March 2008
Has anyone noticed that the price difference between unleaded and diesel seems to be getting greater all the time. Diesel is now quite commonly 9 pence a litre more and I am not clear why this is - did I miss the Chancellor sneaking in an extra tax rise on diesel in the recent budget perhaps.....? Read more
Hi everyone,
First time post here but from what i see you all know your stuff.
I have a 96 xantia 1.9td estate and the fuel ecomomy is shocking.
I have done this several times now and getting the same results each time, i am filling up with diesel and putting in 68 litres. (which is 15 gallons) and the most i have had out of a tank is 397 miles. i have even tried totally unladden apart from me with very light acceleration and not going over 2000 rpm this got me to the 397 miles.
This equates to 26 mpg!!!! only 4 miles better than my mitsubishi evo!
i have checked for leaks through out the system and all is well so does any one have any idea what is causing it to be so amazingly bad?
cheers
paul Read more
hi i had the very same problem with both of the xantia's i had. they have a fine gauze on the bottom of the fuel pick up hose witch is part of the fuel sender unit. You can get to it by lifting up the back seat and lifting off the black rubber cover and unscrewing the large black plastic nut that screws it in to the tank, but be warned they usually break so you might have buy a new plastic nut. The gauze is on the bottom of the fuel gauge sender unit and can get very blocked. The problems i had was lack of power especially when in cruising speed. Bad starting when warm because of vacuum building up in the fuel pipe. I hope this helps you and this is the cause as it drove me mad for 8 months with my first xantia diesel turbo.
We are a family of 3 intending to rent cars in the UK and France for a three week trip.
We will need one for Wales, last week in May, to be rented in Cardiff and dropped off in Manchester. Then we're flying to Perpignan where the plan is to rent one for 2 1/2 weeks to look around the region while we stay at an apartment in Ceret, close to the Spanish border.
While in Ceret we want to have a brief look at northern Spain and Barcelona.
Around June 18 we will fly back from Perpignan to Manchester to hot foot it back to Cardiff for our return flight the next day.
Questions are:
1. It seemed that cheapest rentals are in the UK, followed by France, then Spain, but recently it seems rentals may be cheaper in Spain, so does anyone know of a rental company that they would recommend, whether Spain or France? We are looking for a small car.
2. We've heard white knuckle nightmare stories of driving around Barcelona - any confirmations?
3. Any recommendations for car rental in the UK?
All advice gratefully received.
We are coming from Canada (Victoria) Read more
Thanks for all the help. We just got back from Cardiff a couple of days ago and looking back over the advice I got here, I benefited from much of it. I did go with Holiday car rentals both for Wales and France and it worked out very well. We got a small Peugeot in Wales and an Opel Zafira in France.
We took the train down from Manchester to Cardiff and really enjoyed that 3 1/2 hours much more than if we had driven it, I would imagine.
Driving in Wales was challenge at first due not only to being on the other side of the road but also in unaccustomed tight lane widths, with the additional factor of stone walls right at the edge of the lane often with no shoulders. This was particularly true of the Gower Peninsula - 40 mph never felt so fast. I have never before thought the posted limit was actually too fast!
The scenery in the Gower was hard to leave but when we did, we went up the West and over near Snowdon to Llangollen, where the local tourist information came through in a big way and found us some great accommodation. I had forgotten that they would do this, but see that I was was told here in this thread.
France was totally and refreshingly different, of course, and it turned out that the villages we had chosen to stay in (for 1 week each) could not have been better chosen - the first being Ceret, down near the Spanish border and the second Caunes de Minervois. We really became almost blassé about seeing yet another incredibly picturesque medieval village with impossibly (sometimes literally) narrow streets and amazing old churches/abbeys/viaducts and great wine and cheese selling for near nothing.
So, thanks again to all who helped.
Russell
Returns 30.5mpg on LPG and Petrol 36.5mpg at 70mph. In town both fuels return circa 25mpg.
Are these figures correct?
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Thank you for your replies. I asked because when I first used the car and until it had the EGR valve replaced fuel consumption on both fuel types was a lot better.
50 litres of LPG (roughly £26.00) now returns around 320 to 400 miles of travel.
Befor the valve replacement it would do 400 to 450 on 50 litres of LPG. That again could have been down to me not being as confident or familiar with the car as I am now. Yes, the peddle does hit the floor a lot quicker and harder these days!
Still, if that was petrol it would be twice the cost for the same distance. For the time being, as LPG is one of the products on my local petrol stations that is having the largest price increases applied, LPG is a lot cheaper than diesel or petrol to use as a fuel.
Just had a quick scan and doesn't appear to be here. If mods have no objections, please log on and sign the following petition relating to recent statements regarding VED and road tax.
petitions.pm.gov.uk/UNFAIR-VED/sign
(already mentioned in another thread:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=61282&...e )
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Just been reading HJs road test of the new C5.
The most disappointing thing abut the new car is that it is much heavier than the competition, leading to a reduction in around town performance and economy, whilst overall top speed and cruising economy are unchanged.
This is a ridiculous state of affairs.
We are facing ever increasing road congestion throughout the world, so it must be more important to improve urban consumption by way of reduced weight and increased efficiency, rather than a massage the figures for dubious extra urban figures which are impossible to achieve.
Mazda are obviously the leaders in this idealist concept and I hope they do really well. It's a shame that Citroen have produced a car that is heavier that the Rover SD1 3500 V8. Read more
Good luck, EdV. I agree about going for a top trim level to get the acoustic glass, Xenons and decent suspension.
I would be tempted by a tourer (estate) when they come out as a replacement for my Merc C320CDI, A 2.7 V6 HDI auto would be nice, apart from the emissions, which rules it out for me. Funny how the same engine in the Jag XF gets emissions of 199?! I guess ideally I would go for a 2.2 HDI auto (if they made it, and emissions were under 225).
I read, in Autocar I think, that the 'proper' suspension was slightly lighter than the 407 set-up.
My wife's 02 Fiesta 1.4 Zetec has a worrying and persistent problem.
From time to time it will lose power and put on an engine warning light .If she stops and waits a while and restarts the car it will usually start OK.
This has been looked at several times by our local garage who have hooked it up to Bosch diagnostics and cannot detect a fault .They have even had the local ford dealer check it over.
This is dangerous , for example, if it happened while overtaking and in heavy fast traffic would mean deceleration without any warning signs to those behind.
Any ideas?
petrol or diesel ? Read more
Hi all, I am currently living in France, and still hanging onto my old (1987) Citroen BX Turbo Diesel. Living in the Alps, but it usually performs remarkably well in the cold. This is the second time though this year that we've had a flat battery, first was probably due to extreme cold and that we hadn't given the car a good run for a while. Unfortunately this time lights were left on (wasn't me!).
Tried to jump start it today with jump leads using our VW Caravelle Diesel Turbo, but after many attempts it just wasn't charging. My partner reckons the VW battery not giving enough charge, perhaps as it is diesel - diesel. Could this be right? Would a petrol car have a higher charge?
Excuse my niavety, I am blonde :) but very practical and want to find a solution without having to pay yet another 100 Euros for a guy to turn up with a charger. Or should we buy a battery charger?
Any advice welcome, thank-you.
(subject line amended to include year) Read more
Easi spray will kill your engine as it's Methanol/Ethanol mix.
A very confident statement - care to explain exactly how? I've used a few dozen cans in my time and the workshop isn't littered with dead engines......
Hi Backroomers, hope someone can help.
I need a replacement steering rack for the MOT, but it has to be with variable power assistance (with power feed to the rack?) Apparently there are plenty around without variable assistance but mine is rare.
My question really is - do I need the variable assistance? (with plug unconnected I assume)
I seem to recall driving cars with 'full time' assistance and found it quite un-nerving, with reduced feel through the wheel.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Mapsimus
Regular reader - Very rare poster. Read more
Just wondering if anybody knows if the lovely little Mazda2 is likely to be made available with an automatic or CVT in the near future.
Also, has anybody managed to persuade their local, friendly, Mazda dealer to let them have one for a 24 hour (or longer) test drive?
Cheers. Read more
Browse
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No you didn't. See this thread......
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=61...4