January 2007
Now, you might call me biased against Volvos (having been run over by one in the past), but I hope you'll forgive me if I have a rant about the latest Volvo advert on the radio.
It's the one with the guy who gets a phone call while he's at the airport, and the first thing he does is launch into a monologue about how wonderful his XC90 is, until the caller asks how much it costs - at which point he gets all evasive and pretends his flight is taking off. After he's hung up, he orders a black coffee in the departure lounge after fibbing to the caller.
1) Who cares about their car to that extent?
2) What sort of person discusses it in EVERY PHONE CALL?
3) Why give a flying banana about how much it costs? And why are you so pretentious you won't admit to your colleagues what you paid for it?
4) Why is someone that boring even allowed on a plane?
5) BLACK COFFEE?
I think the pressure of physics finals may be getting to me, but I really can't stand this advert. ;) Read more
I have had 2 incidents recently.
Note - I have 3rd party insurance
The first happened on New years eve and while q ing in a carpark ata supermarket a senior citizan backed straight into my front wing and has cause about £160 of damage - dent in wing and scratch on door.
The senior citizan in question said he would pay cash if reasonable and I had my girlfriend in car and the mob no of a further witness. I have his home number and reg number
The second inccident was my fault and basically I broke my front light and the same wing is a write off.
My question therefore relates to if the senior citizan disputes the amount, I will need to involve witness and insurance and make a claim and wondered what the legal situation is.
The 2 sets of damage to the wing are distinct but i need to fix so wondered what to do before having removed.
So what should I do and can i claim against the senior is I have subsequently written off the wing
Thanks
Andrew
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As you know the damage for the first incident was £160 then just ask the guy for it. Its not a lot so he is likely to pay. You then pay for any repairs over and above this.
Bought a Skoda Octavia Estate May 2003 (Pre PD diesel) hoping to average 50+
Digital read out indicates 53 average usually, after 20+ miles
Did a brim to brim test, and managed 427 miles for 45 litres, or 43 mpg. Could be an error in filling in my part, but this is 20% lower than I was hoping for.
OK. It is the Elegance, so has horrible wide tyres that will sap 3-4% of mpg, and it is the estate, which will be heavier, but would still have expected 47 or so
Ideas? No brakes binding, and recently serviced Read more
I have "econ" displayed about ½ the time, occasionally on "auto" and the rest of the time I have the display off
The passenger door auto lock system has stopped being activated by the central locking system.It has to be manually locked now but when the auto lock is operated you can hear a slight click in the passenger door . Does anyone know the procedure for repair and what parts are possibly required and wher you can obtain them.Thanks for any help
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Strange problem, when i turn on the ignition on my S reg 306 D Turbo, the sidelights come on. If i then turn the lights on they go a little bit brighter. Checked the lightswitch stalk by disconnecting it, still the same. Any ideas please??
Tom. Read more
Few possibilities: Is this a UK spec car? Has it just started doing this? If yes and yes, case of getting wiring diagram and working back through the circuitry with a multimeter. Done it on a 405 and found lighting fault due to a break in the wire cutting the feed to the relay. However, if one wire is broken, whole loom is normally quoted as a replacement. Lot easier to get an autoelectrician to do this. Otherwise may have to replace some of the relays or resolder ignition wiring if not UK spec. S.
I have had the EXACT. same problem problem on my R reg 306 turrbo diesel with electric windows and sunroof. Found out this morning that the passenger side electric window switch was back feeding to the side lights. I fitted an incorrect or faultysecond hand switch a couple of weeks ago and that is when the fault occurred.
The National Parking Adjudication Service have recently published their 2005 Annual report. Available from their website as a 4mb pdf download (www.parking-appeals.gov.uk/about/NPAS2005Report.pdf ).
Well worth a read for those of us with an interest in this kind of thing and helpfully included a primer on the history and structure of decriminalised parking enforcement. Other chapters highlight key decisions in areas that cause particular trouble including the wording of Penalty Charge Notices and use of discretion by Councils
As well as the perennial T Bar question (see illegal yellow lines thread) the case digest shows the line adjudicators take on questions such as going for change and fallen/misplaced P&D tickets.
May be worth listing in HJ's list of useful sites. Read more
Thanks for that Bromptonaut. Apart from the now obligatory Welsh stuff and too many close up photos of women of a certain age looking at disabled persons' blue badges it was good read.
Well, I've only read 10 pages or so and saved it for later. There's some interesting stuff about what a council can and can't get away with. Won't help me with my £50 but I'll keep it on file for when it may be needed.
This might be useful for anyone thinking of a 'city-size' car.
My B-class is in to have the results of a small prang taken out, and the courtesy car provided by the repairers is a Colt 'Red'. I know that as it says 'RED' on each flank: I had thought this was to aid the colour-blind, but it seems that this is a special edition of the basic 3-door 1.1.
It's a frisky little Colt - very lively and nippy around town although the 3-cylinder (petrol) engine is no less noisy than the diesel Mercedes, although it's a more pleasant whirring noise than the diesel drone. Not bad on motorways - still some oomph left at 70 mph.
Ride, handling and steering very good - not quite an instantly responsive as a Ford Ka but getting that way, and the seats are more comfortable. It's well-equipped for a basic model too - remote central locking, one-touch electric windows both sides, a CD player and a trip computer.
Personally I wouldn't have the 3-door - the big doors are a pain in car parks and garages and the seat-belt is an almighty stretch. The 5-door version wouldn't have this problem and is well worth a look - the main recommendation being that although I'm used to bigger and more powerful cars, I'm really enjoying driving this one - as I do every time I drive a Ford Ka. Read more
For consistency with what I said above, the Colt should come in the middle of that order!
hi, if i have the engine ticking over at normal operating temp and then if i squeeze the oil breather pipe betwix thumb and index finger the revs increase
slightly is this normal? surely a squeezed pipe is not doing its job but the engine rev increase surely denotes more efficient combustion or am i missing something in this equasion? Read more
Well, I'd guess that the engine is a bit worn. On older carb fuelled engines, the idling mixture was adjusted with the breather system in place. The adjustment then took into account the crankcase fumes passing into the inlet manifold, also, any minor air leaks in the breather system were 'adjusted out' with the mixture screw. If the breather system is disabled (squeezed) after adjustment, the idling mixture will change, and so will the idle speed.
Worn engines create more crankcase pressure and fumes than unworn ones, and the effect is more pronounced.
Cameras for A30 roadworks between Loggans Moor and Hayle. 40 mph limit.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6258517.stm Read more
According to today's paper Peugot are offering a 30Gb disk capable of storing xx hours of MP3 music as an extra on the 407. This means that you can play a CD in the CD player (why, if you have an MP3 player?) rather than having it loaded up with the satnav CD. It doesn't explain how this might be. Maybe the mapping gets loaded to the disk.
Is this rotten journalism, scrambling the facts and only reporting half of them or are Peugot really trying to sell a £175 MP3 player for £950? I know the options list is an unhealthly place to go but that takes the biscuit!
JH Read more
Why is it called an i-pod? Surely, if you only listen to it, it should be called an ear-pod?
Browse
David
I like the flying banana, can i borrow that, it's more polite that the usual variant
And good coffee should never be contaminated with milk
Good car the XC90 though, despite the ad. Heard it somewhere