May 2008

colynn

The worlds lowest car only 19 inches high.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/73807...m

Looks like fun to drive -provided other car uses spot you down this low.

I lot of drivers cannot spot even a bus these days Read more

Pugugly

www.flatmobile.co.uk/

More info here - it is road-legal and the jet-engine really works. Warning the website contains the inappropriate use of apostrophes and may cause distress !

scouseford

Can anybody explain the meaning of direction signs that seem to be appearing with increasing frequency in this neck of the woods.

They are on yellow backgrounds, usually about 2ft wide and 1 ft deep and they display either a square, a triangle, a diamond or a circle accompanied by an arrow. The symbols are sometimes just outlines and sometimes solid black.

The Highway Code describes them as 'Direction Signs for Emergency Diversion Routes' but there seems to be no explanation as to what the various symbols represent.

Any ideas?

Read more

L'escargot

Black circle


Directions to a tyre depot. ;-)
El Hacko

seeing that Honda are offering 7 year warranties on their motor mowers makes me wonder why car makers don't follow Hyundai and go for at least 5 years. Yes, I appreciate that mowers are must less complicated than motor vehicles but how measly are the 3 years that most makers/dealers give the buyer - doesn't display that much confidence in your product! Honda has a good name for reliability and could surely go to at least 5 years. It would be a very attractive reason for buying their cars.
Do I recall correctly reading here at some point that in the US car warranties are much longer than those in Europe? Read more

movilogo

If everyone wants to get a long warranty, then other than Kia/Hyundai no one would have been in market by now.

Buyers balance warranty offerings with badge value and reliability perception (from friends/families/journos etc.)

Porsche offers 2-yr warranty, their reliability is not exemplary, repair is quite expensive - yet people buy their cars because their perceived value is much higher.

Pugugly

The Back Room is not a political instrument, and must not be used to promote a political agenda of any sort. While the expression of personal opinion is encouraged, this should not be at a level which the moderators consider deters people from visiting and contributing to The Back Room. Moderators have discretion to close such a thread.


Please take note of the above. Politics are, unavoidably, part and parcel of the motoring world, but of late some of the debates here have become childish "ya boo politics" of the worst type.

Please keep it at a civilized level otherwise the mods will have to step in and start snipping, locking or deleting threads and posts.

Thanks.

Dave, Smokie, Pologirl and PU. Read more

Pugugly

Bump.

dave9182

i have a Renault laguna and just recently the car doesn't want to start. everything else works fine, engine cranks but there is no ignition spark! an the red immobiliser light constantly flashes when the key is in the ignition on second and start position when you turn the key i hear a relay clicking twice in the dash board area on the passenger side i was going to investigate that but i wasn't sure if was normal and iv'e been trying other things. do you have any ideas ???

typo in header amended
duplicate post made 1 hour later deleted Read more

dave9182

i already know that! but as i dnt have any money i am unable to do things like that!

basicly im looking for advise that people wld be able to give so i can look at it myself as i am in the trade!

alibar71

Our 7 series has an ongoing problem. When you go to start the car, you get no red lights on dash or fuel pump whurr. It only starts off a jump, but when you turn it off after a short or long run it refuses to start. Also when the engine is running there is a clicking from behind the air vents above the stereo every so often. We've checked the battery and thats fine so dont know where to go from here. Any ideas would be very helpful, TIA Read more

alibar71

Because its on a brand new battery which was returned to shop & checked twice & was deemed fully charged

ianhadden

Did anyone see Flood last night. I don't think I'll be using a mobile while driving. Read more

MikeTorque

Flood, not yet, it's waiting for me to watch, now I'm curious.

Optimist

Main dealers have competition from internet brokers. But they supply those brokers, so presumably reducing the number of high profit new sales they make. Allegedly there's no money in warranty work. They have high labour and overhead costs.

So where are main dealers making their money? Read more

oldnotbold

The money in selling cars is in buying a freehold site. I know two car dealers one non-franchise, the other ex-franchise, who have done very well out of selling their sites for residential development. I expect they made more money each year "sitting" on the plot than they did operating the business, but of course they couldn't take the profit out until the end, without racking up debt.

steeley

Hello.
I have a 01 reg 1.8T Audi A6. About 2 months ago i noticed the trip computer averaging 15 to the gallon and a very strong smell of petrol, so i took it to my usual garage who did a code read - P1128 and P1136 = Bank 1 mixture adaption too lean !
So i had a new Lambda Sensor fitted - still the same, so then had a new Mass Air Meter - Then a new Thermostat and i also had the Throttle Body cleaned - still the same problem, The EML still comes on MPG is awful and a very strong smell of fuel coming from the tail of the exhaust. How can it be running Too Lean when it is running Too Rich !
So my garage put me in touch with a Bosch Service Centre who worked on the car for 6 hours, doing all checks relating to Fuel and Air.
The car has no air leaks, all new parts work correctly, Coil packs are fine, i also had the exhaust and cat checked - both fine.
Last Friday i had the codes re-set and seemed better for a while until the EML came on again and back to square one again with poor tick - over , loss of power , smell of fuel, black smoke coming out exhaust etc Could someone please help me here with some good advice or suggestions because i am at the end of my teather with this problem not mentioning how much it is costing me . Please Help !
Regards Steeley
Read more

seltech


Hi Steeley,

Did you ever resolve this problem with your A6, as I have exactly the same problem with my Quattro 1.8T (YEAR 2001 WITH ONLY 68000 MILES ON CLOCK)? Have replaced everything you have and still the same fuel smell etc- all same problems exactly. Can you or anyone assist.

If so send me email to rogert.kelly@btopenworld.com. Thanks

richard price

My daughter ordered a Fiat 500 Pop on the 2nd February 2008 with an estimated delivery date of 31st March 2008, have had many conversations with dealership (on the south coast, always dealt with the salesman perhaps should have escalated to principle) have now been told that the car will arrive UK 12 May delivery to my daughter about 7 days after, any body else out there experienced similar delay??
Richard Price Read more

jc2

I ordered a Ford-not to a standard spec so needed to be built for me-dealer gave me a delivery date which he got from Ford.Date came and no car, so the dealer told me to stop the payments to Ford Credit on my current car and carry on using it.Three months later,my car arrived and I started a fresh agreement-I doubt you'll get anything out of Fiat.Most of the hold-up was not in the build but in the shipping-dealer kept me up-to-date on location of car at all times.