July 2008
Dual carriageway. Roadworks in say 800 yards, where one lane closes. What do we get? One long queue and one long, empty lane. In the USA you get "Merge in turn" signs and everyone is happy. I've never seen one here.
Lately this happened on the A580 East Lancs. Long Q, empty lane as above. Some old dude kept his place in the queue BUT moved over to block the empty lane.
The highway code, as HJ has confirmed, tells us to use both lanes and merge.
I squeezed past and told the O.D. exactly that. OOH the look on his face! (outrage) then zipped to the front and merged - just like the highway code says, before anyone tells me I should have queued!!!!!!
anyway, this blocking of empty lanes is something I have seen a lot lately. As usual, check the other guy isn't bigger than you before enlightening him.
I also re-iterate that I am immune from road-rage,
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My company took delivery of a new Audi A4 1.8T on contract hire in late June last year. Seven weeks and 1,700 miles later the car was at my local dealer with "clutch problems". After several days I collected the car, to be told that the clutch and throttle had been replaced, all under warranty. The service technician informed me that the problem was due to a "manufacturing defect" and the use of "substandard quality materials". He said that this was very rare and a big surprise to him (and also to me!!). The car was fine and used mostly on motorway trips and had its first service last month, with 3,800 miles (not a typing error, yes, 3.800), at an Audi dealer, who reported no problems. Two days after the service, the clutch failed completely. The dealer has informed me that the clutch is worn completely, ?down to the metal? and that this could only be due to ?driver misuse?. Audi has declared that this is not a warranty item and the cost of the repair is £1,400.
I have driven manual cars for 20 years, averaging 15,000 miles a year and have never before had a problem with a clutch. I am not pleased, to put it mildly, and have left the car at the dealership while I take legal advice. My view is that the vehicle as supplied to my company by the contract hire company was and is clearly ?not fit for purpose?. It has had two major problems, which could have caused serious road accidents, in less than a year and less than 4,000 miles. I have lost all faith in the car and simply want the contract hire firm to take the car back, and to leave it to them and Audi to sort out. I am flabbergasted that Audi are suggesting this is my fault, and adamant that I will not just cough up for repairs and carry on as if nothing has happened. I would be keen to hear the Forum's view on both the car?s problems and what should be my next step?
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Assuming this Audi crate is not so different to a Morris Marina....
Surely the second clutch must have been installed/adjusted in such a way as to be permanently, but imperceptibly, slipping with no foot on the pedal.
That would explain why it has 'worn down to the metal' in such a short time.
A reasonable assumption, but one Audi/the dealer who did the work are unlikely to make because it will cost one of them £1,400.
Better to try to bluff the punter....
On four occasions recently, people have slowly and deliberately pulled out of side roads in front of me and blocked my way until there was a gap in oncoming traffic. Three of these incidents happened in NSL zones, the other in a town centre. In all cases I anticipated what might happen, so was ready to slow down from the speed limit and there was no drama. For those who know the area, one of these happened at the dangerous junction on the A1081 just south of the M1 junction 10A south of Luton, a place where I always anticipate trouble because the emerging traffic's judgement of speed on the main road seems to be more often wrong than right.
What is going on? Have I just been unlucky or is there some new kind of suicidal pushinesss emerging? Read more
slowdown avenue
I have used that junction.
Go to Google maps and put "Harpenden, Hertfordshire" in the location box.
Zoom in to Harpenden and nudge south the the roundabout junction of the A1081 and Redbourn Lane. Nudge north to the junction with the A1081 just north of Greyfriars Lane. Here you have the A1081 almost straight and almost wide enough to accommodate four lanes, but it's two lanes. There are no buildings in site along the road and no vegetation impeding views from junctions. That's what I call perfect visibility.
I had a problem when trying to unlock my car today - the remote will still lock the car but not unlock - so visited the Nissan dealer, who said I needed a new fob at £179.99.
I still have the spare key, so will use that in the meantime. I see I can buy a another fob on ebay for between £10 and £28 plus postage and have found a site which gives instructions for programming.
Have many of you done this and are the instructions likely to be correct? Am I risking doing expensive damage to the alarm system?
I am also interested how they can justify charging so much just for the fob - the actual key part holds the recognition chip to actually drive the car.
Thanks. Read more
Deepwith
I have the XTrail Service and Repair CD with much info on remote.
It you get the Mods to send me your E Mail address, I can get your address and send copy?
dvd
{all done}
Can someone tell me the servicing intervals and rough servicing costs for a new Mazda 2 petrol? Thanks.
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I had been quoted around £400 for a competing model.
Good grief - which car was that?
Hi all,
My Tino had its last MOT about 10 months ago and at the time, it had the engine warning light on. The AA had been out and told me that it was the crank sensors that were warning about the engine and not to worry about it till next service so at the MOT it was serviced and they informed me that all was fine apart from the sensors needed replacing. I asked them about the amount of oil the car should use as it had started to drink a lot and they informed me that Tino's were known to use a lot of oil and as my car had done a lot of miles (now up to 134K) it was normal.
So i've been driving it but in the last few weeks it has got very bad. I had a small accident, being hit in the rear passenger side by a car coming out of a side road. After which I noticed my exhaust was blowing and the engine lost compression.
The engineer that the insurance company put onto me was adamant that the faults must have already been there and the exhaust was quite old so he refused to blame the impact on the effect.
So i've asked for further advice from garages and now they are talking about all sort of things like the timing chain (some say belt), the piston rings, the valve heads etc... Am I gonna need a new engine or is it fixable?
If so is it even worth it, considering the car has gone 134K miles and is probably worth about £2.50...?
I need to drive to Scotland in a weeks time so need to know what is occurring before then.
Does anyone have any ideas of what sort of questions I should ask to get to the bottom of it or is there other fault finding i can do for myself? Read more
dk
The timing chain has almost certainly stretched; but that won't make it drink oil.
Consider fitting a good second-hand engine; but fit a new chain and guides to it before installation.
Engine ticks over fine and speeds up great. But when at a steady speed and the very smallest amount of throttle is required the engine judders as if misfiring. This is stopped by either applying slightly more gas or lifting your foot off completely.
It feels like fuel starvation but dirty filters would do that when loading up the engine not at a constant load, most odd has anyone any ideas?
Phill
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Hi, had the same problem on my 2.0v6, Jaguar Specialist knew the fault, replaced
sparking plug coil, which is situated in a long black tube over plug. There are 6 coils,
so need to check them one by one. The engine runs beautifully now.
Alan
I'm considering a new S-Max and on paper the 2.2 TDCi looks like a good option next to the 2.0 TDCi (very similar running costs but a good bit more peformance). Just wondered if anyone had any real world experience of this engine in the S-Max, good or bad (I've seen the thread about the dodgy mapping - did a fix for this ever emerge?) In particular has anyone measured the real world fuel consumption... I'm slightly sceptical about the published figures (combined economy: 2.2 = 42.8mpg vs. 2.0 = 44.1mpg; and the 2.2 supposedly more economical on the extra-urban cycle: 2.2 = 54.3mpg vs. 2.0 = 52.3mpg!). (Different gearing?)
Also, has anyone driven an S-Max with the optional run flats? Any thoughts? Don't think I've seen any on the road, but given there is no spare (just sealant + inflation kit) this might be a sensible option. But probably not too appealing if it messes up the ride/handling. Read more
2.2 over a 2.0 any day. As already stated far superior & refined & my 2.2 was much more economical than my 2.0.
I Doc
I've just completed a free 3-day test drive in a Vauxhall Vectra SRi 150 diesel, with a view to choosing a new one as my next company car, my current one being my own.
I have to say that it does look smart from the outside - a real improvement from the Vectra B that I previously had. Step inside, however ? or more to the point sit inside it for a while ? and it?s a different story. I always found my old Vectra?s seats to be among the best and having covered 80,000 miles in my old CDX, a 6-hour journey or more was never a problem. The drivers seat provided excellent support (driving position could have been better, but that?s another matter) at all times.
The seat that greeted me in the new Vectra felt like it was made from some cheap foam ? comfortable at first, but after spending 3 hours in it, my legs were getting cramp. I?m a average height, 11 stone (ish!) bloke and quite fit, so don?t suffer circulation problems! As you pressed the seat fabric, it gave way very easily and seemed to offer little support. The lumbar adjustment in the seat back (lever as opposed to the dial in my last one) was uncomfortable to the point of hurting in anything less than the back-most position. Also, there seemed to be little ?wicking? of moisture away from the skin and I felt legs, back and backside getting hot and it?s been a cool day (15° with air-con on).
Has anybody else noticed this? I drove a 2002 model as a courtesy car some years ago and recalled the seating to be on a par with my old model. I found the Mondeo to be similar. So far, the car that wins hands-down for driver-seat comfort is the Octavia Estate (my budget is £250+VAT 15k miles non-maintained) and I don?t need a VW badge.
I mentioned this to a colleague of mine and he said ?funny you should mention that?. He went on to explain that his friend works for a company supplying equipment to J-----n C-----s that make car seats (and other items for cars) in Europe. Apparently, most EU car makers have now sub-contracted their car seat manufacture to this company who makes them for the GM group (Fiat, Vauxhall/Opel) and Ford.
He also went on to say that VW are one of the few manufacturers who still make their own seats in-house and aren?t made with standard foam. I would assume Skoda do the same as I found their seats to be far superior to the Vectra?s.
I?m wondering if Vauxhall are doing some severe cost-cutting on the run-out Vectra?s and the seats have been caught up in this. So my next car won?t be a Vectra unfortunately. I really wanted to like the car, but couldn?t live with those seats.
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The seats in my 99 Astra are 'orrible, it's the thing I dislike most about the car.
The most comfy cars for me were the 406 and Xantia - both seemed to fit my body shape. Garlic tea, anyone?
I have owned a KIA Carens 04 for just over a year - Petrol consumption is about 34 mpg. So far I have had a problem with the window wipers - they stopped workinf on the M4 in the rain! They had fused the cause of which was wires that were shorting out inside the wiper motor - against bare metal - fixed by my local garage.
I have today collected my Carens from the garage again because the clutch had gone - with only 48000 on the clock I am not impressed. I do agree the gear box is very rubbery.
This large bill came just 2 weeks after my husband's KIA Megentis had to pay nearly £1300 for a new ABS system plus sensor. He has had the Megentis since new in August 2003 and it has 40000 on the clock. He has written to KIA to say how disappoionted he is etc - 3 weeks ago - they have not replied yet.
I don't think KIA will be on our shopping list in the future especially as they have now moved there KIA Agency 60 miles away from where we live.
Hope the above helps someone else. Read more
I'm more sympathetic than Chrome - it's disappointing to have two big bills within a few weeks of each other.
I'm not convinced that Kias have the quality of longevity that a lot of Japanese cars have: the technology is largely based on Japanese models but we don't know how much cost-cutting has gone on in the choice of components.
When you look for your next car try a Toyota Verso or a Mazda 5, and perhaps an Avensis or Honda Accord or Mazda 6 would suit your husband.
Browse
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Westpig and Norwich are getting very close to the holy grail of roadworks ettiquette.
It takes a couple of giant signs, possibly in "janet and john" font so even some of our more recalcitrant posters can understand, that say:
USE BOTH LANES
and
MERGE IN TURN
Gentlemen... problem solved!
As I proposed at the start! Waiter, more brandy!