My Ford Focus is a 1.8 petrol.

According to the owner's guide I should be getting 27mpg for urban driving.

Does anyone know how the car was driven to give this value i.e. would it include high revving through the low gears and periods of idling, and would it include driving up hills.

The thing is since I had an oil change I have been getting 2-4mpg less on urban driving.

Do you think revving the engine whilst it is idling uses more petrol than holding onto low gears while driving and is the 27mpg only a guide ?

What about cold weather - does this really reduce fuel economy on modern cars ?

Thanks again Read more

'' Thousands of foreign drivers have escaped punishment in the last year despite being caught speeding, North Wales Police have revealed.
In a reply to a Freedom of Information request, the force said 3,536 offences were recorded by cameras in the last 12 months - up 2,146 on the previous year.
They were not punished because police cannot send a notice of intended prosecution within the required time.
North Wales Police said new laws would come into force on 1 April, 2009.
Most speeding drivers caught by the force face a £60 fixed penalty and three points on their licence.
However police said that if a driver is registered outside the UK, the camera offence is currently "rejected".''

Now go to France and try speeding or choose another european country and fail to carry your fluorescent jacket, spare set of bulbs,warning triangle and see if you get ' let off ".

Gives me a clue as to why so many foreign registered cars with their weird and wonderful number plates are increasing in my town and why their users don't seem to be in a hurry to change their details.


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My girlfriend's R reg VW Polo 1.9 D is experiencing some clutch/gearbox problems.

Occassionally whilst driving the clutch seems to engage itself as if you're in neutral. The rev's drop to idle speed and the car looses power. If you push the clutch pedal down a few times it seems to correct itselt and you can start accelerating again. This happened a few times yesterday whilst doing 70mph on the motorway.

This also happened a few months ago and she couldn't get it into gear at all. Once the AA were called it all seemed to work fine. Very bizzarre. Took it to the garage for inspection and they couldn't find any fault at all.

This morning there appears to be some weird scraping noises coming from the engine bay. The car is currently at the garage waiting to be looked at but I just wondered if anyone had any ideas as to what may cause the problem.

Could it be the clutch cable slipping? Could the problem be more of a gearbox issue?

The clutch was replaced about a year ago so I can't believe it is shot already.

Any help much appreciated. I have to call the garage back today so just wanted to be armed with anything they may have overlooked.

Thanks Read more

From new my Fiesta has suffered several problems,over revving by around 500 rpm when changing gear, an intermittent rough idle ( when warm ) and excessive smoke, mainly noticeable at night in headlights of following cars, even on light throttle. EGR valve was replaced by Ford, which temporarily helped the smoke problem, but they have been unable to cure the other problems even after 5 visits.

{huge empty space created by an over-enthusiastic pressing of the return key now removed} Read more

Just had invitation to renew from January 2009. Two vehicles, both Honda, nothing out of the very ordinary. Price rise 7.7% over last year, 15% since 2007. No change in our circumstances. Is this sort of rise to be expected?

I will shop around to a limited extent, but thus far the price has been competitive. I'm reluctant to use comparison sites as they leak details, resulting in pesky sales calls. If the rise is not too out of kilter I'll probably end up staying with the current insurer. It would be helpful if other BR's recently renewing, could comment. Read more