March 2008
Just got back from a holiday in Oz and 2 speeding tickets have now arrived from Queensland police. One from a mobile camera and the other from a Gatso. Neither picture they have sent shows who is driving and there were 2 authorised drivers in the hire car.
How do I stand if I ignore these? I don't intend to visit Oz again but I don't know what action they may take in UK if I don't pay.
Postman Pat
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When I change down there is sometimes a short screech from the box, and vibration is briefly felt on the gear lever. It is a recent phenomenon - the car has had 172,000 problem free miles. There is no noise from the thrust bearing when at idle, the clutch action is fine, there is no noise changing up, Reverse is fine, and gear selection is fine.
It only seems to occur from 3rd to 2nd or 2nd to 1st, but I suppose thats when its under the most load.
Is this the start of something expensive? is it best to get it looked at before something goes klunk? has anyone else had experience of this? Can anyone help?
Cheers! Read more
Did you find out what the problem was? I have exactly the same thing happening.
Thanks
Bought oil and filter for an oil change which I will be doing over the Easter weekend. I was given a free bottle of Wynn's engine flush.
Never used this stuff before. Is flushing an engine before a change a good idea?
Car has done 95k miles now and I don't want to cause any problems by flushing the engine when I've never seen the need before. Could it 'loosen' something inside the engine that will later cause problems or is it a good idea?
Comments/thoughts appreciated. Read more
So would I.
Had the local Vauxhall dealer on the phone earlier tonight.
Will sell to me as first registered keeper the above car for £10,500 on the road. With my GM card points I can get another £1,500 off the car, leaving a net cost of £9k.
I do about 25-30k mileage a year so sounds like relatively cheap motoring to me, at least it would be cheaper than putting petrol in the Zafira GSi.
Should I do the deal?
(Either I do or I keep my current car so suggestions of an alternative are welcome but will be filed in the electronic round filing cabinet :-) ) Read more
Thanks for all those that replied and e-mailed me.
Took out a 1.9CDTi 150 for a test drive, fine car, last diesel I drove for any real distance was my wonderful 1.7 td K reg Cavalier. Bought at 6 months old ex-demo for £10,500 in early 1993 iirc, the vectra was available for £12,500 so effectively negative inflation over the last 15 years in car prices. Not sure why people complain about the cost of motoring.
The 150 diesel was a better car than the 1.8 petrol, in particular the 6 speed gearbox which would probably save me an extra chunk in fuel.
Anyway reworked the figures and the diesel Vectra looks good.
Drove the Zafira GSi home and realised that I really didn't want to change, so wont be. I'll put up with the petrol costs etc and enjoy it for a few more years until it dies a death.
I'm happy :-)
Hi.looking at getting a mondy,annual mileage 8-10 thou,is the 1.8 petrol best bet?
Should add budget will be about 5 grand,cheers Read more
AA figures in the press today
" diesel car costs on average£1,400 more to buy than its petrol equivalent.
At the start of this year to break even with an unleaded vehicle, a diesel car had to travel 45,000 miles before the benefits of its greater fuel efficiency took effect.
Today, that same car must cover 46,243 miles - an increase of 1,243 miles."
Saw a local garage today (East Midlands) where diesel was 10p a litre more than petrol. Is this a record? I am used to seeing 6p but 10p is a nonsense.
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>>Petrol is petrol is petrol... <<
Absolute nonsense - of course there are different petrols, different RON ratings for a start, different %contents of bi- ethanol, different sulphur content, different additives supplied by different petrol companies. Do you really think the petrol companies would be allowed to claim they have their own unique cleansing additives if they really did not add them.
The jury is more than still out on this one - the verdict is final - off course there are different petrols.
You'll be telling me next that oil is oil is oil - even though they are different grades & synthetics etc. - or red wine is red wine is red wine - when clearly there are differences.
Everything we buy can be bought in varying grades of quality, regardless of what we want. The difference is whether you think you get any additional benefit from paying the difference. You pays your money and takes your choice.
Have noticed that at standstill and at ver low speed, the steering on my car has a judder. It smoothes out very quickly once you set off, Ive only noticed it when parking etc.
Not sure if its worth bothering with or what would cause it, or if its normal? Read more
We have a low mileage '04 BMW Compact in the office that had juddering like this - it needed a new rack (under warranty).
The price of oil fell by $6/barrel today. What chance the price of fuel falling. I won't hold my breath. Read more
And why is diesel up to 10p / litre more than unleaded? >>
Just might be because diesel car owners don't need to fill up as much...:-)
The scabby black/brown stains that appear on number plates. I posted on this a few years back. The disease only seems to affect rear yellow plates making them unsightly and possible cause of mot failure. Do not see so many problems on recent cars. Has medical science found a cure or have the people making them finally got the hang of it. Also why did it not infect front white plates? I would have thought thet were more vulnerable to the elements. Read more
Groan.:-)
Bought oil and filter for an oil change which I will be doing over the Easter weekend. I was given a free bottle of Wynn's engine flush.
Never used this stuff before. Is flushing an engine before a change a good idea?
Car has done 95k miles now and I don't want to cause any problems by flushing the engine when I've never seen the need before. Could it 'loosen' something inside the engine that will later cause problems or is it a good idea?
Comments/thoughts appreciated.
{duplicate question posted in discussion. Please reply there with any answers.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=61447 } Read more
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By the way, I dont think the car hire firm will be interested...they have given your details to the police and I don't think they will give two hoots if you pay or not. It must happen to them on a daily occurence.