October 2007
I am in process of valeting my 30 year old female cousin's MX5. It has done about 55k miles and is a Y Reg.
Now I have owned and washed many cars in my day but I have never seen one with so many stone chips and rust spots as this! Is this just a feature of "sports cars" and their relative height on the road?
Between the windscreen and the convertible roof, 6 rust spots and blistered paint.
Bonnet covered in stone chips. Front covered in stone chips.
Now she is not an enthusiastic driver and certainly not an enthusiastic cleaner of her car (I found Safeway receipts in it - they closed down over 2 years ago!), but I was totally shocked at the state of the paintwork.
If she had to trade it in (which she is thinking of doing) I think it would be sent straight to market and whoever bought it would be prudent to arrange for all the rust to be sanded and treated and then the car re-sprayed!
Are all low-height cars like this? Or are Mazdas particularly poor when it comes to paint thickness and quality?
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2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS Read more
Check this out:
vincentus.wrzuta.pl/film/cfYCt5geWm/pas1
One year old car, 40k on the clock.
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Free enterprise is the basis of western democracy. Read more
You spend more time inside a car than looking at its outside
that was the reason i sold my 2004 c-max, because i couldn't live with the interior it was bland personified.
The title says it all really!
I have two ageing 'B's and would love to hear from other owners relatively close to me...... Read more
Ahh I see now Bell Boy! : o )
More like a stiff broom and shovel with my two 'B's : o )
Stuart
Hello,
My MG revs very high up to 3000 rpms this can happen when its cold or at working tepture it doesn't really matter. When depress the clutch in it still revs high then the funny thing is i give the accelarator a tap and brings the revs back down. Is this a serious problem? Or is it something that I could sort myself.
Regards
Harry Read more
MGF or MG TF?
Yep, sticking plastic throttle body is the probable cause - replacement with a later alloy body (as fitted to the MG TF models) will cure it.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
We all have our reasons for buying a particular brand of car or reasons for never buying a particular brand. As you may know I like Honda's but a fellow BRer will never buy another because of his poor experience. This is what makes contributing on this site all the more enjoyable.
But just putting your loyalty aside for a moment - which of all the car companies currently in business impresses you most.
For me I think it is BMW.
IMO they have been brave enough to challenge previous design thinking and whilst many have not gone as far as BMW nearly everyone is moving away from the curves and adding more striking lines and creases etc.
They have also got to grips with the environmental stuff and introduced the efficient dynamics packages without altering their core reason of selling of sportier cars.
And with all this they remain independent and hugely profitable with plans for even more exciting models.
The company that I am least impressed with is Land Rover because they have been very slow to change anything - although they have just had a record month of sales and do talk about new technology and design. Read more
Vincent de Marco. You are absolutely correct about present Seats. I still drive my 1999 Seat Toledo ( best looking one, not like the horrible new one). I saw a sketch of the proposed Bolero for 2009. That may well turn out to be a lot nicer to look at. For years Seat worked on cheaper end sports car designs and had them on test.Parent company VW, whilst orrigionally saving Seat and bringing in quality etc, took a similar car with a VW badge to the States, as Seat I think don't sell in Northern America. I am a fan of the better VW models; but I would be interested if someone knows much more about the goings on at Seat and VW. I know Dr Piech is now in control of VW.
I am an admirer of Lexus quality. For various reasons I am interested with buying German.
Replaced radio/cassette in car just purchased (one fitted was faulty) with matching set (rover) .Recoded and connected all functions working on small screen but no sound output!!!.Has anyone any ideas?
SLT Read more
For information--bell boy!......problem was one duff speaker causing all to go.Located from radio multiplug......drivers door speaker---no continuity,rest o.k.
I just rang my insurer to change the car on my policy and to my surprise they said to me they can't cover me and my wife on our new car which is a Mazda 323 TD insurance group 7. According to the chap I had on the other line, the car has very high insurance group so they can't cover anyone under 30 and we both are!
I'm just not happy about it. What could I do besides looking for a policy elsewhere. My current policy is expiring at the end of this month. Read more
So for his next quote, how does Mazman have to answer this type of question "Have you ever had insurance refused?"
We have an Audi A4 which had new calliper discs and pads fitted in April 07. Since then, we've done 1500 miles, which should be plenty to bed in the new brakes. However they still make a squeaking/whining noise and the brake warning light comes on intermittently. We've taken it back to the place it was serviced at twice now, and they've sprayed the brakes with silicon, and say they can't find any other problems. It also shudders intermittently at high speeds, and the brake pedal is very high, stiff and feels like the brakes aren't 'releasing' properly or are sticking when you put your foot on the accelerator. The garage has suggested another diagnostics check. Can anyone recommend an Audi specialist in the West London/Surrey area that may be more reasonably charged than an official Audi garage, or suggest any solution/fix to the problem?
Thanks
SLT Read more
How do I find out what type of A4?
Wonder if anyone could give me advice. I bought a second hand polo 2 months ish ago and the tail pipe was a bit rusty. He told me that it had passed MOT and had a year and it was fine. Well yesterday the tail pipe became loose and is now hanging. I only had a months MOT on the vehicle but i have been reading the back of the MOT and it says if through rust or corrosion (3 month period) a problem arises that was passed on MOT then I am to contact VOSA. I have 12 days left until the 3 month period on the MOT is up and i wondered if i have any rights as to him fixing the vehicle for free? Does it account for things like corroded tail pipe? I have tried to call him just now but there was no answer, obviously i will threaten to take action with trading standards but i just wondered if i had a leg to stand on. Any help really appreciated right now as i just dont have a couple of hundred quid to replace the exhaust and i dont see why i should considering he passed its MOT when it doesnt look like they should of! Read more
I think the rust thing referred to on the MOT certificate is more about rust to the body or chassis of the car, not to the tail pipe. An exhaust is a normal wear and tear item, it'd be very unfair to try and claim this from the seller.
I'm aware that you can't renew a tax disc earlier than the 15th of the month in which your current licence expires but how early (in practice) can the new disc be displayed? DVLA literature says you must display a valid tax disc, which means the changeover must in theory be carried out at 00:00 hours on the first day of the new disc. This seems very rigid and I think it's unlikely that many people will comply. Since the new disc has to be obtained in advance there's scope for it getting mislaid unless it's attached to the windscreen immediately upon receipt. What do you do?
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L\'escargot. Read more
I have a spare tax disc holder which is held to the windscreen by good old honest spit. When i get my new tax disc i put it into my spare disc holder and stick it to the windscreen next to the old one. Get strange glances when people see i have two tax discs displayed.
When the old one expires, take out the new tax disc from the spare holder and put it into the normal tax disc holder. The spare disc holder then hibernates in the glovebox till next year
Browse
My TF has about four blisters that I've found whilst cleaning, the paint is actually of a pretty good quality from looking at it, it seems even and not too thin. Unfortunately the last owner was never that hot on touching up stone chips.
The reason I can be so precise is because I have just finished spending 3 hours washing, claying, polishing and waxing the TF all so that I can put her in the garage for the upcoming winter months! I'm going to use a dust sheet for the first time in my driving career to try and see to it that she is as shiney when I put her back on the road as she is today!
Blue