December 2009
I am in the market for a big estate car in the £18-20k range, and am facing that classic dilema: Do I go for a nearly new mass-market car (Mondeo) or do I go for a 3-year old or so prestige car (E-class).
I want a diesel auto and like my toys. A nearly-new Mondeo Titanium estate would fit the bill and my test of one bore out the positive road tests that one reads. At £15k below list with only a few thousand miles, it makes financial sense. But at the end of the day there is no escaping the fact that it is 'only' a fwd 4-cylinder car.
Alternatively I could get another 6-cylinder E-class estate (had one before). It will be older with more miles, less economical, more expensive to maintain, etc. But will be quicker, smoother, have rwd and maybe more satisfying than a Mondeo.
Tried an A6 Avant but didn't like it. Don't fancy a BMW. Mondeo seems to be the best of the mass-market fwd cars.
Head says Mondeo, heart says Merc. What would an educated BRer chose? Read more
BBC reporting that Westminster and some other councils are saying that as 26 Dec is on a Saturday so it is NOT a bank holiday so parking wardens have a free run. Read more
Can someone tell how 29-31 Dec is treated for parking point of view?
All buses and trains follow Saturday/Sunday timetable during this time.
I have just had the call - "Dad I can't get reverse gear". Apparently No2 daughter can select all forward gears and the car moves forward but reverse can not be selected, described as "It just goes into 6th". Any help appreciated. Read more
Good point, I spoke to daughter this afternoon and she says the gearchange feels "lighter".
I suspect it has been set up or adjusted.
It'll be very interesting to see this, and I wonder if manufacturers will make efforts to avoid failures?
I've complained before about my daughter's SEAT Ibiza miserably failing MOT at 4yrs/34K miles and I told SEAT UK that they should be embarrased. It seemed they couldn't care less but perhaps the data being published will change things.
Maybe franchised dealers will do pre-MOTs again to minimise the failure rate - garages are supposed to MOT the car as presented to them. Read more
good post WT i had a car fail the test this week and as i pay a trade fee my cars usually pass first time as i check them prior to taking them
we had a good laugh that i had missed a broken spring but more importantly im the only trader that checks his cars prior to them ,this i found shocking as they deal with both small traders and main agent dealers ,i really cant see the point in taking a car unchecked but i just put it down to the fact that they will only do the minimum work needed whether as a trade retail sale or even for a customer that dropped it off at the main agent
its now only the proper one man band places that seem to grease brake pipes etc at every service and give cars a full pre mot check prior to driving them to the mot station
a very slack approach in my book but unfortunately even ive started taking this approach because if i grease the pipes up the customer sometimes thinks im trying to hide something and so ive stopped bothering this year to save my customers bigger bills in years to come with my own preventative maintenance and im saving money on grease and paint and underseal if needed.
sad but true
Do you wash your car or get someone else to?
Up here in leeds there just seems to be a car wash everywhere on old petrol station forecourts.
The queue is massive at £5.00 for a car standard wash spray some detergent on the wheels,bumper,lights, then moves onto the guy with pressure washer & sponge, then to drying off.
Personally i prefer to wash mine due to me been a tight git & i don't care wash it with cold water let it soak while filling up bucket with soap/wax mix then wash with sponge rinse off again with hose pipe.
In the summer i wash it every 10 days in winter about every 6-8 weeks.
I know some can't wash there own but are we been lazy or am i just tight as a camels bits in a sandstorm? Read more
never trust the shopping channels they use tricks to show cleaning products and equipment in a good light.
for example tile grout cleaners are used on fresh new grout thats been coated with clear nail polish and the dirt is then applied to that, a damp cloth will do the same as the product they are demonstrating under those circumstances, they probably do the same with any other cleaning gear
I have a H reg 1990 ford escort 1.3cc.
The car appeared to be faulty amd was kind of misfiring when trying to accelerate and at a contant speed.
Also from stand still it struggkled when accelerating.
The car broke down yeasterday and everytime it was started and I tried to accelerate it dies.
It seems as if it is misfiring. I have changed the spark plugs and it still not resolved the ptroblem.
Any other ideas what may be wrong guys ?
kind regards
Delysher 37
{Shouting in header silenced} Read more
It will be electronic ignition but might require new leads you say plugs are new is there a gap no electrode bent?
Might be damp in cap try new cap and rotar arm.
If still misfiring then do a compression check but try basics first...........
Hi
The nearside headlight on my MX-5 is intermittently working. The police pulled me over for it yesterday and yet later in the day it was fine. When it was not working both the small side light bulbs in the headlight were ok but the main bulb was not on. When I drove home from work I checked....it was off at the start of the journey yet working when I got home 5 miles later. There is no problem with the offside headlight.
Could this conceivably be a problem with the bulb that replacing it might fix or is it likely a loose electrical connection which is a worry as these things I expect are difficult to diagnose.
Cheers Read more
I would be looking at a dirty connection onto the bulb or a bad earth. Unplugging the connector to the bulb and cleaning the contacts would be my first job. I would remove the bulb from the lamp, plug it into the connector, turn the light on and waggle the bulb about to see if it went off. (Keep hands off the glass part of the bulb, it'll get v hot).
I'm assuming that yours is the fixed headlight mark 2a, not pop up headlights. If it's pop ups then the security of the loom would be my next port of call.
Morning all, bit of a problem, when i first start the truck up in the morning, doesnt matter if its hot or cold outside, i have very little power until the engine is up to normal running temp and even then it still feels lumpy acceleration until the turbo kicks in. Feels like its missing.
Any ideas??? Read more
is it the common rail diesel model ? if it is the oil pressure is critical when cold as it controls the injection pressure. If the wrong oil is put into these engines they loose all power when cold.
I have just purchased a 2nd hand 06 Focus Sport and am very happy with the car. However, there is one thing that is bugging me. When I "wind" down the front electric windows on both sides of the car the rubbers are not touching the window so they do not clear of mist or rain on the outside. I have tried winding the windows completely down and pushing the rubber back in place with my finger. The windows then clear perfectly on the way back up, but as soon as fully closed the rubber is pushed back out of place and on the next open/close they do not clear again. Is anybody else experiencing this problem and is there an easy DIY fix? Read more
My '02 Focus mk1, did clear the windows nicely with the open/close method. My present '06 C-max, and previous '03 Fusion do/did not, and have a much cheaper quality feel to the mechanism too. Something which seems simple, but can be quite annoying.
Browse
After a few more tests, I had a go in a 2-year old E280CDI Estate with a few toys (Comand, leather, phone wiring) and 37k on the clock for half the price of a new one. It went very nicely, had room for the kids and fitted 'like a glove'. Deal done!