August 2009
tinyurl.com/pvaedw
Under £7k for a 2 yr old Z4?
Postcode now that of DVLA office in Edinburgh ;-)
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I noticed that My Clio appeared to have greater turbo lag than usual and seemed slightly down on power around 200rpm on a recent 3000 mile trip around France. I also noticed an increase in diesel knock. Could this be due to the proportion of bio diesel they now put in all French diesel? I usedwhat seened to be the premium fuels hoping to take advantage of the fact that this engine ( according to my main dealer ) has an anti knock sensor and should be able to benefit from an increase in cetane number. All symptoms have gone after a tankful of Shell V-Power. Any thoughts out there? Read more
I tried a fill up of Shell V Power earlier this week. 7p a litre more expensive than the cooking stuff in the same garage at 107.9p. Not the slightest improvement in fuel mileage compared to the cheaper Total Excellium I normally use. My sister tells me diesel in France is about 1?- so about 85p? Worth being a little slower for?
The finger of time draws a curtain over period where small economical diesels saved their owners a fortune in fuel bills - and... they could be used as desired without problems.
Usually weighing in at around 1,000kg - family cars with decent sized boots and fuel tanks and with full size spare wheels. Pity about the smoke. That said.
Where did the era start to end? DPF seems like the final knock on the head for the true general purpose diesel - but before that.
Rubber bonded flywheels, `electronics` on the fuel system, sensors, cats, EGR..
Some well known ruster manufacturers didn`t help themselves at the beginning - fitting skinny little cambelts into the diesels newly fitted to their little rust from new small cars
It`s all gone. Forever. The future,as we know, for general purpose (city) cars are small (and smaller) more and more powerful per litre petrol engines.
Fuel consumption is up - for multi stop start running. Pity about that.
How many have sold on that relatively new largish capacity diesel without a DPF in that almost reflex way we have in the UK with cars only a few years old? Without realizing that they would be disadvantaged by its DPF replacement.
Was there ever a better `hidden` event in the history of motoring than the DPF scandal?
Thinking back.. Maybe the cambelt when it was used on non interference engines.. but it doesn`t come close really does it?
Will the loss of the `chug a chug` general purpose (city AND continental tourer) diesel car ever be missed by the non enthusiast masses?
Maybe not - as long as it moves along the road in its grim little petrol engine way and the eye pod plugs into the radio.
Here it comes... with it`s anodyne buzzing and augmented central locking type electro magnetic inlet valves. No springs.
The next test bed for the public? Read more
Yes the first major fault might write the thing off
It's the digital/binary age: on or off, it works or it doesn't.
It seems to me that part of the reason why British Leyland suffered was because people no longer recognised the value of buying home-grown. Why, then, did this patriotic notion decline when they started to build cars that were better in relation to the competition than they ever had been? Case in point being the montego/maestro; far better cars in relation to opposition than allegro/marina but the British public refused to buy them in the same numbers. Read more
I think you might be right.
Hi I have two puntos both from the same year, one has a two button fob that i have to use or car wont start, the other does not. why is this?
the two button fob is broken, can i get it to work without this?
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when trying to start the car the switch interlock operated by the gear shift lever in 'Park' sometimes does not operate and gear lever has to be pressed further forward. Can this switch be easily adjusted and where is it? Read more
Well... If you would like to roll vicariously in a little grease and rust - here`s a little quiz ;-)
1)
Name the vehicle
Age of vehicle
location
www.oilrag.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rusty1.jpg
2)
same again
www.oilrag.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rusty3.jpg
3)
Don`t look at this if you don`t like grease.. ;-)
Cars two and three have had the same subframe treatment - how long before car three looks like car two? (apart from the brake lines)
www.oilrag.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rusty2.jpg
Regards
(tyres degreased) Read more
Pic 1)
No votes for the scrapyard then? as you know, I`m often roaming around there like a vulture looking for the odd eyeball or scrap of liver that might be recirculated..
That would have been the wrong answer.
This was a double cab 4x4 pickup (55 reg) and carefully parked in a distant corner of a car park - no doubt to avoid accidental damage.
I put my head underneath - and oh dear... words almost fail me.
The entire ladder chassis was a sea of rust and the nuts looked as though they were mild steel and had been suspended in the sea at Bridlington on a bit of string, these last 4 years. The nuts were so bad that they were actually starting to lose definition due to the severe rusting.
Then there was the body seams underneath and even the flat surfaces.
Contrasted against that was a gleaming upper body that someone seemed to have spent hours polishing and waxing the paint...
The Mk2 Puntos
Pic2
This had one coat of waterproof (Castrol CL grease) around 5 years ago (02 reg) and the subframe still shows evidence of its rustproofing qualities in it`s 8th year.
pic3
That`s the 55 reg Multijet Punto van - same age as the 4x4.
I greased that up when brand new - a couple of months short of 4 years ago. Now just done again, but not really required as I noticed too late... but once up on ramps and 3 pots of Castrol CL waterproof grease to hand...
I can`t help reflecting on that pickup - I`m sure that the chassis and in particular the nuts protection from rust is really substandard for vehicles deployed into countries with salted roads. To be in the state they were in after four winters - those nuts must have been virtually bare steel on the surface..
It looked as though the vehicle would be a scrapper in a few more years.
That said - best not to name it...
I have 4 0r 5 k to spend and want either a diesel estate or a SUV. must be comfortable for lots of driving and economical, I'd also want to get 6 years out of it. what would you buy? Read more
V70 D5. It'd be older and higher mileage, but 6 years should be no real problem.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6004402/Tory-polit...l
Whilst I do not condone driving whilst drunk, nor driving on the wrong side of the road, nor the injuries caused to the other party, I am not sure that the world is improved by sending her - expensively - to gaol.
A good dose of community service and some counselling I think.
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It's interesting that some posters mention that she didn't intend to hurt anyone else. This reminds me a bit of those cases where someone hits someone very hard, they fall to the pavement and are killed. It wasn't their intention to kill the person but they didn't take any steps not to kill or seriously hurt them, either. When you do something that serious - a heavy blow to the head, or drive at speed the wrong way down a road, then you have made a choice to do something that has the possiblity of having a very unfortunate outcome. Lots of people get depressed/suicidal, but it was her choice to act in this particular way. A fair sentence in my view.
I got an e-mail from a friend in Humpenden, Herts this morning. He said they were researching producing electricity from hi-tech speed humps. I e-mailed him back to say that the town could be self sufficient for its power as there are so many speed humps in the area!
I checked my calander to ensure, it is not April 1st. It is not. Has anyone else heard about this or is it an August silly season news item? Read more
Pah ....Belching cows - Rubbish.... Everyone knows that cows produce methane from the end that doesn't munch the turnips.-- what does it matter what end it comes from anyway.
The One Show is cited as the authority That Adrian Chiles - what does he know anyway...mind you I'd believe it if the lovely Christine smiled that smile at me and said it was true.....
Bit why pour cold water on a brilliant idea.. you just stick a tube in the cows mouth as well , double the methane - ..... I tell you its a winner
Browse
The other version of this scam is that they arrange to meet you in a car park or decluded location to do the deal, they insist on cash payment, you turn up with the bag of cash and are promptly relieved of it by force.