We're thinking of trading in the Passat now that it's approaching 160k miles and we've had it over four years - time for a change!
An alternative I hadn't really considered till now is the Saab 9-5. They have a reputation for being very comfortable, and according to the CBCB, chassis issues (understeer) seem to have been sorted out from 2001 on, ditto the steering rack mount issue. However it seems there may be cause for concern with the EGR valve sticking closed, as well as intermittent build quality issues. Saab do well in JD Power but poorly in Warranty Direct. Having said that, nearly every car review I read seems to throw up a long list of potential problems and I'm starting to think that I'll just have to take a bit of a risk with my hard-earned.

So - does anyone have experience of this car with this engine (120 bhp 2.2 TiD)? How easy is it to rectify/monitor EGR valve problems? I assume it's a common-rail (meaning I'll probably have to limit use of biodiesel to a percentage), but how much of a difference would I notice from my Passat TDi 110, considering that VAG engines tend to be a bit more powerful than the badge says? I'd like a bit more performance than I currently have, but can't afford a truly quick car (wonder how easy/costly this engine is to remap). I see from Autotrader that there's one at a dealer near me for £4995 with 82k miles on the clock. Probably £4k with trade-in. Worth considering, or avoid like the plague?
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ... Read more

I have a strange problem one of our fleet cars. It's an Astra 1.7 DTI estate on an '03' plate and has 101k miles on it. A couple of weeks ago i started it up first thing in the morning and the battery warning light was on and as i moved away i noticed there was no power steering either, so i thought the drive belt had snapped, and drove it like this about 5 miles to our depot. When i got there i opened the bonnet, only to find the drive belt was fine and the alternator was spinning fine. I left it there for the day with the intention of looking at it later in the day, but when i went back to it the next morning i started it up and all was fine again, no battery light and power steering back as normal. It was fine until this morning when it done the same again, but when i stopped it and started it again it was fine!

To me this is a weird problem that i can't get my head round. Am i right in thinking these cars do not have a belt driven power steering pump?

Anyone that knows of a similar problem with an Astra or other Vauxhall of the same sort of age, or anyone that can let me know the likely cause, i'd love to hear from you!!!

Thanks, Jonathan Read more

Very tempted by the Renault Megane 1.5dCi 106 on drive the deal at £5091 off mrrp = £10,459...

Are the later Megane's any good, or should I avoid? If so, anyone got any other suggestions for a nice new diesel car circa £10k?

Thanks Read more

Hiya, i don't know whether anyone can help, but i have a corsa C 1.2 club (52 reg) with only 31000 miles, and it has a very intermittent starting problem....... basically you press the key fob to open the car and the dashboard lights should come on, if they do come on then the car will start fine, however more often than not, the lights do not illuminate and when that happens the car will not start it sort of starts and then immediately stalls (like the immobiliser is kicking in) however i don't believe it is the immobiliser because i have tried starting the car with the immobiliser in the key fob taken out and it does a similar sort of thing, (i.e starts and then stalls) but the immmobiliser light on dashboard will then come on. The worst thing is, occasionally if the car does start, then whilst driving along the car dashboard will sometimes fail and then the speedo, rev counter and fuel guage will not work, also indicators etc fail, although the car will still drive, it will usually come back into life after 10 minutes of driving?? .... you will probably say go and get a diagnostic test done, well i did exactly that at Vauxhall, but they said that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and even test drove it and said the same thing and then charged me £50 for priviledge. So now i'm stuck with this intermittent problem (i think it is getting worse) but very reluctant to go back to Vauxhall to get it diagnostic check again in case they find nothing wrong again and charge another £50?? has anyone had a similar problem and knows what it could be, or any suggestions as what the problem is i would be very gratfeul. Regards Natalie Read more

No, not because I'm fat, but because our baby was born yesterday. Unfortunately had not fitted car seat to car before then, and my Volvo S80 turns out to have seat belts that are too short (because obviously when you are buying a £26k family saloon, you wouldn't want seatbelts long enough to fit a sat).

Called dealer who told me that car seat (Mamas and Papas Primo Viaggio SIP) is not suitable and I should try Britax. So try Britax,enter details in (Volvo S80, 1998-2006 model), and get a choice of two seats, both of which show that they will not fit anywhere in my vehicle.

So I'm thinking I might as well stick with current seat and just try to extend the seat belt. Anyone done this & know a supplier?

The car does have the much vaunted Isofix fixtures but not fittings, so I'd need to make a trip to dealers to get them fitted, then find an appropriate seat (not all f them fit anyway). Read more