May 2008
I'm a new member of this website after reading HJ's column in the Sat Telegraph and thought I would ask a question about Insurance.
I'm not sure whether to just go TPF&T due to my Polo being 10 years old and 107,000m, or remain Comprehensive. I feel that £222 for my renewal is a bit steep for Comp and can get TPF&T for £137. Not sure of pros and cons of this. I'm a bit worried that you get neglected when not Comp.
The car's showing it's age now too, so might the Insurer just right it off even after a small dent? Is there a somewhere I can check the current value just as a rough guide?
Many thanks for any comments and help for this old geezer.
Dougie Read more
Cars are designed by lots of groups of people with each group fighting for a space to put their particular part. The next time you're complaining that it's difficult, for example, to change a headlight bulb just think where you would position the particular part that is making your life difficult. And you're not allowed to just delete that part! Read more
I had wondered while reading a previous thread on loves/dislikes, whether car focus group leaders would get such a well written series of points about the good and bad things in our cars anywhere else - over decades on this site of course!
We do seem to be led towards excessive safety - the whole width of cars now is the safety aspect, the huge weight increases and so on. Further, programmes like Top Gear focus on speed and cornering which drives the low profile tyres/hard suspension business. Would I buy a car with no side airbags/protection etc? Of course. Sensible - don't know. But I do know people drive their padded up Volvos to go hang-gliding.
I prefer the 1970s shapes [only] of many cars still being produced - 911, Mini, E-type [versus XJF], 1980s Escort [over the Focus], Saab 900, Audi 80 for starters.
Hello
The speedo on my 406 sometimes decides to die on me for several minutes (usually at the beginning of a journey) and then flicks back into life from zero to the correct speed. From reading posts it seems it will be the speed sensor on the gearbox, some small part behind the glove compartment or the clocks themselves. As I found a clock cluster at the breakers the other day i thought Id try it first.
Q. - Do I need to disconnect the battery when I pull the connectors out of the old clock section and plug them back in the new one?
I prefer not to do this if possible as I dont have the radio code and will then have to take the radio out (to get serial no.) and pay for the code.
Q. - Or can I take the fuse out relating to the clock cluster wires?(or does the same fuse knock the radio out anyway!)
Many thanks for any advice you can give!
{2 questions merged, seeing as they're related}
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It is quite straightforward to change the speed sensor, if a bit fiddly, but you do need to put the car on ramps. !0mm or 11mm bolt head iiif I remember?
I changed this on mine to no avail and it turned out to be the "box of tricks" in the glove compartment. I understand, as you have implied, that this is peculiar to certain models.
Hi
I am very tempted to swap my 350z for an Elise or vx220 Turbo as fancy something a bit more extreme - my car is a 350z GT Coupe with 18" Rays Alloys
Its great but I have the opportunity of running a small car day to day for work so can afford to get something a little more 'mad' potentially.
The question is.....would you say an Elise/VX220 would tick the boxes or are they a bit over-rated?
The standard one seems a bit slow at 5.8 seconds to 60 - the same as the 350z, which seems a bit pointless.
However the 111s is 5.1 to 60 which sounds more like it!
Also, is it worth considering the VX220 Turbo?
Any feedback welcomed as to whether I am doing the right thing!
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shoespy what an exelent holiday ive never taken my car that far but what a trip you had i bet it was fabbo ive only ever been to wales from london and that was a challenge but a good one anyhoo get a westfield isa a good trip
Hi, i've got a 320D X Reg, i noticed that the AC/FAN is not working all the time, it's START/STOP every 2-3 min. Even if i would set up the lowest speed, it's the same thing, this shouldn't work all the time? Sorry for my bad english. Thank you in advance. Regards Read more
This is caused by the final stage or hedgehog resistor:
www.bmwland.co.uk/talker/viewtopic.php?t=37654
I took delivery of a new Toyota Aygo Platinum at the end of April 2008. When the driver's door is closed and the engine is on, there is a awful vibrating noice that comes from the top of the driver's window. This noise continues when the car is being driven too. The noise is a bit like a droning noise and suffice to say, I'm not pleased about it. I know it's not a feature of all Aygo cars as the Aygo that I test drove did not make that noise. Has anyone experienced the same problem with their Aygo? Read more
Mine's a five door.
Mpg - official combined on petrol is 62 mpg (hollow laugh). From reading about beforehand I was expecting perhaps mid to high forties to start, rising to perhaps low fifties after 10k miles.
In actuality, measured brim to brim I've had between 54 and 58 from day one. My driving is mostly commuting, and I've used the aircon a fair bit. With only just 1000 miles on the clock I've been very pleased so far.
It's also pleasant to fill up for £30 instead of £90 (my old car) and get the same miles from a tank as I used to. Insurance is £200 less a year for me, and road tax of course will be a mere £20 when it needs doing next April instead of the rather eye watering £440 it would have been, so on the financial front it's a winner.
Build quality does seem better than I thought it would be, once you accept the market segment it's in, and I'm sure they'll sort both my rattle and your drone!
And you have to admit it's a hoot to drive!
Recently I've observed that some motorcyclists zoom past me [filtering lanes] with their right indicators constantly flashing.
[1] Have anyone of you noticed similar incident?
[2] What does it mean?
[3] Is it part of highway code?
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Cue smug pug whose bike I think has cancelling indicators??
Mine have self-cancelling indicators, too. You just put your hand back on the handlebars!
On another thread, regular BRoomer Pologirl referred to her car as "he".
99% of men surely refer to their car as a 'she', or is that just historical [and thus naturally male dominated] thinking. Boats certainly have always been ladies have they not?
Assuming hetrosexuality, does this suggest that we need even the material things we love to be the opposite sex to ourselves? Read more
there ARE people that "love" their freezers
etc
Dear Auntie Glenda,
Although it is new and of the finest sort, my freezer (so to speak) leaves me cold. But I find myself unaccountably drawn to the water heater in the bathroom.
Do you think the fact that I am a brass monkey may have something to do with this? The freezer is giving me the cold shoulder and people have started to notice.
Yours etc.
PU's A14/M11 thread got me thinking about other useful alternative routes. A few starters:-
M1/A50 instead of M6 to Stoke and beyond.
B430 through Middleton Stoney and Weston on the Green instead of M40 to link the A43/A34
County roads via Litchborough/Canons Ashby/Moreton Pinckney/Thorpe Mandeville to M40/J11 instead ogf the A43 between the A5 and M40. This was the pre 1990 route of the B4525 from Northampton to Banbury and is still through signed in places.
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Thanks - I've used the first two of those when Trafficmaster warns me off the motorways in question.
There's also:
Old A33 instead of M3 between Basingstoke and Winchester
From South and West to Cambridge, Bury St Eds and anywhere up the A11 - M25 / A1 / A505 instead of M25 / M11. Best way now they've at last bypassed Baldock, and it seems that the mania for digging up the M11 near the Stansted turnoff is insatiable and chronic. It also avoids a bit of M25, which can only be a good thing.
M1 / A1 / A68 instead of M6 /A74 etc from the South to Edinburgh - a bit slower though not as much as you'd think, and much more scenic.
Having just read the some of the sites linked to from the other thread about how economical could a car be made, I found the following quotes to be of interest:
"completed the 330 mile event using just 19.12 litres of petrol to return an overall fuel consumption figure of 78.39 mpg. This is an improvement of nearly 28 per cent over the official combined figure."
"A later event involving three identical Toyota Avensis 2.2-litre petrol cars underlined the effect drivers have on fuel consumption. An IAM driver and a fleet manager both achieved around 56mpg, while a Silverstone instructor briefed to drive aggressively managed only 18mpg!"
I've seen many people on this forum complain that their car doesn't return the quoted MPG figures, I think the above backs up the arguement that those people are not getting good mpg becuase they have a poor driving style for economy.
It's a shame those sites don't give more details as to how they achieved those results. Read more
Thanx NC, I will now spend some time considering your explanation.
I think that you have introduced to me the practical concept that the balance of the car is very important in braking, especially in maintaining control and remaining in a straight line. To an experienced driver who always tries to maintain his car to a maximal degree this idea becomes second nature. However, I can see that imbalances in braking effect between wheels or axles can have a serious effect on braking efficiency.
Me Mam always told me I should have done engineering rather than Medicine.
"her solicitor claimed almost the full value of the car from the other insurers. Last year, the same thing happened again" "a car which has been written off twice"
While you can use a solicitor, there's no need. Very simple procedure that any lay person can do. The car has not been written off - she's received compensation for damage. A write off would be recorded on the insurers' database, and could mean an increased premium.