August 2009
as the title suggests this an opinion question.
if you had to choose, which of the 3 following vehicle types would you choose?
the ultra reliable, not so interesting car that does average mpg but if it breaks it costs a fortune to fix---japanese for example
the not so reliable, not so interesting car that does average mpg and is cheap to fix---
ford, pug, vauxhall
the unreliable, expensive to fix car that drinks fuel and costs a fortune to fix BUT drives like a gem and handles like a beauty--- something italian mabey Read more
Our 2007 Mazda 2 has just had its two year service, and the front tyres are down to the legal minimum. Mileage currently 10,700.
Pirelli P Zero Nero 195/45 R16 V are the original fitment. The rears still have 7mm of tread.
BlackCircles have the Yokohama S Drive at £ 58 fitted for each tyre - whereas the Pirelli's are around £ 80.
However the speed rating on the Yokohamas is W.
Would there be any problems having the W rated Yokohamas on the front whilst keeping the V rated Pirellis on the rear??
The Mazda dealer was able to get the Pirellis for £ 82 (plus the usual additional costs) and would have fitted them to the front. Read more
Just had the Yokohama S Drives fitted to the Mazda 2.
Had wheel alignment checked using laser equipment - and the wheel alignment was way out.
When I asked the fitter whether this could have been caused by hitting potholes, his reply was 'no way'. He said the mis-alignment was so great that it must have been like that when it came out of the factory.
Hence new tyres being needed at 10,700 miles.
Chatting to the manager of the fitting centre afterwards, he said new tyres just don't last like they used to. He has the latest model Mondeo 2 litre diesel - that trashed the front tyres within 8000 miles from new.
From the front of the queue at a set of traffic lights I set off across my local dual carriage way. A truck in the filling station on my left shot out across my lane causing me to to stop in quite a hurry else I would have " T boned him"
I suspect he responded to a car facing me in the other lane that "flashed" him to come out and he did not check my way.
I thought I had hit the brakes reasonably hard but the ABS did not activate even on a damp road.
Tomorrow I will attempt a really hard crash stop or two to check that the ABS is working.
Perhaps this was a wake up call and I need to refresh crash stops or my next car should have brake assist? ( I am gentle on brakes)
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Perhaps this was a wake up call and I need to refresh crash stops
Obviously others can't assess all the variables in your incident, but the drill with ABS is to absolutely bury the brake pedal into the floor and keep it there, allowing the ABS to do its stuff.
HJ SITE Slow- adserver etc holding up pages
My PC is OK as other sites are normal response times Read more
There have been problems due to some behind the scenes changes for editing content. These are either fixed, being fixed or a temp fix in place.
Thanks for letting us know.
Thanks especially to those that emailed to mods - we have day jobs so more likely to spot emails to let someone know about problems.
Locking this thread because it's all being looked at. Although not sure about the slowness of the site - it is fine for me but I do have a fairly fast connection.
Rob
My query is how long after getting lost in the post or because of a postal strike would a NIP form take to arrive in the post. Basically I would like to know from your experiences what sort of timescale to expect to receive the NIP form if the worst happened.
Thanks for information. Read more
And on that note. Thread locked. I should have done a forum search after the deja vu comment ;-) I'd move it to the correct thread for speed cameras but it would not be locked.
If the OP posts the same question again the thread will be deleted.
My 3 year old Mazda 6 has now gone back into the garage to have the rear seat belt stalks changed again for the 5th time under warranty.I have 3 kids who use the back of the car all of the time and the lights to state if the seats have been fastened keep showing green when they are not. Mazda have been great and no problem changing them but does anybody else have the same problem. Read more
We are moving to Austria in mid-September on a permanent basis. Our UK car insurance expires on 5th October but my insurance company requires that, when I move abroad, I surrender my certificate and they will not insure me from 7 days after my move. This gives me a problem, as I can't insure my car in Austria until it is registered there....which will probably take about a month, i.e. until mid-October. They refuse to even continue the policy until the renewal date on 5th October, despite a 10 year claim-free period. Can anyone point me in the direction of somewhere I can insure my car on a UK registration with an EU address for a period of maximum 2 months?? Read more
I'm afraid I don't agree with all of this. We've run RHD vehicles in Continental Europe and LHD vehicles here in the UK. Our experience was that, aside from running around the car to pay at motorway and bridge tolls, car park exit barriers and so forth it really hasn't been any bother.
Overtaking can be more dangerous, it's true, especially on straight, tree-lined roads. Ironically with winding roads I find that this is far less of an issue. If you've got a reasonably powerful car you'll be ok but in general I think I ask myself the question that most of us should ask ourselves anyway: "Do I really need to overtake at all?"
On the other hand, getting in and out of the vehicle on a busy city street is far safer - the driver is always directly stepping onto the pavement. As forgetting to drive on the right...streuth...I often forget to drive on the left when leaving the Avis place at Heathrow.
There are a very small number of occasions when the handedness of the car has been an issue. As you mention when procuring the odd spare part (wiper arms and door mirror glass, in particular). This, though, is very rare indeed. Headlamps should be perfectly correct, though, because you certainly should be exchanging the RHD headlamp assemblies for LHD units. This can be quite costly (£360 quid plus re-alignment in my case) but you may be able to avoid it if you've got bi-xenons (which is just as well given their cost and complexity).
I've not had any real issues with being pulled over by police as a tourist (or simply just travelling around) unless my car was full or heavily loaded. Border and customs agencies in particular have taken an interest on such occasions but this had everything to do with the load rather than the country of origin of the registration plate. In Mike's case he's going to register the vehicle in Austria so it wouldn't be "foreign" any more. I agree with you that vandals target vehicles with foreign plates and have had an older car totalled in this manner - engine ripped out and all.
The biggest hassle of all was getting the car registered. In the UK this was painless and quick. In Portugal it took nearly 10 months and many days of effort (including a visit to the British Embassy in Lisbon) before everything was finalized.
I hope Austria's better.
Evening,
My cars rear suspension has been lowered slightly and is running on 205/45/16 low profile tyres. When the car left the factory it had 195/50/16 tyres on it.
I currently feel every lump and bump.
If i revert back to the original sized tyres will the ride comfort be better?
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Agree with rtj, the problem is more likely the lowered suspension using (probably) stiffer springs than the tyres.
preview.tinyurl.com/abs-report (link to PDF file).
Analysis of US accident data
Abtract
Statistical analyses based on data for calendar years 1995 to 2007 from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the General Estimates System (GES) of the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) estimate the long-term effectiveness of antilock brake systems (ABS) for passenger cars and LTVs (light trucks and vans) subsequent to the 1995 launch of public information programs on how to use ABS correctly. ABS has close to a zero net effect on fatal crash involvements. Fatal run-off-road crashes of passenger cars increased by a statistically significant 9 percent (90% confidence bounds: 3% to 15% increase), offset by a significant 13-percent reduction in fatal collisions with pedestrians (confidence bounds: 5% to 20%) and a significant 12-percent reduction in collisions with other vehicles on wet roads (confidence bounds: 3% to 20%). ABS is quite effective in nonfatal crashes, reducing the overall crash-involvement rate by 6 percent in passenger cars (confidence bounds: 4% to 8%) and by 8 percent in LTVs (confidence bounds: 3% to 11%). The combination of electronic stability control (ESC) and ABS will prevent a large proportion of fatal and nonfatal crashes.
Figures like this for the UK would be more useful, but it still make interesting reading (for the insomniacs amongst us?).
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I have a 307 2.0 HDI (110) 54 plate and after driving through a flooded road last week suffered an immediate loss of power. The engine will rev above 3000 revs but the turbo does not appear to be kicking in and providing the extra boost. Can't get into any local pug garages until next week. No warning lights/messages on dash either.
Any ideas? Read more
follow the vac pipe back from the turbo wastegate and replace that solinoid bout £34 from pug bout 95% of the time its that. hope that helps.
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This question is just waaaaaaayyyyy too hypothetical for me to even begin to attempt an answer.
:-)