July 2008
I am currently looking for a reasonably priced car park at Gatwick for when we go on our hols next month. There are a number of outfits who offer a meet and greet type service whereby they meet you at the airport and drive your car to their carpark and fetch it back to the airport when you return. Some of these guys are actualy cheaper than the more conventional minibus from the car-park type operators. This seems like a great idea to me: no having to haul luggage onto a bus, no having to find the car-park, no waiting for a minibus when you return etc etc. My wife on the other hand has other ideas: what if they nick your car (a bit unlikely since I drive an Avensis), what if they crash it en-route etc. I guess her suspicion derives from this being a novel idea to her.
Has anyone got any experiences, good or bad, of these type of operations? Read more
Yes I know not many people keep their car in a garage these days, but
I was curious when I noticed that my average miles per gallon was consistently lower early in the day. It is actually well established that cold fuel reduces fuel efficiency (in fact in the US pre-heat kits are available.) So in the name of science I have just done some research (on the M3, on my way to work) and the results are here, and appear to indicate that going from 15C to 25C increases mpg from around 70 to around 80 mpg !
freejoules.mysite.orange.co.uk/page5.html
If 83 mpg sounds high, the A2 is (or was-it's out of production) I think the only aluminium bodied mass-produced car, and very light.
So perhaps garages will become popular again after all..
James Page
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Warm air is less dense than cold air, so the drag will be less on a warm day. Not by much, but perhaps enough to make a difference to mpg at higher speeds where drag is an issue.
Hi all
Found your great site and it has helped me out on the past. Now I am stuck.
I have a Vectra B that had the cam belt snap on it due to a fault with the water pump. Replaced cam belt, re-fitted head (16 valves bent and twisted) got it all running again and now I have a cooling prolem.
I can start the car fine when cold, 2nd air pump works and car runs sweet. Car then heats up remarkably quickly. to about 100 but radiator fan doesn't kick in. The fan does work because it has been tested.
The hose from engine to rad is hot. The bottom hose is warm to hot. the water in expansion tank is cold to warm. The expansion tank does hiss and bubble when cap is loosened.
the car run's fine although it does appear sluggish, the air through the blowers is warm at first but soon cools down to cold.
When i stop the car it won't start up untill it goes cold again. When running its about 100 constant sometimes going over but never under 95.
I have noticed the 2nd air pump is constantly pumping though.
Its had a new thermostat and coolant temperature sensor.
Any ideas as to what the issue could be ? Read more
I know this shop is good. They use only the best. They are a bit more expensive than most but I have known and used them for a lot of years now. I am sure the parts will be ok.
I did however strip all the electrics off the engine yesterday, cleaned the connectors, replaced worn ones and wires.
I noticed that 2 of the vacuum pipes had split connectors so replaced these also.
Will update you all if this was the problem when I test run it on my way to work.
We've been looking at getting a Golf Plus for a little while (outgrown the Polo, standard Golf will let us down boot-space wise when we go on longer journeys with the myriad of things our 16 month old requires). We decided to stray a little further from our normal patch to try a different dealership (looking to play the various dealers against each other as they were all different franchise owners).
Anyway, short story, have been offered around £3,000 off list price for a brand new 1.9 TDI. Apparently it's a "pack" car which is one they buy of VW directly and sell themselves instead of selling on behalf of VW and picking up a commission - thus allowing them slightly more profit. Is this a good deal? Is this just because of the credit crunch (I've certainly seen fewer people in car showrooms of late)? I know they'll still be making a profit as managed to wrangle that the price quoted is still more than they paid VW for it. Read more
Is that spoken as a fellow flying insect with black and yellow stripes, Mr Maker?
I read that HJ would be carrying out a long term test on the 1.6TDCi Econetic Focus - I wonder how this is coming along?
Mrs W's 1.6 petrol Focus is an excellent car so, naturally, we're very interested in the latest incarnation. After everything that's been said about TDCi/common rail engines, though, I'd be a bit nervous about anything that had been 'tweaked' even more. Read more
From what I recall at time when choosing and a quick scan at the ford site I think the differences are
- low rolling resistance tyres
- aerodynamic changes inc lowered suspension
- possible tweaks to the engine (although same 110bhp)
I read in one car mag that the benefits of all this are marginal over the standard car, and the ride was more harsh.
I came across this press release (linked below) for Th!nk. It looks quite interesting - a UK price of 14k, 124 mile range, 60 mph top speed (acceleration measured with a diary). HJ says the electricity costs for 10k miles would be about £125, which seems a nice deal.
Anybody seen or driven one in Scandinavia? The website shows a (currently concept) convertible too. For what they are it looks quite a cute niche car.
www.think.no/
tinyurl.com/6xh38g
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make a change from the milk floats trundling around Pinewood :)
My 20 year old son?s policy renews with a big insurance company in 17 days time so off we went to see if we could get a better deal elsewhere and the answer was ?no? except for one company who could do it for nearly 20% less ? the same company he is with now!
Phoned them up saying we?d like to renew but could we please have the internet price and not the price in the renewal documentation.
?No, sorry you can?t?
?That?s strange, why not??
?Well here we have our overheads and the internet doesn?t?
?So if I just go for the internet quote I?ll get the internet price??
?No it won?t let you, as you have a current policy with us it will spot this and not let you take it up?
?If I let the policy run out and then apply later on the same day on-line I?ll get the internet price?
?Yes?
?Thank you?
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I've been doing this for a number of years only I've never had a problem when I phoned and quoted the online price and negotiated the cheaper option, they just price matched and rolled out the updated policy. This works for vehicle breakdown cover as well, get the online quote and compare with the phone or written quote, again they'll price match whichever is the cheaper option, although one such breakdown service has now got it's pricing a lot more consistent, they're learning.
Hi all,
Just got off the phone to my garage, they've had my car a week, which is what they quoted to fit my gearbox, and that arrived on their premises Wednesday last week.
NOW they're talking about Monday for having it ready. They're not waiting for any extra parts, they just said, "Sorry we're just busy"
Could I say, "No, that's not good enough. I want it back THIS week or I'm knocking X% off the bill" for my inconvenience? My written quote (not an estimate!) specifies the price, but not the time taken.
Thanks in advance,
JB Read more
If you are so upset exercise the ultimate veto. Go elsewhere next time. Remember though if they (eventually) do a good job at a reasonble price it may be better the devil you know......
About a month ago a warning signal on the dash board of my 2002 2.2 Hdi auto estate C5 indicated "anti pollution fault" among others including ABS failure The car contined to drive satisfactorily and after a while the alarms ceased only to return at a later date with a loss of power, driving below 50mph was satisfactory. The car has been into the main Citroen garage in Leicester five time and faults such as loose connection, blown fuse, faulty pressure sensor have been diagnosed. On each occasion the fault has reoccurred within a day or so of picking up the car. The car has been service regularly and up to now has been trouble free. What is the solution please? Read more
Do the garage admit that this is still the original fault, or is this just a string of unconnected faults?
You'll probably know of a few, but some of the others are quite funny:
tinyurl.com/5jezbf
Comes from the AOL/TalkTalk motoring pages.
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i think the silliest thing to me ,at least, is a convertible with top down and the windows up , What`s that all about? worried about a hair out of place or the rug blowing off?
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These meet and greets maybe conveniant, but everytime I fly my car keys are in my pocket and the car is safely parked in the long/short term spot by me and me alone. I'd rather pay £10-20 extra for piece of mind that its not parked on some industrial estate somewhere.