March 2007
off to Texas saturday morning with SWMBO for a 2 week holiday, based with friends in Houston, but will be travelling around quite a lot .....inc South Padre Island, down near the Mexican border .
have already pre-booked a group IC car with Alamo.....but don't mind paying a bit more
does anyone have any idea of a decent make/model to ask for.....as i'm fairly cluless with Yank cars (hired a Mustang 5 years or so back and thought it was dreadful...flat as hell)
thanks in anticipation
(MTC, the 300C is a maybe) Read more
Audio recording of a Nurburgring lap....
www.autocar.co.uk/VideosWallpapers/Video.aspx?AR=2...B
That is the most saliva-inducing engine noise I've heard since a Ferrari F40 on a flying lap of Donington.
Cheers
DP Read more
Useful for all those times when you need to race up to 150 against another executive saloon
BBC R4 "You and yours" 12:00 today covered the ongoing problem of cards being cloned at independant run filling stations. It appears to be country wide.
It is the first item on the program.
Well worth a listen as a reminder on how to combat it. Read more
I wonder if I can have a CC that only allows up to say £75 per transaction then I can use just that card for fuel
purchases ?
yes you can..
some will cost you a bit to top-up, but the "mint gift card" version will work just as well and may be good value
www.mint.co.uk/giftcard
www.24dash.com/content/news/viewNews.php?navID=34&...8
www.extremecred.com/
i believe the london-tube-bus "oyster" card is planning to get in to the market too.
I recently took a mk3 mondeo out for a test drive from a small independent dealer. On inspection, I found that the 4 doors needed replacing due to the well know corrosion problem that many early mk3's had. I agreed with the dealer that I would take the car and put a deposit down on the 18th March (my understanding was that this would take the car off sale).
I contacted my local ford dealer the same day and they took pics of all the doors and asked ford uk to authorise replacement of all the doors. Ford told me it would take 5-10days to get a reply, I let the seller know this.
I found out yesterday (28th) that the dealer selling the car actually sold the car last saturday to someone else without my knowledge!!!. I am fuming but not sure what I can do as the car is gone and I can't really do much about it I guess.
The dealer apologised and said I could have my deposit back. I still have the paperwork I signed for the deposit and I've not collected the deposit yet as I want to see if I have any rights here to do something about what's happened.
Ford Uk approved the repairs yesterday (28th) so I am well unhappy.
Is selling the car to someone else whilst I have it on deposit considered breach of contract, I think I should have at least had a phone call to say he wanted to sell it...?
Has this ever happened to any other members or should I just get my deposit back and put it down to a bad experience?
Thanks
Dave
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>Or alternatively, if they have anything suitable fairly soon, drive a hard bargain, because they owe you one.
Though they seem to have a ready supplier of mugs with money, so I doubt they'll show any interest. Take the hint, and give your hard-earned cash to a company that takes you a bit more seriously.
Having found that sad little Hyundai Santa Fe falls into the persecuted band G VED rating (must be lowest emissions car that does) I'm wondering at what point to take a big financial hit by changing to an older 4x4 (not G rated even if higher emissions) or perhaps get it converted to run on LPG.
Does anyone know if it could be done and roughly how much it would cost? Read more
Similar to the people willing to drive 10 miles out of their way to save one tenth of a penny on their petrol...
O.K., when there's a difference of 1p plus: let's do the sums: 50 litre tank = 50p saved: at 90p per litre that's 0.56 litres. For the imperialists amongst us, one twelfth of a gallon. at 30 mpg, 2.5 miles.
Yet some people seem so obsessed with saving the 50p they're willing to spend a couple of pounds...
Tim{P}
Reading some of the 'what tyres are best for my car' Back Room posts got me thinking, how do car manufacturers choose which tyre to supply on the vehicle from new? Does the development of a car take one, many or no brands of tyre into consideration? Or is it all down to cost? Read more
Not hugely relevant but a weird fact I learned when I joined Stagecoach as a driver and mentor was that bus companies often lease the tyres on their vehicles. An annual figure is agreed and the tyre manufacturer supplies and maintains the fleets tyres.
Please can anyone describe to me the location of the crankshaft sensor on 1999 1.0L (3cyl.) corsa
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SCREWLOOSE; Many thanks for early reply. Found it from your directions, mally
I spotted a chav-driven car recently that had got whitewall tyres. Is this 1950s fashion coming back (for chavs)?
--
L\'escargot. Read more
Good to know it's still around - it really WAS a very nice car, just on 3 years old & 60k up, when I bought it. No paint repairs & I kept it looking really good, too! Be interesting to see it again, after all these years - that car could tell some stories - memories!!!
I know what you mean about the glasses!! But I could see OK, back then!!
VB
My grandma's Accord is covered by Saga Insurance, and one of the points on the policy is that it includes "any driver" insurance in a motoring or medical emergency, provided she is in the car at the same time. So, the question is, what exactly is a "motoring emergency".
Does this policy provide cover for me to drive my grandma around in her own car? I'm actually insured on the policy as a named driver, but it may be cheaper to remove me if I'm only going to drive the car with my grandma in it. There's nothing specific named in the policy booklet, it simply says that the insurance policy rights transfer to me when I'm behind the wheel, and that the driver must have a full driving license. Read more
Uh, actually, all it says is "in the event of a motoring emergency", not what one actually is, which is what I
wanted to know - helpfully answered by another poster.
so, apart from being a puny muscleless wimp who cannot control a car's doors or a trolley in a car park,
when parked next to bmw x5:
it seems you cannot rtfpd, and you cannot read replies to your thread either.
see my post and get automatic " narration " software to read it out to you :
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=50548&...e
What is a "motoring emergency"? - Dalglish Thu 29 Mar 07 11:26
All,
Often read but don't post, but this time felt I should.
I know on this forum VW dealers and customer service has not had much positive postive feedback to put it mildly, but today a dealership in the SE (not sure I am allowed to name them) were excellent.
My Golf was losing coolant at a slow but steady rate for the last week. Rang up yesterday and they said bring it in tomorrow sir and we will have a look. Found the radiator had a small leak, new radiator fitted no hassle, and under warranty. Even though I know the car is only 2 years 10 months old and this should be the case, the no hassle/straight answer approach was truly appreciated by myself.
VW can get it right, perhaps some of dealerships could learn a thing or to from this dealer.
Johny B Read more
I agree with the majority of the posts above in saying well done Jonny, good on you for flagging up some decent dealer service irrespective of the manufacturer. VW are certainly patchy in this regard and receive valid criticism for this, but where there are examples of good service they should be lauded and encouraged.
I wouldn?t worry about Wontane/Type/Cardriver/...maybe MVP, as despite the multiple IDs, his irrational loathing of all things VAG related is consistent. Also contrary to what he states above with his new ID he isn?t a VAG owner, but that?s his MO. Wantone has a mild dig at Cardriver, so Cardriver signs up again on Saturday, this time as Wontane (clever huh?) and defends his own honour. "Poor old cardriver"....classic.
Browse
National/ Alamo is the company that I normally use for car rental in the US. At some airports they offer Toyotas and I recently had a Toyota Avalon which is a large, nicely built, well handling saloon which perfectly illustrates why the US car companies are in such trouble. The last Chrysler 300C I had felt like it was built from cardboard after driving this. If you need a bit more space they also offer the Sienna people carrier which has 7 seats and the Highlander SUV which, again, is so much better than the price comparable Grand Cherokees and Trailblazers it's laughable.