November 2009
Hi
I want (or even need-ish) to buy a 4 x 4. However 70% of the time the car will be used by the missus for the school run. The remaining 30% of the time will be for carting our very large dog around and ensuring we don't get stuck in the snow and floods considering the location of our house.
We used to have a Frontera which kept breaking down, we then decided to agree with Greenpeace for a bit and have tried a Zafira. It's ok for the summer but no winter is kicking in I am not looking forward to it.
Anyway, I am considering a BMW X5 but was wondering if I could reduce running costs by having an LPG conversion done on it. Does anyone know how much this would change the MPG? Currently the 3.0 petrol model is 34.4 Extra urban and 20.6 Urban.
Also, any idea's how much a conversion would be and is it straight forward? Does it need to be done by BMW to ensure the timings and stuff in the car?
Any info would be good.
Thanks,
Adam Read more
What is the policy of those involved in business car use with regard to 5 decent sized guys being expected to travel long distances in a Focus for business meetings? Read more
I've mentioned elsewhere that after a long absence from corporate life I'm back in the thick of such an arrangement. I do recall though that the more trivial company policies were most rigourously enforced upon the least effective members of staff.
If you were any good you only had to pay lip service to such things. If you were very good it was more or less unnecessary to give them a second thought.
Things may have changed now though. I imagine any deviation from script would start all manner of internal email driven ping pong.
If your meeting has been completed I do hope it went well and if the ardous journey is yet to be undertaken in such reduced circumstances I believe flight socks can help.......
;-)
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www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/531111/PANASONIC...S
Good camera @ a Good price!
Another one for the list - thanks chaps.
Hi all,
I started my journey home tonight (30 miles) and noticed after a few minutes that the bit on the dashboard that tells you the engine is overheating had gone right past the red and off the end of the scale.
If I turn off the engine the needle goes back to the start, but as soon as I turn the key ( even one click so the engines not on) it shoots right back off the scale.
I drove home but kept stopping to check, the engine didn't feel any hotter than usual and the car drove as normal. The heaters are working fine too.
Any ideas what it might be.
Thank you for your time,
Lisa x
{year changed from 97 to 92 - OP made a typo error} Read more
Well, Ive looked, but I can't tell. Do any of you live in the West Midlands, I would rather pay one of you than someone I don't know!
Firstly thank you for reading this post.
I have a very ill trafic 2007 dci 115 6 speed. The day after a 2 year service at a main dealer (and a warranty replacment of the turbo) (total milage 12500)
The engine went "bang" on the motorway and put a rod through the engine.
According to the dealer service manager there is a hole the size of a fist in the engine and problems with shells/pistons (I am not at all technical so this means nothing to me). Renault are refusing warranty on the vehicle as the first years service was at an independent garage (who is now in liquidation and on my invoice it does not list the actual parts used so i can't prove genuine parts used) This garage did not stamp the service book which is my fault as i left it a home by mistake on day of service.
Unless I can obtain an invoice for a genuine oil filter and oil I need to pay for a new engine
In view of this does anyone know if it is possible to fit a Laguna diesel engine in a trafic. Various listings on ebay say this is the same engine.
Any advice on the engine or warranty side of things would be much much appreciated (as would any paperwork for a renault oil filter )
Thank you again Read more
thank you for this
I will issuing court proceedings in the next couple of days and let a judge decide
thanks again
Hi,
I work as a ski instructor in the winter. I've driven in the mountains a lot but I've never taken a car of my own to the mountains for the whole winter.
I was thinking of buying my brother-in-law's Range Rover. 1998, low mileage, 4.0 petrol. It's been well-maintained, so it seems like a good buy. However, somebody has put me off the idea as the car is an automatic.
He worked as a taxi driver for 20 years, and knows a fair bit about driving (well a lot more than me!!!), and said he wouldn't even consider an automatic in the mountains, as he says they are dangerous. I recall being able to have control of the gears whilst driving up steep sections is superb (would i feel so confident with an automatic?), but why dangerous?
Should I be concerned? Read more
Which country are these mountains in because if its Switzerland then you have to fit winter tyres which would probably cost more than the cars worth.
Despite having new blades (well 2k old) when its raining fairly heavy and need mt wipers on full it starts getting very squeeky as if the window is dry, if I turn down the wipers the noise stops but I can't see out.
What is causing this?
Read more
Get some old newspaper screw it up into a ball and rub the dry screen
as hard as you can until all of the silicon and unburnt diesel residue has..............
And then stand back and marvel at all those scratches you've put on your windscreen!!
Any hard rubbing with dry paper should be avoided but especially so unless you can be 100% sure that you are NOT going to pick up any hard debris skulking around the periphery of the glass as you do this unnecessary process. I might and onl, might, do this on a household piece of glass but NEVER on a windscreen (on any car I own, at least).
I recently saw two XK8s with jaguar mascots fitted to the middle of the bonnet. I thought they were no longer allowed. Read more
What about other external appendages, roof bars, bikes, skis, and IKEA furniture. they just sit a little further back.
And of course roo bars, not seen a wild kangaroo in the UK recently. :-)
Hi,
Sorry for the length of the tale...
Last week at 88k miles I had the cambelt changed at the main dealer who has serviced the car from new (May 04).
On collection, it drove ok until I needed to pull away quite quickly at a busy junction - it was very slow to pick up (like turbo-lag). I put this down to me not giving it enough right foot but noticed it again the following day. I was going to take it back to the dealer but that evening on a motorway run it suffered a chronic loss of power - any slight incline it could not maintain speed. I got off the motorway and found it was very feeble up to 2000rpm and then above 2000 it suffered sever juddering. I gave up and called the AA who recovered the vehicle to the dealer.
My assumption was that it was a timing issue but the dealer insists that they checked the timing, ECU etc and it was all correct. On further inspection, they found 2 cracked rocker arms which they have replaced. They have now given the car back with a clean bill of health and it seems to sound, feel and drive ok.
My questions are.....
What would cause 2 rockers to fail if it was not timing related?
What else might be damaged? and if there is anything, should I be asking for this to be checked out?
Whilst I'm very pleased that the dealer not even mention charging for the remedial work, am I being ungrateful/cynical in thinking there may be a hidden agenda here??
Having read some other posts in this forum relating to belt failures, I'm a little less anxious as it seems that if the rockers cracked as a result of a timing issue, they will presumably have saved any significant damage to pistons and valves.
Any comments will be welcome.
Thanks.
Read more
Considering the possibel downside I would consider an independent inspection and then go back to them with the list of faults. If you leave it too long and something goes bang you will have a BIG bill.
I have been considering an MX5 for a few years now, waiting for prices to drop, and now have the opportunity to buy a 2 year old folding hardtop, which is for sale locally from a private seller, as an early wedding present for ourselves.
I shall run it as my sole car, covering less than 10k miles pa, whilst the future SWMBO has a company Passat which we normally use at weekends.
Being of short arms and deep pockets, spending this kind of money brings me out in a cold sweat. I hate to waste the time of garages many miles away asking them for their 'best price' with no p/ex, so please can anyone here provide me with Glass's private sale price.
The spec is '57, 2.0 Sport 14k miles. One careful owner in excellent condition. I may well need to buy 2 or 4 new Bridgestone Potenzas, and shall have to fit a towbar! I appreciate that prices may fall further as we go into the winter months, but probably less so for this model. Read more
Haha no I'm not in an owner's club and I don't go on the MX-5 forums either; don't know why not!
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Try a disco 3 they just keep running.