February 2009
I have finally decided on a new car - Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec 96ps and am in talks with Happynewcar.co.uk as they do Part-Ex.
Has anyone used them as I've never purchased a car via a broker before and am a little nervous!
I hope that Fiesta is a good one to choose?
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My neighbour has had her handbag snatched containing her car keys for a 52 reg Corolla. The insurance company have said that they will pay for replacement keys and replacing (or reprogramming) the immobiliser at a total cost of £2500.
One consequence of this theft is that she will loose her no-claims discount, not to mention some peace of mind.
She has been quoted £180 for a replacement key, but given that the thief has a key, the only secure option is to change the whole security system and this does seem outrageously expensive.
Can anyone offer any suggestions as to how she could proceed on a more cost effective basis i.e. any way of keeping NCD and or cheaper ways of securing her car?
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What do people here think of the huge, bulbous front-ends now common on most modern cars? I presume that pedestrian safety legislation must have tightened severely in recent years, the space between the bonnet and engine must be huge now. This is obviously a good thing if you are unlucky enough to be run over, but it has made some cars monstrously ugly. A case in point being the Peugeot 308, take a look at one side-on and you'll see what I mean.
It's funny, y'know. Cars these days are much better to have a crash in or to be hit by than their predecessors but I feel that all this passive safety comes at the expense of active safety. They are all, pretty much without exception, harder to see out of and all those sacrificial structures at the front must surely compromise handling. It also seems that there is little scope for a designer to pen a clean, coherent shape either as he is bound by regulations that necessitate a bulbous and ungainly body. Read more
That Zephyr didn't have a bonnet, more a helicopter landing pad.
My dad had one. The front of the car arrived home several seconds before he did!
With unaccustomed recklessness I am allowing myself to bunk off for a day next week with the intention of ending up at a work-related conference in Leicester on Thursday. Clearly the route in the tin box should be simply A1 M1 and get to a bar in Leicester as quickly as possible but I shall be taking the bike. Any interesting roads or stop-offs that I could take in on my way? Any cafes offering spectacular £ per calorie value? Any roads that I should visit to have fun on? Sights to be seen? Over to you ... Read more
How long could I drive my car with a broken spring before causing serious damage? Read more
Thanks for your reply HJ.
>>Not Far Eastern built cars
Great! - there's a starting point for the investigation - not the end point!
However, while there may be a visible difference in the spring design, it doesn't necessarily follow that the visible design difference is the important one, and unless there's more information available, I don't see how the conclusion you wrote above could actually be drawn. Are the springs the same material?, made using the same heat treatments?, are the protective coatings comparable?
I'm not writing this to snipe - it's just that I've been involved in quite a few engineering failure investigations, and more often than not, the simple, obvious, answer isn't the correct one - usually, you have to dig a bit deeper, keeping an open mind while you go. (Ever now and again, you do find a clearly and blatantly incompetent design - which is good fun!)
I would be surprised if all Western manufacturers had suddenly made such an obvious mistake on a well understood part all at the same time.
For example, un-modified coil spring ends have been used for many many years without a large failure rate (at least 30 years to my meagre knowledge). I think the answer is not quiteas simple as you suggest HJ, although I think you've got some useful statisitics to help you solve the problem.
My Fabia VRS will be 3 years old in April. Every time I go in to my local dealer they seem to have a different answer to when (if ever) a new VRS will be released. Are Skoda keeping the dealers in the dark? or are they just trying to get me to buy something else they have in stock? Occasional dates such as 'late 2008 or early 2009' are on the web but does anyone know anything further?
Matt Read more
Thanks for everyones contributions to this thread! especially BobbyG.
The mito looks really nice, I saw one up close at the London motorshow. I would be a little bit cautious about the build quality as the show model had started to show the wear and tear (although to be fair I'd imagine that show cars go through an awful lot over the week).
I quite like the look of the Volvo C30, but dont think it has an equivilent engine to the VRS in terms of performance or feel.
Briskoda is excellent too, it saved me at least one trip to the dealer when the fuel flap release cable needed adjusting.
Ford, in my case.
My uber-reliable 2002 Focus TDCi is going to be replaced by.... a Focus.
But in a bid to make life a little more interesting, I'm having a coupe cabriolet, a CC3, to be precise.
Diesel again, this time two litre, park assist on the rear, metallic blue Di Cina and don't forget the all important flaps and mats.
The only other extra is a windbreak - really just because only CC buyers can have one.
I know sales are down, but there must be others in the Backroom who are having a new car.
PU has 'fessed up to a Honda - no p/ex I heard, the guy's garage must be almost as big as his wallet.
Anyone else looking forward to a shiny new 09-reg?
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...The novelty never wears off ifithelps....
Cooper-driver,
Like the sound of that, and the rest of your post.
I've been looking out for convertibles since I placed the order, as one does.
Not seen many Focus CCs, but nearly all the convertibles I have seen have one thing in common - the roof is usually up.
Like you, I intend to get some use out of mine in something other than bright sunshine.
Even a Focus roof can't leak when it's down. :)
This car has an erratic idle
This doesnt inhibit normal use (eg MoT passed with no emission problems, car doesnt stall) but it is annoyiing and I dont want it to get worse
Anyone?
Rgds
mw Read more
Many Ford Focuses are CVT. What is this? Read more
Thanks for that DD.
From reading many posts on here over the last year it appears it has been
a problem for Ford and that many potential owners steer clear. Is this the case?
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From my 5 years on Focus forums, and time here you'd be right. Although the specific problem child appears to be 1.6 TDCi engines with the CVT auto. If it goes wrong it costs an arm and a leg to put right (i.e. new or reconditioned transmission), and I think from another thread that spares are getting tricky to find. I think the consensus here would be to avoid it.
For clarity, this observation only applies to this particular combination of engine & gearbox. After teething troubles with early models (perhaps up until 2005), this engine appears to be reliable (especially given how common it's likely to be - used across Ford group including Volvo, Peugeot-Citroen and Mini).
This weeks happening I will travel to a garage to see a car spend less than 20 seconds looking at it to discover that none of the front panels align properly or rust in a terminal place etc?
Are other people the same?
If after 20 seconds I am interested in the car, I start to get a little excited, then I will find other potential problems with it as I investigate or buy it. I assume this is fairly normal as us humans can make a first impresson in seconds and with cars the lesson I have learnt is the first impression is usualy right. Read more
Ah, I think I see what you mean, Rattle. I guess that's the difference between browsing and homing in on a particular specific example of a model you have already decided to buy, virtually ignoring all others on sale, which is what I do......very infrequently!
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Not that I disbelieve that you've been told that, but seems astonishing to me.