May 2009
Today I approached very steep hill and instead of staying in 2nd gear I quickly changed to 3rd gear instead. However as I began at the bottom of the hill (in 3rd gear) and pressed down on the accelerator I noticed the revs rised slightly (unexpectantly). Is this a bad sign and are there any tell-tale tests I can do myself to diagnose ?
Thanks. Read more
If your in the market for a used car where do you buy from and why ?
Do you feel safer with a main dealer ?
What warranty length makes you happy ?
If there was a car at a main dealer and the same car at a used car outlet how much extra - if any - would you be prepared to pay for buying at a main agent ? Read more
Of my last four cars, one came from an indie dealer, and three were bought privately.
All four cars were good. Dealer experience was lousy (reneged on verbal promises, delivered the car with a couple of faults which he'd agreed to put right). Private sales hassle free and cars were good. No expectations. Like it or don't, buy it or don't. A nice way to deal.
The appropriate checks minimise the risk to virtually nil, and the big brand aftermarket warranties are better than those offered by many indies anyway.
Bought one car (MX-5) from a main dealer. Lovely experience. Paid over the odds. As you would expect.
Cheers
DP
My auto box started paying up all of a sudden in the week, changing gear at the wrong time and no kickdown at all.
Obviously like most of us i was thinkng the worst, but raised the bonnet and had a poke nose to see if anything obvious was wrong.
ATF changed only weeks ago, and level spot on and clean.
Got hold of the throttle linkage (a proper cable, not many of those now in new i should imagine) and operated, by mistake i'd clasped the gearbox cable which runs off the same linage and low and behold it didn't do anything.
So peeled back the rubber bellows and there was the cable snapped from its connector...phew!!!
So, rattled the old head for a while, and thought if i use one of those screw type terminal connectors i could bodge the thing until a new cable is available.
Got some large 30A ones, filed the cable connector down until it fitted and hey presto a repair that will do for now.
Incidentally, the push on sprung connector had partially seized so wasn't pulling straight and obviously strained the cable...my error should have kept it lubricated...bad neglect.;)
I'm sure that you could buy repair kits for cable ends years ago, the accessory shop lads looked agog at me when i mentioned it.
What other bits and pieces should we keep handy for odd eventualities?
Don't mention stockings for fan belts...wrong forum.;) Read more
>>Fix the lids of some jars to the underside of the shelf and you get extra space.>>
Yes, an old trick. However, the plastic tops might split with a nail through them and, more importantly in this instance, each shelf is only approximately one-and-a-half times the height of the jars apart themselves...:-)
I have a large scratch (not that bad) on my Corsa's door and it is annoying me as the rest of the car is in pretty much new condition. I have t-cutted it and it looks a little better but thinking I need to get this done professionaly. Are they any cheap places that do this sort of work?
Halfords said it would be around £100 but don't want to pay that much to remove a scratch on 81k nearly 10 year old supermini. Read more
Presumably the issue is that when applying the paint you get the paint over the
lacquer???
Ah yes, I see it now!
hi could anyone help me solve this annoying problam ive got on my 306 xsi 8v 2.0 94,my oil temp guage jumps up and down in time when other electrics are turned on ie indicators,lights,wipers etc and now the stop light has started coming on while driving??? any help would be very helpfull thanx,jason. Read more
il give it a go,thanx very much
Helping a friend out with his used car lot yesterday and had the opportunity to drive a couple of different cars, in addition to my usual fleet.
First up was my own Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSi. I've now owned this for over 6 months, which is a relative eternity for me ! It has now passed 14K miles and had its first "service" (expensive oil change) a few weeks ago. It has been faultless since I've owned it and consistently returns around 30 mpg in mainly urban use and up to early 40's on the motorway. The most impressive thing about the car is undoubtedly the engine, which is smooth, quick and has almost diesel like low down torque. I run it on Tesco 99 RON super unleaded, which I feel results in noticeably more power than standard 95 RON unleaded. The car suffers with excessive road noise / tyre roar but the engine is quiet at motorway speeds (70 mph = 2500 revs in 6th). This is my 3rd Octavia (2 previous Mk1 Octavia vRS's) and 4th Skoda (previous Roomster 1.9 TDi).
Next up was the wifes Qashqai 1.6 Visia. This is now 1 year old and has covered just under 10K miles. It was also serviced a couple of weeks ago, again another glorified oil change / inspection. I had quotes from main dealers ranging from £240 to £120 for the first service. The book time is 1 hour so I can only imagine the hourly rates involved. The Qashqai requires new rear shock absorber mounts under warranty, but as virtually every other Qashqai is similarly affected they are on back order, with no delivery date in sight. The car is dull to drive, returns 32 mpg in mainly urban use and has managed to wear the front tyres down to less than 3mm in under 10K miles. The 115 bhp petrol engine is OK, but needs plenty of revs to perform. It is also noisy on the motorway, due to its relatively short gearing (<20mph/1000 revs, 70 mph = approx 3600rpm).
I then drove a new (623 miles on the clock) Honda Civic 2.2 CDTi SE. This is an odd car. It feels very wide from the driver?s seat and offers poor visibility through the back window. The dash area is very futuristic, with a split level display for speed and revs. The engine is relatively quiet (for a diesel) and has the usual all or nothing turbo diesel power delivery. The trip computer was reading 41.2 mpg over the first 623 miles. I found the ride very hard and unforgiving and I'm not sure I could live with it long term. The steering however was very sharp with good feel. The gear change was quite poor, which is unusual in a Honda. Some of the cabin plastics seemed quite poor and the door handles (outside) had a very flimsy (un-Honda-like) feel to them. The car certainly felt a step backwards in quality terms compared with my old 2006 Accord. I was disappointed with the Civic and certainly preferred my Octavia as an all round package.
Finally (I saved the best to last) I drove a 2009 Jaguar XF 3.0D S. This has the new 271 bhp 3.0 twin turbo V6 diesel engine. This is quite simply the best real world car I have ever driven. The interior feels like a proper Jag should - low slung with plenty of wood and leather. The bonnet has a subtle bulge which looks lovely from the driver?s seat. The car feels fantastic on the road with firm suspension and nice positive steering. The engine pulls well from low revs and is very quiet (I honestly wouldn't have known it was a diesel had I not been told). It didn't feel massively quick, but that probably related to how quiet it was in the cabin. The build quality seemed very good and I could imagine covering long distances in the car with little problem. The only downside was the £38K price tag, although I imagine they will become relatively affordable in a few years.
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While trying to fix another problem, a mechanic managed to break off two of the spark plugs. I know this is a common problem in Kas but in this case it was probably my fault- the car was very poorly serviced and the plugs were badly corroded.
I don't want to pay to get the plugs drilled out because I'm getting the car scrapped as part of the scrappage deal. But the dealer I'm doing this with says I have be able to drive into the scrap yard.
Is it possible to start/drive the car with two spark plugs missing? What about 3 plugs missing? It doesn't need to drive well!
Any advice appreciated Read more
How far do you need to drive it?
Three cylinders firing would see you any reasonable distance but two will be pushing it - particularly on such a small engine. IF it moves at a reasonable speed though - depending on which plugs have snapped and the cylinder firing order - then as its being scrapped I wouldnt be too worried about the long term effects of running a car on reduced cylinders!! I drove our old Metro GTa to the scappy (about 7 years ago!) which was 10 miles away with a cylinder down due to a broken piston ring and it made it!!!
Hi Everyone,
I currently own the outgoing Honda Accord Sport GT (2.2 i-CTDi) and am thinking of changing it for the following reasons:
1. The suspension is too harsh for most of the time and makes urban driving, which is what I do mostly, knackering
2. I've never been able to get used to the brakes, they always feel as though there's not enough resistance in them which sometimes leads to them feeling very on or off at low speeds (i.e. its hard to brake progressively). I've had this checked by the dealer who insists that they are within specification
3. My wife would like an Auto
I've recently test driven a 2.4 EX auto accord (outgoing model) and on the surface my problems are solved, however, I'm worried that the 2.4 feels gutless on the motorway by comparison and I've read stuff that seems to imply that the EX comes with a sports suspension, although the EX definitely felt softer on a test drive.
Has anyone had any experience of drive a 2.4i EX auto on the motorway for extended periods of time. Does it end up feeling like hard work because the 2.4 needs to be reved?
I know the answer to a lot of this is to test drive the car and I have done that but I'm still undecided and would like to hear from 2.4 EX auto drivers.
Any help will, as ever, be appreciated
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Recently the car doesn't want to start after a long drive. I would pull over to put some petrol in the car after driving home from work but the car refused to start and all it does is making clicking noises and all else will work. The car starts immediately on jump leads and has no problems starting thereafter and has no problem starting the next day on a cold engine. Any idea where to start first? The battery seems to charge ok; unless something is draining it during the drive??? Help. Read more
Thanks for the advice. I had my car checked and they replaced the brushes in the starter motor and he also replaced they battery.
My Passat is a 2.5 V6 Tdi auto. I've owned it for 5 years and my driving (distances, driving style, mix of town/m-way, etc...) has not changed during this time. The tyre size it takes is a 225/45x17 91 Y. At 49k, I fitted Michelin SPS2's to the front. At 55k, these were switched to the rear and two new SPS2's were fitted to the front. At 77k (after 22k miles), these fronts needed replacing so I put two more SPS2's on. These needed replacing after only 15k miles! The tyre shop didn't have Michelins but recommended Bridgestones, so I had four of these (so at this point, the front Michelins had done 15k, the backs had done 43k). I now find that these Bridgestones are barely legal at the front after no more than 12k!!! (the backs have more left, but certainly won't last 43k like the original Michelins did).
So my front tyre life has reduced dramatically from 22k (Michelins) to 15k (Michelins again) to 12k (Bridgestones). ANy reason for this? Tyre wear is always even so there are no tracking problems. Are tyres just getting softer?
Can anyone recommend a tyre which will give me at least 20k at the front? Read more
I would expect at least the front upper arm rear bushes to be shot and when you turn the tracking is distorting and excess tyre wear is the result yet retaining what appears to be an even profile. This would also explain the wandering in a straight line, white line, road crowns and uneven surfaces. Regards Peter
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When the clutch went on my 99 1.8i, the symptoms were similar - ie. rising revs when you put your foot down, without the anticipated increase in speed.
I was able to drive around like this for a week or two with the problem getting progressively worse and more noticeable, until I was sure that it was definitely the clutch that was causing it.
I was shocked at the prices I was quoted for a replacement - I rang around many different places in my local area and, IIRC, I ended up paying around £350 and that was from a trusted local garage with non-Ford parts. That did include the clutch AND release bearing/slave cylinder though, which you're recommended to change at the same time.