November 2009

JH

tinyurl.com/yc9x499

Well at least it stops you talking on your phone while you're driving!

JH Read more

Ben 10

"So that's how you run yourself over."

Speak to Brian Harvey ;-)

cool4door60

Hi I have been a longtime visitor to this site and found it extremely useful for a number of things in the past I just hope you can help me now.

I took out a contract with a company to build me my dream car, I paid £1500 as a first payment and this secured me the car and got a V8 put it and the V5 in my name. I continue my payment plan as agreed and in total paid £4100 the car was due for completion August 15th this year, and the two subsequent dates after that came and went. The builder would not return my phone calls or emails I had to go to him with a surprise visit to get anything. I was given a car as part payment for a refund and a £1000 in cash. We agreed that if I sell the car the total be deducted from what was owed the car I got in part payment only sold for £1500 leaving me with a £1600 hole in my pocket. I have since found out the culprit has been doing this all his life taking money for cars and and not completing the work as promised. Alot of people are after him for money. I am at a loss as I spoke with a solicitor and theysaid small claims is the only way with this amount. I have spoke with people who have gone this route with this guy and even though they have won they have still not received the money years later.

I repeated asked for evidence of the work being carried out which all i received are texts to say everything is running smoothly, he told me it was in a paint shop and the painter takes ages sometimes with it but he has repeatedly ignored my requests for the paintshop location and details, I believe the car to be in his workshop but he stated it at the paint shop and has even texted me and said he is in a 2K debt for paint because of me asking for my money back. I asked for proof of the car being done as stated and I would give him back the money and a hand written apology he just said he doesnt have to proove anything to me. He has since all of this reported that I stole the car he gave me in part payment and that I have threatened him and he said he will sue me for slander and all kinds of stuff he even told the police I threatened to burn down his unit, he seems to be trying to use scare tactics so I wont pursue trying to get my cash back.

I spoke with the DVLA and they said I should fill out a V62 as they had no record of the V5 ever being applied for in my name even though he had said on lots of occassions its had been sent off so I paid the £25 and got the V5 through the post. I spoke with the police and they said I cannot report the car as stolen as I know where it is, but in truth I dont he has told me its int he paintshop but wont give any evidence it has been finished or its where abouts, could I report it stolen and get it recovered? I worried he will break the car to bits and sell it on ebay as he has done with other peoples in the past?

Any help with this would be very much appreciated as I am tearing my hair out.

Cheers
Paul Read more

Altea Ego

Have you actually ever seen this car? I doubt it exists.

L'escargot

In this country Hyundai generally gets pronounced high-und-eye. Recently on an American TV programme they pronounced it "hunday". How does the manufacturer pronounce it? Read more

mike hannon

With any luck I'll never have to say the word Hyundai in public.
It always strikes me as a bit interesting that, in the beginning, we had Japanese imports called simple things like Honda and Mazda, and pronunciation wasn't really an issue. Then - as capitalism did its usual thing - odder names appeared from places like Korea: Hyundai, Ssangyong, etc.
Fortunately, I probably won't live long enough to have to get used to whatever the Chinese come up with...

Citywhizkid

Good morning

Why is it that new car manufacturers like Hyundai offer a 5 year warranty, Honda 3yr & 90K, Merc only 3 yr but unlimited mileage. Why the varaince between car co's if Hyundai can offer 5 years why not MB, BMW and Audi?

Rgds,
Read more

Falkirk Bairn

It's all to do with marketing, pricing and faith in your product.

It is not that long ago that 12 months or 12,000 miles was the standard.

Japanese upped the warranties mostly to 3 years - European cos still offer less - Peugeot, Ford etc were 2 years + 12 months free insurance based cover (less comprehensive).

Even then you have to look deeper some parts such as AC/CC/ICE/Battery are less than the rest of the car.

cheddar

The trusty Mondeo has climate control, brilliant, set the temp and it reaches it quickly and holds it. The principal is that it maintains the temp of the air in the car.

The FocuST has aircon, the principal is to maintain the temp of the air coming into the car which if you want a steady stream of warm air on your feet makes sense.

Also it is easier to reach and turn a knob to turn the fan speed or temp up and down than to hold your finger on a button however the push button distribution of the climate system offers more combinations of active/inactive vents.

Not sure I would pay much extra for climate control should it be an option in the future though.

Read more

cheddar

Lots of interesting comments, yes the Mondeo climate does work a treat, you can set it and forget it though perhaps I am a control freak, I like fiddling with the FocuST's knobs.

tommy201

hi guys, about a fortnight ago my bmw stopped, it was diagognosed as a fuel pump problem. i had the injectors and pump refurbished at the factory. ive rebuild it and starts on the button. but at idle it is very erratic. slight touch of throttle and it evens out about 1000rpm. ive checked all the usual suspects but obviously im missing something. it sounds like it might be pulling in some air somewere. anybody any suggestions? thanks Read more

tommy201

hi dynamic dave, the year is 2001

{Edited in for you}

1400ted

A bit different, this one.

tinyurl.com/l23l64

Ted Read more

dieseldogg

Ould cynic that I am
that should be an Olympic sport
way
way ahead of beach vollyball

carefuldriver

my son is having problems selectecting gears on his fiesta 1.25 zetec t reg it sometimes goes into gears 1 and 2 but very difficult to select anything else , have tried it with car running but no better we had a new clutch and slave cylinder fitted about 1 month ago was fine but just started playing up today any ideas ??

{Moves to Technical Matters} Read more

bell boy

the linkage to gearbox might have moved
1 minute fix on a ramp
take it back

moonshine

"The Dutch government approved a bill on Friday that will implement a new per-kilometer-tax on drivers. Beginning in 2012 the law will abolish current road taxes and sales taxes for automobiles, cutting the cost of a new car by 25 percent, in favor of the pro-rated distance tax.

Drivers will be charged 0.03 euros per kilometer (7 cents US per mile) in an attempt to reduce traffic jams fatal accidents and carbon emissions.

The tax will increase every year until 2018, when it will cost 6.7 cents per kilometer to drive in Holland."

www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4893141,00.html


Scary stuff if you ask me. Lets hope it never makes it over here. Completely pointless and we already have a perfect tax in place - fuel duty. Read more

Snakey

attempt to reduce traffic jams fatal accidents and carbon emissions.


As soon as I see that carbon emissions phrase I know my wallet is about to get hit! Maybe its only Holland at the minute but our greedy government must be looking closely at this scheme.
plonker

Over the years I have always kept a check on fuel consumption of my car based on trip mileage and brim to brim fuel usage. I continue to do that now with a 16 month old Jazz which I have just bought with about 6,000 miles on the clock. When I filled up today I worked out the fuel consumption as 44.2 compared to the computer read out of 51.1.
Can anyone comment on the accuracy of the fuel meter reading in a Jazz. Is this just par for the course? Read more

Pugugly

Trading Standards raided our village garage the other week - there have been some suspiciously cheap deals to pull the punters in on non-fuel lines as well.