November 2009
My 53 plate Ford Focus was wrote off 3 weeks ago (some mad woman took me out)
I have received £3300 (less my £100 excess which another company is trying to claim back). I am a bit 'off' Ford's now. I have been looking since last Friday and there just doesn't seem to be much out there suitable. Basically my wants are no older than 5 years, no bigger than 1.4 engine, no more than 60K miles, and we can probably go up to £3500.
I do like Seat Leon's but the nearest is 55 miles away. I don't want a Punto or any Fiat to be honest.
Any recommendations please?? I am in Manchester
thanks
debra
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Over the last year my Council have implemented a large variety of 20mph speed limits in residential areas. In my own street, it would be difficult to reach 15mph but they still went ahead with the signage, markings etc.
However I have just read a report in my local paper re the Council's finances and there is a tiny comment under proposed savings that implies a saving of over £200k for not having to grit 20mph limit roads.
Am I smelling a big rat here? Are there legal rules of what roads needs to be gritted and what doesn't? Read more
Why did the ambulance driver not acess this risk before he turned in
they could have carried the stretcher/ is it not on wheels? therefore pushed up to the ambulance
yes?
jat
M
Been told about this by a relative, does it happen or is it an urban myth with the car no more likely to be attacked than any other new car???
Cheers all. Read more
Sad tale that Derfel, a blokes passion, hobby call it what you will totally destroyed by a worthless plank.
Things like this will never end until vandals/criminals are made to pay back every penny of damage that they cause and a percentage on top for compensation.
And pigs might fly.
First truthful (easy tiger) politician that gurantee's it gets my vote.
The only "motoring" link is the use of buses, but this is amusing:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8354358.stm
National Rail are using coaches to get staff to a conference. The trains are too expensive!
And we're all meant to ditch the car and use public transport but we all know trains are expensive. Ironic that Network Rail think they can be too expensive too ;-) Read more
But that's a "Costly Street". Not the town of Costly ;-) Not a manageable walk from Glasgow though.
Backroomers, I'm on the cusp of buying a new Skoda Octavia vRS Diesel. Anyone got any experience of this car, or indeed it's new common rail 170 engine as used in the Mk6 Golf GTD I believe)?? Read more
The PD engine will indeed match and outrun most CR engines in terms of specific
fuel consumption.
My experience of the 170PD was that it was very thirsty, both for expensive VAG 507 oil and diesel - 40ish mpg average over 32K miles and I changed my driving style as a result - 'mimsing' at below 70mph on motorways etc. By comparison my 330d BMW gets 45+mpg without any associated 'mimsing'.... The 170PD had awful power / torque delivery characteristics too imho, not sure if that's a characteristic shared with it's PD brethren ?
I never had any discernible problems with the DPF though and only remember it regenerating once when the car was a few days old - it smelt awful, in fact the exhaust always smelt awful, kinda sickly sweet. The CR BMW (or SWMBO's CTDi Civic) by comparison don't smell too bad.
I know from numerous people that non DPF PD engines can be good (if gruff), the 1.9 130PD in particular I think ?
I'll admit to being a vociferous critic of the 170PD now - It certainly cost Audi a sale when I came to change anyhow....
Hey everyone, i have posted previously about the problem im having with my Mazda 6 2008. To cut a long story short the problem i had of the car over-accelerating on it's own was appartently due to a DPF problem which let diesel in the oil.
I had my full oil test report back today, my self & the garage were stunned at the result.
Analysis: Diesel Dilution testing Result: 62 Units: %
I had to make sure with the testing company that they never made a mistake with the readings, they assured me that there is 62% diesel mixed with the engine oil.
What do you guys think about this? By the way, i'm unable to drive my car because i wouldnt anyway with that much diesel in & it's too dangerous (over 5 months now)
Any thoughts would be great as it all helps my supporting case. Read more
Every month this engine runs like that is probably doing a year's worth of wear. I would demand a new engine. If you were to put diesel into the oil filler by accident, they would say "Sorry you've voided your warranty" so you have suffered considerable consequential damage as a result of the fault.
I was inspired to start this thread by Armitage Shanks who posted recently on the current situation in France. Firstly may i say having done both the Hull to Zeebrugge trip and Dover to Calais many times, coming from East Yorkshire i have now favoured the route to Zeebrugge. I take the car, what we do is wait while P&O have their 2 for 1 offers on. That means 2 people get 2 nights on ferry with a day to do what you want on the continent it also includes taking the car. from Zeebrugge the world is your oyster, Calais 50mins away, Lille 40mins away, Ostend 15mins. We always book an evening meal on the overnight trip thats about £15 each way. When we went earlier this year i didn't realise things would be closed, but not the beer n wine places in Calais. So we drove there no problem all motorway easy access to calais hypermarkets. We went to Pidou and Majestic. I downloaded thier French store price list and studdied it before purchasing when getting thier. If you were to order £300 of goods prior to arrival they will even give you a free ferry crossing from Dover via seafrance or the equivilent in money. So thats worth knowing and quite a saving. On the way back to Zeebrugge we first stopped at a place called adinkerk got some baccy, then on to Ostend. What a pleasant suprise this was, i never expected it to be so big well worth a visit. Previous trips from Zeebrugge i have been to Lille and that was brill as well parking right in the city centre in what appeared to be a huge underground car park below the Eurolille centre. i think there are still savings to be made for 1 duty free on the boat and remember the french don't pay as much in alcohol tax as us so i would say it is definately worth the trip to take the car enjoy some motoring on the continent. If in Calais have a look at the Majestic price list they have some very good offers on. From East Yorks obviously i save a fortune on Diesal not travelling to Dover, never mind the 5 hours or so trip and the major risk of getting points on licence (speeding). However i have enjoyed my trips to Cite Europe from Dover by the ferry and like Armitage have used the massive Carrefour there. For sure the beer and wine is cheaper in Both Tesco and Carrefour even at todays current exchange rates. I keep promising myself i am going to do Zeebrugge to the Champagne region i am told it only takes an hour and a half , does anyone know that to be true , anyone done that trip let me know. I am also considering the Brittany ferries route to spain going to Santander and driving to the Rioja region anyone done that. The write ups say the food on the Brittany ferries very good. Read more
Paulvm:- Thank you kindly for this info. Yes you do what we do when on the Hull-Zeebrugge route. Always a meal in restraunt in the evening, then breakfast is usually a coffee and croissant. Ready to be called to disembark. Well i have to say i didn't expect such a short distance or Journey time, will definately do this trip. Should be a really comfortable trip in the CRV. I know Lay & Wheeler well and over the years have purchased from them, i shall have a look. Ive seen pics of that hotel at Marques de Riscal impressive. It will be a while before i go but i will definately use this valuable information you have given thanks a million. What i would like to say on the spain issue is. Many people go to Salou on Holiday. A few years ago i looked at the wine producing areas around here. You are spoilt for choice. The penedes, Priorat, Tarrogona all just on the outskirts of Salou. On our last visit we went to Villafranca and visited the famous Torres vineyard. You get the usual tasting at the end, but what made the visit special is the stuff you can by in the shop. Vintages, varietals not easily obtainable elsewhere. Hope this serves you well.
Saw an odd thing while changing the front pads and discs at the front this morning.
With the car jacked up and both road-wheels off, I started the engine. The front driveshafts, discs and hubs all spun around slowly forward for about 5 seconds before stopping! And it wasn't in gear.
Anyone have any ideas why this would happen?
thanks- Read more
Thats very interesting, thanks to you both. I normally press the clutch in, so have never seen this.
iam currently in the process of having my car assessed for repair as a non fault claim. the fault driver originally wanted to pay for my car to be repaired to avoid affecting his long no claims.
after getting a number of quotes from countless body shops the average seemed to be around the £1,200 mark, needless to say the fault driver quickly changed his mind and opted for the insurance route.
at this point i am still waiting to here back from the insurance assessor regarding his valuation of repair.
it has taken a while and iam now worried that they may go down the right off route due to the age of the car. the car in question is a 1999 Peugeot 406 T.D with 66.000 miles and a full service history.
which in my mind is still a serviceable vehicle with a hell of alot more motoring and miles ahead of it. regardless of this though most people I've spoken to about this have stated that it will probably be written off by the assessor due to its age.
I've heard people talk about buying the car back off the insurance company (if this is indeed possible) and can i ask for more than they are offering for a settlement if i think that it is not acceptable??
having never had a car written off i really don't know what my rights are regarding this and would appreciate any advice.
thanks all. Read more
To buy another car like yours will cost you 1600 - 1700 quid. There is your target.
A colleague and I are planning a 10 day demo trip to northern Germany next month. It's just occured to us that most cars in Germany run on winter tyres at this time of year, but obviously our company van is on normal UK spec rubber.
What's the reality of the situation? Are we likely to have any problems over there? Should we be thinking of hiring something more suitable, or do we just need to be careful? Do we need chains? Thoughts welcome... Read more
I'm writing this mail from my temporary apartment in Hamburg. It's wet and windy here, but no snow. There is no legal requirement in Germany to have winter tyres based on the time of year but there is a legal requirement to have tyres suitable for the conditions. In practice the climate in northern Germany is much more temperate than in the South and winter tyres are not so widespread here.
In Austria you legally have to have winter tyres fitted from the beginning of November to the end of March and snow chains are considered an enhancement to winter tyres, not a replacement.
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Focuses are available in abundance, cheap to service and repair, cheap to insure, and there are lots of Ford dealers. And they are nice cars. No contest.