March 2007
I see that Fuel duty is up by 2p per litre. You just watch the petrol companies add another couple of pence under disguise of the budget. Happens every year.
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IanS
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We have a 2001 Citroen Xsara 2.0i 16v (137 bhp) which on occasions doesn't run quite as it should. Sometimes it is fine, but on other occasions there seems to be a hesitancy. For example when in 3rd gear if you put your foot down there will be a hesitancy around 3000 rpm for a few seconds, then ok, then the same at 4000rpm. It is also the same when at crusing speed on the motorway if you accelerate in 5th.
As I say, sometimes it is completely fine. The local garage have said they can do a diagnostic check, but my fear is that is it seems to be an intermitent problem that they won't find anything.
Does anyone have any ideas what this may be? Many thanks Read more
Hi there,
Didn't get a response to the post above originally. Any ideas from anybody now? The Map sensor was an original Citroen part.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Many thanks.
Hello,
My Girlfriend has problems with her Clio's heating, it didn't all go at once though, setting 1 went first then 2 then it packed in altogether.
I've read somewhere about resistors in the heating circuit, are these easy to get to and is it something I could fix myself. I have checked the fuse and it is fine.
Regards,
Richard. Read more
Cheers for the help.
I take it this is quite a common thing to go then ??
RAD
do you have to pay to get the points taken off your driving licence,my bro was done for a dd 11 years ago and he reckons he can get them removed now? Read more
Excess alcohol must stay on for 10 years because of the additional ban you get for a second like offence within that period.
It's a 1997 1.9 diesel. Every now and then I get a buzzing sound from the right side of the dashboard - to the right and a bit below the instrument display. It started, I think as what sounded like a fast on/off clicking of a relay switch and now it's more of a buzz. It's intermittent and I'm wondering if something electrical is going to go wrong soon. If it helps in the diagnosis, the air bag light flashes now and then, but not in sync with the buzzing so I think that's only the under seat connection. Also, the central locking plays up too - another well known problem, but again I don't think it's connected to my clicking and now buzzing issue.
Any ideas? Read more
buzzing is likely the indicator stalk they quite often break down inside and replacement is the only solution
chris
Yesterday (either in Channel4 or BBC) a documentary was shown about UK bus services.
Among many other things following facts are discussed (in reference to UK North, a bus company in Manchester)
- Most of their drivers can NOT speak English (they mostly hail from Poland)
- Govt. has no way to verify balance sheets of bus comapanies. So, when they demand subsidy (showing they are running in loss) local council has no way to determine if its fraud!
- Buses often don't come on time (well, that's I think everywhere around Britain)
Now all these incidents are shocking - especially the first one. While I don't care where the driver comes from, but I do have a problem if he can't speak English. The presenter asked one of the drivers "Do you know which bus goes to this destination?" And the driver simply stared at him without any word!
I have been to many European countries, in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, majority of bus drivers understand English. In France, Spain, Switzerland mostly not.
But how come in UK, drivers don't speak English??? Read more
Mark (NoFM2R) wrote.
on business (speak american?)
On another list I've just done a double take over pants clips (those little
gadgets that keep your pants' cuffs out of the moving parts)
Then realised the author meant bicycle clips
People who have these should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves ;o)
Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage
By Chris Demorro
The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate ?green car? is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.
Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.
The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?
You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second. The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second. This has dropped the Prius?s EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.
However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn?t be writing this article. It gets much worse.
Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ?dead zone? around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.
The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius? battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist?s nightmare.
?The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,? said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.
All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn?t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ?nickel foam.? From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?
Wait, I haven?t even got to the best part yet.
When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius?s arch nemesis.
Through a study by CNW Marketing called ?Dust to Dust,? the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.
The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.
So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.
One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.
clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/editorial_item.a...8
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I can't comment on the "dust-to-dust" efficiency, but I am an over-60 Prius owner/driver. Bought because it best fitted the bill for what I wanted - comfortable, reliable, and minimising the donations to the treasury. Whilst I would have preferred a diesel, such vehicles are separately road-taxed here, making them uneconomic unless they run over about 50,000 miles per year. My actual fuel consumption on a 50/50 split between city driving { including traffic jams } and motorways is 64 mpg over about 15,000 miles. On long-hauls, return journeys of 400 miles each way, I achieved only 57 mpg. Nobody has ever accused me of going slow, or being slow off the lights !! Last year, I drove a rental Pug 307 1.6 HDi station wagon over 4200 km in 3 weeks in France and Italy under all types of roading, including driving the passes instead of using the tunnels. [ As a tourist, I want to see things, and you don't see much inside a tunnel.] That returned the equivalent of 65.5 mpg. I drove the Pug generally at the speed limits, and was agreeably surprised at how well it handled 150 km/hr on the autostradae.
Local robber -sorry dealer has some pre reg Alfa 147's. Delivery mileage . . . . on 54plate and 05 plate. Don't quite get it me self, but would these make a sound buy or is it time to polish the bargepole???
(PLEASE START A THREAD WITH A HEADLINE THAT ACCURATELY RELECTS WHAT IT IS ABOUT. THE ORIGINAL HEADLINE, "What do you think???" TOLD NOBODY ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT THE THREAD CONTAINS. HJ.) Read more
Hi Fossy - NPOC and here - great minds think alike or fools seldom differ?
As I said probably won't do it. But seriously tempted.
Not to put to fine a point on it - the Primera has utterly scunnered me. Can't warm to it any more at all and really want to see the back of it now. Shame . . . . .
Hi,
Am new to the forum and have just got a Y reg Peugeot 306. Was just wondering if anyone knows how to unblock the wiper jets as they don't seem t work.
Thanks in advance.
ib41 Read more
I have just discovered the ideal tool for unblocking and adjusting nozzel's - one of those tooth scrapers - like a spike on handle the hygenist uses at dentists - get them from boots for a few quid - I always found pins and needles bent.
VW golf3 TDi,1996-This car has started cutting out for no reason,it cut out just as I was overtaking a lorry,switch the ignition off an on and try to restart it,but no glo plug light,and wont start,leave for five mins,and then it starts,but same prob 20 miles later.Fuel filter?glo plug prob?Electrical gremlin? Any ideas?
T Read more
Some of the relays on a mk3 golf do run hot, almost too hot to touch. The new relay is probably an upgraded different type, a couple of relays have been upgraded by VW. So if you ask for a spare you may well get a different type.
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As some people in this thread can't seem to agree to disagree, and the same old arguments are just going round and round in circles, I think it's now time to lock the thread before any more toys are thrown from the pram.
DD.