July 2009
Yesterday daughter and SiL were approaching Bicester when their Puncture warning was activated. They visited the nearest K-F centre who found no fault with any wheel (thereby claiming to have saved them loads o'money). I checked all 4 tyres when they returned here - 37psi all round.
What sensing system does BMW use, and what event might have triggered the false warning? Read more
A growing family means we'd like to replace our diesel hatchback with an estate car. With a budget of £18,000 my first thought was an 18 month old V70, but after some research I'm now also considering:
- A 3 year old E280 CDi.
- A 12 month old Honda Accord Touring.
- A 12 month old Mondeo Estate 2.2 TCDi.
- A Mazda6.
I like the Volvo because it's practical, comfortable and stylish (in a Scandinavian way), it's reasonable quick and well equipped, and we can happily fill the boot and drive across Europe every summer. I'm put off however by the huge servicing costs my sister faces with her S60, and the dull driving experience.
Has anyone been through the same buying process recently and have any views on the Volvo or the alternatives? We don't tend to change cars that often, so running costs are more important than depreciation.
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I did think of a Subaru but the current Legacy design is quite old now, and the interior quality is very poor. Having said that it's supposed to be a great drive and I would fit in with the farmers when I visit my family in Herefordshire.
I am surprised that no one else has picked this up.
In the paper copy of the Telegraph the speed was 126mph.
tinyurl.com/n5odh7
Insert witty or ironic remark here. Read more
Sorry I rarely read the speeding threads.
I am considering buying a 2004/53 130bhp TDCI Mondeo estate with 140,000 miles on the clock for £2000.
However, looking through threads on here and elsewhere, it seems there are lot of complaints about the reliability of these engines even beyond a fairly modest mileage. All the horror stories about injectors, fuel pumps and DMFs are starting to put me off.
My question is whether the abundance of these stories is down to a genuine reliability problem with the car or simply because of the large numbers of them on the road.
In other words, at that sort of price, would it be better to look at an older Passat or even a youngish 406? Or would the risks of major faultiness be similar?
Thanks Read more
I can only give you my experience of 1 car, an 04 Estate.
I bought it at around 1 year old with around 10k on the clock. I traded it 2 years later (at the end of the warranty) with 36k. In that time it was towed in 3 times, went through 3 Turbo pipes, 2 sets of Injectors, was remapped 3-4 times, and even had the short engine replaced due to bent conrods at the time of injector failure (the original set) Altogether in the 2 years I had it it was in the dealer about 8 weeks in total. All the work was carried out at no cost to me and I was given a courtesy car (I did argue that a Ka wasn't really suitable when I was paying for a Mondeo estate).
Altogether a nightmare, especially considering that it was only really 2 different fauls but they kept reappearing several months after being repaired.
Replace it with a Vectra which has done 40k in 2.5 years with no faults at all.
Carole Nash Brokers ! I have dealt with them to insure my motorcycles for years, including a CBR 1000 I had on long term loan - which fazed them not ! When I added my latest loan bike a VFR 800 to my policy in May it cost me the Princely sum of £9.00. OK the original policy wasn't the cheapest but included Roadside Recovery (essential on a bike) and free foreign travel allowance - the call centre is UK (Manchester somewhere) and they know and understand bikers. I had the renewal through for the car on Friday and it was going to cost me nearly 450 quid (!) - I phoned Carole Nash on a whim and they allowed me a 15% discount for having the bikes insured with the, and the Honda came in at £293.00 - bargain and it includes recovery and EU travel for 60 days as well as "Puncture Assistance" which I assume has nothing to do with tin tacks on my drive ! Read more
Thanks for the tip - they're all there !!
My new car will have a protective paint sealant (I know , probably snake oil) but the garage refused to apply the sealant to the wheels with vague caveats about the heat from the brakes. Anyone successfully protected their wheels? I'm thinking of just applying a decent polish like Autoglym as a way of fending of the black grot.
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The only cleaning my wheels get is with the Turtle Wax Zip Wax Car Wash with which I wash the car. I've never given the wheels any special treatment and my current car's alloys are still OK after 6 years.
Hi there, the name is Danny or Dan and I'm new to this site. I am a huge car fan and love old cars especially. Anyway, I read today that Nissan will be making an investment in the Nissan Sunderland factory. They will be making Lithium-ion batteries for future electric cars. I'm sure this will improve the UK's automotive industry. Looking forward to more news on this...
Cheers
Dan Read more
Battery cars will never be more than fringe product. Not even considering the
cost/manufacturing/pollution/disposal of batteries.....
Consider the cost of manufacturing an electric motor compared to that of a IC engine. Where is the pollution in making electric car batteries? Why is it worse than that from making IC engines? What about EOL recycling?
They will never have the required capacity/weight
They already have. If they haven't, then please explain why.
They will get more dangerous with every "advance" in capacity/charging - they
are blooming dangerous now.
Interesting. How?
There will never be a suitable charging infrastructure to support overnight
charging never mind fast charging (consider one car per household and how
much electricity you need to generate)
Pick up your charged batteries at the garage, just as you now pick up fuel.
Diesel powered engines will always blow electric cars out of the water for
overall efficiency and life time green credentials.
Shall we have some figures?
No one ever talks about electric car inefficencies ....
Ball park overall efficiency of < 20%
Hm. Someone's playing a strange game with their balls in that park...
Compare with >40% for diesels some are >50%
Wow! Which ones? A good car petrol engine is about 25% efficient. What diesel car engine is more than about 35% efficient? I'd really like to know!
Nissan/Toyota are playing a game to get government money for free.
Yup. Business is business, but it doesn't affect the laws of nature (physics, thermodynamics, W.H.Y.).
I?ve had an intermittent fault on my front and rear washers for some weeks now, the back will only work when the front one?s work, now they will not work at all, I?ve had the front inner wing off and there is a live going to the front washer motor but I cannot seem to find the rear motor to test that one, I?ve been told it could be a bad earth.
Any ideas anyone?
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Sorry, what I meant to say was that if the front washer worked then the back washer worked, and if no front then no back, not at the same time a bit of a misunderstanding on my behalf.
Thank for that it is a big help.
Trying to see if my old car is still on the road. I checked with the government tax website and it says car cannot be found. The reg and make is correct. However it has records for all the cars we have had since 1984.
What would cause the DVLA to suddenly not have a record of it? I am just interested to know what has happened to it. Read more
There's a slightly weird story in the Saturday paper HJ about a Renault on a personal plate which was scrapped after an accident in France.
A new Renault was bought and the plate put onto that, but when sale time came the plate was found to be related to the previous scrapper.
I can't see how the plate got onto the second car, the first being scrapped. Can anyone else?
Hey everyone,
Im in the middle of putting an engine back in my focus, But the drive shafts need sorting. The section that goes into the gear box have come off whats the best way to hold them back together some people have said cable ties or jubilee clips not sure whats best ?
Also on one of the drive shaft tripod bearings has come off do I need to replace the whole tripod or can I get a new bearing ?
Any help would be great.
Regards
Stew Read more
Hi DP,
The sections that have come off are the inner part of the shafts that go into gearbox. On the passanger side it has a clip on the end that goes into the box at top of the splines but the driver side dosent have this.
I have seen a reconditioned drive shaft for about £30 so think I might get that but the other one just needs a new cable and grease adding. How much grease do I need to add to the boot ?
Browse
Exactly. I wasn't there, so I am just relating what I was told. But if that was the cause, I would expect it to happen to lots of drivers?
And fixing any problem would be £££, by definition. SiL read the handbook and reset the indicators. Modern cars try to be too clever IMHO.