May 2008
I read in a small inside-page item in today's comic that while two thirds or so of 18-25 year old men in this country are happy ironing their shirts and smalls, only one in ten knows how to maintain a car.
I would declare my contempt for these mincing, scented degenerates if I didn't fear that a hundred or so of them might surround me in the street and stab me slowly and untidily to death with the tails of their little combs. So instead I will praise their feminist side, leaving their mothers and sisters free to slump in front of daytime TV with a fag and a can of beer. Read more
I was in Halfords, looking for spare bulkbs for the car, when I spotted some LED lights. I was tempted, due to the expected long life from them, but noted that they were marked "for off road or show use only". Hmm !!
So, why not road legal, and would the car fail an MOT with led bulbs in say, the sidelights ?
Lets say we're replacing one colour with a similar one (ie putting a white LED in for the sidelight, not a green or blue one !) Read more
I think it is because the bulbs are not E - approved and don't carry the markings to show they are.
As the title suggests, this will be the thread where i give my views and opinions on my new car - the Mondeo 2.0 tdci estate. This will be my first new car ever, so its a big event for me. So far i have always bought a couple of years old but now i want a common rail diesel, i felt it was better to go new. Im leasing it from a leasing company (not from Ford direct - im not naming an shaming!)
I have been waiting 4 months for this car, should have been 3 months. I was told it was going to be delivered to the dealer on saturday and i would be able to take delivery this week. Oh Joy! How exciting. So i call on Wednesday to chase up when delivery will be. No one in the office can help, they will call me back. Slightly deflated i wait. And wait. And wait. 5 hours late, i call them again. "We will call back with the details in 10 minutes". Hmm ok. Hour later i call back. "Oh it wasnt delivered to the dealer on saturday" Hmmmmmm ok, so where is it? "oh we dont know, i will have to get x to call you".
That was yesterday. i sent off a snippy email expressing my disappointment at a) not getting told the car wastn coming and b) that i had to do all the chasing. So obivously i had a call this morning explaining what the problem was and telling me when the car was going to arrive and apologising profusely. Er, no. Nothing.
Maybe i am being unreasonable, but i dont think so. The initial shine of getting a new car has been tarnished by waiting times and this irritation. When we got the wifes car we knew the exact date weeks before.
I am decidedly miffed and annoyed because i was getting all excited at the prospect of the new car. Im a big kid still(im 34) and have had my excitement dashed on the rocks of disappointment.
I will keep this updated and will update with my impression of the car when i get it. Or should that be if i get it! Read more
Ask for the dealer principal and tell him the names of the people who are giving you the run-around when you finally get hold of him.
My two rear brake lights aren't working. I've had a quick look at them and I can see that there is some condensation / moisture in both of them. I had a new bulb fitted on the left one when i had a winter service in November. The guy said that the bulb had been sat in water and they'd dried it all out but there was a chance it was leaking water. It obvioulsy is as the bulb went again about a week later. I've been driving round ever since with just two brake lights working (the right side and the one at the top of the rear window). The right hand one has now also gone. How can I stop this water getting in. I don't want to put in new bulbs for them to go again in a couple of weeks? Read more
Just back from a month in sunny California after helping friends build a large wooden fence around their new property.
When I was there in February I requested a small 4WD (Rav4 sized) from Placerville Enterprise to get me around ski resorts in the Tahoe area as big storms were forecast. When I went to collect, they only had a Dodge Ram BigHorn 5.7litre V8 monster. Brilliant in the ensuing storms, but only 11mpg at best.
This time, after job completion, I wanted a small compact for a 5 day road trip down to Yosemite, across to Monterey and Highway 1, then back north via SF. They offered me, for the same price, a spanking new Prius which I gratefully accepted.
Percy, as I named him, was brilliant. 900 odd miles in total comfort. Great air con (outside temps in the mini heatwave reaching 100f)decent stereo and such fun watching the wheels go round on the on-screen display. And averaged 49mpg which included spirited driving on Freeways, and up/down mountains! If only they were as cheap in the UK as the US I might even consider one. Even my CA friends, who drive a 4.7litre V8 Toyota Tundra and 2.5 Legacy Outback were impressed.
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I wonder how much longer the planets oil reserves would last if all Americans drove
one and stopped using their V8's?
This is a very interesting presentation on the FT website - the US consumes 24% of the worlds oil !!!!
The Chinese with over 4 x the population uses only 9%
We need to sort out the USA, not the middle east
tinyurl.com/4u7azj
MVP
My girlfriends 17 yr old daughter will shortly be sitting her driving test. Assuming she passes, she will doubtless be wanting a car, and mum's company car does not allow her to be added to the policy (phew!).
With a budget of £2k max ( I only paid £995 for my own car) what, in the world of teenage girls, constitutes a cool car?
My own thoughts were along the lines of an old LandRover or Almera. Many, many years ago I was over the moon to buy my own clapped out Mini Clubman when I was her age...any suggestions for a reliable first car with the all important 'street cred'...how times have changed. Doubtless minor bumps and scrapes will ensue.
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' Classic ' Mini , preferably a Cooper.
Hi
I've just bought a three year old Touran from a VW main agent, and despite all their talk of thorough inspection I quickly found out the electric door mirrors don't work either side. As the car had to go back anyway I didn't investigate too much, and assumed it would be a fuse or switch. When the car went back in they kept me waiting for half a day before telling me they didn't know what was wong with them as the diagnostic machne didn't say! they would have to have thecar back for a couple of days to find out what is wrong.
Anyway, they keep telling me now that they are waiting for parts from VW (presumably they have just ordered a huge pile on VW warranty and will pocket whats not used), but i've been driving around for three weeks now without adjustable door mirrors and am gettig fed up with the lack of service. So, what would you do in this situtaion. Am I being unfair on them, and if not, what would you do to pres the situation? Is there a legal requirement for the door mirrors to be adjustable (they put the car through an MOT and passed it beore I bought the car) that I could quote?
{wing mirrors changed to door mirrors. Sorry, pet hate of mine as haven't been fitted to the wings for years} Read more
That might even be the Touran driven (and loathed) by our erstwhile contributor Touran Van Man, formerly Renault Family and latterly Altea Ego. He probably hit the mirrors hard in anger. I wonder what became of him - he was always an interesting read. He rather bravely admitted to hitting a bus with his Laguna, and never quite lived it down.
Hi,
i have just had the water pump and timing belt changed in the Peugeot 206. The garage it was at said they know there was a problem because they counld hear a groaning noise from the water pump. Now I have it back, and the engine is still making noises, both what sounds like a groaning noise to me and a higher pitched noise. The garage says this is the fan belt adjusting as they had to remove it and that it should go away in time. Should the engine not sound a lot better anyway?
Thanks. Read more
So following HJ's defence of tailgating truckers (Motoring Sat 24th May), how many motorists are willing to drive over their indicated speed in a contra-flow and risk being zapped by a gatso or get squashed by a 40 ton truck? hmmm tough choice eh? Read more
>>I suspect, considerably cheaper
That would be true if were not for the need to incorporate a handbrake mechanism.
If you do it properly, like MB, Volvo, and older Vauxhalls, you have a seperate small drum brake in the "top hat" section of the disc. So, you have a disc brake and a drum brake - not cheap.
If you try to bodge, and use the pads as the handbrake device, you need to use a complex mechanism to apply the force to the pads AND to also compensate for the disc contraction as it cools. None of this is easy or cheap.
A full sized drum brake allows the easy incorporation of a handbrake mechanism, and, if well designed does not need to be disturbed too often, as wear rates are so small.
I have an 02 clio with 33k miles on the clock owned from new. I know that its age dictates that the cambelt should be changed but as the cost would be a reasonable % of the cars value, I wondered whether there was any information on the incidence iof failure.
I appreciate that if it goes the repair cost will be somewhat more than the replacemt would be but if say only say 1 in 20 fail then that might be a risk I'd be prepared to take.
Any advice appreciated
Thanks Read more
A fellow offered to help me change a wheel in the street here some fifteen or twenty years ago. I refused politely. He hung about insisting until I said quite shortly that I was doing something and he was distracting me. At that he came to the real point: if he couldn't help me, perhaps I could help him with a small subsidy?
I could have of course - who couldn't? - but I certainly wasn't going to after an approach like that. Damn carphound.