February 2007
Looking for a car to replace my Focus, would like a Mondeo. I haven't been to Blackbushe for a while, but went in my lunch hour today. I saw two 53 reg Mondeos, both post-facelift 1.8 Zetecs, in the Lex sale. Both had over 100k miles, but full service history. The first was a bit tatty, Silver, with 117k miles. The second was tidier, a horrible olive green colour (IMO), with about 102k miles. Both went for approximately £2500. This seems very cheap. Is this because there was something about these particular cars that the trade were aware of, or are Mondeos really that cheap?
I was looking to maybe go down the bangernomics route mentioned in another thread here, but if a 3 year old car that looks and drive well is so cheap, why bother? Read more
Just been in Birmingham and crossing the road saw a car with a red 04 08 V.E.D. disc in the windscreen,fourteen and a half month's duty, very strange. Read more
I got a company car a good few years ago that came with 12 and half months tax - and the amount written on it was an odd amount, so they'd been charged for the extra tax.
Hi
On my bike I have a question about maintance.
The foot gear change lever must have a certain amount of play, and too much play can eventually break the engine.
How should the freeplay be checked? Should it be in gear, out of gear, and what amount of freeplay is recommended?
The bike is a CG125.
Thanks
Greg Read more
Are you sure you're not misreading something the clutch gets adjusted and not the gearshift??
Hi
Hope someone can help. I need to top up the oil in the gearbox of my VW Polo 1.9TDI (year 1999) but cannot locate the filling point.
Many Thanks
Bob Read more
Hello,
The filler/drainage plug will be a recessed -and very tight -hex plug located on the front of the 'box (pointing towards the front of the car). You really need a photo or diagram for this since if you undo the wrong hex bolt you will undo the shaft inside the 'box by mistake! And you may not be able to put it back.
Pop down to Halfords and get the owners manual for the VW Polo 94 - 99 model - wll have the same gearbox as the TDi. Look at page 14, section 1B, diag 28.3.
Hi, i have a 1996 rover 620sldi (don't laugh) it was free. When i accelerate i get big clouds of bloke smoke coming from the exhaust, it seems to fill the whole road. It has just had a service and the MOT is due soon, and i'm worried that the emmissions will cause it to fail, do you have any answers please, thanks timbo1876
{Car details added to subject header - DD} Read more
"The main intake pipe that runs from the front of the car to the bottom of the air filter box is missing."
I suspect that is the problem.
MB have sent me an offer which sounds good (too good?)
The offer is for an EClass 220CDI Avantgarde saloon, with automaticbox and metallic paint.
On the road price...............£33,045
'Retailer Contribution' .........£5,000
Deposit...................................£5,149
36 monthly payments..............£260.20
Charge for credit @ 4.3%....£2,446.20
Optional final payment .......£15,900
I like the sound of the 4.3% interest rate, I can get more for my money than that on deposit. I also like the 'retailer contribution' of £5,000.
Yes, I know it's a contract purchase scheme - pay £15,900 at the end of the contract to buy the car, or walk away.
Is it good, or have I missed something? Read more
It's no unmissable bargain but it's a sensible way to finance a car that you would have bought anyway.
I would agree with that, but the thought of having the near £100/wk depreciation so starkly pointed out would make me feel sick the whole time I had the car!
At least if you just buy it, you have to wait for 3 yrs before you find out how much you've lost.
Had a new maf sensor fitted to my vw Passat Tdi 115bhp pd about 8 months ago---- just coming on to the motorway the car lost all power, would only reach 2000 rpm---I switched the ignition off --then on and power came back ----that was about a week ago and the car has been fine since---any suggestions would be appreciated
{car details added to subject header to make post less vague - DD} Read more
The vacuum hose to the VNT turbo is prone to failure - basically the vacuum supply from the brake servo is increased (from electronically controlled valve) with engine power to prevent the turbo overboosting. If the hose collapses the VNT actuator doesn't move enough and the engine is shut down. Worth spraying the linkage with wd40 and checking the hose.
At just over 5k miles I think my Passat 2.0TDi is loosening up nicely, and on a recent trip to Surrey and the south coast it cruised beautifully in 6th gear with cruise control on motorways and dual carriageways. And it did 380 miles on half a tank. Not sure what the mpg is but the prospect of 750 miles per tank on longer trips is seeems good for a fairly big car. Read more
It's theoretically possible in my 2005 Mondeo 2.0 TDCi (Euro 3) to achieve 776.6 mpg on a tankful. Tank holds 58.5 litres and extra-urban figure is 60.4 mpg
I'm about to buy a brand new supermini. I want something reliable and fun to drive. I thought about Japanese cars as I've heard that they're the most reliable by far. The problem is that I hate their interior and basically find them pretty ugly. As for German vehicles - well, I can't afford the Golf and have heard that the Polo is pretty unreliable. So, I stumbled across the Peugeot 207. I love everything about it......my only problem is the bad press French cars receive. Not to mention the recent Topgear satisfaction survey - Peugeot came last!! Any suggestions? Read more
I was under the impression that the Peugeot 207 was made in Slovakia and the Toyota Yaris in France!
I had a 207 as a courtesy car recently. It feels much more solid and spacious than you'd expect. I disliked the whiny engine noise (not sure which one it had) and I couldn't make head of tail or the computer - I'm usually comfortable with gadgets.
Its best feature was plenty of space for my size 12 feet. If I were looking for a new car I wouldn't now dismiss it out of hand.
I need to buy a diesel car and there are just so many choice even in my budget (£2k). Peugeot 306 or 206 sound like good buys to me. A mechanic friend has told me to get one of these because he thinks that they're fairly reliable and refined. He's told me to get TD instead of HDi but I'm not entirely convinced about it because I presumed HDi is a newer engine so it'll be better than TD.
I want a car that's most importantly cheap to run its reliable and its fairly comfy on Motorway because I'll be doing 80+ miles commuting everday from the 1st of March! Read more
I did put a thread in technical recently about a colleague who put petrol in their 307HDi and drove the mile back to the office before getting towed away and flushed.
No signs of any damage yet- and been a few weeks since he did it, although don't want to pre-empt anything going wrong now.
Browse
Mark 3 Mondeos always look a good buy, but what of 2 litre automatics which some say one should steer clear of. A pity. Anyone had long run auto experience? Would auto-fluid power flushing help? Can the filter be changed, or is it internal?