May 2009
Mrs BB fancies updating her 6 year/80,000 mile Merc CLK 240 cabrio. She wants a new or nearly-new 'proper' 4-seat cabriolet that needs to have room for the shopping in the boot with the roof down. Which rules out a BMW 3-series, and leaves just another CLK or an Audi A5 as the only choices(?). We obviously know the CLK and so we booked a test drive in an A5 (2.0 TFSI) manual.
Now I haven't driven an Audi for years, so it was all-new to me.
Good bits: Very smooth 4-cylinder engine, good build and materials, roomy, good boot, reasonable performance, stiff body, good price.
Bad bits: High waistline makes it hard to judge extremities and hard for junior BBs to look out of from the rear. I found the dashboard strangely 'dated' in design and layout. But the biggest problem is that the pedals are seriously off-set to the right, such that I could never drive a manual and walk afterwards. Are all modern Audis this bad? With auto therefore being essential you get a choice of a CVT box (no thanks - sounds like the clutch is slipping and Audi CVTs don't have the best of reputations) or a DSG with quattro (don't really need/want the added expense of quattro). A 2wd DSG would be great, but ... not available.
Overall: The bad bits outweigh the good bits for us, so I'm out.
Which leaves ... another CLK - we drove a newer CLK200 Kompressor, but it was (unsurprisingly) very similar to our current car, and not worth changing for at a cost-to-change of £20k!. The new E-class coupe cabriolet isn't out till next March and will be too expensive. They had a new E-class coupe in the showroom and it looked a fair bit bigger than the CLK.
The only other potential on the horizon is the new Lexus IS convertible, but I suspect the rear legroom wil be designed with the home market in mind - time will tell!
I suspect the Eon/308/Focuses will also be too small - is there anything else we've missed? Read more
Ran into a friend on the other side of the Angel last night. He refused to stop off for a drink at my favoured dive in Kentish Town and suggested we stop at his favourite dive in the Portobello Road, in our home district. I agreed and we set off, he in his partner's MINI and I in my rough old Escort.
I got to the pub, which was crowded. He wasn't there yet. They had run out of my favourite tipple so I had to have Young's ordinaire, the next best thing. The staff took ages to get to me and I got us both a pint. He turned up at least seven minutes after me. He told me he had come by the direct route: King's Cross, Euston Rd, Marylebone Rd, flyover into Notting Hill. Most of that route is dual carriageway with two or three lanes.
My route, probably a mile or so longer, was convoluted, through Caledonian Road, Kentish/Camden Town and appalling rich mimser-infested St John's Wood, with many twists and turns and fifty or sixty speed bumps, ramps and cushions, lots of cobbles and traffic lights including temporary ones. Of course I don't let those slow me down any more than necessary. I let the poor jalopy take the strain (and it's beginning to show it too). It helps to accelerate optimistically when one sees a green light, instead of slowing down like Eeyore as so many do.
I say this not to boast - I'm not quick really, you can't be these days - but to draw attention to the sabotaging of westbound traffic flow in Euston/Marylebone roads and the inner reaches of the M40. This set in under Ken Livingstone and hasn't been corrected yet. And from the way the new mayor is talking I don't think he means to do anything about it. Read more
Surely by spreading traffic out, we ease congestion on other routes. We also spend less time driving and if all those two minutes are added together, we are certainly cutting down on pollution and carbon emissions. Touch of NIMBYism by some rat run claimants , me thinks.
Well Ive had a Mazda 323 gsi for bout 6 months. Out of the blue it just stopped. Took it to the garage and told it may be an ECU rpoblem. What sholud I do next? Srcap or repair? Read more
Trade it in on a new car-it's ten years old.Seriously ECUs are ultra reliable-it's usually connectors that give problems.
I seem to recall that a few members of the BR experimented with adding ethanol to petrol to improve mpg. It now seems that Ford have been researching this and designed a "direct-injection ethanol engine". The engine runs on petrol but injects ethanol when maximum power is needed. The use of ethanol allows a higher compression ratio to be used.
See this weeks new scientist for the article. Read more
Now there's an idea vitamin C as a healthy fuel additive.
Image the advert the ultimate fuel now includes a powerful antioxidant to help prevent free
radical damage to your vehicles engine.
it used to be called leaded fuel
i've recently seen a bargain for oil, Havoline Energy Oil 5W-30, however, i'm not sure if it will be ok for the duratec engine, what are your thoughts. i have no idea about oils as my car has always had a service, but i've now decided to do the basics myself, thanks in advance. Read more
Havoline also produce an excellent 5W-30 oil that is ideal for Ford engines.
Best wishes from your Irish mate Hav OLine.
I currently have a 2001 VW Golf with 70k on the clock. I want to replace it with an economical car with a bigger boot and better access for my golf clubs and trolley. Read more
Any hatchback seems to do the job with folded down seats. Folks at my club get clubs and trolleys in Golfs, Polo's, dosent seem much of a problem...take your pick !
Looking at buying a new or nearly new BMW 5 series, either a 525d or 525i SE.
BMW main dealers are quite pricey but looking on autotrader etc there seems to be lots of 525i petrols for sale. Motorprovider had this cracking offer for a nearly new one at £22k. The website says the car has now been sold and at that price i can see why - but why so cheap?
Regarding the two cars has anyone here got one and can they offer any advice. The MPG between the petrol and diesel is 8MPG. How true this will be in real world driving im not sure.
I no the model is about to be replaced but im thinking that I will be able to get a good deal from the current run, instead of opting for a new model where no discount will be available.
thanks Read more
Sorry you're right. I'd assumed 520d and 525i.
hi, my sisters rang last week to say she lost the ability to change gear on the motorway. the car has since been recovered i looked at it and found the clutch release arm to be seized i understand this is fairly common and this week have had the gearbox off and replaced it, i left the clutch as it appeared ok and has only covered 50k. now ive reassembled it all she still can't select gear with the engine running. the new release arm moves freely. ive had the slave cylinder apart and there are no signs of leaking there, although it only has 1 seal and the mg parts catalogue appears to show 2.
i have bleed the clutch system using a pressurised easy bleed system i get a good flow of fluid from the top union on the master cylinder aswell as from the slave cylinder, the pedal feels good too but still i can't select any gear when the engine is running. there does seem to be alot of flex in the slave cylinder mounting bracket but im not sure if this would cause an issue. im at a bit of a loss as to where to go next? do i replace the slave or master cylinders or do i look towards the release bearing or clutch components. the car showed no sign of clutch failure before this, i can be sure of this as i took it for a hard drive shortly before it broke down.
the only other point of note i can see is if you hold the clutch pedal down then open the slave cylinder bleed nipple to bleed it the pedal fails to return when the nipple is closed, if you pull the pedal back up manually then it operates fine after that until you open the nipple with it depressed again.
cheers
chris Read more
Glad it's fixed. Regards Peter
tinyurl.com/ktjfwy
Looking at the damage to road surfaces in my area today, it quickly became obvious how much of the damage has been caused by the various Utility Companies. Most of the ruts are due to those trenches they dig and fill in before topping off with a bit of thin tarmac.
Is there no way of grabbing these people by the shovel and insisting they reinstate the roads they damage? Read more
pity we cant have more pictures posted btw... that one brightened up the forum!
At the moment a small minority cannot be trusted to post topics and replies let alone images. So this is not yet possible and unlikely to be ever.
The image is actually provided elsewhere. Nothing to do with this site so I've slowed down browsing members in this thread. Sorry.
"A 2wd DSG would be great, but ... not available" - yet!
In usual Audi style they have only released the A5 cabrio with 2 engine choices. Give it 12 months and there will be a much wider choice.
BTW I also have problems driving Audi manuals.