November 2012
Hi. We are considering a Honda FR- V as a family car for us as we like the thought of Honda reliability coupled with 6 seats without compromising boot space.
I'm searching the 2nd hand market with a budget of £6k tops.
This seems to buy something 2004-6 ish.
Our intention would be to keep the car for as long as possible. Currently we do low- average mileage and I can't see that changing much. Mostly urban with a few long holiday trips (and possible addition of a caravan down the line somewhere!).
My questions are -
Would a petrol or Diesel engine be better - was looking at petrol for our type of driving but hear good things about the diesels
How important is miles on clock - we could get a cheaper deal for around 100k mileage but would that be inadvisable?
I have found a good one which has apparently been garaged for 3 years as owners abroad. Full MOT - should I be wary of this at all?
Sorry if these are stupid questions - I'm new to all this. Anything else I should be aware of, or do tell me of you think I'm barking up the wrong tree!
Many thanks.
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Just hired a VW POLO.
When I switch engine on --light switch fully left on "O" the headlights come on--nothing else.... Read more
The DRL's on my Jan '10 Polo annoyed me at first but the option to turn them off doesn't work and I'm now used to them. My only problem is that despite DRL's having been around for years some people seem to think I have flashed them to pull out ...........and they do !
With all the rain and flooded roads we are getting these days there is a high risk of sucking in water into your engine if you are not careful.
I came to a flooded road this morning and being aware of how low the air intake is on my car I had to turn around and go miles out of my way to circumvent the small flood across that road.... Read more
..... The bigger problem would be the timing belt if it gets submerced in watter and you revv the engine. It won't brake but will jump of the sproket
Nonsense. ...
Hi all, hope someone out there can help with this. A few weeks ago the Toxic Fume Warning light (is this just another name for the Engine Management Light I've seen mentioned elsewhere?) started flashing again in my automatic 02 Clio 1.2 16V. It first did this maybe 2 or 3 years ago one cold January morning but after a mile or two of running as if it was on its last legs it was fine and the light went off and stayed off. Came on again a few months back, stayed on a bit longer but then again was fine again. Unfortunately I didn't heed the warning and this last time it came on (ironically on its way to an MOT it sailed through with barely an advisory) and stayed on and the performance (juddering at start, struggling to change gear, 'engine misfire at low revs' as the garage have described it) continued to deteriorate. So, wallet in hand, I took it to the independent garage just around the corner and as soon as I explained the problem I was told it was running on 3 cylinders and needed the coil pack replaced. Even at £150 this was a relief, but unfortunately didn't solve the problem. The ECU was then sent away for investigation as (to quote the garage report) 'losing number 1 injector signal' but came back without any faults and only need a 'couple of dry solder joints'.
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Am having issues with first gear selection. I'm getting a grinding noise when shifting from say 3rd or 4th into 1st gear whilst the vehicle is in motion. (For example whilst slowing down approaching a junction). Clutch pedal is fully depressed, but gears still grinding. Only happens if I shift whilst vehicle is travelling at or above say 10mph, below this speed there is no problem. Surely if the clutch pedal is fully depressed it shouldn't matter how fast the vehicle is travelling? Is this likely indication of clutch wear or something else, synchro maybe? Any thoughts appreciated. (vehicle is 2005 2.5cdti approx 120k miles on original clutch) Read more
The clutch pedal operation causes the injection pump to momentarily reduce it's output when the clutch is disengaged to permit smoother gear changing. The 1st & 2nd gear sycronising hub the most used on any vehicle needs replacing Regards Mickeybo
Hi, i could really do with some advice please. We recently discoverd a hole in the gearbox, so i bought a secondhand one and my son replaced it for me. As long as the car is up on ramps we can select gears and everything works ok, put it down on the floor and .... nothing no gears at all. My son has stripped and checked the whole car 10 times now and still the same problem,its got to the point the we hate the car. Any advice gratefully recieved. We have a fiat punto active 1.2 8v 2004. amny thanks carol Read more
Thanks for coming back and updating.
A good learning curve for the lad by the sounds of it, much sweating and struggling a far better instructor than someone nagging him to check the gearbox is compatible or in working order first....you can't put an old head on young shoulders..:-)
Looking for my boss to replace my 57 plate Honda Accord EX with something smaller, but similar spec, so have been looking for a nearly new Titanium X with nav & sunroof, to match the spec of the Accord.
I've driven one on the standard multispoke 17" wheels, but there are more around with the five spoke 18" wheels...bearing in mind that the Focus has such good ride quality, and that HJohn is always going on about low profile tyres/bigger wheels ruining the ride, has anyone any experience of the 18" wheels?... Read more
" Go for them, they look better than the smaller options."
I'm still yet to drive a car I can see the outside of when driving it and when it's in the drive I don't spend my time looking at it.
18s mean potentially quicker wear as they will be softer and as others say replacements aren't cheap.
Has anyone driven the Hyundai ix20 and its sister, the Kia Venga back to back. Hyundai make a big thing in their blurb about their suspension being designed with our awful British roads in mind. Kia don't say anything like this and in fact I had heard that the Venga could have a bit of a harsh ride. Can anyone verify whether there are any differences between the two in this area? Read more
Increasing ammount of problems with the Venga, and a high parts list.
Im sure the IX20 will be the same as its essentially the exactly same car....
I have a 2001 306 hdi with 210,000 miles
The problem I have at the moment is a lack of power. The car seems to tick over fine, engine sounds sweet and it actually drives fine but just feels like a car without a turbo.... Read more
The “whistle” from the turbo is normal, after all that’s the sound it makes when it’s working.
It’s never intrusive on the car and is barely audible to passengers. Only on the motorway under acceleration in fifth does it become more pronounced. Even under steady state conditions and quite light throttle settings, the turbo is working, if the load on the engine demands it....
Our C max is a 58 reg and had done just under 24000 miles when the turbocharger failed. The car was out of warranty so we had to pay the £1300 + for repairs. We have contacted Ford and asked why this should have failed and the cause of the failure on a car with such low millage and and not very old. Ford Technical Information Centre have now come back to us and said it is an internal fault and they are unable to confirm the exact cause.They have however said that as the last service was late by 3 months this could have caused / led to the failure. We have always serviced the car regularly however as the car was due its first MOT we decided to wait and bring the service and Mot in line with each other...was this a bad decision on our part! Would appreciate your thoughts on this. Many thanks Read more
The unit injectors were dropped because they have a short window when high pressure injection is possible (being cam operated). DPF regens require post injection. Since the plunger stroke is fixed, then the only way to increase the window is to reduce the rate of injection. PD engines were fitted with DPF towards the end but they don't operate at as high injection pressures as pre DPF cars which was the main selling point of unit injectors.
The NOx problem was caused by the inclined injector due to the two valve arrangement. This gave uneven spray pattern to the chamber.The switch to four valves allows the injector to be positioned 'straight up'-nowt to do with breathing!
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We've had an FRV for 2 years now. We really like it.
Be aware that if you want to put a child seat in the front middle seat, which is a really nice feature of this car, then you are advised to slide the seat all the way to the back. This means there is no leg room in the back middle seat, so you have to slide that back too which then limits the space in the boot a little. ...