January 2008
id like to wire up a fake car alarm led ...but i want it to go off with the engine/ign on
any suggestion on how do this..cant see there being any ign off 12v lives? Read more
VW have painted themselves into a real spot in India. After humming and hawing and sitting on the fence for 10 years, they have decided to enter the Indian market however, they have a problem...Skoda!
Summarising, Skoda came in over five years ago with the Octavia 19 TDi . It's robustness and fuel economy made it a winner. They experimented with 1.8 turbo's and petrols as well as the L&K but the way ot an Indian motorists wallet is through fuel economy - they would buy a diesel Rolls if given the opportunity!
The Octy 1 is still made here and sells for about 16000 pounds (the duty on the kits costs us!) for the Rider. The Octy 2 sells from 19000 to 25000 (ambiente to LK respectivly). This is for the TDi100 engine. The superb TDI V6 (27000 pounds) bombed as folks would rather pay for more for a Merc or BMW and the Accord is better value at 23000 pouns
Result - Skoda is regarded as a prestige badge - something like what Volvo and Audi were consideried in the early 80's.
Now VW want to come in. They launched the Passat 140tdi (assembled here ) for 33000 pounds. Now they want to bring the Jetta in. If they want to pull hierarchy rank, the Jetta will cost more than the Octavia 2 and be as pricey as an Accord.
They are also touting the Polo however, Skoda have pipped them and launched the new Fabia - fully loaded but puny engines 1.4 ppetrol and diesel from 9000-11000 pounds -expensive compared to the Swift but the build and "brand" might justify the premium.
VW in India = Beetles so how would VW move up in the branding stakes ? Read more
I am currently working in India, and you may be interested in these comments:
Estates are just not popular in India, you see the occasional one (an Octavia most recently) but I suspect it is a personal import. Indians like ordinary saloons, followed by hatchbacks, and then 4WD. Much to my surprise most Indians travel with comparatively little luggage - so no need for an estate.
The Octavia is widely owned (amongst the rich) and is regarded as an upmarket car (I must check Ajit's prices - they seem too high to me). It is a status concious country now (especially around Delhi) and the big Superb probably is trying to sell into this market. VW and Audi must be targetting this group as well - there is a big Audi showroom opening soon a few hundred metres from where I work. Volvo and BMW are also trying to get a foothold, although prangs are so common, it would rapidly reduce a British car enthusiast to tears. However, repairs are very cheap - sometimes done at the roadside.
There is a growing middle class - and there are many smaller hatchbacks around for them. The little Suzuki is very popular at the moment and the Fabia is probably targetted at that segment of the market.
Hi all, my reverse light is out, i have checked the bulb, seemed fine but i have replaced it anyway with a new one and tried several other bulbs, but still no light... is this a wiring problem or something to do with the signal not getting sent to the light? what should i check?
thanks Read more
Unplug the reverse light switch connector at the front of the gearbox (2 wires) and short it out with some wire. If lights come on it's that.
Otherwise check the fuse.
My Skoda Octavia RS 150 is not puting out any warm air even on "Hi" when the engine is warmed up. The cooling/ air conditioning seems to work. Only thing I note is the the external temperature gauge over-reads by about 3-4 deg C
Any help would be appreciated Read more
There is a motorized flap which fails on VAG cars. It has a red rack I think, it works like a rack and pinion. I'm not sure about your model, but usually you have to remove the glovebox and look towards the centre console to see it. You need to find this and operate the controls while seeing if these racks move back and forth.
My daughter lives on Jersey, Channel Islands. Roads are extremely narrow in parts.
She needs a 7 seater car for 3children and two large dogs - so needs boot space as well.
Most four track car are enormous and wide - too big for Jersey.
Can anyone suggest the NARROWEST 7 seater which would give the above space.
Will consider new or recent second-hand.
Thanks in anticipation of help.
Liz. Read more
There's also a stretch version of the VW Caddy recently seen in Auto Bild - worth checking whether there's a RHD version offered in the UK.
Dolbo not a bad idea - a car based in Jersey won't cover long distances, it'll be cheap to run. Check is it galvanised like other Fiats to help prevent premature corrosion from the salt air.
Do they speak a different language in Norfolk? Yesterday I was negotiating back roads near Holt, using my OS map, and decided to avoid Glandford Ford given all the rain and flood warnings. Going a different way I saw the sign said "unbridged ford" - what's that all about? An unbridged river/stream is a ford but a bridged ford is no longer a ford!
Why use 14 letters when 4 will do? Read more
Some of the fords around here have a bridge alongside, usually small, so cars bikes etc can use the bridge and tractors etc use the ford. Could this be the expanation, ie no bridge option?
I received my insurance renewal notice this morning. I have been with my present company for at least 8 years (without a claim) and normally just accept the renewal quotation without query but this time I decided to spend a bit of time on a comparison website (the quote from my current firm was an increase of £30 on last year's premium).
I got at least 20 quotes that were better than the one that I had received, most of them better than last year's figure, and rang my present insurer to ask them if they would be prepared to adjust their quote to compete. With a minimum of questions regarding the quotes that I had obtained they came back and matched the best of what I told them.
As it happens I genuinely spent some time in obtaining alternative figures but I wonder whether this is necessary. Are the insurance companies relying on our inertia to increase their premiums and would we all get a better quote if we just queried the renewal figure that they come up with?
I am now about to renew by paying less than I did 3 years ago with the same company. An awful lot of us must be paying a lot more than we need to (I have never queried my premium before over the past 20 years).
Read more
Last time I renewed I got bored getting lower prices and just gave up when
it felt cheap enough.
>>
If I'd had a week to dedicate to dutch auction ping pong they'd be paying
me.
That's what brokers used to be for. They did all the work and then gave you the result.
hi, my volvo s60 information display goes wrong after a few minutes, you get funny characters or none at all. Switch off the ignition leave for a few minutes and its fine. Anybody know the cause (s/w or temp related H/W??) of the likely cost of a repair.
thanks in advance. Read more
Sometimes these units do fail. The LCD unit is not perfect.
I can't remember exactly how much it costs to fix, but it's not cheap.
Do a search on the Volvo owner's club forums for more info:
www.volvoclub.org.uk
After the fiasco with the last S Type purchase, I have finally found the S type at the right price. Only issue is that the car has a private plate on it which is coming off and the car is going back onto its original plate. I am collecting the car this Saturday, but I am unsure of how the transfer of plate occurs. Does all V5 etc etc go off to DVLA for them to reissue a new V5 to the old owner who then has to forward this to me? Or do I get the new V5 directly. Plus when i collect the car do i insure it on the current registration plate, and then change this back to the original when the private plate goes on retention.
I am confused.
many thanks for help as always
smoke
Read more
The paperwork seems to be in progress. The dealer who has the car, has said i should take the car insuring it with the current registration plate, and then when the new reg is assigned, to transfer the insurance to this. By the looks of it the V5 documentations are all with the DVLA so i will have none of this on day of collection awaitng reassignment of the plate, and the dealer has said this will go back to the original owner, and they will collect it off him and send it to me.
(As an aside the dealer has been very open and honest throught the deal, i have had all the paperwork of the car to look at, and will be given ALL the old service documents, i was given a copy of the HPi check etc etc to take with me and there was no pressure during the process).
Have been given the opportunity to buy a 2002 Rover 75 CDT Club, it does have 120k on the clock but I know it's history from new and it has never missed a beat (not that that counts for anything!!)
The price being asked is a fair bit below similar cars on Autotrader and I am using it at the moment to see if I like it.
Now, do I get rid of my 10 year old but very reliable Honda Aerodeck and take the plunge or do I just stick to what I have got?
Anyone who has run one of these over 120k I would welcome comments from. Read more
I know a guy who runs his own taxi firm and they've got a Rover 75 diesel and the last time I looked at it, it had 335k miles on it. Its used by their drivers and you could imagine how well its looked after (if at all) but its still going strong!
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Wire across the feed to ignition switch and feed from switch to ign. system.