October 2007
Strange, but as keen as id been on the two Jetta diesels id been looking at, I ended up with neither. One was on Ebay and went for the frankly ridiculous sum of £1121, the other local to me went before I made a move.
As fate would have it a 96 Rover 420 D ( 86bhp ) came up on ebay, 93k, 10months mot and 6 tax. I had a look at it as it is literally 5 mins from where I live.
What I found was a dirty but solid car which ran well and just needed some cosmetics which I can tackle myself.
Aside from broken front fog light, broken clock, slightly split bumper and some rust spots in usual places, it was a straight motor.
Ive always liked these cars since my days working at a Rover dealer, plus the diesels dont have the same appetite for HGF as the K-series, which is the only real letdown of this model.
I won it for £670 which sounds a lot but finding a straight diesel with long T&T and under 100k isnt easy at my budget, but hopefully, it will prove a good buy.
Anyone got any words of warning about the 420 diesel? Oh and yes I know the 86bhp is slowish! Read more
the r.n.s window (electric) on my golf sometimes automatically reverses when it reaches the shut position the other 3 work fine is there any adjustment?
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Driving peacfully along in my recently stolen Fabia Vrs, between Birmingham and Bristol, 8:00pm at about 85, when I notice a police car (not traffic section) entering the slip road alongside me.
I slow down to 75'ish to allow him on and tuck in gently behind, not wanting to appear cheeky.
He slows down, no brake lights so I look to pull out thinking he might be looking for something on the hard shoulder. Suddenly I notice there is a car along side me - what the ! Then I notice a car right behind me and suddenly I'm surrounded by blue flashing lights from 4 traffic cars ! They shepherd me on to the hard shoulder, one in front pulls in aggressively to inches from my front bumper to stop me moving forward.
Fortunately, I'm relaxed and quite calm and they ask me to get out of the vehicle ("quickly please sir") and as I do so I think they realise I'm not thel car thief they were expecting. "Is this your car sir ?" " Er, yes" "Has it been stolen recently sir ?" "Er, yes about 5 weeks ago"
"Oh ..............." Embarrassed looks all round and I spend a funny few minutes in the back of their car explaining everything, even giving the DC's name in Manchester where the original theft took place. I asked how come I had been stopped like this and they explained I went under a gantry in Birmingham that had ANPR cameras and an alert had gone out - they had 6 cars involved in stopping me plus two miles further on they had a stinger ready at the exit where they expected to force me off had I started o run away !!!!!!
They had followed me for 20 miles setting all this up and I was totally oblivious - they didn't even bother about the speed as I fluctuated between 80-90 for many miles.
They were very polite, courteous even, when they realised the situation and the fact that Lancashire police had forgotton to take my details of the stolen register.
So, it just goes to show these things work. I think I might even make it onto 'Police, Camera, Stop !"
Cheers
jdc
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>>but you wouldn't get 6 cars turning out to a burglary where goods to the value of this car had been stolen. You'd get a Crime Number and letter from VictimSupport and think yourself lucky!
But in this case the police thought the baddie was in the car so it's a bit different. I'm sure if you phoned the police and told them the thieves were still in the house there'd be more police than you can shake a truncheon at.
If not, say on the phone that there's a kebab shop next door, and if that doesn't work tell them you've got a big knife and you'll deal with them yourself ;-)
Cost of the enquiry as to why MG Rover went bust has so far cost £10m and rising.
Could I suggest that BR's could have given answers for a shade less money!
Here are some for starters:
Under Capitalised
Poor Management
Poor Current Product Design
Poor Build Quality
Lack of Direction
Money squandered on MG racing team..............
Please add to the list Read more
rover?
never heard of em?
are they chinese?
Many countries allow turning left (right for USA/EU) even when the signal is red for straight/right (left for USA). The exceptions are usually mentioned with "No Left (Right) turn".
Why don't we have that in UK?
Some traffic signals provide a green <- for turning left only here, though.
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There used to be a line in the Highway Code about when turning left or right at road juntions, give way to pedestrians who may be crossing.
Rule 170 - "watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way"
It can get quite interesting if as a pedestrian you actually try to apply it.
I have a 35 mile commute, mostly A roads, and a couple of short stretches of motorway. I need to get a car, and have a budget of £8K. I'll be buying a used car. I'm looking at a Saab 9-3, but am interested in people's opinions. For longevity and economy I'm probably going for a diesel. What do you consider to be good alternatives? I'm not considering a BMW, as their indicators never seem to work! Read more
In your position I'd go for a Skoda Octavia - go for the 2.0 TDI if you can find one within your budget, but the 1.9 is quite adequate. Same engine as VW or Audi but you'll get a newer one for the money.
Skodas have a good reputation for reliability - so do Japanese cars but older Japanese diesels aren't a lot of fun.
Don't ignore Mondeo TDCI or Vectra DTI - but a lot of them are repmobiles and (with no disrespect to reps as a race) many have been thrashed.
In my view any of the above are preferable to a Saab.
Hi Everyone,
My partner has had a 2003 Mondeo TDCI 130 for a year now. She has just told me that as from today every time she accelerates the fan for the heater comes on full blast even though there is no change in its setting on the display.
We drove back from London last night without any problems so this issue has arisen as of today.
Can anyone help us out as we are a bit perplexed!
Many thanks.
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1999 Golf GT TDI 110bhp with climate control
When it is cold codensation occurs inside the car after about 3miles and it difficult to clear.
Any ideas please. I 've had a quick look to see I there are any obvious leak into the cabin.Is it possible the drain from the cooling unit(evaporator) could be blocked? If so when is it and where does the drain come out? I checked the filter last year and it was bone dry. The carpets do not appear to be damp either.
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I don't know how common this is but in youngest daughter's new Colt if you
do as described then the a/c comes on but without any indication!
Fortunately, although my 03/03 Focus has climate control, the aircon and heater can both be used manually. There is, however, a button which will bring in the cooling to (allegedly!) assist screen demisting. One of my main dislikes of the climate control is that it has a mind of it's own regarding fan speed and can produce icy blasts at max fan speed when I'd rather it didn't.
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L\'escargot.
I am looking to buy at auction and have looked at BCA Auction View.
Under the CAP & Glass's columns I understand the New: and Ret: abbreviations (but not the price differences!)but under CAP what does Cln: Avg: and Blw: mean?And under 'Size' what does 3+, 5+, 10+ mean.... does it mean there are 3/5/10 identical spec vehicles going under the hammer?
Apologies for these simplistic questions, but in my defence I do not work in the motor trade.
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I have just re-read the original post. If you do not work in the motor trade you appear to be accessing the motor trade section of Auctionview. If you have somehow got into it by accident then fine, if you have stolen or borrowed somebody else's password and login you and they are breaking numerous parts of both BCA's and CAP/Glasses agreement.
As I said in my previous post you can't rely on them anyway - you need a proper paper or electronic guide to double check them. If you are using Manheim's system (which again you should not be accessing the trade section) this is less important as they are both more often correct and more comprehensive.
Per 10pm BBC1 news. FIA are investigating a fuel irregularity in the BMWs. If they are disqualified, Lewis up to 5th, and declared World Champion! Read more
>Supporting a group of paranoid people at odds with the mainstream seems to be a family trait.<
Well, somebody had to say it...;-)
Browse
Just picked the car up. On the face of it, brilliant! Steering, suspension and engine all as good as they could be, not even a creak from the interior, far better than I expected to be honest. Id forgotten how good the ride is on these cars.
Engine also pulls quite well - gearing is very high indeed - less than 2000 rpm in top at 45, which goes some way to explaining the economy.
Booked in on monday for a precautionary cambelt and full mechanical check which should throw up any issues if there are any.
Once its clean, I will be very happy indeed!