October 2007
We parked our 2003 Mondeo today in a car park just outside a small village in the New Forest. We locked the car before leaving. When we returned the car was still locked but two handbags had been stolen from the boot.
There were no signs of any forced entry. Is this possible? Read more
Is the engine on the Mazda Tribute GXi "safe" or not? Read more
Thanks, that's interesting, I'll contact Mazda but last time I did I waited for ages and then nothing, will persevere, do these companies have a special email addy for technical questions?
My wife's rover car has been parked for six weeks now. All efforts to get the access code has proved abortive as remotekey said they don't handle requests from outside the UK.
I have searched 10s of forum hoping to find help and came across a 2005 post by alarm magic man. however, the website and email address in that post are no longer active but bell boy posted that he had saved the immobilizer bypass procedure which alarm magic man posted.
Can anyone pls help me with the procedure ?
I am in a bind as I cannot leave the car just sitting idle in my garage. Pls help.
Duplicate posting removed, also reference to e-mailing the reply as the forum works in the traditional way. Read more
It looks like I will have to replace my current Seat Altea for something larger. I have been looking about for something that will accommodate a baby seat and two adults in the back. The only car I can find at a decent price is the Passat, others like the Accord, Avensis and Octavia etc seem to be the same width as the Altea. I am really looking for either a saloon or estate but I am struggling to find a selection to look at?
Any ideas? Read more
Think the Peugeot 307 SW Estate also has 3 individual seats, not sure if the 407 does as well?
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2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
The rubber beading around my sunroof seems to have developed its own ecosystem. Anyone have any tips on removing/controlling the green stuff that seems to thrive on it? Read more
A friend's old Golf GTI has a fine collection of green moss and grey and orange lichens on its rubber and below the windows. As she never drives it over 30 mph unless shouted at, the aerodynamic penalty is negligible. So I adopt a Buddhist attitude and tell her to cultivate them and otherwise leave them alone. I imagine they would find plant food a bit rich though being crevice dwellers.
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?
Read more
It's hardly fair to compare a Fiat 850 to an S-Max or a BMW X5 in terms of size!
Cars have put on inches and pounds over the years, but in some ways are more efficient in their use of volume....
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.
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Strange coincidence. I was at work earlier, and a young part time female colleague asked me if a minibus fob could open a BMW.
At first I thought she said "Could a Mini fob open a BMW", you know what I was thinking there.
But no, in a coastal car park in almost the middle of nowhere a BMW was unlocking to the blips on their College's minibus keyfob.