October 2007
SWMBO has an automatic Toyota Yaris Verso which she loves to bits; as it appears does everyone who owns one - it has come top of just about every owner satisfaction survey and Which just gave it as a 'best buy' for a second hand car.
However it is now well into its seventh year and it appears Toyota are not importing the Ractis which is based on the new Yaris and available in the Far East. So we are thinking of a new car replacement.
Her requirements:
Smallish - but bigger than her current car will not be a problem.
'Proper' automatic.
Ease of access to drivers seat(hip problem) and at back for dog.
Looks obviously don't matter. As an aside I never ceased to be amazed at much emphasis people place on a car's appearance.
From my point of view, reliability is of paramount importance, which I suppose rules out French cars! Fuel economy not a factor and would much prefer petrol to diesel.
It might come to just running on the Yaris for a few more years, and accept it might need some major repairs, if there are no better options.
Any ideas?
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My 2.2 TDCi Titanium estate had to have a new engine, turbo, catalytic converter, oil cooler etc in August, after the turbo allowed sump oil into the combustion chambers. The car was ten months old and had covered just 17,500 miles. If I had to pay the bill, it would have been £7,800.00.
This new engine runs much better than the last, however since I got it back it produces loads of exhaust smoke under hard acceleration and I struggle to get more than 35 mpg, even though most of my motoring is on an autoroute/motorway at sensible speeds. It hasn't used any engine oil even though I have covered almost 5,000 kms since the new engine was put in.
It also smokes quite a bit on start up which it didn't do before with the previous engine. Read more
Thanks.
I have got the car booked in for Monday 2nd, for the garage here in France to have a look over the car, change the anti freeze and possibly the oil and filter. It is normal in France if you have a new engine put in, that you take it back after 2,000 kms for it to be checked over.
I didn't bother and ended up with that hose coming off.
They will also look into the overfuelling.
Are cars really cheaper at auctions,what do you folks think. Read more
I presume this is tied up with your other thread..:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
I've just had a new near side tie rod fitted due to a worn inner axial joint. I hoped it might clear up an annoying rattle but it didn't. The new track rod doesn't look like a genuine GM part to me (not painted black etc) - I am not happy about that - but I've been charged the full GM retail price for it. Could this be a cheap aftermarket part? If so is it a bad idea to have genuine GM off side rod matched with an aftermarket nearside? Read more
sounds like rack tube bush worn original is white plastic modified one is black have to remove and strip rack
" Ok as i have only been driving a year and a half, i am going to ask this stupid question, what exactly is a car service, what do they do that isn't done in an MOT? "
I came across this on a teachers' forum (as a teacher myself I'm a bit ashamed of the level of ignorance!), and it makes you wonder how many cars simply get MOT'd and not actually serviced. Scary.
Edited slightly to make it clear that the first paragraph was a quote ! Read more
- Pat L i think you will find that everyone wants a fully stamped up
main agent service history when they come to buy a second hand car
Go round any estate council or private and look up drives and on the street
at cars you soon work out the small percentage that are easily identified as looked
after
Agree on both counts here, funnily enough i tend to look for the stamps of a good indy rather than main agent, i reckon you get a better job done without the rip off, my experience of carefully selected indies anyway.
Don't know why but my friends and workmates seem to think i'm rich or something because i look after my cars underneath as well as the body work, just seems good economy and common sense to me.
It also applies to other things such as loved ones, maybe if you look at the people who neglect their cars, do they neglect other things in their lives as much, except themselves of course.
Seems amazing to me that the new generation of car owners are so ignorant of basic needs of their vehicles when so much good advice and knowledge is so freely available online.
i was reading my copy of practical classics in the smallest room this morning when i read the sad news of Bill's death,it always gets me when you think of all the knowledge somebody like Bill had and it goes never to be reused,his articles in Car and Car Conversions used to have me riveted in the 70/80"s and i was a die hard ford man
apologies if this great man has already had a mention
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A sympathetic figure who took a minimalist, non-sensational approach to aftermarket tuning. Although he could tune cars for racing-style performance, he much preferred improving their driveability with subtle camshaft reprofiling and slight compression increases. He used to point out that his modifications would usually improve economy as well as making the car more willing. I also remember that he believed a certain amount of carbon on the pistons and in the cylinder head increased the compression ratio and with it the power output, so that newly modified cars could be expected to improve subtly over a few thousand miles. I found that very endearing.
What's with all the trend for turbocharged engines? Turbochargers just seem to add unnecessary complications. Why not just have a bigger capacity engine? I'm a firm believer in the view that there's no substitute for cubic inches.
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L\'escargot. Read more
>roughly translated into English that phase means "no matter how hard we try, we cannot extract
>power from a small engine and have given you this big, thirsty, slow one instead"
Utter carp.
The yanks are perfectly capable of producing highly tuned engines - a guy I knew in Austin was getting 200bhp/litre out of NA Olds 4L V8s - they just don't see the point for driving up and down I-35. Even european and japanese manufacturers have learnt that, given the choice between a 4cyl turbo buzzbox and a normally aspirated V6 or V8 for the same cost, the average american driver will go for the bigger engine every time. For example, even though the US market is critical to Jaguar's survival, the new XF will only be available in the US with the V8. They don't even see significant demand for a V6.
>would have blown the Pontiac into the weeds in every measurable aspect of performance and
>economy, 0-60, mid range acceleration, top speed, braking, cornering, the lot.
Do you really think that comparing a fullsize american sedan with a MkII Golf is a valid comparison? Why didn't you drive across the US in a MkII Golf?
>On a previous trip Stateside I had a Chevy S10 with the 2.8.
The S10 is a pickup for glubs sake.
>Give me a good engine every time over a big one.
Like the Small Block Chevy for instance?
Kevin...
A friend has asked me to buy a solar trickle charger for her M reg
Honda Concerto (that does 300 YES 300 mile between MOT,s)
This is an attempt to try & extend the battery life/charge.
Solar chargers currently available in maplins.co.uk for £24.99.
She has told me that the Cigarette Lighter socket only heats up the cigarette
lighter when the ignition is on.
My question is does anyone know if the cigarette/acc socket on this vehicle
works with the ignition off ?
(she lives miles away & is housebound so not easy to check myself) Read more
A quick blast round the old church yard ....
And you can have a service whilst you're there ;o)
i have a 16 pin serial cable which i use with vag-com/lap top to read fault codes on my v6 galaxy.
does anyone know if i can use the same cable on 1999 focus 1.8 diesel and what software i would need? Read more
Judging by the number of cars that have one dipped beam set dazzlingly high I can only assume that some people tamper with the alignment after they've had the car MOTd. I wouldn't have thought that under normal circumstances headlight alignment would alter significantly betwen one MOT and the next.
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L\'escargot. Read more
The MoT test has improved this noticeably. In the old days the fittings for headlights used to seize and then get broken by owners, who propped the light back in place with a bit of folded cigarette packet. People's headlights used to point all over the place. Now they seldom do, although those glittery ornamental multicoloured Italian headlights still flash in one's rv mirror on bumpy roads.
In New York in the 1970s about half the cars had one or more of their (often four) headlights hanging out of the front of the car on bits of wire. Missing door skins were often to be seen too.
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Cars have put on inches and pounds over the years, but in some ways are more efficient in their use of volume....