September 2009
I bought a C5 station wagon 2.0 HDI auto at the beginning of June (in Spain). I've done 3,500 miles, a mixture of town driving and a number of 200 - 300 mile runs. I had a Renault 21 and a Laguna II, both petrol, before the C5 and can confidently say that the C5 is by far the quietest (from inside the car). I really feel it's a big step up from the Renaults. Drives beautifully. It's a big car, something I'm still getting used to. Very spacious inside with a good size boot (not so in the saloon model). It looks great in black with chrome trimmings.
Gear changes are very smooth, hardly noticeable at times. On uneven road surfaces and winding dual-carriageways (there are many in Spain) I find the Sport mode for the suspension and steering a must. Otherwise the car wallows. With this mode connected the ride is extremely stable and comfortable. Acceleration is sluggish from a standing start, better once doing 30mph and very good at higher speeds. On a 10 mile run to work through town traffic and along some fast roads, I'm getting 32mpg. On the long runs, 44 mpg was the best return doing a steady 75 mph (120kmph) and using cruise control. At a slighty higher cruising speed (80 mph) 40mpg was the norm. I reckon I could get up to 50mpg at say 65 - 70 mph, but purely stop-start town driving would probably be as low as 25mpg.
The seats are firmer than in the Renaults. It's annoying when something exists in your old car, but is not available in the new one. I miss the card key (although it didn't always work properly). The cup or can holder is positioned between the front seats and therefore useless to the driver (obviously don't want us to drink and drive). Finding the horn buttons in the centre of the steering wheel is taking some getting used to. I have to use a cable to connect my Tom Tom Go to the aux sockets in the glove compartment to get the commands and stored MP3 audio files over the car's audio system, but this does not pause the car's radio when the GPS gives directions.
Overall I'm extremely pleased with the car Read more
I wonder if a cars name puts you off it, I offer 'Clio' from the present and 'Cherry' from the past as ones I would be wary of as the Mickey taking would be loud and long from some people I know.
Any names put you off? mismaned ones spring to mind too like the 'Allegro' .....more like 'Adagio' Read more
Heard a similar thread to this one on the radio this morning.....the backroom is making news!
Does anyone know if this car has a cam belt or cam chain?
My past 2 mots/ services ive asked at the garage and they've said they don't know. I bought a manual off ebay but this says it could be either.
Ive done 65k and am a little worried it might snap. Read more
if its the 2.0 diesel....then its a belt. I know because i changed it on my car myself!
Hi, today i had the car running for about 30 mins or so while i cleaned it, then while i was waiting for the kids at school, i head this gurgling etc...looked at the temp gauge and it was at the top in the red!!!. Let the engine cool down for a while, and then drove home. Re filled the water up etc, but now the heater doesn't come on in the car??? Does this mean the thermostat has gone?? if so can i change it myself? or is could it be the relay..? Any help please---Merlin tec? Read more
Thanks so much for your advise. I will check that tomorrow. I did snap off a lug on the expantion tank and suck that back on with steel putty. It does not look like its leaking but I guess that could be it too if it was. The tanks was another £80 so I did not replace at the time.
I will let you know how I get on but thanks again.
Regards David, Warminster. Wilts
As a few of you might know, I bought a 1990 Jag XJ-S convertible earlier this year. This is stored in a garage for the classic car insurance stipulation, and this is a long single garage. The nights will soon be drawing in and the frosts will not be far behind so I am after some advice.
The garage itself is not attached to the house. It has a flat roof (timber with felt on the top with white gravel on that. It does not have any heating and is of single-skin white flint brick contruction. Stored in with the car are a few freezers and fridges that are used but which we do not have room in the house for. The is electric in there with couple of spare sockets.
The fridges / freezers get wet on the front in the depths of winter with condensation. I dare say the car might too (?).
I painted the garage floor with suitable floor paint (two coats) last weekend to keep the dust down, but now need to see what I need to do next as far as suitable storage is concerned.
Someone suggested one of those electric oil filled radiators set with a thermostat would be a good idea, but I guessed that with a non-insulated garage door, no cavity wall, etc that this would not have any influence on the general garage temperature and might well cost a fortune (mind you, if it cost say £100 in electricity a year and worked to prevent rot and rust I am happy with that). Is this a sensible option?
Could I insulate the normal up and over metal garage door with anything? What? Is there any point?
I would stress that I still plan to run the car on and off through the autumn and winter although only on dry days where possible as I know every car lasts better for being driven.
The car is being waxoyled as we speak and two small areas of rust on the wheel arches (that turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought) are being cut out and replaced with two new rear wings and resprayed. The paint on the whole car is going to be getting some very special polishing from a Porsche trained paint guy very soon too.
Do I store it with the roof up or down, windows open or closed and do I used a cotton car cover or a breathable outdoor car cover additionally?
Any tips and advice to look after my lovely toy would be appreciated!
Thanks. Read more
If you leave your windows open you'll get spiders and possibly mice in the car.
Spray your engine compartment with WD40 or similar
You can buy breathable car covers, I was looking at them for my convertible which I keep outside
I was involved in a bizarre accident a couple of weeks ago in which the vehicle ahead of me was halted by traffic congestion and inexplicably reversed at great speed into my car which was stationary. The errant driver is, I understand, 'trying it on' with her insurance company by saying that I drove into her. Fortunately an independent witness was on hand and has supported my version of events. Should further evidence be required by either insurance company would the fact that the airbags in my car failed to deploy, presumably because I was stationary, further support my case?
As an ancilliary question, at what speed in a head-on impact do air bags operate? Thanks in advance for any opinions. Read more
yes thinking about it you are indeed correct
Herself has just got her new Nissan Note 1.4 N-tec, bought with the help of scrapping my well used and abused but trusty and rusty 12.5 YO Daihatsu Sportrak which was getting to the stage of needing a lot of money spending on it. Our motoring needs have changed considerably now, no large dogs to destroy the insides, nor regular ferrying of children, now more transporting elderly MIL with wheelchair etc. Nor do I need any more the basic 4WD etc that the Sportrak had.
The story so far....
The choice was made solely by Herself although I did the initial work by looking around the numerous showrooms for potential candidates and obtaining a library full of brochures. The potential list was reduced to a handful of cars, NOT including the Note, as on seeing the Note's brochure it was declared a non-runner due to its looks.
On the designated day of inspecting new cars we happened to stop near the Nissan dealers, there being a group of dealers in close proximity to eachother. As we were passing we (she, to be more exact) decided to look in anyway, having almost dismissed the Mazda and Hyundai due to various degrees of unsuitability of their cars for her needs.
As soon as she sat in the Note it was declared a definate possibility so we went on our merry way to inspect other hopefuls. I must explain that Herself is not very confident at jumping into any car and driving it, she has to feel just right before she will entertain any form of progress in any car.
Having done the rounds of the rest of the dealers we returned home to discuss the day's work, reducing the list to just the Note and the Jazz. Test drives were organised and the Note won due to her being most happy at driving it. (Test drives in any other cars were declared unnecessary!) Fortunately reviews for the Note are positive and it ticked all of the boxes for her needs, so it now sits on the drive.
My initial thoughts are that it drives nicely enough, it is no racer but that is not what is needed, the comfort, space and access are what is required, some of the plastics and swtches are ....plasticky (!) but not too bad.
Will report again after a few months of ownership. The plan is that this car needs to last her until she can't or won't want to drive anymore, 10 years possibly, neither of us being spring chickens.
Read more
My wife and I took a Note 1.6 SVE for a test drive this week and the stories of noisy petrol engine is really not true it was so quiet, the seats were comfortable well the ride is a bit firm over bumps but no worse than any other car with our roads. also one thing when in a twisty section of road there was a rattling or vibration sound and the dash light came on the sales guy said it was the traction control working?? anyone throw light on that? apart from that its a cracking car. Plenty of "go" on the dual carriageway and okay in the small lanes great vision in front with a high seating and the windscreen is very flat but once you get used to it it is a better arrangement than a swept windscreen. Rear seats is loads of room I am 6ft but even with the front seats right back there is still plenty of room for my legs. hight is very good also as for 3 in the back? hmm well not too sure on thatits a bit tight. as the note is long and a bit narrow, but the road holding is very good for the shape of it.
A simple tool to remove the hdi injectors can be made by unscrewing the top of one of the injectors and welding the top to a slide hammer. Screw the top attached to the slide hammer back on to the injectors for removal and give them a thump. If they are very well stuck soak them overnight or longer with duck oil and give them a good whack on the sides with a hammer and bar to loosen the carbon build up - be careful not to hit the threads as you will have to screw the cap on to the top of the injector. (Sealey make a tool which is basically the same) - this will save you potentially hundreds of pounds. You may have to get some-one to hit the side of the injector as you pull on the slide hammer. Read more
A simple tool to remove the hdi injectors can be made by unscrewing the top of one of the injectors and welding the top to a slide hammer. Screw the top attached to the slide hammer back on to the injectors for removal and give them a thump. If they are very well stuck soak them overnight or longer with duck oil and give them a good whack on the sides with a hammer and bar to loosen the carbon build up - be careful not to hit the threads as you will have to screw the cap on to the top of the injector. (Sealey make a tool which is basically the same) - this will save you potentially hundreds of pounds. You may have to get some-one to hit the side of the injector as you pull on the slide hammer.
This tool will only work if your injectors are loose which most are not. i regularly apply a force of upto 20 tonnes to remove these injectors and have a 99% success rate. my company A P Autodiagnostics travells the whole of the uk removeing seized injectors for unsuspecting car owners day in day out. we work for garages rangeing from little back street to major dealers and also do jobs on peoples drives when nessesary.we cover most if not all common rail diesel engines and can also remove damaged injectors where threads have been tor off by previous attempts.hth Tony
Hi,
Now owning my first diesel, and with the approach of winter, I have no idea where I stand re putting anti-freeze in my Honda CRV 2.2 diesel?
I assume it does need diesel and will the bog-standard Halfords anti-freeze that I have been using be OK?
Or do I need to go and buy special 'diesel antifreeze' - if so what make, type and, a bit more dummies here, do I simply add the same amount I would do so for a petrol or is it all different in a diesel?
Thanks for the info and help,
T. Read more
Thanks all for your advice.
Spoke to Honda, apparently they do use a clear anti-freeze on their new cars. A new one on me but you live and learn.
i bought this stupid car a few weeks ago and found out almost straight away why it was for sale! i have the same problem as everyone else,
> stalling at junctions and roundabouts ect. when my clutch is in, revs drop right down and stalls and stalls with the clutch out in neutral.
> idles erratically.
> engine hesitates, jumps and splutters on acceleration.
> i got through half a tank of fuel on a 70 mile run, taking it no higher than 4000 rpm.
the car has only done 40,000 miles from new and had a service every year and its been very well looked after. looking through the cars history, i think its had this problem since 20,000 miles. this is an intermitent problem so its hard to find out exactly what it is but to try and fix it, it has had the following work done,
> new speed sensor at 20,000
> diognostics with nothing showing up
> services
> new iacv at 30,000
> another set of spark plugs last week as this idleing problem is causing excess carbon
> throttle housing removed by garage and body and valve cleaned (cant remember exactly what else he said he cleaned)
> the butterfly valve and idle adjusted last week by same garage.
i dont want to keep spending money on it until i know exactly what the problem is, but i think this is going to be very difficult if nothing is showing up on diognostics.
one person said it maybe the ecu, someone else said the wiring and the first man at the garage who checked the throttle said the valve has made a pit in the throttle body over time, so not enough air is getting through, hence the adjustment, but im still getting the problem, he said something about drilling, which i see you mentioned but i dont know which is the best course of action. would drilling fix it? or even if that is the only problem? as im also getting this acceleration problem, are they related? what is this clutch switch fix i saw on here?
i dont want to be ripped off by having to change all these parts, especially if it is just a sensor as i can change it myself, ive worked on cars before but never an engine, it a bit too much of a big job and take me a long time to check all of these possibilities myself when this would be the first engine ive worked on.
can anyone please help? Read more
it seems from what i have found that the iacv only lasts for 10.000 miles or there abouts
im on my third one since i have owned mine you can get them off fleabay for £20 new they are on there you have to look inside the shop sites to get them. and works for another 10 thou
.jpg)
The electrically controlled seat adjustments might help you here. In fact, when you turn off the engine, the driver's seat automatically moves backwards allowing for an easier exit from the car. It stays in this position for easy entry and then moves forward when you turn the ignition key.