Those of you who have had the odd parking fine might be interested in this link:

tinyurl.com/2jdbgp

Just be thankful that you have a PA..:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by Read more

Today I visited a main dealer to test drive the petrol and diesel versions of a car I am interested in. Made an appointment in advance and arrived at 2pm as agreed.

When I got there, it was very busy, so I stood waiting for 30 mins. I asked to speak to another salesman but none were available - even though other staff were around. Just about to leave and the salesman I had spoken to comes over and said he would try to find another salesman to accompany me on the drives.

So I eventually get to see another guy. We don't get off to the best of starts when I say I want a car with the ivory leather interior. I know these are rarer than those with the black interior but there are some around. He says it will be very difficult to find and you don't want one of those as they lose their value very quickly. I find this statement contradictory. Anyway, I thought the customer is always right!

He asks for my annual mileage. When I say 14,000, he says you definitely want a diesel - I know for a fact that, at that sort of mileage, the choice between petrol and diesel is marginal.

Before we go on a drive, I ask him to fold down the rear seats so I can see how much space there is. After 5 mins trying, he says the seats don't fold. I know for a fact they do, so he trys again and eventually succeeds.

Off we go in the diesel. No fuel, so off to the fuel station. There he meets an attractive young lady and talks to her for 10 mins. Gets back in the car, no apology, and says that she works for Audi, which is where he also used to work, and they get better company cars. Considering he should be trying to sell me his company car, this seemed an odd comment!

He drives foot to the floor at all times, but this sort of behaviour just puts me off and makes me resolve never to buy an ex-demo car (oh dear, my current car was a demo!). He then remembers my interest in mpg, so he zeroes the counter - which is showing an appalling figure -then tootles along in too high a gear and remarks how good the mpg is.

Back to the showroom. I was expecting the hard sell now, but he just could'nt be bothered. He did ask if I had made an appointment for the test drives (as if to say what a waste of my time this was!)

I said I would find it difficult to choose between petrol and diesel, so it would come down to price. What is the typical price of a 3 yr old car? He says we have none of those and he can't give me typical prices, as all cars are different! I would need to decide what I wanted and then they would try to find me one.

I have been keeping an eye on the manufacturer website, so know there are cars at other dealerships. So I asked about getting a car from elsewhere in their system. I would have thought there would be 2 profit margins to consider and this concerns me. Don't worry, says he, they would pay sticker price to the first dealer and make no profit themselves. Why would you do this, say I? Because you're the customer, says he.

Frankly, I really liked the car and will definitely buy one, but no way from this dealership. The salesman knew less about his product than I did, and some of the things he said I just didn't believe. Perhaps the problem is that the car is in demand and the salesmen don't really need to try to sell their cars. Read more

hi, i recently changed a broken throttle cam on a weber tdlm 2v , i religously took my time dismantling and reassembling the parts involved but now on the odd occasion the throttle sticks open which is a bit of a pain in traffic , should i have lubed any parts on the rebuild im thinking a bit of wd40 in the throttle cable casing or would that cause more problems , thanks

Totally re-written subject line to include car details and elaborate on why the throttle was sticking - PU Read more

Hi we have a client who wishes to buy an A6 1.9 Tdi Avant from us but needs to fit 2 extra seats in the back, this was offered as an option by Audi but this car does not have them fitted.. Can anyone help ?

John L Webb. Read more

Hi all,

I'm usually a reader rather than writer of post (namely as I dont have much to add, most the time!).

My lovely 306 dturbo (97) got shunted in yesterday, it was a hit and run affair. As you can imagine, police havent a clue, the car's value being peanuts, having TPFT (which I really, really dont want to ever claim from), left me with looking at new cars.

This year ill be doing only an average 12k miles, however 85%+ will be motorway journeys without a doubt. Prefer a diesel due to power delivery, but I'm realistic and having spent enough time on these forums, the only diesel I'll touch is a VAG PD unit.

Whilst I absolutely adore the dynamics on my 306 when thrown around, I rarely do so these days, so a mk4 Golf in terms of handling would be fine. I would like to stick to the small hatchback range, not too keen on a Mondeo as I rarely haul that much with me, unless there's something really compelling to do so.

I want to spend around £4k on my next car, and have 2 yrs no claims with 0 accidents in my past, but I'm under 25. So far, quotes for the Golf in PD115 form have come out at £600~ for the year, which I think is reasonable though I've only tried confused + comparethemarket. Focus on a 2litre petrol comes the same price, Xsara a little less.

Shortlist so far :

Citreon Xsara hatchback, petrol (1.6+), possibly the HDI if i'm feeling risky
Golf mk4 diesel (PD 90 - 115 or maybe 130) or petrol (1.6 - 1.8)
Ford Focus, petrol (1.6 - 2.0)

Any more suggestions for a small hatchback, to fit the above criteria?

I really do not care about image of a car, what matters to me is decent ride quality, reasonable MPG on motorway trips, a bit of refinement (those XUD's certainly needed drowning out!!!), reliable, and when it does have issues, reasonable cost of repair.

What is the opinion on the PD's reliability? I'm reading that apart from the odd MAF sensor and the occasional unit that likes to go belly up, they're pretty reliable?

What is the general consensus on the first generation HDI units that the Xsara would use, in terms of reliability? Having spoke to my local garages lately, they're mentioning getting a lot of PSA diesels in, but being a garage, ofcourse they're going to run into problem common rails... however, I really dont fancy spending £1k+ to get an injector seen to.

Thanks in advance for advice! Read more