May 2008
Hi,
I'm in the market for a nearly new (1 yr old) Focus, Megane, Astra, size car.
I haven't been to an auction in AGES and was wondering how the prices at auction for these types of car compare to the large car supermarkets.
Any advice/thoughts most welcome.
Thanks
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Some of you may remember that I posted a link to a survey about the proposed congestion charge for Cambridge recently.
The results of that exercise (and others) have now been published, and the link is below.
There's a lot of information there, but in essence it seems to say that most people in Cambridge do want something to be done about congestion in the town (surprise) and we now have to actually decide if a charge is the way to do it. It seems likely that it will be implemented I think.
As I read it there is a HUGE amount of money available from the Government for transport improvements in the town/locality which we can bid for - but we can ONLY bid if we introduce a charge.
tinyurl.com/5mn47j
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The leader of Manchester City Council perpformed a huge u-turn yesterday by agreeing to a referendum when previously he had been dead against one.
The reason is that he knows that he needs a two thirds majority of the 10 Gtr Manchester councils to proceed with this daft plan. Three have said no with a fourth about to have a referendum (which would kill it stone dead) so he is hoping a referendum will negate the effect of the councils who say are saying no and turn the need for two thirds majority into a simple majority through a referendum - but it is the nuclear option
It looks pretty bleak for them right now
Hi
I can hear a lot of water running around in my car when I'm driving. It sounds as if a large amount of water is rushing from the front of the car to the back and vice versa depending on whether i'm reversing / going forward/ going up or down a hill.
Is this normal? If not, what could it be?
{subject header amended to make less vague} Read more
The bottoms of doors can also fill with rainwater, so check their drain holes too.
Hi everyone
The girlfriend is in the market for a new car, and has taken a shine to the new shape Mercedes A Class. Having looked around for some second hand examples, we have our eye on a A150 (1.4cc) Avantgarde, and just wondered what others opinions were on the this model?
We will be using the car for mainly driving in London, and so we wil be getting the 7 speed auto box, but we will occasionally use the car for trips to relations up North, and airport runs, and one of the concerns I have is whether the 1.4 engine is capapble of comfortably cruising at motorway speeds?
Also are there any options we should be looking for, or are desirable to have?
Anyway I would be very grateful for any views of the A150, and if it is a good all rounder.....before anyone suggests a diesel model, as we won't be doing that many miles in it, the extra cost of a diesel would not be financially viable.
Thanks for any replies. Read more
Thanks for all the advice guys.
I was planning on avoiding the Mercedes dealer network, and was going to find a local Merc specialist to do any work required.
Most of the comments seem very positive, living in London I rarely go any B road blasts, so I am not too concerned about those issues.
Glad to hear nothing too negative so far, the only real negative was about the Mk1 so thats OK.
Thanks once again for all your views, and would love to hear from anyone else.
Le Mans shortly, this year going to take a powered cool box to keep the sausages cool for the BBQ, I have a RAV Diesel 18 months old so battery should be fine. I do not know how much power these things use. My question is how often should I start the engine and for how long to run it to prevent the battery completely draining. Many thanks.
Richard Price Read more
"buy ice cubes"
These are readily available in French supermarkets (as are a wide variety of sausages, not to mention all sorts of "barbecue packs") Also, though I haven't camped at Le Mans, it is very rare to find a French campsite which does not have a freezer in which you can refreeze the ice things for a coolbox - take four, two in your coolbox and two refreezing.
A few months back I had a problem with the car over revving, I did an ECU test and it came back as lamdba fault which could have been anything. I took the car to my backstreet mechanic expecting him not to be able to find a cure.
A few hours later he called to say he had fixed it for now, he had plugged into the computer and realised the MAF sensor was sending incorrect signals so cleaned it and it cured the problem but he told me fit a new one next time it plays up.
2000 miles later its still fine. The total cost including labour? £10
So why then I do keep hearing stories of garages charging £50-£100 for a simple ECU scan?
Should the government be stopping this rip off practice?
I realise £10 was very cheap, but he knows he gets a lot of business from me so he always knocks a bit off, I just can't see how garages can charge more than £30 for this work unless ECU fault codes are extremely complicated. Read more
Looking at the technical manual for one of our big models, the actual oily bits and their associated motors and sensors can generate around 600 fault codes via a plug in panel, plus there's a whole separate diagnostic process for the controller via a COM port and terminal session on the back of the unit. Of course, diagnosing a fault will often involve "crossing over" between these two units, and scoping signals being passed back and forth between engine, controller, and sensors - much like car diagnostics in fact. Plus, like a car fuel injection system, a sensor code could be a failed sensor, or it could be something further back down the line causing a sequence of events which culminate in a sensor not giving an expected reading.
The point being, that we just could not spend a day on site with a machine down, and simply hand it back still broken at the end of the day, much less accompanied by a bill. We work to strict SLAs and commitments, and would be hauled over the coals if we broke them. The point I was trying to make is that diagnosis and repair of complex systems like this is possible (but not cheap, as you say), and therefore the dealerships repeated failure to do so comes down to a business decision rather than the realms of possibility. As paying customers, do we think this is acceptable?
I have every sympathy with the poor guy himself who as you say has probably not had the required training or investment in him, but the dealership as a whole needs to take responsibility for this situation, where customers are relieved of often substantial sums of money for no worthwhile result. If a main dealer can't fix a fault, or even as a last resort have expert manufacturer backing on the end of a phone, then we're in big trouble.
Cheers
DP
Hi, I have a Fiesta Ghia (with the 1.6 zetec engine) that I've owned for about a year now. I had the cambelt changed when i first got it and have done about 10k miles since. Today the belt started making a high pitched squealing noise which got quite loud. The noise is loud when idle but pretty much goes away whilst driving. It was hot today and i did leave my car idling for about an hour (so i could listen to music) so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it.
Im fairly certain the noise is coming from the belt, but not being very mechanically minded I'm not sure what could cause it or what can result from not doing anything about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Matt Read more
Sounds good. I'll give it a go in the morning. thanks.
Hi i have a dual fuel astra when i switch to petrol it seems to be missing on 1 but when i switch back to gas it runs nearly perfect with an occasional missfire.
Any help would surely be appreciated
thanks
Jason Read more
Ok i will still try some cleaner but i still get a occasional missfire on gas
I have a BMW 3 Series 1.8ti Compact. On visiting friends I found that the key fob buttons would not operate the locking and unlocking system. It was as though the key battery had gone flat after a 15 minute drive. However the key still locked and unlocked the car manually and the car operated normally.
My friend who owns two Series 3 BMWs, then said that since he had moved onto Canvey Island (in Essex) a year ago, had experienced the same problem in both cars on different occasions. His wife has also experienced the problem once, when parked at the school where she works.
After our visit the remote would still not work but when we arrived home, back on the mainland, worked perfectly.
Any ideas?
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Specifically on at least two BMWs I've owned.
How long do you have to have stopped for before it's more economical to turn off a diesel engine and start it up again than keep it running?
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about 3 seconds worth of running time
Brilliant. Thanks very much, Defender.
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Go to a supermarket like Motorpoint guranteed price spec , colour etc no premium based on price through the ring etc. Also you'll have some consumer protection if the car is a pup