September 2011
How do you remove a small 'ding' in a car door. Its not that deep and around 5cm squared. I was told that by using a hairdryer to create heat on the door will pop the dent out. Is this true or could anyone advise me of any other solutions? Read more
Just been reading the 2011 reliability survey on What Car and the top 10 is no surprise to anybody that its dominated by the Japanese and Koreans. With (in ascending order) Nissan, Kia, Hyundai, Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Lexus, Toyota and Honda making up the top ten. Honda recording only a 9% failure rate with apparently the 99-03 Accord being their worst performer but even that is in the top 10 for family cars.
What is surprising is that Citroen, Fiat and Peugeot, not firms renowned for reliability all ranked above BMW, VW, Volvo and Audi with Mercedes Benz languishing in 27th place.... Read more
Current cars:
Honda Jazz. 6 years old. No breakdowns. Did have a small problem selecting reverse gear, linkage sorted by dealer under warranty...
What is the time to change your car? Cars of today can last years with proper maintainance and the fact is that when you change the whole depreciation saga starts again. Whatever car you have its still going to require servicing etc. I'm certainly beenhanging on longer recently as I know the novelty of a new or newer car soon wears off with me. Still, I'm approaching the retirement age and the temptation to get new car to celebrate is very strong! Read more
All the above posts make excellent sense financially - but fortunately people still do buy new cars (or there wouldn't be any used ones around....). And they aren't all idiots.
The main reasons for buying new are:...
Method to remomove radio from fascia of this vehicle.
Car owned since new, recently had to replace batttery so lost radio code. Tried the code number given in the handbook, but it is incorrect so need to know serial No. of radio... Read more
Thank you elekie&a/cdoctor, as its not my car I will pass the gen on ,but I fear it will already be in the loving care of the local friendly Ford dealer.
We've done a thread like this before and out of it came my purchase of a Jaguar to satisfy that 7 year old boy inside of me who looked at pictures of the XJ and said 'one day i'll have a big Jag' its not an XJ but it'll do!
So does anybody have any plans to change car soon? Is Bobbin still looking to frighten Preston with a fast Nissan? Read more
Diesel or petrol? That is the question. Are diesel engines really more difficult, more problems with injection? A Megane? A Toyota Terra? Something for 2 people, good in bad weather, snow, ice etc. Preferably with fewer problems than the VW Tiguan. Suggestions?
Hello there. Thats a hard question to answer as its so broad but on the whole alot of modern diesels (last 5 years or so) have had problems with the DPF's and can be costly if they go wrong. Typically you'll pay extra to buy a diesel model so you need to weigh up whether your mileage will offset the extra cost in fuel savings, for alot of people it often doesnt. Some may prefer the responsiveness of a petrol, others may like the low down grunt and pull of a diesel. I dont know what your budget is but i'd steer clear of Megane's personally, fantastic safety ratings but ropey everywhere else. I had a Peugeot 406 which took on many miles in many feet of snow and won without a problem but as a standard rule a front wheel drive car is a better option than RWD, but obviously 4WD is best....
Hi all,
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been researching for the best option for my next car and I've had excellent recommendations on this forum. Based on these recommendations I decided to create an excel sheet to calculate the total cost of ownership (over 3 years) for different cars that I have considered. I’ve used actual available data (MPG, VED etc) and used prices for similar car specs (leather seats, SATNAV etc but not engine size) on Autotrader. This is just a little tool to help in my decision making and I thought to post it as a way of giving back to the forum for the excellent help to me and just in case someone else finds it useful.... Read more
Thats alot of money for what is essentially a big hatchback.
Hi, Can anybody please help. I have a 2002 ford focus 1800 TDCI. My fob wont work. I replaced the battery & got the fob tested, all ok & the key starts the car. I have tried reprogramming my fob to work the central locking. I get the first noise when i try to programme it, but i dont get the second noise & the light above the clock wont go into learning mode. After many hours looking on net i discovered that it may be GEM fault. I have been told to disconect this & clean it but not sure where it is exactly. It could be behind glove compartment. Can anybody please advise me or tell me what else the problem could be. Thanks in advance
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On the 24th of August at 22:00 hours my neighbours van rolled down the hill onto our parking bays and collided with my Jeep pushing it back into my wifes BMW, the police were called as it was alleged that someone had attempted to steal it.
They took his vehicle away for forensics however they have not found anything so have closed the case, my wife and I have approached our insurance companies HASTINGS DIRECT and esure to claim from my neighbour who is with SAGA, they are saying that because there is no suspect detained for this they are not to blame and we both have to clame from our own insurance companies.... Read more
Insurers have not used "Knock for Knock" for upwards of 15 years
My wifes trusty 1995 Astra 1.4 Auto has a reverse gear selection problem.
Sometimes occaisonally cant select reverse, mainly when cold starting. By running the gear stick down and up through the gears back into reverse with engine running seems to cure this and the car is then ok until next cold start. All other gears ok. Gearbox is showing as overfilled with fluid on the dip stick... Read more
hy, i have the same prob, have been told there are 2 switches somewere, 1 to tell the box it is in drive and 1 to tell it is in reverse, but they are both earthed and sometimes the earth wire is not connecting poply, so the box will not select, where they are i am not sure, also try the fuses sometimes if 1 goes this causes simular probs. hope this helps.
Did I miss a change in the law somewhere?
When did it become 'OK' to tow in the offisde lane of a 3 or 4 lane carriageway?... Read more
It's not permitted to tow a trailer in the outside lane of any MOTORWAY with 3 or more lanes - there's no equivalent restriction when towing on dual carriageways - where a motorway lane is designated for traffic to a particular destination then that lane doesn't count in the 3, ie extended slip roads. Goods vehicles 3.5-7.5 tonnes aren't banned if they're the older non-limited types.
I've only ever seen one HGV artic in the 3rd lane, a foreign truck on the M25 - but some "white vans" towing goods trailers do seem to think it doesn't apply to them....
