March 2008
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7288430.stm
25k per year - just to pick veggies?
Downside?
60+ hour week! Read more
Hi all.
December 2007 I picked up my nice new Focus 1.6(115) zetec climate. Love the car, drives well, well built etc. HOWEVER it would appear that my 9-10K miles a year is going to change drastically to 20-25k. Fuel consumption is the one downer on the Focus (max 38mpg) and I now wonder if I should chop it in quick for a diesel. Sods law I part ex'd a diesel Seat Toledo for the Focus-partly because I only done 8K miles last year in it so thought petrol would be okay.....
Any thoughts from anyone as to the best way to go? Focus is on a PCP but settlement is £10K, which I'm likely to be able to get (ish) from a main dealer if I go for something less than a year old. My head says if the numbers work go for a pre-reg Seat Altea/Toledo again since I know the car etc etc. All suggestions gratefully received! Read more
Well its a funny old world... Tried the 2.0 tdi Altea and hated it - powerful yes but very limited power band and noisy compared to (*anything*!). Ride was also awful. So scrubbed that instantly. On the way back home I thought, out of interest, I would pop into my local Ford dealer (not where I bought the Focus) and just see what they had there. As it happened a car transporter was just leaving the site. In the corner were a good number of unpriced, unwashed 56, and 07 plate cars. A couple were TDCi's. So I spoke to a salesman, who didn't know any details about them, no prices etc. Asked for a price on mine (explaining the situation that basically looking for a straight swap for a diesel). The price he came back with was £1500 MORE than anyone else had offered - based on the 57 demonstrator they were about to put on sale. Fantastic I thought - but how much was the demonstrator? Don't know yet came the reply. I was about to walk out muttering about incompetent saleman etc when it struck me that I now had a firm valuation for my car which they were unlikely to change so long as I bought from them by the end of the month. So I enquired about the 07 plate tdci zetec I had seen fresh off the transporter. Would they be prepared to straight swap on this? I knew the rough price for it should be about £10500. After a long chat with 'the manager' back came the offer - they would do the 2007, 07 5 door tdci zetec climate, 12K miles, for £9991 - allowing me not only a straight swap, but also £3 a month LESS than I am paying now!
I'm not convinced they will make anything out of this, but must have needed it to achieve end of month targets. Drove it and whilst a bit noisy cold, was sweet when warm. The computer average mpg stored was 47.3mpg - at least 10 mpg more than I have ever seen from the petrol. So now I'm happy, Ford are happy and the bank manager will be happy!
Thanks for the comments - I'm off to have my free extra pint of beer a month the deal now allows me!!!
Any experience of these, both round town and open road mileage figures?
Might be tempted into a 1.8 SRI from my current Mondeo TDCi Read more
I've got poor experience of that particular engine. In my case, it needed exactly 11.9 litres around town. That's just terrible, cause I got 10.6 in same conditions in a Lexus IS 250 (Auto). How the Japs do it, is just beyond me...
Hi,
I need to know what type of ignition system the 3.0 senator uses.
Does it use a distributor/pickup trigger (distributorless) etc?
Does the ECU have any input for advance/retard?
As much info in this area as possible would be greatly appreciated!!
Many thanks,
Jon
Read more
spent years working with these every day, do you have an issue or just curious.
IJ
tinyurl.com/273227
Photographed by a "Mirror reader".
more interesting is the car he's driving - a classic 6.3 litre V8 Mercedes 600 - a Chrismas present according to the report! Makes my socks/beer/books look pretty dull!
Jacks Read more
Given that he was stationary and would probably be willing to pay for the right kind of legal representation I can't see the police taking this any further.
There is a proposal to put in place a congestion charge in Cambridge.
Just in case any county residents or visitors are not aware, there is a Council survey being carried out at present.
I have no idea whether the results will be taken into account at all or whether it's just a bit of cynicism and the end result is already decided.
Anyway, I've filled it in and made some suggestions; if you are interested and want to as well, it's here:
tinyurl.com/36mczq
Closing date is only a week or two from now I think. Read more
The tinyurl link works fine for me.
And it's got a Subaru engine -where do I sign?
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7289220.stm
Read more
'Replica Ferraris' made from non-Ferrari bits really shouldn't have the word Ferrari used about them (although in deference to helicopter's BiL I don't doubt that some of them are decent, good-looking vehicles for what they are).
Fake Ferraris are another matter. Either they are sporting or 'lightweight' models forged using a more cooking version as a basis, or they are whole cars built using Ferrari bits along with fabricated bits. In some cases chassis and engine numbers were forged or changed, and fabricated histories were provided with the car. The unfortunate, if foolhardy, Lord Brocket got into quite bad trouble over some of these when prices were very high. Obviously though such cars would only be bought by posers, or the very dim. Doubt if many of them were up to much as cars.
BBC reports
The luxury carmaker BMW has announced it will invest $750m (£373m) as part of plans to increase production in the US. The investment at the Spartanburg plant, South Carolina, is aimed at increasing capacity from 160,000 to 240,000 units by 2012.
The move is set to create 500 new jobs and comes after the firm recently said it would cut 7.5% of its German workforce in 2008.
The firm is facing both rising costs in Europe as well as slowing US demand.
Since last September, the dollar has tumbled against the euro, hurting firms that pay their costs in euros but receive payment in dollars.
The euro touched an all-time high of $1.546 last week after punching through the $1.50 level at the end of February.
BMW is not the only European firm affected by the swings in exchange rates.
Seems it is not Just GM & Ford suffering.
Crunch affecting even the HIGH flyers as well as the laggard! BMW GB might be looking for brokers to shift some iron in contrast to their stated position of not liking discounters.
Read more
I don't know what the "right" price for a BMW (or a Merc, or an Audi etc) is, but looking at the pricing on their US websites is enough to make any European customer (and the manufacturers bean-counters) weep profusely.
Not only are the cars a good third cheaper than here, they're way better spec'd (entry level 3 series is the 328i for example), and they hold their price better too.
Are they getting cars at bargain prices, or are we being ripped off? I guess the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Diahatsu Fourtrak 2.8TD 1992 - Excessive Engine Vibration at idle
As the title states, Diahatsu Fourtrak 2.8TD 1992 - Excessive Engine Vibration at idle 800/850rpm.... it goes when the revs get to approx 1100/1200rpm....
I brought the car for a good price from flea bay... the vibration is not 'Really Bad' but it is a lot worse then anything I have every had before... it is going to used as a run about for the wife to the farm and horses etc........
I have checked all the mounts etc and everything looks tip, top... there are no knocks or bangs, just that the engine is 'rolling' quite aggressively......
It starts fine, does not smoke too much (no more than other Traks I've had), drive cool and stops in a straight line.....
Does anyone have any idea's why? I was thinking the belt may had jumped a tooth throwing her out slightly?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreicated.
Regards
Hayden Murray Read more
Cheers DD.
I did a really 'quick' check (could not resist) but it is wet and cold... it appear the valve clearance (when cold) are about 0.6mm... the book states 0.25mm when warm.. so this means).
I need to put the rad back in etc tomorrow then warm the engine up, then I will check and Set the clearances... fingers cross..
laters
H
Hello, does anyone have any information on fitting an LPG kit to a 2003 honda accord 2.4i vtec type s. Not taking into account the cost of the kit etc, Is there any reason it wouldn't work, I have been looking on the net at different kits and one company does a sequetial kit, with independant injectors and being run from the cars own ECU? etc etc Does anyone have any advice on which kit to go for if at all. Thanks, Mick Read more
Thanks for that, Looking at a photo of the engine bay (haven't bought the car yet!) it's an alloy inlet manifold. Cheers. Any tips are welcombe.
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Motoring Link ???? Trace elements only. Locked.