January 2007
My father has just acquired my grandfathers '95 1.4 CDX Vauxhall Corsa with 46K on the clock and a full vauxhall service history. It goes well, although does require an MOT, Tax & Service in Feb. I can't make my mind whether to have it for silly money (couple of hundred quid) and sell my '05 Skoda Fabia 1.2. I do enjoy a newer car but 'bangernomics' also appeals! Read more
Having taken the advice about the Pinin, my sister and I dropped into a Suzuki dealer today and she fell for a black 2001 Suzuki Grand Vitara 1600 3dr in black. Its done 44k with full history and with 6 months tax, cambelt service and a CD player fitted, she paid £4700 - is this a good price?
The dealer service costs seemed very reasonable with even the cambelt service only coming in at £421 and no other services coming in at more than £200. I thought that sounded reasonable for a 4x4.
Please tell me these cars are reliable? Read more
Thanks for the feedback - Im glad ive steered her in the right direction in the end although ive made her promise that she is to keep it for atleast 5 years as I was tearing my hair out to try and find something she liked!
I didnt get the impression that parts were all that expensive atleast compared to the Mitsubishi - the cambelt service is a whole 1/3 cheaper and most of the cost on the Suzuki looked to be labour for the cambelt change itself.
My sister said it doesnt drive aswell as the Pinin, but it had a better feeling of engineering and design ( for instance, the Mitsubishi doesnt have plastic wheelarch covers which on a 4x4 is unforgiveable stupidity of design ). She said the gearchange was light as were all the controls, far lighter than her MGF, and she said it was nice enough to ride in.
She likes the looks and said its very grown up looking in black, plus they seem to be sought after on the used market, most likely because its very good as it gets older whereas you wouldnt want a Freelander and all the associated problems that come with even a moderate age.
Im actually just relieved that I found something for her because I was running out of ideas!
The funniest thing she said - now she can go camping because she can drive on grass - bless her! I didnt have the heart to tell her that the MGF will drive on grass too ( great fun i might add having done it myself ) :-)
I recently went into 2 separate Esso ststions in our locality (Reading). All I wanted was some spare brake light bulbs, however it now seems these stations sell virtually no automotive items apart from a couple of bottles of oil and screenwash. Okay you can get a loaf of bread or a pastie, but whatever happened to petrol stations stocking basic car items such as bulbs ? Read more
The Sierra estate has a handy little storage compartment in the N/S/R trim,
>>don't know its original purpose but it is a good place to store bulbs and other odds and ends.
Ford get some things right ( same in my Mondeo) but some of the bulb configs are "unusual"
>>They are all so easy to change I am happy to replace at the roadside.
Yep! My Cortina & Sierra were fine but not the Mondeo front lights.
I have just checked the latest prices for a C6 on drivethedeal.com and the cheapest model, the 2.2 HDI, is now available for under £25K, which is less than some dealerships are asking for used models. Read more
Lovely car though but I do feel Citroen missed a trick
in not including the C4 steering wheel set up but apparently
the C6 was designed first.
It's coming I beleave at face-lift time, when the interior will apparently be changed slightly.
Just back from Alps where I got snowed in. Went to boot of hire car (hired from Grenoble) no chains. Rang the hire car company (a quite major operator, I might add) who said I should have asked for them when I picked up the car. I pointed out that as chains are obligatory in mountain areas and other car hire companies I have used in skiiing areas provide them automatically I shouldn't have to ask in a skiing area in January for equipment that can be expected to be needed to make the car legal to drive nor make a special check to see that they have been provided. I wouldn't expect a hire car to be supplied without a spare tyre or warning triangle for example. The hire car company suggested I go and buy some as they couldn't help. I pointed out that a) I couldn't even move the car due to lack of chains and b) if I could, I would be breaking the law by driving to the the next town to buy the chains and c) I would spending my money to make up for their lack of safety equipment. I suggested very politely that this was not very helpful and despite the entire conversation being held without either party raising their voice, the person from The hire car company hung up on me.
I don't know if other hire cars make you pay extra for safety equipment but I thought others might like to know of one that does.
{Hire car company name removed and generalised. Naming the company itself wasn't so much the issue, but as you've also named the location they're based in, it's fallen foul of the no name / shame policy - DD} Read more
On many cars snow chains will not fit on std. tyres;to avoid fouling the wheel arch narrower tyres are needed.
>>
My Mondeo Ghia X manual says no tyre chains on the standard wheel / tyre combination.
The heater blower motor in my 1996 Micra will now only run on the fastest of its four settings. Is this an easy problem to sort? Any help gratefully received, thanks
Read more
Many thanks for the diagnosis. I have just bought a new resistor from Nissan main dealer for £22+vat, which seemed reasonable in view of comments, and will fit it this weekend. Thanks again
Visit www.thecarparty.org.uk read down the front page for a super competition.
Or just visit to join the fight back against the anti car vocal minority.
(Mods: It's okay to leave this as a live link. HJ) Read more
Why don't you disclose your identity, or are you a secret party?
I have a C5 2.2 HDI automatic, which has a sport mode option on the gearbox. I can't remember ever using it before but I suspect that a recent software update has messed up the gearbox, so I tried it out yesterday. The gear changes do not take place until 4000 rpm, which seems ridiculous for a diesel. Has anyone any idea at what revs this gearbox should change gear in sport mode?
In normal mode, the gear changes will take usually take place at between 2000 and 2500 rpm, unless the car is pushed to its limit, when the changes normally take place at no more than 3000 rpm. Read more
Back to the top a bit i know, but I'be got a Saab 1.9 Tid 150bhp diesel and find at 4k revs it still has power there, if i changed a 3k i would be constantly changing up it gets there that quick,
Would have thought a 2.2 Hdi would still have loads more power to go, Had a 1.6 Hdi in a 407 for a while, you had to rev that or you wouldnt get anywhere, lovely car but just had no go at all.
Paid £80 for an hours labour at Saab dealer, all to remove the seat and get the coins that were rattling, will check better next time before i book it in!!
Jon
SWMBO's Berlingo has been evicted from the garage for the last month and now when we first open up there's an evil smell in there. Seems to fade a bit after a short journey as we get warm air circulating (or perhaps we just get used to it!).
Any ideas on possible problem and solution please?
Thanks in advance
--
Terry
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Screwloose - Yes, it has aircon. I'll look at the pollen filter first (when it stops raining!) and ir that doesn't fix it, aircon will be the next suspect area. Thanks.
--
Terry
Might be a few problems lifting it out of a chassis.;-))
tinyurl.com/nkfre
Phil I Read more
MAN seem to market a more powerful engine - 87000 kW, or roughly 116 000 HP. See:
www.manbw.com/engines/TwoStrokeLowSpeedPropEngines...7
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Buy it and flea bay it.