May 2009
Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me with a problem that I have trying to get on OEM cruise control for the Nemo Multispace.
The handbook spends about 4 pages explaining how it works but I have been informed by Citroen UK that CC was never intended for the UK market, although it is available for some of our european cousins.
I put it to Citroen UK that I would be happy to pay for a "European" unit to be sourced and then to be fitted by a Citroen dealer. I was told that this was not possible but not told why.
Does anyone know why it is not possible? I thought that the beauty or the CAN-BUS system was that various things could be added and the ECU programmed to work the new addition.
If I cannot have an OEM unit I will have to go with an aftermarket CC. Does anyone know of a reliable aftermarket unit? The engine is the 1.4 Hdi.
Thanks for any help you can offer. Read more
Having eulogised the Triumph Herald on a separate thread I have to own up to having been a Ford man for most of my (considerably long) driving life. For the most part I have found Fords to be what they set out to be - mass produced cars built to be affordable to the ordinary Joe. The current range has probably gone beyond that parameter and stands comparison with most other manufacturers' products, price notwithstanding.
One small feature of the ongoing Ford range that has baffled me for many years concerns the fuel filler cap. As far as I can recall every Ford model over the past 45 years or so has had the fuel filler cap on the driver's side of the car with the sole exception of the Fiesta which, from its introduction back in the 70's, has had its cap on the nearside of the vehicle. I'm not sure whether the new model Fiesta has the same arrangement but can anybody throw any light on why they should only have this arrangement on one of their long list of different models. What has prompted me to write is the state I got into earlier today when I (very unusually) took my wife's Fiesta for a fill-up, went to the 'wrong' side of the pump, and got into a very unseemly struggle with the filler hose which I had to feed over the roof of the car. Why can't they all be the same and do other manufacturers vary the siting of their respective filler caps? Read more
My car has just had an MOT, and passed, but was I was told my plates were illegal as the gaps between groups exceeds 19mm.
Now my car is 4 years old and the dealer supplied the plates ( my own reg though) I never thought to question the gaps, nor did the MOT last year.
Just wondered how serious this is taken by the plod?, the gap is 75mm in fact which is large, I thought it made the number clearer, but obviously not.
The ltters look standard and there is no funny writing to make them look like a name.
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"And here was me thinking the MOT was a safety check. "
That's a very common misconception.
It isn't, and hasn't been for a very long time.
(and that view is freely admitted by VOSA)
I was looking at motoring stuff in Halfords this AM and was standing in one of the isles - considering the tools - as you do when retired and slightly bored with lolling on the sofa.
Suddenly i was aware of a rapid movement from my right - and entering the isle. So I naturally stepped forward as there was around 2ft clearance in front of me and 3ft behind.
Whoomp - This bloke ( another customer) then almost burst his nose on the end of my shoulder. Automatically i said "sorry about that, I thought you were going to pass behind me"
Silence from him. Then I realised that he had intended just to bustle straight in front of me (as they do in Smiths). Not only that - but that inadvertently I said something that could almost be considered `smart` and that it might be considered that i had given him a bit of a `put down` having purposefully impeded his right to walk straight in front of me.
I thought about that (and Rattles smart parking retort) and decided to do it on purpose.
Next time you motor into town and try to walk straight in front of this (referring only to myself) slack jawed looking old goat who`s looking at motoring magazines - watch out - he might just step forward - have nothing to loose and be looking for `bad manners payback` ;-)
Question - Is it purposeful or not?
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Nice one Pugugly. Nice to know there are still gentlemen around. I did the same once, but the kid was only 20p short.
Hi,
I am looking for a pair of roof bars and have more or less narrowed the choice down to the two below. I simply want the bars for carrying my surfboard as I doubt I will carry anything heavier.
The two choices are:
tinyurl.com/ne3a3v (links to Roofbox website)
and:
tinyurl.com/lfmkrb (links to Direct 4x4 website)
Can some of your people more experienced in choosing roof bars take a look and give me your views on them?
Thanks,
T.
Edited to make first link a shorter, TinyURL one... so did both for consistency. Read more
Oops, forgot about the tiny url thing. Sorry... Got excited... sun is out, need roof bars for surfboard...
Thanks to whoever changed the links...
For a while now, a friend and I have had this notion of touring Britain by car to investigate various places of historical, georaphical and cultural significance. We were thinking of spending a week or so during summer and just staying in B&B's and/or camping. I have picked up a few guides such as the AA's 'Best Drives' and a couple of books recommending places to visit and stay. I think it appeals because I enjoy driving would quite like to explore the motherland a bit having spent most of my life north of the border. It would also provide some useful expierience in my still-young driving career.
My question is, is this a flawed notion? Would the reality be the stress and drudgery of driving on England's roads? Perhaps the appeal of this kind of trip belongs in a bygone age? Read more
If you missed it on TV recently, Richard Wilson did exactly this in a six part series, and he drove "classic" cars to do it.
It was called Britain's Best Drives, and he found routes of interest all over the country, some spectacular (apparently - he's terribly laconic).
Anyway, there's a book, so there might be some inspiration in there.
And Robbie Coltrane did a Britain's B roads program that was pretty similar.
Hi,
Long time lurker, first time poster..
As a huge car geek I like to change my cars regularly to experience different vehicles although I have recently hit a wall.
I usually use the excellent autotrader website to sell my cars after I have them for a month or two, the problem being that I have sold 5 cars in the past year and I must now place a trade advert if I am to place another ad.
I was wondering, what are the ramifications of placing a trade ad ? Do I have to be a registered trader with a business ?
Many Thanks Read more
tinyurl.com/kutp7t (Links to Telegraph article)
Which includes this totally incorrect gem:
The spokesman from HMRC said: "We won't be bothering with a mother flogging her old cookbooks or reindeer jumpers.
"Even if someone sells a car online, it is of no interest to us. However, they might be liable for CGT."
There is no way, ever that a car can ever, ever, ever be subject to CGT. Journalists, don't you love them. (Whomever they claim to have said it.) And the reason for this is that everybody loses money on cars - and they don't want you offsetting the loss against your share portfolio gains. Thus any profits are tax free (some hope).
Dead right, though pd. They'll quickly decide you are not a trader.
Hi all
We picked up our new i20 1.2 Classic yesterday (replacing SWMBO's old Micra) and thought I would share my thoughts on the deal, the garage and the car. Don't know if anyone's interested, but here goes anyway -
Pluses :
1. Very good deal. Under scrappage, we got a discount of £2,400 off list price. So we paid just under £7k for a Classic with metallic paint and parking sensors. I know that's a genuine discount, too, as we had been looking to buy pre-scrappage, and struggled to get anything at all off list price. That contrasts to certain other makes we looked at where they do a 'smoke and mirrors' trick so that you struggle to get any real discount at all!
2. Car presented well on delivery (but see below) - looks great in metallic blue
3. Seems well-built, quite substantial and safe, drives nicely, good clutch action and gearchange, soaks up bumps well, good firm seats
Minuses :
1. A bit gutless (but not pushed as running in and my car's a V6) and bland
2. Too wide to fit in the garage (well, I could but the wife would knock the mirrors). A bit silly when you can't even get a supermini in the garage!
3. Not too impressed with the selling dealer - car in poor condition when we went to look at it last Monday (all covered in tree sap), plus didn't like the salesman answering his phone all the time when he was supposed to be dealing with us. But, to be fair, I think Hyundai are inundated with scrappage orders at the moment, so they are very busy.
4. Think the car has been standing around for a while. It came from existing stock and had a big sticker on the windscreen last Monday saying NOV - so think it was probably built 6 months ago. HJ advised looking at the seatbelt tags for dates, but all they say is DLJ - don't know what that means. One component under the bonnet is dated 24/6/08 - so that is probably consistent with a November build. This also means the car was pretty early off the production line, as it was only launched last October (and this January in the UK).
5. Couldn't get ESP from stock (even though all reviews say standard from Feb) - factory order only, which would have meant a 3 - 4 month wait.
6. Annoying little red seatbelt reminder lights on the dash
Salesman did say yesterday that they had sold out of i10s/i20s from existing stock within 3 weeks of the budget and that they are now quoting October orders for deliveries. All very well if you can wait that long, but who knows if the scrappage scheme will still apply then.
In summary, a good, competent little car so far. Not exciting to drive, but 'does what it says on the tin', which is exactly what SWMBO was looking for. And about £2.5k cheaper than the equivalent Fiesta. So we're pleased - although obviously early days!
If anyone has any more specific queries, let me know.
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We've just put a deposit down on an i20 1.4 auto and will order it properly on monday when our 10+ year old pug 306 has been with us for a year.
We managed to get a whopping £3100 discount on the list price by scrapping our 306! (Which has dodgy electrics, broken alarm and central locking and rear windows don't work so is unfortunately about ready for the scrapyard despite still having plenty of life in the engine).
Bit of a no brainer for us really as it's looking by far to be the best quality new car at the price. We're cash buyers also so no extra debt for us.
We needed an automatic as my wife prefers one. This gave us a problem as there were only 3 i20 automatics available and those are currently being shipped and are not even in the country yet! Unfortunately this means we couldn't change any specs as Hyundai can't currently build a new car and ship it to the UK in time to meet scrappage deadlines (over 4 months to do it apparantly).
Anyway we got a blue one too reserved which to be honest was my favourite colour anyway and probably wouldn't have wanted any options apart from possibly parking sensors but to be fair they'd probably just confuse the missus :-)
Hope to take delivery in October. Like the original poster, safety was a primary factor in the purchase really. Although without the scrappage scheme would have hit the second hand market. Looking forward to having a car from new at last.
I bought my 2003 Triumph Sprint RS 3 years ago.
I recently found out that it is a 2001, not 2003 model - seemingly identical but 108 bhp and not the 118 bhp I thought it had.
Should I be upset?
All the 955i owners I have mentioned this to say the earlier engine is better for road use - more low and mid-range grunt.
I then thought : What if it were a Jap bike? They seem to update their engines every few weeks! How do you know when your bike was actually built? Read more
I tried to buy a new Suzuki DL1000 - my local dealer said they had just uncrated one, so i toddled down there. It obviously wasn't the current model - wrong colour. the id plate showed it was about 2 years old. The salesman did agree that the list price was not going to be achieved - but then offered such a poor part exchange that the 'cost to change' was silly.
Apart from the obvious don't drink it . . . . . .
Somewhere along the line I have had 2 different types of antifreeze mixed in my car. Don't know the names of them TBH but the one in the car was the new pink long life type apparently. When I got a coolant change some 18 months or so ago it would appear the old style 'blue' stuff was used and the system hadn't been flushed. As a consequence there was a reaction between the two, causing a corrosive (It apparently it particularly harmful to aluminium components) sludgy, jelly like substance to form through the entire cooling system. This has caused through time pressure to build up in the system resulting in head gasket failure, thermostat failure and failure of the oil cooler too. Hopefully the matrix will be a bit sturdier and OK.
Anyway system has been thoroughly flushed, and hopefully all seems just fine now. Garages were until recently unaware of this phenomenon apparently. SO if you see a build up of residue in your expension tank, please drain off and get the system flushed asap as it could be costly.
.******* Read more
Agreed, they've known about this for years, it isn't a recent phenomenon.
Our local tesco also has signs saying fill upeither side, the hoses are some of the shortest I have used, so you can fill from either side but if the filler cap is on the n/s the drivers door is going to be very close to the island.