January 2010
As in the dolts who insist in walking behind the bumper throught the narrowing gap when one is reverse parking, it is unfortunately almost impossible to see them in time, depending on their timing.
Any thoughts? Read more
Around 1980 or so, Mrs. K and I were on a weekend break in Cape Town when we parked up outside a used car showroom on Adderley St. Parked at the side was a 365 GTB/4.
The blue paintwork was faded and the black leather interior had some sun damage. The salesman explained that it had just arrived and it would be resprayed and re-trimmed before sale. It had one previous owner, had done just under 20k kms and had been serviced a few months earlier. When I explained that we lived over 800km away he offered to sell it unsorted to drive away. His asking price was R12,000 (about £7K).
Reasoning that a V12 Ferrari, even as a toy, in the Namib Desert was an invitation for a whole lot of grief and expense I managed to talk myself out of it.
Fast forward to 1990 and we're living near Basingstoke, a very easy cultural transition.
We're looking for another weekend toy and a guy near Guildford had a Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV for sale. It was a complete beast that flexed the bodywork when you touched the throttle despite all the channel-iron strutbraces. Pretty good dark red paintwork but the white vinyl interior needed work. I thought it was overpriced at £10k but the seller wouldn't budge so I walked away.
Each of them would be well over £100K today.
Are there any bigger fools out there?
Kevin... Read more
Yes, but what a way to go :-D
I have ridden one and the handling isn't THAT bad ... certainly not as bad as the legend.
You just have to remember to do only one thing at a time. Brake - Turn - Accelerate, in that order. If you try and combine any of these actions, THAT's when it bites you ...
So, how come Kia et al can offer a seven year warranty on their cars, but the best you get with any so called "prestige" car (which they punt as better built and more reliable) is 3 years or 60,000 miles? Read more
In that case at the current price Ford cars should come with a ten year
warranty at the present price. Of course they never will as fleets don't mind.
Fleets get ford and gm cars at something like 60% of their list price to the private punter. The few private buyers of new ford cars are subsidising the fleet buyers.
As for parts prices we've had 5 Korean and Japanese cars in the family over
the last couple of decades. Except service items and three light bulbs we've never bought
any parts.
Yes, its a fair point. But when you need a non-service part they can really burn you. We recently had to get a idle air control valve for an MX5. Dealer price was over £700!! We located a used one for £50 but when fitted it didnt work properly. The customer was desperate for the car so had to go with the dealer part. Simiarly an abs unit for an out of warranty hyundai couple was about £2500. The customer took the car away and was going to use it without abs until MoT due and then try to find a salvage part.
Warning - the following link shows a corvette being painfully abused!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ6atGhmVU8
So what went wrong? My guess is that he held the brakes too hard and didn't bring the clutch up quick enough. But there are some other possible causes - tracton control? super duper grippy tyres? LSD? faulty clutch?
What do you think? - no need for comments about the stupidity of what the guy did, I think he already knows that :) Read more
From the way they're carefully positioning it at the start, it looks like they've poured some liquid on the road. The local chavs are doing this, with oil, at a roundabout - several accidents have happened as a result.
Is anyone able to recommend a transmission shop, ideally Midlands or SE, for diagnostics and rebuild of my automatic transmission? Also, how much would you expect to pay for a rebuild? - this seems to vary widely between the different companies that I found on google and contacted. Many Thanks. Chris. Read more
Try Derek King (Littlethorpe, Leicestershire). He's a FATE member and been in the game since I was a lad. These subaru boxes are a bit odd. Cost depends on whats wrong with it, but assuming its not a write off then reckon on not much change from £1.2k for a full rebuild. Less if there is less wrong with it. If the car is driveable then take it to him so he can test drive and diagnose before stripping it down.
Every year just before Christmas, the government usually launches, with much publicity, their seasonal anti drink drive advertising campaign.
This seemed to pass me by this year. I don't recall the usual fanfare or the adverts in the press or on TV. If there was such a campaign, I missed it, so did anyone else?
I heard a report that DD figures were up for Christmas 2009, can anyone back this up. Read more
The problem with spammers is they haven't the foggiest notion of what sort of website they are spamming.
Once a business that uses spam is known on a site like this it's not just that regular users will ignore them, they will go out of their way to never use that product or service ever and let others know too to avoid, talk about shoot yourself in the foot.
The car is making a loud noise when it's cold when steering which goes once the car has got warm. I have also noticed that the power steering fluid is low but do not know which one to use as i do not have the car manual. please help Read more
Generally speaking, and I may have to stand corrected, but power steering fluid is the same as , and interchangeable, with ATF, ie automatic transmission fluid - usually coloured red. The noise you hear is probably the pump's hydraulics gurgling with air.
If the fluid is really low, after topping it up, you should bleed the system by starting the engine then turning the steering wheel from lock to lock three times. Then top as as required.
Just wondering if anyone has seen this before...
Twice in the last year I've had front wheel punctures while using a local automatic car wash. Both times I found a screw (with washer) embedded perfectly in the tire. The washer presumably there to keep the screw pointing upright as I drove over it.
Considering the close proximity of two tire fitters, it seems an easy way to generate customers! Read more
OP
have you considered the other more realistic possibilities?
EG: Some one hates your guts and is placing these screws with washers outside your home/drive?
Our son who drive a nice 4x4 (won't say which as people may be able to work out who i am) had 3 punctures within 2 weeks. The first was a key, yale type that had been filed at an angle and placed in front of the rear tyre - the RAC bloke said he'd seen it before and our son thought it was kids. 2nd puncture a screw in tyre - son felt it was bad luck at £230 a tyre plus the hassel. Then the third, luckily he was able to get it repaired. Since he's found screws twic on this drive and the kerb in front of his drive - no builders/etc been around. He has worked out that it must be people across the road as he told them to move their van twice as it was encroaching his drive and making it dangerous for him to drive out. These people made snide comments but unless he is 100% certain he won't deal with them. These people live in a property worth approx £500,000 but is paid for by the social via rental agreement as its a large family.
So OP, check around your car before you move.
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sorry, just noted your last post - but worth remembering nevertheless
I need to get to Deighton (north hudderfield) and I've been given alternative routes. The AA and RAC websites say turn off at M1 J38 or J40 which seems the quickest route. But my Tomtom says go all the way up to the M62 and around and then turn off at J25 which seems a bit of a trek to me. But I've been advised to take this route because it is much quicker than taking the A roads and having to go through small towns and villages if I turn off at the M1. I was was very tempted to leave the M1 at j38 but now I'm not so sure. If travelling more miles up to the m62 means it is quicker or less stressful, I would prefer to do that. Read more
6 of one, half a dozen of the other. I come from Brighouse and have done this journey more times than I could remember.
With me it depends how I feel as I approach J38, but for Deighton the cross country route would get it most times. It's a pleasant enough wend through Flockton and if you go straight across the A642 at Grange Moor you'll find your way down to Bradley which is close to Deighton - no need to pass through Huddersfield.
It's over twice as far from J38 via the M1 & M62 - 27m v. 13m - but about the same time with a clear motorway.
The advice to use the M621 is mistaken as a glance at a map will tell you - that just makes it longer still.
If you use the M62 leave at J25, not 24.
Ainley Top is a different case - used to live about a mile from there as well - the M62 goes directly to it so no contest.
Can you use the key to manually unlock the drivers door of a few months olf Golf VI? I can't find the key hole but the manual keeps referring to one. The driver's door will not unlock by remote so I want to try the key. Thanks Read more
Take a close look at the plastic painted trim that covers the (normal) position of the key barrel,on the underside is a small rectangular slot.Use the key blade to unclip the cover to access the key hole.hth
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Hooligan!
;-)