July 2007
Bit of a long shot this but...
A friend of friend gave me a set of roof bars (OEM) for my E46 BMW touring. I was chuffed as they are pricey. His neighbour gave them to him and they've been stuck in his garage for ages - they didn't fit his E36 but perfect for mine.
I now realise that a coded key/spanner is needed to tighten them to the roof rails. He hasn't got this. The coded bolts don't seem to be removable so I can't tighten them to my rails.
Anyone had experience of these - any suggestions what I can do to get these usable? Read more
The radiator fan on my Citroen ZX has just recently started to stay on at the end of a journey and eventually switch off after a short time. The temperature gauge shows 80 more or less all the time once warmed up, so it doesn't seem to be overheating. It has never done this before only when it is very hot and stuck in traffic and usually the temperature goes up to about 100.
I have bled the cooling system but it has made no difference, any ideas?
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The driver's seatbelt on a 1999 model is very tight and seems to get tighter as the car is driven...any ideas? Read more
do you eat as you drive? thus increasing body girth
A lot of villages on main roads in our area have speed cameras. Locals who know the road tend to ignore the 30 limits, braking for the cameras and then accelerating away from them.
But one village I've been going through recently has two cameras, one about one third of the way through, the other two-thirds. Most vehicles seem to keep more or less to the 30 limit. So I wonder if having 2 cameras makes drivers think 'It's easier to just keep to 30 rather than worry about the 2 cameras. Read more
In Rochdale there's a road with about 6 cameras along its length and a 30mph speed limit. I have no choice but to do 30 the whole way because I don't drive it enough to know where the cameras are. The locals, however, regularly overtake me and then brake hard for the cameras, which is of course the safety improvement everyone was hoping for... *rolls eyes*
Similar to the M62 Westbound thread, but I need to get to Preston for 10 am on Monday morning. AA routefinder suggests A57, M57, M60, M6 etc
Is there are better route - eg, going via Halifax (A629, A646, M65) to avoid the Manchester ring road?
Any suggestions re setting-off time?
Thanks in advance
Pete Read more
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. Looks like the train is the way to go.
Cheers
Pete
After hours of research, I have narrowed my choice of my next car and am trying to come to a decision about which 2007 1.4 16 valve petrol car to buy new. The Fabia would be the Ambiente 100 bhp. The Ibiza the 85 Sport. Does anyone have recent experience of them please? The price difference is not significant. In different ways, the drive seems to come out equal overall. The thing that worries me about the Fabia is that the seat won't go quite far enough back for me and it seems the rack can't be adjusted. On the other hand, its has the best service facility of the two locally and it seems better built. The Fabia seems all-new but the Ibiza is an old design. Read more
I have a January 2005 Fabia 1.4 16 valve petrol 4 door saloon.
The positives are: The engine isn't bad, reasonably economical, feels a solid car, there's a nice solid clunk when the doors shut, there's no air con to go wrong and it has steel wheels so there are no worries about them getting damaged if kerbed.
The negatives are: The seats are uncomfortable on a long run, you feel like you've done 8 hours heavy manual work when you get out of the car, the car looks ugly, a small 4 door saloon is not practical, my wife says it is an OAPs car and I agree with her and finally, it's boring, boring, boring.
I inherited the car last year due to a bereavement and the only reasons I am keeping it is that I was offered a derisory sum as a trade in againat a more practical car so it's worth more than that to me and it's an anonymous looking car that doesn't stand out
As it says on the tin, compensating your behaviour due to changes in risk? For example would you walk on a wall that was 2 bricks high any different to one that was 10 feet high? There's an introduction here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation
If you think it's real in other aspects of life, do you think it exists in driving too? I'm not advocating a spike in the centre of the steering wheel here, but do you think the widely advertised NCAP 5* rating and dozen airbags makes for a worse driver?
I ride a bicycle, a motorbike, drive an old car and a new car and to come absolutely clean here, I find that my level of attention changes depending what I'm in / on.
Your confessions are welcome here, just between the two of us. Or if you think your might of intelligence can control it, what do you think about all the other weak-willed who let it affect them?
Gareth Read more
Like African cities where there are often no roads let alone road markings... Ambling pedestrians mean the vehicles have to amble sometimes too. Anyone seen driving threateningly in an African market may well suffer instant and severe retaliation from the pedestrian majority, so no one does it.
The thread on the best diesel engine got me thinking as to what is the engine most used in different cars/ The Vw 1.9 diesel comes to mind as it seems to power everything from Polos to Passats and there Seat and Skoda counterparts but I should think some of those Citroen engines are well spread. Read more
You missed out the 2.4 FOG V6;the 2.3 went to 2.4 when the 2.8 went to 2.9l.
For various reasons it may suit us to hire a car for our 10day 1300 mile holiday in Scotland soon. Haven't hired a car in decades so a bit out of what's what these days.
Seems locally we could use Avis, Hertz, National, Thrifty or Network. The prices seem to vary a great deal for very similar vehicles between different companies. We have modest needs and a Mondeo 1.8 would probably be fine and Avis have them at about £225 for our period. Jump up to a 2.0 estate and it soon rises to £350 which seems a daft uplift. Would have liked an estate ideally as we know a Mondeo hatch would be a little tight for luggage but I'm not paying an extra £150 for it.
Any thoughts at all much appreciated.
David Read more
Feedback:
Faultless car hire in all respects from the Holiday Autos online booking (Alamo/NCR supplied vehicle). No attempt to try it on with any damage claims at the end either.
No I didn't get used to the electronic handbrake in 1000 miles of use. I've been too long with a conventional lever between the seats/under the dash/wherever.
C4 Picasso was a great family holiday vehicle... but boy did the sand take some getting out from the all black carpets/seats/trim! Turned out it was a 1.6HDi not a 2.0. Went well for the small engine but fuel consumption bit disapointing at around 45mpg overall. Both our old-tech Citroen 1.9TDs will make that with ease on a run.
David
Hi can anyone help me please. I very stupidly bought a Nissan Serena 1.6GX without test driving it. The speedo doesn't work! Would like to know if it runs off a fuse or cable and if it has a sensor on the gear box before I take it to the garage. All help gratefully accepted. Thank you Lynne Read more
Bit hazy on this one - but I **think** the speedo runs off a cable from the gearbox. The engine ECU then takes a vehicle speed signal from a sensor built into the speedo. You should be able to tell easy enough by looking at the gearbox and seeing if there is a thick black speedo cable emerging from it.
Browse
It sounds normal to me. Take the gauge readings with a pinch of salt ~ every instrument has inaccuracies. The main thing is that it should be consistent for a given set of circumstances.
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L\'escargot.