Hello all,

I have a rather confusing fault with a Micra.. The ECU went pop recently and after having it reconditioned the car drove fine for about 5 miles before the engine light came on and it went into limp home mode. Since then I've replaced the throttle pedal (fly-by-wire) and throttle body, re-synced them up but still to no avail! - It just won't rev past about 2.5-3k. The fan also seems to have stopped working for some reason!... Read more

I have just viewd a skoda octavia www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012104553...p

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The car has covered around 9000 miles from new when purchased in June of 2011.

On two occasions when starting from cold the engine failed to start on the first turn of the key. Turning the key again the engine does not fire and simply churns. This is very reminiscent of a flooded c arburretor. Keeping the key turned and depressing the accelerator fully eventually starts the engine. It then runs and starts normally.... Read more

Hi, I need a small car to get me 6 miles to my local railway station for commuting to work. I would like the car to last 2-3 years and cost no more than £2,000. I'm after something that is reliable, cheap to insure and run, and don't care about style or performance. Any suggestions? Read more

I have recently had a new shape A6 2.0 Tdi S-Line Multitronic on a 5 day extended test drive and here are my thoughts.

To put a bit of background to this, my company car is due for renewal and I had originally short listed a Merc E and a 5 series for test drives. Unfortunately the E has now been removed from my list so although I wasn’t that keen, I decided to drive an Audi as a comparison to the BMW 5 series. My ‘anti’ Audi stance stems from a new 2004 A4 Sport I had in the past. The suspension on that car was rock hard and I hated the car because of it. From what I have read, Audi S Lines and very hard suspension go hand in hand together so I have never considered them. That and the fact most Audi’s look boring in my eyes….

Anyway, I phoned the lease company and asked for an S-Line as I wanted the worst ride possible; to really see if this car can be acceptable for a family of four and be comfortable doing 30,000 miles per year.

The car was delivered to my home address and looking around it for the first time was a bittersweet moment. It looked fabulous; it was ‘muscular’ if that makes sense and much nicer up close and personal than photos or passing one on the motorway suggested. The ‘bitter’ part was the fact that the car had been delivered on optional 19” alloys rather than the standard 18”. This really would test the ride.

Anyway, once in the car, the quality just oozed throughout. Nice leather on very supportive and comfortable seats (manual rather than electric adjustment though) and a beautiful tactile feel to all the controls. I liked the way the sat-nav popped out of the dash but some of my friends didn’t. Each to their own.

Judgement time - driving it. Popped it into D and away we went.

The car was very quiet and very refined. Just what is needed on a long motorway drive. Surprisingly, it also handled considerably better than I was expecting for a big FWD car. Pressing on (dry roads admittedly), I felt no signs of under steer, something I was expecting from an Audi. The steering feel was poor but I think that is synonymous with all modern cars with electric power steering. I also think that all cars that I could get would also suffer with this lack of feel.

The ride was extraordinary. It just rode over the bumps and ridges. Yes, it was firm but never uncomfortable. Far more comfortable than my current Subaru Legacy diesel.

A definite tick in the box for ride, handling and NVH - what I need in the real world.

Performance was adequate I would suggest. In normal driving it hardly ever got above 2,000 RPM and always felt that it wasn’t even trying. On the motorway 80 MPH was a tad under 2,000 PM. However when you floored it, it was acceptable, nothing more. However, one big caveat that I would like to add is that the car had only done 500 miles and it did feel very tight. I would expect performance to improve as the miles pile on. Likewise economy was poor to average at an indicated 39MPG over 500 miles. This should also improve as the engine loosens up.

To those that think 39MPG from a large car with an auto box is good, please consider my driving is mostly motorway and I normally get very close to the official combined figure for most cars.

All in all, I was very impressed with the car. It is certainly high on my consideration list with the BMW 5. It is better equipped than the 5 SE spec that I can get but I suspect it won’t drive as well. However I think the driving experience between the two cars will be a lot closer that I initially thought, so the extra kit that the Audi comes with may well swing it.

A BMW 520d SE is delivered at the end of the month for a four day test so I’ll let you know my thoughts.

If you have any questions about the Audi, please ask and I’ll try to answer them.

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