cars
- Be driving cars with much smaller, more efficient engines, and sacrificing performance as a result
- Car sharing
- Have consigned ?classic? etc vehicles to the scrapyard or museums because they are socially unacceptable and prohibitively expensive to run.
In the main, people won?t be:
- Living in rural areas, unless there is decent public transport or they are allowed personal mobility at an affordable price
- Travelling/driving much for leisure/pleasure purposes
- Enjoying so much wealth, because the UK has become expensive and uncompetitive, and the economy has slowed ? certainly in relation to other countries, most of which have not taken such draconian steps.
It?s got this way through legislation by successive governments. Is this the way to save the planet, or is it Hell? Maybe it?s both. How much will (people let) happen and by when?
Read more
Quote from original
Have consigned "classic" etc vehicles to the scrapyard or museums because they are socially unacceptable and prohibitively expensive to run.
Ah, the tricky period is probably late 70's to date actually for petrol and late 1990's for diesels. Older diesels will run quite happily on all sorts of light oils, and carburettored cars are reasonably easy to adapt to bioethanol mixes. Older cars, like my 1930 Morgan will run on methanol if I change the jets, but is a lot easier to adapt to other fuels as well (I can lower the compression without compromising the head gaskets).
What you might see, at a future classic rally in 2026 (say) is older cars, but precious few of today's or cars made in the last few years. Unlike today, where cars made in the last 30 years often predominate.
Fuel and oil costs actually play less part in the cost of ownership of vintage and veteran. Some return quite economical MPG figures and total loss oiling in older ones means that for a car doing few miles, the oil costs are low as changing what is in the sump involves about two egg cups full of oil. (Total loss survived until the early 30s for some bike type engines).
Just a quicke, is it safe to use ordinary engine oil in an air compressor.? Read more
I was in the garage yesterday and spotted the compressor oil bottle. SAE40 if what mine uses. Regards Peter
Have seen a car for sale which looks quite interesting. First registered in 2000 with 75000 miles in v good condition. Is being offered at £11500. Car is auto with all the usual goodies. Are there any problems I should be looking out for? What is the general opinion on this car? Thanks. Read more
Mates SL55 - no brakes, managed to stop without killing himself or others.
Ouch, nasty... Guess that stuipd SBC (Sensotronic Brake Control) is to blame, isn't it ?
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Free enterprise is the basis of western economy.
All,
I've been considering winter tyres lately, but not really found anything conclusive on the internet saying that they are better. The are lots of tests for sure, the winter tyre are always great, but none (that i can find) state explicity what type of [b]normal[/b] tyre they're comparing the winter tyre to. Unless explicitly stated i assume that the normal tyre they're comparing the winter tyres to is the worst performing brand of normal tyre with it's tread on the legal minimum depth....
If i could lay my hands on a test between a [b]normal[/b] tyre, eg a Michelen EA3 tyre that was stated as being in the same wear state as the winter tyres tested, i'd have a lot more faith in the results.
Any idea where i can find this information? or similarly convincing evidence that winter tyres are better than a good quality [b]normal[/b] tyre?
TIA
Mark Read more
The rubber in summer compund tyres freezes.
I'm in Switzerland and put my car's winter shoes on last month. What a grip difference with cheap winters over conti summers!
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You would be surprised how out of date some car manufacturers discs are! I have a 54 plate X-trail and it has several local garages on it which have not been there in 13 years, roads that have been in place for seven years are missing. I checked the cost of an upgrade and was quoted upwards of £300 - but having checked with a friend who owns an 06 version it is the same disc. It is a rip-off really as I could buy a whole system for the amount quoted - but who wants an intergral Satnav screen plus one sat on the dash? And, yes, I can use a map but use the Satnav when travelling alone somewhere new or trying to avoid snarlups.