April 2007
Give me an old fashioned handbrake any day.
Ex-colleague of Andy's had had his brand new Passat just days when the parking brake refused to come off. Andy's had his about four months and 12,000 miles, and yesterday his parking brake refused to go ON. I received a forlorn text this morning saying he'd watched it go away on a VW Assist recovery truck! On the plus side, I think he's enjoying the the brand new Golf he's got to play in while they fix it - makes a change from the huuuuge Passat Estate that I can't drive without breaking out in a cold sweat!
What's the point of electronic parking brakes? Is it a coincidence that the two people I know who've had brand new Passats have both had the same issue?
Read more
Wow! is this the best kept secret in motoring fun? My brother drove up to see me last week in his new (new to him) 9 year old Mitsubishi FTO sports car. He has bought yet another shed thinks I.
What an incredible machine it turned out to be. 2.0, V6, 24 valve DOHC, pocket rocket, 2+ (useful) 2, with all the bells and whistles, for under £3,000! not a rattle nor a squeak, everything on it works. Well screwed together. Not a mark of rust anywhere.
I was thinking I would like a fun sports car and was looking at Porsches and Jaguar XK8, but at the price range I,m looking at I'll be continually driving with sweaty palms hoping that nothing goes wrong, because it will mean big bills on these marques. Also these cars are strictly 2 seaters, I've only got short legs but there is no room behind me in the Jag. This seems like an affordable alternative at almost pocket money prices by comparison. And the build quality seems superb.
Has anyone had any experience of these models? I understand that they were never sold in the UK by Mitsubishi and all the models here are imports of secondhand models. Anything that I should be aware of, I must say I am mightlily impressed, he couldn't get the keys off me!
Alan
Read more
Ok- thanks for that. I am considering an FTO or a Focus ST170 (ie old shape focus) and that is one of the factors I am trying to weigh up.
Hi
I need to drive to East Croydon railway station. Does anyone know if on street parking is free or if there is cheap 'safe' parking walking distance to the station?
Thanks, Chris. Read more
If you want late trains and want to drive part way, why not park at Gatwick (long term) for the day.
If you really want to drive to East Croydon, there is a NCP off Wellesley Grove less than 5 minutes from the station. You need to watch the one-way systems though, not ideal for those unfamiliar with the place.
I have a camper : Fiat Ducato 2.5 d 1991
We had a problem with the timing belt. it jumped a tooth on the injector pump sprocket. The mechanic changed the belt and reset the timing. Two days later it jumped two teeth on the same sprocket (luckily itdidn't affect the camshaft ). We were advised that both the new and the replaced belt were probably the wrong ones as there was another one available with an extra tooth. He got the other one (with the extra tooth )and fitted it. Its started up fine but after driving a few meters it jumped a tooth again.
As the mechanic is very busy, it was a long time before he could even look at it in the beginning and then he had to work on others while waiting for belts etc and the whole process is now into it's eighth week..
I'm totally stumped as what to do next as I can't even move the vehicle from his premises and I had already paid for the work done on the first occasion.
Can anyone help?
Please?
Read more
Hi. One can not fit a timing belt with an extra tooth or indeed one less tooth with putting the injection timing out.
The number of teeth on the belt make no difference, as long as the tension's correct. The only criteria is the pullys have to be synchronised.
I have just purchased a very nice 03 Focus 1.8 LX but unfortunately it only came with the one key incorporating the remote. I have been quoted about £130 for a new spare remote from a Ford agent which will mean leaving the car with them for reprogramming the original and new remotes and evidently also the cars original installed immobiliser.
In our local high street the shoe repair/key cutting shop has copied the metal part of the key for a very reasonable £7 which opens the doors, unlocks steering and powers radio etc. but of course doesnt disarm the immobiliser or start the engine. He says that he can copy my existing remote fob on to a new non-remote fob for £50 which sounds a relative bargain. My worries are that if his system has a hiccup I could lose the original remotes settings which would probable mean a horrific main agents bill.
I am surprised that his proposed method of cloning the original key fob is not more widely available even after quite a lot of web searching, sounds too good to be true. Your advice on this would be much appreciated.
Many Thanks - Miken
Read more
ih,
I need to copy my metal part of the key 03 Focus 1.6 LX. can i know where you cut yhe key for £6? plz. thx.
Hi all. Here's hoping that you can help me with a legal-ish problem
From 29-31 March this year we hired a car at a uk airport from deleted.
It was undamaged when we collected it, and undamaged when I returned it at 7am on 31st.
Imagine my horror when the £550 damage excess had been charged to my partner's Mastercard. The hire car company said that there was a scratch on the rear nearside panel, which we swear we didn't cause.
I rang the branch and asked what time the car had been checked, and the reply was at 10am that morning. Therefore there appears to be a 3 hour time gap where any damage could have occurred.
Please can anyone help us with how we can get our money back. The hire car company are 'looking into it' at the moment.
Thanks in anticipation.
{Hire car company name removed as you are making an accusation against them, and thus breaking the no naming / shaming policy of this site - DD Read more
Thanks to all of you who replied. From all of the responses I had my
battle plan worked out.
Last night the phone rang and the hire company are going to refund the £550
in full. So I didn't even have to get started.
I will certainly take copious photos next time we hire. To do what they have
done seems like a complete racket to me and they must be making thousands.
Great result!
Can somebody tell me if its easy to cahange the Focus mk1 sidelights please.
Its only the passenger side bulb which has stopped working, but should I replace them as a pair ? Read more
Its ok, all done now. Getting the connector out was the hard part.
I just didn't know how hard to pull.
Thanks again.
Advice please on owning/running a used two/three year old Impreza 2.0l GX (the latest bodystyle).
What sort of MPG can be obtained if careful with the loud pedal? Read more
Hi
I have the car on order with MotorDepot in Hull. They also advertise new cars under the name 'newregcars" (www.newregcars.co.uk). Go to the 'car selector' on the right hand side and choose 'Subaru' and 'Impreza' and then you will see the range. You can see the Impreza 2.0RX at £11725. On to this you have to add road tax and £350 if you want metallic paint. Strictly speak the side airbags are an extra £300, but they included them FOC when I haggled a bit. The salesman was a chap called Max Nicholson. They didn't have the colour I specifically wanted (Garnet Red) so it had be a factory order to Japan. This actually suits me because I'd rather have a fresh 'built to order' car than one that's been waiting around at dock. They (so far) seem a pretty professional outfit. £250 deposit and the contract says that if the car is not available for delivery 7 days after the quoted delivery date then I get the deposit refunded and the agreement is void.
The cars are to full UK spec but are ordered via Subaru in Malta. I will be the first registered owner though and the car will not be listed as an import on the V5 (I have checked this out with previous customers of this company). The car is covered by the Subaru pan-European three year warranty (I checked this out with Subaru UK too!). If you look at the Subaru forums then this company has supplied many Imprezas over a number of years and the overall customer satisfaction seems very high.
You can pay them to deliver the car to your house, but I am going to collect it in person and check it over prior to paying.
Motorpoint in Derby (and other locations) also had some of these cars for sale and in stock in February for March registration. They were about the same price. The only snag from my point of view was poor choice of colour (they only had silver or grey, which are out of fashion now) and they were listed as 2.0R Sport models, not 2.0RX which is the very latest '07 spec (although it is essentially the same car).
hi
i went to look at the honda civic today, especially to look at the i-shift model and wondered if any members have tested the revised civic i-shift, and their opinions on it. the last reviews i read described it as dangerous and unpredictable. i am also considering the leon with the dsg gearbox, which seems to get good reviews. the civic would probably be the 1.8 petrol and the leon the 2.0 diesel.
thanks Read more
"does not have the economy/emission advantages of an automated clutch" ?????
DSG is an advanced version of the auto clutch systems fitted to smarts, citroens etc in that it uses twin clutches.
Economy and emissions are virtually identical between manual and DSG versions of the same car and they are in the same road tax bands.
I've seen a method of removing a dent, which was about the size of football bouncing on a roof or bonnet.
The method was using a hair dryer to warm the area for approx. 5mins then spray the area with a Liquid Carbon Dioxide aerosol for approx. 30 secs. Then wait for the ice to melt and watch the dent slowly pop out.
The question I have, where can I get a can of this stuff or could I use the spray used for freezing central heating pipes for repairs.
Read more
Just as a warning - depending on the state of the paintwork rapid cooling may cause the paint crack off the metal. Vans that used to deliver liquid nitrogen to us had very little paint in places where the LN2 had dripped although it is a bit colder at -196°C. Solid CO2 is approx -80°C.
Browse
.jpg)
apparently a creeping to the floor footbrake is also vosa acceptable on some late model (3 years old) cars
so someone told me on another forum
still find it unbelievable