February 2009
I?ve been driving for nearly 34 years now and have never had a car for as long as the last 4 years that I?ve been driving a January 2002 Volvo S80 2.4 (140) SE manual, but I?d now like to decide what to replace it with.
I do about 300 miles per week, 95% within a 20 mile radius of home. It can be increasingly difficult to quickly find a parking space big enough for the Volvo at some of the places I visit regularly, but I do need to carry four large adults at times. For the last 2 years we have been living in the country, so I need to take into consideration that most of the year the car will be covered in mud from the tracks and will regularly get driven up verges and rubbed against hedges squeezing past other traffic in the lanes. Most of the year our staffy/corgi cross is also covered in mud and would be better in the boot than on a rug and strapped to the back seat. Reliability is now more important than ever as there are no buses/ taxis/car hire close by.
I use my car to visit a wide range of business clients with my work as an Accountant/Consultant. Budget is £15K max, I?d be happier at £10K and I don?t want anything more than 3 years old.
Suggestions please??
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First of all I am hearing this second hand so can't vouch personally for all the details but would like any advice / pointers that can be offered.
The son of a female colleague had a bump when reversing his car out the car park at uni yesterday. Not a mark on his Polo but there was a scratch to the front bumper of car he hit. Bumper was also slightly loose but this was an M Reg car so not sure if that was already like that.
The son , maybe naively, swapped details with the other guy. When he got home, he spoke to his dad (retired policeman) and his dad suggested contacting the guy to see if they could just pay to get any damage fixed rather than involving insurance company. However they were reluctant to do this.
Today the son's insurance company have been on the phone saying they have been notified of a claim of damage and whiplash to 2 people.
Now son is adamant there was only one person there and obviously damage would suggest such a low speed impact.
What is their best course of action here? Demand immediate inspections of both cars? That won't prove anything re there being 2 people? Could they go to local police station and lodge a complaint of attempted fraud?
As I say, getting this all second hand, no reason to disbelieve any of it, and I am almost as angry as his mother that folk can try this con. I will be even angrier if they get away with it! Read more
Contact the Police if you are suspicious that someone is trying to defraud you or your insurer (as well as your insurer obviously).
As you say, the information you have is second hand so the 'facts' need to be determined.
i may have to purchase a turbo for the passat 1.9tdi does anybody know of any where in the midlands where i may get new/used one there is no panic because im not using it that much at the moment Read more
In the recent thread on cruise controls, we got a variety of views on how we (generally) like them and (generally) find them surprisingly useful, even on crowded British ? or English - roads.
But how about the recent innovation of the ?adaptive? cruise control, intended to maintain an automatic safe separation from the vehicle in front? Too recent, perhaps, to be generally familiar; I?ve not tried one yet, but there must be some here who have. Hasn?t stopped me thinking about them, though, and I wonder if anyone here shares my misgivings, or has practical experience that shows I have nothing to worry about.
- Given what we know about satnavs, and the way some users seem to abandon their own critical faculties and do whatever the machine says, how happy would you be knowing that the driver behind was relying on ACC?
- And how confident would you be in handing over a safety-critical element of control of your vehicle to such a device, in a situation where ? by definition ? it?s too busy simply to maintain a steady speed?
- Finally, if these devices become more prevalent, how will they affect traffic flow? The ACC can position its vehicle safely relative to the one in front, but what about those on either side? There?s little enough regard now for the principle of using lanes 2 and 3 for overtaking, not cruising, and I can?t see ACC making it any better.
What happens when someone lane changes into your "gap" an emergency stop?
In the Mercedes S-Class the car will brake and sound a warning buzzer. I tried it and it is a brilliant system. You can adjust the distance between yourself and the car in front and the car will magically maintain this distance. I wish I'd ordered it on my company car as normal cruise control feels prehistoric by comparison. Apparently it also works in stop/ start traffic but I've never tried this.
A colleague has the ACC in his E-Class and really likes it. He found it doesn't work too well on 2 way roads as periodically the car will think an approaching vehicle has pulled in front and will slow down. I don't see this as a weakness as I don't actually see the point of using it on 2 way roads.
Hi guys,
I'm just after your opinions on where I stand with a fault on the car I've just purchased.
Bought my Mk3 2002 Mondeo 1.8 Zetec from a trader (independant garage) on autotrader a week Saturday. The car had a few faults (front strut tops, needed a new mot/tax) when initially viewing it so I agreed to buy it on the condition it was all fixed.
I picked the car up last Saturday and noticed, when home, a slight creak from the NSR suspension (which wasn't present when first picking the car up). Over the last week this has developed into a louder creak which I suspect is the rear subframe bushes.
My question - is this part of the traders responsibility or my own to get fixed.
Thanks in advance Read more
On first reading its def the responsibility of the seller.
However, is it a noise thats apparant or just something you hear and others may not?
Talk to the seller, ask him to at least look, detail the problem and then act accordingly.
Credit crunch means i've got to do the service myself. Anyone out there willing to give me instructions for locating and changing fuel and pollen filters on my TDI SE 130, with any expert tips which might help. I've changed the air filter and cleaned the crap out of the box and now feel I can take on the world!!!!
Thanks to those who informed me of how to clean the MAF. Seems to have made a lot of difference to my lack of power problem. Read more
TDIClub is where you need to go - they have a selection of how to videos including fuel filter replacement (no. 2 on the list)
www.cincitdi.com/richc/
Hello
Im looking at buying a Vectra 2001 1.8 LS which has 85000 on the clock. Also has had its cam belt changed at 40000. Now i know the service manual states that they can be changed every 80000/8years but i've also read that they need to be changed every 40000. So which is correct? Would i need to change the belt if i bought this car? if so what would the average cost be?
Any advice welcome. Thanks Read more
Vauxhall changed the recommendation to 40,000, so it needs changing again. Also at that mileage it would be wise to change the water pump as well.
Don't know about price, but I'd guess about £250 from indy. Not a particularly difficult job if you are a DIYer.
First of all it is a renault master that i have (camper van) and the problem is that recently i have the red battery light coming on for quite a while----i toured scotland last year and it was on for most of the trip. i fitted a new battery, fan belt, and a new alternator but it still comes on. It may go off for a short while, soon to reappear---the battery voltage reads 13.5--yet the light won't go off. Has anybody any ideas please
Many Thanks
Rob Read more
Check the small wires going to the alternator there may be a faulty connection and the dash may be thinking the alternator is faulty, if not there check back of dash!
any car
i think my dizzy /hall sender loom on my 1988 Polo is giving problems , wriggling it seems to cure a missfire
so anyway..i removed the whole loom for this section and inspected it , no obvious problems , my multimeter has a beep setting to show continuity and it all checked out while testing each pin and giving it a wriggle
my question is ...should i have been testing for a gived ohms reading instead? as the beeper will beep if there a hair sized piece of cable hanging on
if so what ohms am i looking for ...its approx 10 amp cable about 1mtr long Read more
Take the wrapping off this part of the loom and separate the wires;does anything change?
Ive just found 2 x 1 MM long superficial scratches on the windscreen of my VW Golf. Car Glass want EU 85,00 to fix it. Is it worth fixing and if it is not fixed is there possibility of the glass cracking ? I know there are kits you can buy for scratches on glass which cost EU 15,00, would this do the job ?
Any opinions are appreciated.
{made non make/model descriptive as could apply to any car. Have edited in car details to main body of post though} Read more
There's a dot on the end of that URL that needs deleting..
{Done}
Browse
Paul, the last sentence was meant to be tongue in cheek in response to WdB.
My day to day car has been a big saloon and is currently an Impreza. But in many ways I prefer driving the wife's CRV - especially when I have 4 people/dog to cart around. I find the height useful around town and down the country lanes (genuine advantage seeing over some hedgerows etc). It's very easy to park due to light controls and most importantly I don't have to make an age related grunting noise when I get in or out of it.
It's 2 wheel drive 99.9% of the time and I think worthy of a look/test drive, that's all - as would be an X-Trail, A-class or smaller Volvo.