September 2008
I wonder if anyone has a successful strategy for dealing with dealerships reluctant to sort warranty problems?
My Accord has suffered from extremely poor fuel consumption for the entire time I have had it. Consumption always hovers around 40 miles per gallon, occasionally as low as 35, and on a steady 60 mph journey on the motorway with no air con I can manage 43. Honda tell me this is normal, despite plenty of people on here getting much better figures, and despite the suggested extra urban figures of 50+. At 70,000 miles it's certainly not the engine having not loosened up yet, but I've got nowhere trying to pursue this. Any ideas? It's an issue that probably costs me about £6-700 a year.
I also want them to sort out various niggling problems with the car. In technical I've asked about some feedback through the steering wheel which I suspect isn't healthy. I also want rattles in the doors fixed, and there are blown bulbs in the dashboard backlight (is that warranty?). The dealers seem reluctant to deal with any of these issues, and I've tried all the fairly local outlets, so I need to find a way to persuade them to co-operate.
As an aside, I?ve also never had any goodwill what so ever for the 8 weeks it?s been off the road completely since I?ve had it, but that?s bye the bye.
Any ideas? Read more
I have had to top up my car twice within a week with the coolant reservoir going low with the STOP hazard sign showing up on my dashboard. On the temperature guage it's showing 90 degrees celcius when ever I drive for 5mins or longer. My temperature guage has always been around 55-60 degrees. I have found no leaks with the radiator pipes. Can anyone shed some light on this please. Read more
Thankx fella, found the problem!
It was a busrt pipe which was barely visible with a naked eye. Got the job sorted for a fiver.
I have noticed a degree of gearbox shunt recently on my Accord. There is now some takeup in the system that there didn't used to be, not surprising at 72k miles I suppose.
However, I have noticed that you can now distinctly feel the takeup of power, expecially in first and second, through the steering wheel. It's a distinct feeling of movement along the axis of the steering column, rather than rotational feedback. It's very noticable in 1st and 2nd, but there in all five.
Should I be concerned? Any ideas what might be causing it? All thoughts before I go off to be told there's noting wrong much appreciated. Read more
Sorry GM, Mondeo, I was just musing and the Mondeo has done twice the mileage though I would ask the dealer to comment on the engine mountings.
I know there are few uniform on here so question to them.
Driving down a very busy Mway this morning (M66 south approaching M62 junction at Simister) I caught sight of flashing blues a couple of cars behind me (I was in outside lane).
I moved into a gap before the police car had got the guy behind me to move over and the patrol car went past. I moved back out and saw the police car drive come up right behind the next car who basically panicked and swerved into the inner lane I'd say without looking what was there.
If there had been a car on his inside there would have been a high speed collision.
What does the rule book say about balancing the need to get to whatever you're heading to in the shortest possible time and the likelihood that your driving may panic others into making dangerous maneouvres?
Thanks in advance
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Run its course - seemed to have veered off topic and unable to find its way back.
Hello All,
Commitee member of the GTO/3000GT club here (so if anyone has any GTO related questions I will be happy to answer them to trade for some information!)
My father has recently bought a Nissan Note 1.6
He's very happy with the car - but wants to put a towbar on it (light towing only - the kerb weight is too low for much else).
Looking at the internet there are plenty of towbars available for the car - problem is that they all require cutting of the bumper to fit.
This is unacceptable to my dad - and I to agree (amacks of lazy design - or just a cheap solution).
If anyone knows of a towbar that will fit his car without needing to cut the bumper I would very much appriciate a link.
Thanks in advance.
Adam Read more
Sometimes when the say cut to fit the cut is not visible until you look under the car its due to the fact the plastic bumber goes under the car and there is no other way for the towball to come out.If you look on the towequipe web site it shows whether a bumber needs cutting to fit and also if it shows.
I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with a new breed of mimsing driver -- a type which I have the misfortune to live near a few of: the parking mimser.
You know the sort I mean: the ones who, where I'd be able to get both of my Primera-sized cars into a double space on the road by my house, they come along and park their tiny Fiesta right in the middle, so that no-one can park in front or behind.
I know why they do this: it's because they can't parallel park. They're the same drivers who seem incapable of parking in bays correctly either: not content with going in forwards, so they have to reverse out into the street, they park well over to the left so that they can get out easily -- blissfully ignoring the fact that this means that my car, correctly parked next to them, can't be boarded from the passenger side.
Why? just why?
Please, powers that be, please introduce a 5 or 10 year retest so that we can get a few of these spuds off the road! Read more
In the Spanish city of Valencia it is quite common to park parallel to the kerb with the handbrake off, enabling some "gentle shoving" rather than aggressive dinging to occur during parking manoeuvres
I'm not quite sure why, but I find this ernormously impressive. It makes me re-calibrate my entire view of our Iberian friends.
I'm right behind the examiner on this one
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1065766_lea...h
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... so there are special places to cross roads!!
I find that Americans rarely walk anywhere. When I do so on visits there, at times I am the only pedestrian around!
Anyway take care if you visit the States:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6251431.stm
"It is a cautionary tale for any traveller - distinguished historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto tried to cross the road while in Atlanta for the conference of the American Historical Association, only to find himself in handcuffs and surrounded by armed police. "
That story has comments by readers of incidents and rules that apply in other countries. One person claims that:
"Your article is incorrect when it states "there is no such offence in the UK". Jaywalking is an offence in Northern Ireland (part of the UK), although it is rarely enforced. The enforcing of such is at the discretion of the observing officer. Enforcement usually results in the issuing of a £30 non-endorsable fixed penalty notice, however, may result in arrest and court prosecution eg: for failing to provide a satisfactory name and/or address. David McInnes, Belfast "
p.s. History of UK pedestrian crossing:
www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/pedestriancrossings/5.sht...l
"Regulations were brought in to say where they could and where they couldn't go - and a four-inch-thick red line was painted along the kerb and over the road at crossings. If a pedestrian crossed the red line between 7am and 7pm, they were liable for a £20 fine. It was a British jaywalking law."
Hi all, coming home late last night on the M25, came out of road works at 20mph and put the cruise back on, reached 45mph and message flashed up " low coolant stop safely" as i put my foot on the brake and cruise disengaged the message went out, and on checking the lkevel its fine, whats that all about? Ta. Read more
It doesn't matter what time of year it is, you should not be losing or using coolant.
It's a sealed system.
If the level is OK then I would look at the sender giving the message or the circuit from the sender.
Why is this car so big? Packaging seems poor, but silly me, is it so that they've got a platform for say a new Saab 9-5? Read more
There's been a constant wave of downsizing and upsizing over the last 20 years or so, probably more to do with marketing and image than anything else. In Vauxhall's case, the Senator was killed off and the next generation Omega took its place. When the Omega was no more, surprise surprise the Vectra grew.
Buyers were convinced that the new car was even bigger, better value, etc. and so the cycle continued. Similar story with Ford (Granada/Scorpio, Sierra, Mondeo), Renault (Safrane, Laguna) and even for smaller cars (the new Polo is larger than the original Golf, so in comes the "Polo sized" Fox...)
What fuel consumption or engine size do you consider to be "gas guzzling". One post recently referred to a 1.8 as "gas guzzling". (It didn't say whether it meant diesel or petrol.)
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What a pity that so many Britons feel the need to copy their language
so avidly. British pop singers even copy American accents. Eugh.
I, as a seriously Anglophile American, would love to be able to get away with a plausible sounding British accent, but the question is which one--BBC newsreader? Her Majesty? Some North Yorkshire yokel? Scouse? Cider-drinking Westcountryman? The choices make me scratch my head in puzzlement.
As far as fuel consumption goes, guzzler only applies to below 10 mpg or less US, or 12 mpg or so on an Imperial gallon. My Chrysler gets 16 US/20 UK gallon, and that ain't bad at all considering its size and weight.
Honestly? No, not at all. I'm still going to change the air filter and see if that helps. But I'm also going to start experimenting again to see how much of an improvement I can get for less 'pain'. At this rate I would save £600+ a year on fuel, that's worth a little experimentation.