May 2007
my daughter is changing her polo 1.2 on 53 plate with 27500 miles. She is considering a pre reg seat 1.2 or 1.4 tdi, would you think this is a wise buy, or would you stick with vw, which has been a reliable to date .
Prices on the seat... £7650 & £8488 including met. paint, allowing £3300 for the polo, would these figures be reasonable.
Please advise of any alternatives to the seat, her budget is £8500.
Many thanks...gavin Read more
I've just bought a 1998 2.5 TD Grand Cherokee needing an exhaust box soon. I am informed that Chrysler no longer make them and after asking around there are no after market replacements. I can't be the first. I imagine most of the scrap ones will have been used up by now, or ususable. ( I saw a similar post nov 2005, but I didn't hear how it was resolved).
Any ideas?
Many thanks
Malcolm Read more
Can a car with an automatic gearbox tow a manual gearboxed car?
I was going to use a fiat Punto manual to tow with but the tow hook appears to have the wrong thread for the hole! Anyone heard of this problem on Puntos? Need a new tow hook ASAP but they might order the wrong threaded hook for me.
The alternative is to ask my friend to help, but his car is a Nubira Automatic. Read more
It was an automatic, the normal Ford fitment with three speeds and a torque converter.
We really are in the hands of the dealer/fitter when it comes to tyre replacement. The general belief is to keep the same tyre make and type on the same axle, although i prefer the same tyre make and type all round. Is there any real difference if we mix and match? Previously i have driven lease cars and the lease companies only ever want to fit the cheapest, no matter what make. I had a real battle one day when a single tyre needed replacing because of damage. The lease company wanted to fit a goodyear to the front offside wheel when the rest of the tyres were mitchelins. I refused point blank to allow this and i asked for a letter to be faxed to me at the tyre depot stating that the lease company would accept liability in the event of an accident if they insisted on this course of action. Two minutes later they telephoned the tyre depot and instructed them to fit tyres in compliance with original equipment. But does anyone really know. I think a lot of drivers are running around very badly shod, but do not approach the limits where tyre performance is tested. Some sound independant advice is needed, which is readily available to 'joe public' when trye replacement is neccessary. Concrete. Read more
Great thread. OldHand is correct of course.
In the dry 90% of tyres fall within a close grip range... in the wet the differences between makes and types can be massive. In a wet tarmac condition having a radical grip difference side to side or front to rear could make the difference between loss of control/contact or just a near miss.
Mixed road surfaces are an issue but in reality the tyres with excellent grip will cope far better with the poorest surface and avoid problems.
As for the perfect matched set only being a help if you drive beyond your limits... Well that could be said of seat belts, airbags, ABS and so many other safety features. The truth is excellent tyres are a factor in stopping/avoidance when the completely unexpected happens like a car from a side road pulling out or an opposing car on a normal road swerving into your path as the drives struggles to find that new Avril Lavigne CD in the back of the glovebox.
Personally I fit major brand tyres biased to wet grip even to our older cars. After purchase I work towards a matched set of four within a few months, sometimes junking a set of 3-4mm mismatches immediately as I did with our last purchase.
DW
Current car:
Clio 1.2 16v Dynamique 3dr in Silver Met. 2005 55 plate with 34k
Proposed Car:
Golf GTI 3 Door in Red. 2004 54 with 18k
I'm thinking why not apply the differences in the Glasses trade in values and add a small profit, say £500. This would mean cost to change about £9k I think.
Incidentally the Golf has a leather interior, so what would that add, if anything, to the cost?
Thanks. Read more
Agree that Std lights are rubbish on them
The US list price for a new Mustang GT, before options and any discounts (no-one pays list), is $26,440. That's just over £13,000 at todays exchange rate.
Allowing $2000 for shipping and insurance, 10% duty plus 17.5% VAT for Greedy Gordon and then £150 for SVA testing you've got a brand new 4.6L V8 beastie on your driveway for ~£18,500.
For £3K more you could have the V8 ragtop - just in time for summer.
Kevin... Read more
Sorry here is the web site
tinyurl.com/29spq2 {Link to www.auto.de/ shortened - DD}
I work in W1, and I've just found out that I can leave my bike in the underground car park at our office (It's Fort Knox basically - gated and blanket CCTV coverage). This opens up a realistic chance to do something I've been thinking about for a year now - start commuting on the ZZR every day.
This will halve my journey time, more than halve the cost of my current car/Tube mix, and once out of town at least, be a heck of a lot more fun. One thing is stopping me though. I am almost ashamed to admit this, but I am nervous at the prospect of riding into London every day. I've had my licence for 4 years, and am generally a pretty confident rider, but something about dicing with impatient/psychotic couriers and the Yummy Mummies in 4x4's fills me with dread, despite the advantages outlined above. Part of me thinks it's me building it up to be worse than it is, but I guess I'm looking for any experiences or reassurance anyone can offer.
My commute will take me up the M3 and A316 after which I have a few options to get across to Baker Street (and the office).
Cheers
DP Read more
I've got one of these HG hi-viz jackets (although mine's called 'Voyager' as it's a few years old and been updated). Excellent bit of kit, very well made with removeable liner. Ideal commuting jacket, can't recommend it highly enough in line with most HG stuff.
Summer's nearly here, I have finally learned to ride a bike (yes really, totally flummoxed by the gears up until this weekend when I rode my first 2.5 miles) and we need a bike rack to carry my fairly heavy mountain bike and partner's lighter one.
Would be great if it fitted either on my Golf (no roof rails) or the Passat (roof rails), but I suspect it will spend most time on the Passat. Don't want damaged paintwork on either the cars or the bikes!
So what's the general opinon - up on top or on the back? One that lifts the bike up there for you or one where you have to put it up there yourself?
Seen a Thule Outride 561 - anyone got one?
Read more
I have the Proride 591 system from Thule on my Alfa 156. Never had any problems, although lifting onto the car if you are small could be an issue.
I used to have a hatch mounted system on my Peugeot, but never felt confident that it was on tight enough.
Any chance of a road-test HJ?
I've seen a couple about and they look very nice, definitely borrowed from Honda & Toyota on the styling. Would be interested in getting one when they start coming onto the second-hand market in a year or 2. Just wondering what the general opinion is on them, as I've driven other recent Kias which I found to drive very well, particularly the new Rio with the diesel unit. Plus the 7-year warranty on the Ceed is always a good thing when buying a 2 or 3 y/o car!
Greg. Read more
just seen one of these in the paper
no way is that pretty
looks like a tank
Two new babies have arrived in the TVM family today
Nicole has a new Renault Clio 3, 1.5dCi expression in metalic steel blue, which unexpectedly
arrived with free rear parking sensors. She is over la lune
TVM chav has now got a 98 R reg red Clio Biaritz Mk1 facelift as his first wheels.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF > Read more
Five doors required I fear, old ladies out to lunch, trouble getting in and out of the rear. Boom Boom!
Pam Eyres, I am out to get you!
many thanks for the informative advice, will have a look at th Mitsubishi and the fiat punto.
Keep believing............