October 2012
My beloved Fourtrak is now 16 years old and developing a few issues. I hope to keep her a bit longer but am starting to think about a replacement after many happy years together. I would want a traditionally -shaped 4x4, not the Warrier truck shaped ones, with good reliability and no worse MPG than the Fourtrak, which is pretty good (2.8tdi). I need something to tow my trailer with 2 largish horses in (c600-700k each) and as good a turning circle as possible. Would want something good off road but doesn't have to be refined on road as I will have a runabout car too. Real shame the Fourtrak isnt made any more..Any suggestions appreciated thanks :) Read more
Over the last few days my Fourtrak has started to take longer turning over than usual before she fires up, I have also noticed that the glow plug light hasn't come on every time. I am not technical so will be booking her in to the garage asap but would be interested in any thoughts as to what it might be, whether it could deteriorate fast and leave me stranded and whether it is likely to be very expensive. Thanks for reading. Read more
Ah just read the Xantia post, about the glow plugs sounds similar! hought it was the battery initially..Fingers crossed its not too expensive she is an OAP now! She is losing coolent (sp) slowly now also, could be tricky to trace?
Has any one else here had a problem with a Manufacturer refusing to pay for work done outside of their dealership chain under warranty and then not paying for it.
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Can you imagine what would happen if independants were allowed to carry out warranty repairs. Most would no doubt do a genuine repair but there are more than enough sharks out there to wreck the system. They would be sending in dishonest claims left right and centre. Even franchised dealers have to get approval for repairs if they are over a certain amount.
Hello all - I am new to the site but I am looking for some help.
Me and my wife had our Astra stolen 18months ago. A very very long story short, the Insurance refused to pay us because there wasn’t enough theft damage. The steering column had minor damage, but not enough to suggest it was tampered with. No windows broke etc etc. The car was found a few miles away battered and was written off.
We made our claim, got the police involved. We have no no-claims to lose out on, we are fully comp. The police found finger prints and blood in the car that doesn’t belong to family, friends or me or my wife. But the insurance still didn’t pay out. We appealed to he Ombudsman and we found out today, 18 months later, that the diagnostics of the car show a 3rd key exists for the car (mine set and my wifes set was handed in to the police) the diagnostics also show one of our keys were the last to be used in the car and so on the basis of ‘probability’ the ombudsman is siding with the insurer.
I’m looking for some help. Can my 54plate Astra be stolen without a key? Could it be started and driven away without a key? I guess we are just unlucky that we got our car stolen by an expert and they then crashed the car, but we are so lost for what to do. We are going to take the matter to a small claims court, but we’re keen to avoid the cost of it. We took legal cover with the insurance, but it's with the same company as the car insurance (or the underwriters are the same) so they aren’t prepared to help us, so we’ll have to pay for it ourselves.
Any help will be very much appreciated. Read more
Can my 54plate Astra be stolen without a key?
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Do any of the Ford services (i.e. 20k 50k 100k) involve chnaging the Cambelt?
I just bought a 2007 Ford Focus 2.0 GHIA TDCI (136) DuraTorq [FSH], and wondered if any of the services it's had (all from Ford dealers) would include a cambelt change? Read more
Ah, ok, thank you, better get that booked soon the ;)
Hello All,
Long time no post, but I'm looking at perhaps leasing a Fiesta Zetec S TDCI for a very attaractive £122 + some vat with a £1k deposit and I wondered if there are any owners out there who have any comments?... Read more
Get a Mazda MX-5. Then there is no screaming and it runs very nicely at all speeds...... ;-)
Nice but expensive, like for like the new Leon offers the same or more spec for much less money, yes it's got a spanish badge not the vw circle but I'll save the cash and have the more youthful spaniard thanks Read more
With the announcement of the two additions to the Civic range, Honda has said that the next generation Jazz (due in 2014) will be built outside of Europe.
I know the first generation Jazz for the European market was built mainly in Japan, and also for the last year or so in China. Can't imagine that with the unfavourable exchange rate between the Yen and European currencies, that they will be importing from Japan.... Read more
www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-w...d
Interesting reading. Especially for the disciples of the "bigger tyre=bigger contact area=bigger grip" school.... Read more
Its rubbish in the same way my dads xj6 is rubbish, rolling smoothness is good, as is low frequency ride, speedbumps etc, however high frequency/rapid impacts to the wheels not great, the damping isnt up to it, soft springs, soft dampers and soft, tall tyres that exaggerate it cant react quickly enough and it creates a pitching and rolling, wobbly sensation that doesnt inspire confidence. Im not saying they are worn out, you have to imagine the sensation rather than a comical movement of the car!
Motorway expansion joints are a good one, the Audi glides because the suspension and wheel set up is tuned to the weight of the car and all movement is well regulated, proven because you can hear but not feel them at all. The soft cars with big tyres I find less impressive, creating actually more body movement and less body control. However I prefer a fimer more controlled ride, other people like to float, its personal choice and im never going to argue with anyone who fits taller tyres to their car. Suspension tuning and matching of components can however yield good/better results, elimating undamped movement, ie tyre jounce is a part of that.
I had a bit of a fright driving home last night. Coming around a big roundabout all of a sudden I was going sideways... Car did just over a 180 with the back end just going with seemingly no warning. Not sure how to describe the speed without it sounding bad - it wasn't anything like excessive but it wasn't pottering either. But as I've driven the same car for 10 years, I know what it can do and was well within the limits. Indeed, I've never experienced any rear looseness, if the car wants to go the front washes out first and you get plenty of warning to sort things out before it gets dangerous.
Luckily in this case I didn't (seem) to hit anything. I moved the car somewhere safe and checked it over, found the read near side tyre was a few pounds down on pressure but nothing serious. I guess it could even be that going sideways may have temporarily separated the tyre and rim letting some pressure out. Certainly it hasn't lost any more in the day since I pumped it back up.... Read more
So the rears are more worn than the fronts and thus, when on the limit of grip, the rear end breaks first. No other factors required to explain that behaviour.
Not necessarily - on a FWD car, the rears wear much less than the fronts, so despite them being older there is no reason why they would be any more worn....
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Thanks for your kind words, I have found all the advice on this forum very useful indeed. My Fourtrak has done me 10 years I would guess; she has pulled several random crashed cars out of ditches, towed my horses safely many miles twice a week, made it up an icy hill with loaded horse trailer while others were sliding back down again, got me out of boggy fields while others got stuck and only broken down once- which wasn't really her fault! She has had some expensive welding so maybe she will be OK for a while. I agree about the tough old 4x4s. I will definitely keep you posted. Thanks again :)