August 2007
Hi- 20 year old stepson is thinking of upgrading from worn out S-reg 1.0 Corsa to an neat looking '03 silver 1.2 SXi (16v, alloys, a/c) with 48000 for 4.5k. He's driven it, likes it (especially in comparison to 1.0) and the insurance isn't horrendous, so is quite keen. I know Corsas aren't eveyone's favourite, but it makes sense for a number of reasons. The car is at a nearby Vauxhall dealer in Reading and is Network Q.
I'm particularly interested in people's thoughts about Network Q and their 12 month warranty- worth the extra money?
John Read more
I read in some MG/ROVER enthusiastias web forums that removing the cat will result in more power for my 45 TD.
Now I am not an enthusiast as such, just trying to drive carefully and conserve as much Diesel as I can.
My question is to anyone who knows or used a De-cat pipe : is it worth the £40 asked for the De-cat pipe and fitting, will I get a much better ride or is this just a gaining of few BHP at the top end rev which I don't normally use?
{Car details since added to header - DD} Read more
I did this on my slightly older `97 420td,i found that after i could go through the local villages in top at 30mph and when getting to the unrestricted section just put my foot down and i`m off.
It also made the car more driveable, the turbo starts boosting at 1500ish rpm where as before it took 2000rpm to feel any pull,which means i was in top gear a lot earlier and i ended up with up to 55mpg.
Ray
I have a 2002 Astra 1.6 Club, 51000 miles, there is a knocking from the drivers side front corner when driving over rough ground or speed humps. I suspect it is the bottom ball joint.
I have ordered 2 new wishbones complete with ball joint and new bushes, the haynes manual states you should also renew the pivot bolts holding the wishbone and possibly the small nut and bolt holding the ball joint onto the strut base.
Has anyone done these wishbones before, and re-used the bolts? I suspect they might be the 'nyloc' nut type and seized on if original so possibly main dealer will have replacements.
I hope if fixes the noise, I had a Peugeot 405 with a similar sound and it turned out to be the bottom ball joint on that. I know the anti-roll bar bushes may be another area to explore. Read more
Similar noise on my 2001 Vectra - turned out to be the ant-roll bar drop link. About £20 to fix.
I think most BR's will be familiar with Block Exemption Regulations (which say that owners can have their car serviced outside the dealer network and still retain warranty cover - amongst other things). Well, it seems that dealers are fighting back against this.
I have just been told by a 'friend of a friend' that my local VW dealer has been told by VW (UK) that they should not turn off service indicators unless the car has been serviced by a VW dealer. Obviously, and indenpendent who services a car and doesn't have the dealer-only kit to turn off the service reminder is now 'stuck'. Similarly, customers of this VW dealer are told that if they take their car outside the dealer network for a service then they will not be allowed to use a courtesy car in future (for example during future service or repair work at the dealer). Although this doesn't infringe BER, its pushing it to the limit I think.
I gather a number of other dealers are about to take this sort of approach. We have also heard that some manufacturers are introducing very expensive tools to reset service indicators that connect back to the factory. The car's ECU incorporates software so that the service indicator cannot be easily reset if the interval has been exceeded by more than 500 miles. A 'special procedure' has to be applied by the dealer (at a cost I guess!) to get authorisation from the manufacturer (MB was mentioned) to reset the indicator. Ostensibly this is to protect the car manuf. against warranty claims where a car has not been serviced promptly.
Couple these moves with the introduction of 'coding' of virtually all electrical parts on the car and you can see that over the next few years technology is going to be used to give the dealers a manufacturers a stranglehold on servicing and repairs. They seem increasingly determined to squeeze out the independent repairer and prevent the use of spare parts that are 'recycled' or from other suppliers. Let's hope that the EU and OFT can redress things in favour of the consumer, otherwise motoring is going to get a lot more expensive.
I wonder if these manufacturers and dealers realise that their cars only have relatively good residuals because of the fact that there is an efficient 'parallel' network of independent parts suppliers and repairers. Kill this off, and a secondhand Merc, Audi, or BMW becomes a much less attractive proposition. Read more
When you look at all the investment BMW dealers are now being forced to make
it does lead you to wonder if BMW will pull the franchises back and take
everything over at knock down prices M-B pulled this one a few years back.
MB certainly tried to take over their dealer network a few years back by issuing them with 12 months notice of termination but were taken to the high court by the dealers and lost. Ultimately MB bought the franchises for London, Birmingham and Manchester at the market rate.
Try parking in Westminster - just north of Oxford street - at 9.15 pm at night. Fail to notice the signs which say 'residents parking only at any time' - it's dark, they're badly lit, and anyway, parking restrictions at 9pm at night?
By 10.25, the car had been towed away.
£200 for tow charges (to half a mile away), £60 for parking fine.
Ouch. The car was unarguably illegally parked. But what prompt response! The tow charges strike me as wholly disproportionate, a little like bank overdraft letter charges.
The Council runs two levels of parking fine - £40 for minor offences, and £60 for offences which cause a 'major restriction to traffic flow and major inconvenience to other motorists.'
It certainly wasn't causing a restriction to traffic flow, it was after all a designated parking bay.
Read more
Pax ?
Try "what does pax mean?" in Google see the dictionary answer
The indicators on my A4 have stopped working ... the hazard lights work fine but when I indicate left or right the indicator either flashes just once or not at all ... any ideas on where the problem is and how difficult it would be to repair?
{Car make/model added to header as per the ignored sticky request, sigh - DD) Read more
The hazard switch & relay are one of the same. Both my sons Passats have suffered similar problems. If you take the hazard switch apart & bend the relay contacts slightly normal service will be restored. Otherwise replace it with a new one.
Seen on the A446 on Friday
G15ENG
Spaced as G 1 . 5 ENG
With "Munich September 1st 2001" in small letters below it - made me smile.
Anyone better this? Read more
Boring now, as is always the case the thread de-generated into smutiness (no reflection on the last poster - the posts have been hidden). Locked.
Looking to purchase a mint condition 85K BMW 730i V8 on an M plate (1994) with full service history. What pitfalls should I look out for and are there any known issues with this model of vehicle? Does anybody own one and can tell me what its like on fuel?
Thanks Dan Read more
There not many around because they break for much more than they can retail as a whole car.
Is there a web site where one can enter the make and model of a particular car and thereby find out the MPG which the manufacturer claims for same?
The car which I have in mind is a Honda Accord (UK) 1993-1998 2.0i S Auto.
Subject line tweaked to reflect question - left in discussion for now - PU Read more
Nevertheless that is the law and it is the same for all manufacturers.
Could anybody tell me the location of the AC cabin filter please on a 2005 Almera 2L. Thanks.
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It's a Suzuki engine, chain-cam, mechanically OK provided it's been recalled and fixed (timing chain issue). The gearing however is ludicrously low, and the engine buzzes like a wasp at 70-80mph. Fine for around town, but for long distance buy something more substantial.