January 2013
Been looking for the last few weeks and there's not much around, is this normal or does the festive season dampen availability. If so, when is it likely to pickup?
Trying to decide if I should wait a couple of weeks in the hope that availability improves.... Read more
And I do not mean an Audi, I'm refering to a wolf in sheep's clothing. In far off days this would mean a supercharged Minor, or Cortina Savage( bigger engine in normal saloon).
I'd really like to buy a non-bling quick, grunty car, up to about 30k but with reasonable fuel consumption(30+), must have a nice ride and a bit of room. Estate would be fine, but not too big.Petrol or Diesel. The problem is that if you spec a decent engine with a new car you automatically get all the bling.
Don't want a sheep in wolf's clothing!
BTW, for those that are not of a certain age, the 'Q' stands for Question, as in what the ..... is that. I believe it was a term used in the 2nd WW for ships that looked liked Merchant Ships but were heavily armed, and gave the Germans a big surprise. Read more
There's quite a few. My thoughts below are quite wide based on costs and vehicle size but might give you some ideas and are in no particular order. If you like the engine then VAG seem to offer the same 200bhp 2.0T in lots of different group products. Apologies if I have got any bhp figures slightly out!
BMW 330i, 335i or 530i with SE trim. Sometimes only visible difference versus smaller engined models is the alloys - 272 to 306bhp...
The reason I ask is that I generally use one trade supplier who prices very well, and more than that is accurate in the parts he supplies. I generally dont go for big names like EuroCarParts or GSF as the parts quality can be iffy and service can be only average...
However, I just bought a few bits from ECP for our personal cars as they had a sale on...one was an expansion tank for my A4...I am sad, and a bit of a polisher so I wanted a nice clear white one, my one had faded to yellow over the years. Now it arrived along with other bits and it was broken, and the wrong one...long story short the replacement hasnt arrived yet.... Read more
I have a local independent factor which is very like GB's "knowledgeable bloke" except their counter is no longer oilstained (and has a laptop!)
I've used them for over over 40 years, any part I've had from them has been top quality and at a keen price, on the rare occasions when the part wasn't in stock it was usually there within 24 hours. (even many years ago when I needed new segments for my DAF 55 cenrifugal clutch!)
Can anyone recommend a not too expensive fault code reader that will work on a 2006 Panda diesel? I've always serviced our cars, and have worked a lot on classics, and have rebuilt several classic engines. However, an old f*** like me grappling with modern automotive electronics would be like a chimpanzee trying to do brain surgery. On the 60's and 70's vehicles I was brought up on, the most complex electronic component was an SU fuel pump. But the need for fuel economy and the fact that all the old cars are worn out has forced us to buy a modern one.
I realise that the cheaper a OBD reader is, the less it can do, but can I get something that will identify why an engine fault light has come on so I can at least have an idea of which sensor is sending the ecu an unexpected reading? I don't like the idea of having to take it to a garage every time anything whatsoever goes wrong with it, and paying out an hour's labour charge just for them to diagnose the fault, let alone fix it. Will any generic OBD reader do, or will some not work with certain makes? Can I get somethig that will do this for <30 quid?... Read more
You can download Fiat multiECUscan software, the free version is limited in its capabilites..however a suitable cable is harder to find and quality costs....Fiats are a make even garages can struggle with to be honest but it is doable. Proxy alignments and ESP and key programming etc are far beyond most stuff you can get cheap. You will need an ELM327 interface but its operations are limited and chinese copies are rubbish.
I actually use a £25 cheapy a huge amount that works with most stuff, and have VAG-com etc for VAG cars but Fiats...Nope!...
Quite why we need so much electronic rubbish in cars is beyond me. Do we really need auto lights and wipers.?Twits with no common sense rely on auto lights to come on automatically little realising they generally need turning on in fog.
Simple is best. :)... Read more
There is something to be said for "keep it simple stupid" - ALL the problems in the Mazda3 (fortunately not my model, a Euro-specced 1.6 petrol TS2) were down to new, complex parts and equipment (e.g. DSC, ESC and elements of the common-rail PSA/Ford-sourced diesel engines). Taking out those models would mean the model range would've had almost no faults (of consequence) at all (none on mine as it didn't have DSC or ESC).
Much of Merecedes cars' problems from the late 90's/early 2000's appear to have been caused by the firm putting vastly more toyts/features on their cars at the expense of mechanical and general electrical build quality and fit and finish. I think too many car manafacturers, goaded on by the media, are now in a never-ending war to install as many gizmos and gadgets into their cars, making them even more susceptable to faults - the old addage of "the more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain" often holds true in my view....
I have a 60 reg and 61 reg C4 picasso with EGS automatic, and they both suffer from intermittent engine misfire / judder / shudder at low speed mainly but also has occured at high speed.
Has anyone experienced this problem, if so what was the diagnosis Read more
Petrol or diesel engines?
And aren't they both still under manufacturer's warranty?
So on New Year's Eve my 13 year old Mondeo died with head gasket failure, on the motorway, 50 miles from home (on my first trip of more than 25 miles in about 6 months of course). It only had 82K miles on the clock and was reasonably well cared for in my 4 years.
A car is a necessity for me, but funds are a bit on the low side, so I'm looking at bangers around the grand mark, give or take a couple hundred. I need something with a largish boot to fit a buggy in it. I do fairly low mileages - as in probably no more than 3500 a year - so economy is actually fairly low priority.... Read more
There are plenty of sound old Volvos around, but one with 220k miles is a bit more of a gamble. The newer Avensis will probably be a safer bet.
Hi,
I have a citroen C8 hdi 2.0l 2005 and the engine has started cutting out since i had the clutch changed. sometimes it judders, almost like i am in too high a gear, but if i drop downa gear it is clearly revving high. Then today the engine has cut out about 7 times, and it seems to be when i switch up to 3rd gear from 2nd. In 2nd gear the revs aren't going higher than 3000, but when it does cut out, i have to disconnect the battery and reconnect, and then it starts again after about 1 minute. I set of and the revs are normal, i change up to 2nd and the revs won't go above 3000. Any ideas?... Read more
Is it something they have done when thye have fitted the new clutch? Or more likely something they have knocked.damaged whilst fixing the clutch?
Hi I am looking for a new family car in the budget range of 3000-4000 needs to be reliable and have a big boot (carry pushchair, bags), Currently own a corsa which is no longer big enough. Any Ideas? Read more
Thing is, despite the price bracket anyone is looking at, its nice to have someone that you can be proud to own...I too like the S60 and it has a bit of class and presence, lovely interior strong engines and a decent chassis.....they can burn oil so check level and condition if you look at any, cambelt also important. That 5cylinder noise too, yes! If any warning lights on, electronic throttle can be an issue, not massively costly though.
I need some advice after my daughter had an accident it was minor and we thought it would be straightforward but then got a claim for whiplash today.....here is roughly what happened. Sorry it's long I'm just annoyed! Oh and new to this.
Accident occurred 12:45pm on Friday 21.12.12 We have mobile telephone records for evidence of timing of the accident.
Our daughter was driving a small scooter she is 16 has done her CBT and is a confident rider. She braked in relatively slow moving traffic after the car in front of her made a sudden stop, she lost grip, skidded, and collided into the rear left hand bumper of a stationary car at the time of impact. Speed at time of impact less than 10mph. This stretch of road is notoriously stop start and slow moving so the sheer weight of traffic rarely flows fast. My wife and son had encountered exactly the same traffic flow 5 minutes earlier as they were also headed to the the same destination.
No one sustained any injuries in the car. Both myself and my wife spoke to the driver and the 2 passengers and no-one stated any injuries. An ambulance attended but no one from the car requested any form of medical attention. The ambulance stayed at the scene for well over 40 minutes. The paramedics checked several times to see if anyone from the vehicle needed medical attention.
Our daughter fell off and sustained grazing to her lower back, heavy grazing to her right knee, and a minor scrape to her left foot. My daughter was thoroughly checked over and given advice on treatment of the minor injuries and advised to attend the hospital should any concerns arise once it was agreed she could be released into our care.
The scooter front end fairing and lights were significantly damaged as they are a flimsy plastic. The ignition key also snapped off as it is part of the front fairing. The engine and handlebars and levers and seat appear unaffected including the seat and top box. There are minor scratches in a number of places. The damage is consistent with a front end impact followed by the vehicle falling to the ground.
A young man was also present at the scene we presumed him to also be in the car however the claim form states there was only one other person in the vehicle.
Only damage I noticed on the vehicle was that the rear bumper had been dislodged on the left hand side and had 2 small holes. I clipped the bumper back into place leaving only the small holes as the visible damage. The vehicle was driven from the scene to continue their trip. This was confirmed by The car owner but passenger on the day when I spoke to her The very next day.
No acceptance of liability was made. The police did not attend the scene. The police were not called. No witness details were collected by either party.
My daughter did not have her insurance details with her so we agreed to call with those the following day.
I rang the next day to discuss matters. I did not accept any liability or agree it was my daughters fault but I was willing to make remedy totally at my own expense and would pay for all repairs to her vehicle and my own myself. She said this was fine and would get Motability to pick up the car and call me to sort repairs. As this would only be a bumper plus labour I was expecting a straightforward fix. This was the first mention it was a motabilty car.
I did not provide my daughters insurance details believing them not to be required.
No mention was made of any injuries to anyone in the car during this conversation .
No further contact was made until Wednesday 2nd January 2013 when a letter arrived at our home address stating a claim for whiplash was being made and that our insurers had received the claim. The letter states the were only 2 people in the car- I believe this to be incorrect. The claim document is dated 28th December one week after the accident. The claimant states she has been in pain since the accident and taking the (prescription only) drug Tramadol, despite not having visited her GP or sought any other medical advice.
Frustrating as I was happy to fix the problem as our daughter will be learning to drive soon I really wanted to avoid an insurance claim. Especially annoying that the first port of call was the claim company not the GP. My doctors tell me tramadol is prescription only.
Any advice on this would be welcome. Read more
Raise your concerns to your insurers, they will do their upmost (or should do) to avoid any opportunistic injury claims. If the damage was to the bumper only, i.e no structural damage to metal structures behind the bumper, then you will have a good chance of raising causation. That is to say that whilst you accept a collision happened, you do not feel that the impact would have been sufficient to cause impact.
It might result in your daughter attending a court to give evidence, so just ensure she sticks to the facts and tells everything as it happens. Do not be tempted to embelish anything in order to strengthen your argument. ...
Browse
Sorry I meant the 1.9 tdi and not the VRS, yes you're right the latter is well and truly out of my budget.