As frosty mornings are here, yet again I've been mildly amused by watching my neighbours trying to use de-icing sprays and scratting frantically away with scrapers to try and clear their screens in the morning.

Why do so few people use warm water and window-cleaner's wiper blade?... Read more

All, - Handing back my company car at the end of the month and taking cash at my new company. I am looking to spend 10k on a car that will last me for 4-5 years with little costs in maintanance etc. I do 13,000 miles a year and am looking to purchase rather than lease....

I dont mind used as long as the thing has a good chance of costing me little! Car needs to be OK on the motorway, have cruise control possibly bluetooth but I can retrofit.... Read more

A little background since I am new. Born and raised in the US, my family now lives in Germany on Military orders. I am a diesel fanatic and owned a nice F-350 back home, and a Jetta TDI at one time. So when we moved here I knew immediately that we'd sell *nearly* all our vehicles state side and buy DIESEL. We did. First we bought my wife's '05 Opel Signum 1.9l Automatic (Vauxhall for you?). Next we found my '05 Ford Mondeo Ghia 2.2L manual 6spd. A couple months after owning the Signum, my wife was complaining about the wipers not working. I didn't know what she was talking about until I experienced it myself. Just a few days after that, the battery light on the dash illuminated. So we made a rushed decision to get it into the local dealer. We also complained about the harsh shifting of the auto transmission. 1,000 Euro later, we have a new alternator, wiper motor, wiper control, and an "oil change" for the tranny. They said you could not flush this transmission, so the change is the best they could do. Aside from the tranny, the car was doing well. But the transmission is still giving us problems. I will go into detail about the tranny here, but in reality, this car is slated to be replaced (and thus the reason for this post), so if you don't want to know specifics, please skip to next paragraph. First problem we noticed with the tranny is when fall started to bring cooler temps. From park or reverse, the tranny would take anywhere from 2-5 seconds to engage into drive and does so with a THUD. Then shortly after that, we noticed that when the car downshifts on decelerating (likely from 3 to 2) it also shifts in with a jolt, nearly barking the tires. Upshifts seem to be ok, and most of the other gears are fine, but it sounds like a common problem based on some internet searching. When driving on very wet roads, we also get some electrical faults for the side lights when turning and something else to do with the electric power steering. And now I discovered the Signum needs front brakes. I really hate putting money into the car at this point. I am already into the car 8,500 Euro including purchase.

So here we are, trying to decide what to do. My initial thought is try to get rid of it before the tranny self-destructs. But replace it with what? All I know is I need a similarly sized Estate Diesel car that is reliable, not overly expensive and does good on fuel. Might consider a small SUV as well (Yeti/Duster). I’d like features like SatNav, Xenon headlights, heated Leather seats, and I am sure my wife would really like another Automatic, but they seem to be prone to more problems than a standard. I wouldn’t mind another Mondeo, but would like something different than what I already own. I have looked at Skoda Octavia, Volvo, Peugeot, BMW, VW and after watching an old episode of the Top Gear’s race to Blackpool, a Jag X-type.... Read more

Hi, I am new to the site!

My saxo forte 1.1, heater and fag lighter does not work? i have checked all fuses plus even tryed putting the 2 brown wires 2gether from the ignition? could any one help me please as its very cold Read more

Have been using the Comparison sites to get insurance quotes for a 2009 Ford focus - I'm amazed that as the car has rear parking sensors that around 80% of the insurance companies that quoted when I didn't include the sensors refused to quote when I included them - they were an extra on my model years but standard on the new model year (6 months later)

Insurance Companies really need to sort themselves out as far as I'm concerned - new whale tail wings or a turbo fitted is a mod IMHO but this is silly Read more