January 2008
With BMW stuck playing King Canute, I see that Audi have apparently joined Mercedes in capitalising on Munich's commercial constipation. Drive the Deal yesterday announced a new range of discounts on the A4.
Who would be a traditional bricks and mortar franchised agent? (Not that I have much sympathy for any of them, I didn't ask them to put a sign above the door.)
They're stuck in a time warp where their traditional local monopoly business model is of declining influence in a market place which has become much bigger, less controllable and, crucially, has largely redressed the imbalance of information which once gave dealers such an overwhelming advantage against consumers. One they exploited ruthlessly for decades.
I wonder how long it will be until BMW swaps pragmatism for stock? Read more
Really seems better than driving there these days. Remembering with a rosy glow hurtling quite slowly about there in my favourite aunt's exquisite little 1948 side-valve Morris Minor, a car that remained good well into the sixties, and with something of a shudder hurtling far too fast with a carload of cousins in a Ford Corsair belonging to a company I used to work for in the sixties, in all the miles between Killiney and Dublin airport you are damn lucky these days to reach 30 or 40 mph more than once or twice. Hardly a vehicle in sight under five years old, but congestion to make a Londoner blench. Driving back to the airport from Killiney on Friday evening with two charming second cousins once removed in their hire car, they showed how to reduce the journey time - for about 20 miles in all - from two and a half hours to one and a quarter: pay to cross the toll bridge and go through the very long new toll tunnel, at a total toll cost of ten or twelve quid. There's no fast ring road inland to the west a la M25.
The rapidly expanding euro still seems less than a quid, but even so Ireland these days is hugely expensive. There is talk of extending one of the two partial urban rail systems to the airport. It's a matter of some urgency I would say.
Oh, and by the way, petrol is about 1 euro 19, so cheaper than here. Needs to be. Read more
chaos
is exacerbated by the Tolls where again signage lets you down if you're not familar
I noticed that too. Even my cousin, a Dublin man born and partly bred, kept changing lanes at what seemed to be random. But everyone else was doing it too.
I can say in confirmation of yr complaint that I was very happy not to be driving myself.
If my focus has 16" alloys and I want low profile alloys in their place do I have to get 16" or can I get 17"?
The wheel arches seem like they could hold more but don't want to break the thing. Also any good places to buy them from?
Cheers Andy.
P.S sorry if that was a stupid question. Read more
A Ford dealer will have a brochure with all the Ford alloy wheels that will fit your car(quite a selection-both regular production and RS) and these will fit without adaptors or fitting rings or special bolts and won't foul the arches/brakes/suspension.
i own a mk1 1995 m reg punto 1.2 sx, brilliant little car cant fault in the way it drives, very reliable ect but..
when the engine is cold the speedometer doesnt work, but the milometre's still goes round !??!, after say about 10 miles the needle gradually goes up and then its fine all day until the next morning, i would have thought it would be the cable but like i said earlier, the milometre still goes round,
so, i imagine there's a sensor? something?
thanks Read more
If the odometer still works then the speed sensor on the gearbox must be ok.I would suggest that the fault is within the speedo instrument itself.hth
Anybody here ever done this?
If you look online everybody says how terrible it is. The last time we were there, we had a driver. I thought at the time, it didn't look too bad. The congestion was really nothing worse than the Strand or Hanger lane as far as I can see, and I really didn't feel people were all that reckless. Next time I thought I'd be content to drive myself. One good thing with the driver is not having to circle round looking for (scarce) parking though.
Thoughts? Read more
If you do a search for well written posts by The Growler who sadly is longer with us. He gives a lot of detail. the issue is that if something goes wrong, you are toastas the locals/ police will fleece you.
Traffic seemed okay to me until one rainy night getting to Alabang, the driver was doing 70 on the hard shoulder
I've just bought a 2003 2.0D LHD (I live in France) at 72K miles. The car is in excellent condition but has a couple of minor problems (I hope!) that forum members might be able to help me solve. I've owned many Jaguars over the years (3.8, XJ6, XJ8, XJS V12) and generally do all the maintenance and most repairs myself so I'm familiar with just about all the usual Jag foibles. But the X-Type isn't all that much of a Jag (it's the best I can afford in retirement) so a couple of things puzzle me.
1. The right side low-beam bulb and clip connector have completely burned out and fused together. The left hand side shows signs of being "cooked" too. I've made a temporary fix but I'm sure it wont last forever. The Jaguar dealer wants to sell me the complete front wiring harness - no, I didn't dare ask the price - instead of a 50p connector. Anyone else had this problem? Cheap solutions?
2. There is a constant low-level buzzing sound from under the dash, next to the steering column. I assume it's a cabin temperature sensor, or similar, but should it buzz like that? It comes on once the door is opened, is on all the time the car is occupied, and only goes off after a prolonged period when no one has been in the car, or opened a door.
3. Rear suspension. On slightly rough roads, the rear end gives off some knocking sounds - not too loud, but definitely shouldn't be there. I've looked underneath but all the suspension parts seem to be in good shape although the lower shock-absorber mounts could be at fault. Has anyone experienced this problem or could suggest a solution?
Read more
Sorry I mean't to add that if its the fan running it will continue for about 30 mins after you switch the car off.
Enjoy.
When car is left standing,and it rains heavily my Lexus misfires badly when started from cold but then clears itself.HELP! Read more
As AE has said, it's probably a HT problem especially if it's still on it's original leads.
You can get new leads from Sovereign ( www.sovereignltd.co.uk/ ) at about half the price you would pay at a Lexus dealer.
Less likely but still possible are the dizzy caps and rotors which you can get from Japarts ( japarts.co.uk/shop/ )
Both companies have been used by members of the Lexus Owners Club ( www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/ )
Whatever the cause of your problem you need to get it fixed before you get cat damage.
Kevin...
My S-Max (2.5 turbo petrol titanium) wipers seem to be on the wrong way round, configured for left hand drive. The longer one is on the passenger side and sprays water onto the drivers side windscreen on return to its resting position.
Has anyone else come across this fault / design flaw?
Can it be remedied?
Thanks Read more
I have just started driving my wifes 55 plate Honda Jazz and noticed that they
were set for LHD!
Well that's odd - our 53 plate Jazz's wipers are certainly set for RHD. It's also odd as the Jazz was originally designed for a RHD market (Japan).
The Honda web site picture shows them set for RHD too.
It's something I always look for as we had a seried II Clio whose wiper's were set for LHD and it wasn't ideal.
Im looking to buy a new Auris D4 D Sol as there are deals with discounts up to 20%. Seems that this car is a bit of a flop as you dont see many on the roads in Europe. Is there reliability problems ? Read more
You need the 2.0 diesel engine not the 1.4.
>>
There's a 2.2 Diesel with 180BHP if you are after a performer
However all Auris's have a rather dull image even with 180 BHP it disappoints of the look
My present bandit 650 has the speedo in km per hour.....also have a bandit (well 95% of it) which has the mileage in km or mph....this bike also has an immobliser.
Can I switch the clocks?
Will the speedo be under or over reading?,,,,also would i have to change the ignition barrell?
I f it's gonna be messy will leave alone , any advice appreciated Read more
>>any advice appreciated
>>
Advise looking on Suzuki or Bandit forum:
www.suzukiownersclub.co.uk/forum/default.asp
www.banditforum.co.uk/
[ Or getting a decent bike like a Kawasaki ;-) ]
Browse
There's a new A4 just being launched so those deals will be to get rid of the remaining old model cars.