October 2007
Wife's car goes in for MOT tomorrow and I know it needs two front tyres - tracking was out and outer edge is worn so was going to get two more Toyo Proxies Tr1's (195/50/15)- only problem is I don't trust garage to track it if it needs it again with new tyres and garage I trust is a good run so I rang garage that tracks and they can offer two Avon ZV3's at £45 each (Toyo £47)
Has anyone got ZV3 on their car -if so what do you think of them - Toyo's have good wet grip and wear quite well (if tracked properly) - If I go for Toyo will get them to check track but not adjust it.
Dave Read more
Just come back from Israel and parked opposite my flat is a brand new LHD Mazda2 in bright metallic green. What a great looking car. Every one said how good looking it was, and looked very practical. The owner is delighted with it.
I'm surprised Israel have them and not Europe yet though? I wonder why? Read more
I've just ordered a silver "2" TS2 from my Mazda main dealer. Originally I was prepared to order from Drivethedeal but it sounds like there is around a 20 week delivery time on these cars. My dealer has quoted early January (2008) delivery. The main dealer kept saying no discounts but I managed to get about £450 off and an acceptable amount (same as offered for it last January) for a possible p/x. The main dealer is part of a group of 3 other Mazda dealers and he showed me the printout of "2" models allocated for delivery to their group, there were no more than a dozen cars on it and some were not due until April 2008!
I've spent over a year looking for a replacement for my wife?s 10 year old Primera 1.6 which has been very cheap to run but wanted something to last the next 10 years costing very little to run. Had my daughter not been learning to drive I may have gone for a year old Cadillac BLS diesel for £11k (half new price) of which there seem to be loads available. The new Fabia was ruled out due to looking too narrow, Yaris and Jazz have the wrong image (may change my mind in 30 years), the Panda got rave reviews but I'm not sure it would be trouble free although it's much cheaper. In the end the Mazda was chosen for excellent claimed fuel economy without the worry of diesel turbos or injectors going wrong in the years to come, it has a chain cam, it looks great and Mazda?s image seems to be ever improving. The dashboard was not as cheap and nasty as some reviews make out although the deep glove box on the car I test drove rattled (easily solved).
Here's hoping my car arrives as expected, they then keep the deliveries to a trickle and make its relative, the new Fiesta look nothing like the "2" to aid residuals!
Hi everyone.
This is a strange one. I had to renew my policy, and got a quote without an incident mentioned and another with.
To my horror, the premium increased by £95.
The incident itself led to no claim being made on my policy or the third parties. In addition to this, I have protected no claims discount and and the incident was not my fault.
Can someone enlighten me to the difference in price? And it seems protected no claims is a waste of money as well.
In any case, a letter has gone to the insurance company asking for a clear explanation as I am confused.
Greg Read more
A long time ago, I calculated that a claim would have to be over a 1000 quid to be worthwhile claiming. Based on me having a car and two bike policies.
Could anyone tell me if the crank pulley bolt on a citroen belingo hdi 2002 is a left or right hand thread? I am going to get an electric impact wrench to remove the bolt, it has a maximum torque of 125 pound feet, should this be enough to undo the bolt? I know that they are on pretty tight!! cheers Read more
all crank pulleys are incredibly tight- unless put on wrongly.
I found the suggestion above best- get a professional to do it for half hour labour. It took half an hour to get one off I needed,they heated the nut to red heat then shocked it off.
have fun, but watch for collateral damage if you DIY
It's MoT time again and it passed.
While waiting on the test / result at my local Indie I saw a flyer from one of the big garage chains - parts on Special Offer. Everything from Service Kits to Clutches to pads & disks covering a whole array of cars - Citroen, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Ford.............
Servicing Parts Kit for an Citroen AX - for that 4 plugs, oil filter, sump washer and airfilter and 5 litres of oil - under £20 inc VAT. We have to assume that they are genuine parts on the basis that the parts are from the franchised outlets - addresses of these at the foot of the page.
Similar offers on all makes and models.
If you take your car to the franchised outlet how much would the punter pay for the above kits? - A lot more than £20.
Last week I was charged at the service (no MoT as the screen had stone damage)
Oil £18
Air Filter £16
Oil Filter £6
6 plugs @ £3 = £18
odds and sods took the total to £70 inc the VAT
If that had been a Franchsied outlet, rather than an independent, I am sure it would have been over £100 as they charged me over £40 for the oil on its own the last time I used a franchise - the franchsie aslo charged £5 for odds and sods, disposal of oil charge (£3.00) - my idie burns his old oil in the heating system for the workshop!!
Everyone in business needs to turn a prifit but there is a difference in a profit and profiteering - the glass palaces are a lot topay for and to answer for.
Read more
DP can you tell me the contact details for the ford specialist motor factors?
Sure.
www.tomoparts.co.uk
I can't comment on their mail order service as I've always bought stuff over the counter (I used to live 300yds away, and they're still kind of on my route to/from work today), but face to face I've always found them really helpful and knowledgeable.
They also have access to the Ford computer system that can identify correct parts by registration or chassis number.
Go into the details for each item on the website to see the actual discounted price, and you can usually squeeze a little more face to face without too much trouble.
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
Can anyone tell me is a diesel compression test done through the glow plug holes or through the injector holes? Read more
It's usually done via a glowplug hole using a properly made fitting which registers with the taper seat. The compression figures are high - so a rubber cone won't do. Ensure that the fuel system is set to zero delivery whilst you make the test..... (otherwise, off it goes and so does your tester).
659.
....I'm back.
Hello!!!
After a few emails, a lazy morning, idle thoughts and the fact that it's been a year, I thought, "What the Hell - I may as well have a look" and once I did, I just had to log in and post!
What a change! It's....it's blue! All these weird boxes - what's going on? And it looks distinctly like there's some sort of edit button....who caved into the pressure then? Eh?
So...what's new with you all? I ended up getting the V6 I wanted so much in the end but all is not rosy. I went for an immaculate, low miles Mercedes E280 Avantgarde (1999) in May which I absolutely love but in the past few weeks it's started doing some weird things (something gearbox related and something oil related - I don't do things by halves!) but not being able to afford to change, or take the massive drop in value I've decided to keep it and see it through. (I still love it despite it's problems). And in keeping with my wonderful choice of colours - it's a rather fetching shade of.....maroon!!! I know I know - please don't look at me like that.
What else...erm...not much really. Changed jobs, changed cars...but that's about it. I wish I could talk about more...you'd think I'd have a year's worth of material to talk about but I don't! And what I could talk about is all boring and completely, massively, could-not-be-less car related so I won't.
Right, just got to figure out how to post this now....
Adam
It's......blue!!!
Read more
I had an E320, bought in 1999, 18 months old. £28k! Chock a block full of all the toys Merc make, rode like a dream. Best car I'd ever had. 4 years ago problems started and I was spending £2 - £3k a year correcting things. Sent it in to official Merc dealers each time. Air con got regassed and checked, and they said it was ok. After 3 years of intermittant failures they finally replaced a control pcb (another £800) and it worked. Then wiring corroded. Another big bill.
Battery kept going dead after a few weeks of non use. Replaced and checked times at dealers.
Eventually they found a siren fault draining it. It all cost an arm and a leg. By this year I hadnt been able to drive it for more than a few miles a year.
All through this, I loved the car! It was so comfy, spacious, quick and luxurious. My wife refused to go out in it as it kept breaking down and embarrassing her! (It dumped all its fluids in Tescos car park and had to be towed to the garage again). And still I loved it.
I finally got everything working this August. Tyres looking dodgy, suspension iffy. Then the air con broke again. Big bills looming. I had to let my wife have her way and she amputated the car from my grasp.
Finally I am free. Traded it in for a Porsche boxster '03. Wow, I wish I'd done it earlier.
But I still miss the old girl.
Sorry if this waffled on a bit, but I just felt an empathy with another E320 owner who had a car he couldn't drive.
Mike
Just a word to the wise....was insuring the car for our au pair and got a quote on line from Direct Line, but the questions you have to answer on-line seemed a little vague so I called them to make absolutely sure that what I wanted to buy was what they were offering (some insurance companies regard au pairs as employees and require you to have full business use, others recognise that an au pair is effectively a family member).
At this point they told me that their policy with young drivers is that they require them to be the registered owner of the car and if I wasn't prepared to re-register the car in the au pair's name they wouldn't insure them. They admitted this wasn't their web-policy which makes me wonder how many people buy on-line and unwittingly are effectively uninsured.
Ended up going through Confused (as they have specific questions about au pairs, to buy from MoreThan, again with a call to check cover before buying) Read more
"At this point they told me that their policy with young drivers is that they require them to be the registered owner of the car "
Yes, it is very confusing. I don't know how you can be registered as an owner. Keeper yes, but owner?
Directline state on their web site that their insurance is for the owner or the partner of the owner. They do not use the word keeper on their FAQs page. They say they will consider making an exception for a company car not owned by you, and ask you to phone for details.
At least Morethan make it clear that their policy covers owners or registered-keepers.
Most other such "value" insurance policies stipulate that the main policyholder, or partner at the same address, has to be either the owner or the registered-keeper.
What do you reckon folks?
tinyurl.com/2ad9eh
Cheers. Read more
The SkyNews article states that the device quotes the speed to 6 places of decimals. I have serious doubts whether the device would be accurate to that degree.
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L\'escargot.
Some of you may recall I posted about 6 weeks ago when our cars were stolen from our home in a particularly nasty attack.
Pleased to say that last week we got both cars back, on the same day as it happens.
The Subaru Outback is like new, the Fabia VrS is Ok bit feels a bit 'tainted' after being in a police chase. The dealers have tried to do a good job on it but it still feels a bit tired and jaded now.
Myself, wife and young son are absolutely fine - hopefully no long term repercussions - and are back to normal, thankfully ..
Thanks again for all the messages of concern at the time
jdc Read more
Good news
Browse
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Yaris passed MOT even tyres - tester said they were OK but still changed them - it's not till you see new ones you realise how worn they were - this time I will get them swopped over at 12 month's as they are directional - try to even out any edge wear due to all the islands we have around this new town. - Tracking was toeing in by 1mm
Dave