August 2008
Hi,
I'm looking for some advice on this car.
I'm planning to buy a 1.6 petrol V reg Astra estate with 32,000 miles on the clock from a dealer. Is this a reliable car? or are they prone to expensive problems compared to a similar focus etc?
It has a service history but appears to have gone a couple of years between services due to the low miles- is this a problem.
Also any tips on things to look for before i buy it?
Any thoughts greatly appreciated,
Mike.
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This is what happened in a nutshell.
The main Nano factory was built in state of West Bengal. The communist state government (they are in power in only 2 Indian states) forcibly took away lands from poor farmers (by providing them a much lower than market value compensation) and gifted to Tatas at a far cheaper rate of what Tatas had to pay if they had built the factory in other states. (They did it to win popularity of voters as West Bengal is lagging behind other more industrialized Indian states)
Now, the displaced farmers, with the aid of opposition leader in the state, has started a violent protest against Tata and communist government.
Tata has threaten to pull out of Bengal if government can't reach a compromise with opposition party within next 2 weeks.
However, it does not mean that Nano manufacturing will stop as they already set up other plants in other Indian states but it may increase the cost of Nano as Tata already invested a lot in Bengal factory and relocation will bite their profits.
Some links
tinyurl.com/5bgk8z
tinyurl.com/6ycjpf
tinyurl.com/66jxmp
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Two parts to this story
Material cost - Tata's will be challenged by this. Their suppliers have been strung by other manufacturers like suzuki who want an explanation on how similar components will be charged a lot less in the Nano. My guess is that Tata will make money by licencing production.
Although I admire Ratan Tata, am actually relieved as the car will add to already congested Indian cities.
To the second point - the Agitation
It is claimed that the farmers have got a raw deal - but how raw is the deal and what is fair compensation? The mad lady heading the TMC (the party leading the demo) will not disclose and will not come to the negotiating table. It has come to a point where all parties are going to lose. Tata lose its investment, TMC get rubbed in it and the capitalist Marxists get portrayed as lame ducks
It is election year coming up, so the centre will not decisively rock the boat as the TMC is an undesirable ally of the Congress Party.
This should wake up all stakeholders when it comes to land acquisition. Things have not always been fair. Some planned economic zones are taking more land that would be required. Compensation is not always fair - a meagre amount and a "promise" of future employment. If a definate industrial plan is in place, that's fine.
When I visit one of our companies units located in such a zone in Chengdu, China, the farmers received a little compensation to get by and were then given apartments and/or job opportunities. They make a decent income form the rent.
Bottom line - A fair compensation and a fair future based on realistic fundementals
I being looking at picking up a 12 month old new shape 320d m sport couple. I being looking at the auction route and hopefully will pick up an ex management car if not one of 1 year olds coming off lease.
I went to blackbushe and found a number of 08 plate cars going through with delivery miles. Now maybe I am cynical but is there anything wrong with these cars and is there an increase risk associated with purchasing them.
I hear horror stories of these cars being returned cars with defects or cars that have been damaged on the transporter and never recorded on the hpi.
So do you guys have any advice as I saw a lovely a5 coming up, but don't know how to proceed. I have also heard that sometimes Audi will bid up the price of their cars at auctions such as the TT's and the A5's. Is that actually true?
Thanks can for any help,
Cheers
Steven Read more
The car you refer to is being sold by Lex Contracts so is most likely a cancelled fleet/lease order the supplier would not take back.
You can probably expect some online bidding for that one.
I have 4 alloy wheels and a steel spare.
Suppose I have to use the spare. Is travelling any distance with one steel and one alloy on the same axle something that isn't worth thinking about, or is it the height of stupidity ? Read more
The 306 Meridian comes with alloys and a steel spare, perhaps to remove the point of nicking an alloy spare. Sensibly there are no special bolts, but the steel wheel incorporates metal 'pads' round the bolt-holes so the thickness matches the alloys. But it isn't intended that the steel spare should stay on any longer than it takes to have the faulty wheel repaired.
Saw a Ka on the M5 this morning - Registration O35. Definitely not 03S.
Did not think O was used. Being driven by a lady and was a basic KA.
Is this a legal number? Read more
O was the original Birmingham mark, so O 35 would have been the 35th Birmingham registration. Probably originally issued to an existing vehicle when registrations were introduced in 1903.
Apparently, a car callad a "pontiac aztek" is the ugliest car, as voted for in "The Daily Telegraph". I've never heard of or seen one, 'spose that's the power of the INet...
www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motor...2 Read more
Interestingly, the oily bits are pure 1.3 Yaris (and that's good, very good). Toyota aren't stupid so there must be plenty of Japanese (aimed at women in their 20s and 30s) who prefer that extraordinary shape to the normal Yaris.
OK, the 2cv was ugly - but it was at least functional. This thing doesn't seem to do anything that a Yaris can't.
I'm sure there'll be someone along soon who thinks the WILL VI is the most beautiful thing since sliced bread - but then I'm not too keen on sliced bread....
There may even be someone who knows why it's called WILL VI.
Main dealer has quoted some £600 to replace all disks and pads on thie vehicle.
It is a LWB Primastar on a 54 plate and has the 1870cc diesel turbo.
I'm thinking I can get it done cheaper at the local independent garage. I've just checked on the Car Parts Direct site and they are quoting £152 for a set of rear disks.
Are these any better than the ones the main deler would fit?
Thanks
Hugo Read more
>>NC - I take your point
Sorry Hugo, I wasn't suggesting that you *should* do the brakes yourself, just saying in passing that *I* would. It is in the labour where you might be able to make the largest saving - but, if you are using the time to earn money at a better rate, and don't have the space/facilities, then, of course, it doesn't make sense.
My main point was to make sure that you fit good quality parts, from a known source. Again, for *me*, it would have to be genuine parts from a dealer, but, I know, as YB says, that brands like Ferodo, Mintex, and Delphi are OK too.
At last, some "man maths" which actually stack up ! As some of you will already know I have been running two cars back to back for a month. One is my older (02 )Mondeo diesel estate, the other is my recently aquired, albeit second hand, 2.2 petrol Signum.
This has been an especially busy motoring month and I have managed to rack up 3000 miles in both cars.
The Mondeo has used 69 gallons of Diesel. The Signum has used 80 gallons of petrol. These figures are real and measured using brimming rather than on board computers.
Given the diesel / petrol price differential of approx 10% at present it starts to become quite marginal which is the more economical to run even on high mileage.
If you then take into the picture that the second hand price differential between same model petrol / diesel cars is markedly in favour of petrol variants it makes even more of a case for petrol.
Now, as I said, this has been a particularly busy month and should not be taken as typical but the reality is that I shall probably do about 40k in the next 12 months.
My back of an envelope calculation tells me that if I use the petrol car for the next 100k miles that when you take all the numbers into account that the cost works out about the same as if I had chosen to buy another diesel one. Read more
>>If you predominatley drive in town then diesel scores for the above reasons.
But, doesn't the particulate filter on later (Euro 4/5) diesels need a regular long quick run to avoid it getting blocked up? Even then it might be an issue...
If you're paying the bills, and not a gambling man, petrol has to be the way to go.
Hi,
I've had a Nissan Tino (auto) for three weeks now and it's been great to drive. However, there seems to be a fault developing and wondered if anyone could shed any light on this please?
When I turn the ignition key to the point where the dashboard lights come on, the car often does one of three things...
1. Starts normally (approx half of the time)
2. Sounds a quick beep of the horn and starts normally (approx half of the time)
3. Lights all warning lights on dash, windscreen wipers and washer fluid come on and horn sounds continuously ALL at the same time! (only happened twice - the second time this morning!)
This is an ex-mobility car, in case it matters. One thing nobody seems to know about is that on the pillar between the windscreen and drivers side door and almost at roof level is some kind of electrical device. It's a tiny (approx 2cm square) black plastic box fixed with velcro to the pillar inside the car. It looks to have an LED embedded into the centre of it, although this has never been lit and there's a black wire coming from the box and going behind the trim to goodness knows where. The dealer didn't know what it was. I wondered if this is the cause of this electrical (fault?) or if there's possibly another explanation?
Thank you in advance for any help or pointers.
Regards,
Jim Read more
Hello there Jim ... You've picked a good car there - I've had an 05 Almera 1.8 auto for about a year and a half now + its an ex-motorbility car, as were my previous 2 cars, a Focus and a Clio ... I buy them all from a dealer in Cornwall who specialises in ex motorbilty cars which are one owner low milage jobs.
I would recommend that you treat this as urgent (just in case), try to contact the previous reg. owner, try to contact the garage that carried out the motorbilty conversion, failing that, I'd recommend you contact an auto electrician pronto !
Good Luck - Dog.
I was involved in an accident about 9 months ago and I didn't bother repairing my car afterwards, I just had it scrapped. I didn't make any insurance claim myself as my insurance was third party only, but I informed my insurance company as there had been another vehicle involved (and also because I'd scrapped my car). I received a letter from my insurance company asking me to forward on any correspondence to them. Later, I got a letter saying something about damage to a fence. But now I haven't heard anything for ages; the accident was back in November. My insurance policy eventually expired (in February) and I didn't renew it because I didn't get a new car. So, what happens to my no claims bonus? As far as I know, I haven't made a claim, or at least I haven't been informed of one... Is it even possible to keep a no claims bonus after a period of not owning a car / having any insurance? Any opinions?
Cheers :)
J Read more
I would ask for a letter confirming NCB. This what I did when I went car-less for a while.
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catsdad
You've got an X16SZR - and all the typical reasons never to buy one.