November 2016

Man without a plan

Hi folks,

Looking to buy a car to replace our great little 57reg Fiesta that we've had since brand new and not missed a beat. Reason for upgrade is second child on way and need legroom and boot space which the fiesta didn't provide and our Seat Ibiza ST provides boot space but not leg room (keeping that as the run about though). Also the 1.4 in the Ibiza (non turbo) is far too slow - not looking for sports car performance but the 42 mile round trip to work is a bore.... Read more

Bladerrw

What about a Mitsubishi Outlander hybrid?

At one year old, these are in your price braket. It's an SUV so your wife would be happy....

hissingsid

Not everyone has or wants satellite TV, so those of us with Freeview will have to wait for the repeats. Read more

roooooopeeeerrrrrtttt murrrrrr

ahhhhhhh poooooo

golfauto11

I have noticed the lights on my Smart car are flashing 6 times or more, when I lock and unlock. The doors and boot are unlocking and locking ok, so am I being warned about something? Read more

golfauto11

I will ask Mercedes at next service, as it has a full dealership service history.

Cluedo

This is a potential issues for the good v bad on the car by car reviews. I took my March 2016 Outback into the dealer today to ask them to look at my sat nav. The system is fitted with traffic management alerts and is supposed to colour the roads differently depending on volume of traffic and stoppages etc. just like many other systems. The problem is that the system is not showing any traffic isssues and says that there are none when you ask for a report even though the road may actually be closed due to an incident.
The dealer could not find the problem solution and so phoned the Subaru help desk who by all accounts are very good. Anyway - I got the answer and it was that the latest update to the system fitted to all new cars actually wiped this functionality from the units.
Subaru are currently working with the Sat Nav supplier on a new software update but could not tell me when it will be available.
I am disappointed because I paid for some functionality I find useful and also I was not informed about this at the time of buying the car (assuming they knew about this in March).
Silly Subaru ! Read more

daveyjp

I have Navmii and Sygic on my phone for emergency use (maps are downloaded so no live map data requirement) should I not have my satnav with me.

Handy for occasional use, but not as good as my Garmin.

TR7

It seems bikes have a different speed limit and it is perfectly legal for them to speed and undertake you? Read more

RT

Highway Code para 163 (part)

* only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so

* stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left...

oldroverboy.

Some of you may know the roundabout section of the road on the north side of the railway bridge at Cochester railway station. there are box junctions to keep the junctions clear and also some bus lanes.

This evening, waiting at a green traffic light to go straight on I was undertaken by 3 cars who then proceeded to block the box junction in front of me that i was waiting before and leaving clear... for obvious reasons. ... Read more

galileo

Worst offenders seem to be the school-runners whose minds seem elsewhere

...

Phil Thompson

I'm replacing my 2004 RAV4. It's great advantage is an external spare wheel and the ability to remove the rear seats. This gives a completely flat loadspace which I will also need in the replacement.

Can anybody recommend a current (or since about 2012) 4x4 with a genuinely flat loadspace? (I don't mean "flat" as defined by a marketing department.)... Read more

Phil Thompson

For anybody with a similar requirement...

I went round the dealers and looked at 13 different 4x4s. The only one with a genuinely flat loadspace was the Volvo XC-60. (I'm guessing the XC-90 would be similar but I didn't check.)...

DirkThrust

For the last year I've owned a Skoda Octavia 2.0 PD, bought with a full Skoda history and 91k on the clock. In that time I've replaced numerous suspension bits and bobs, all four shocks, wiper blades twice, cam belt and water pump. I probably spent about £1000 on it in addition to routine servicing. I was looking forward to a few expense free miles until someone rear- ended me on Tuesday and wrote it off.

Before that I had a Focus 1.8TDCi bought with 50k on the clock. That one was a real money pit with 3 major and expensive breakdowns in the first 2 years.

So I'm looking for another car. Same sort of thing. Focus, Civic, Octavia etc., 3 to 4 years old.

My work colleague tells me I'm barking up the wrong tree. Instead of looking at middle aged commuter cars which are just heading into expensive maintenance territory I should spend the same money on an older high end car.

That's what he's done over his entire motoring life. Over the last ten years he's owned 3 Mercedes', a Jaguar and 4 Lexus's and reckons he's spent less on unexpected bills in that time than I've spent in one year on a Skoda. He buys luxury rather than sporty, one or two owners, full dealer history. At the moment he has a 52 reg S class which has just gone through a service without one additional penny being spent on it.

I've heard the argument that an 8 year old £50k car may be cheap to buy but still has the running costs of a £50k car but I must admit his point of view seems to have a lot of merit. He's got me looking at 57/58 E class Mercs at the moment.

I'd be interested to hear opinions from people on here.

Read more

Fishermans Bend

Save you money and buy a c.2005/6 Hyundai Sonata V6 for not much money. Otherwise another Octavia would make sense.

ED731PDH

The clocks change and what the first noticeable thing on our roads?

... Read more

hillman

What about the horse riders, mainly young women, who don't know that the horse needs to carry lights ? Being in a country district we get a number of them. I've seen only one rider, a long time ago, who was wearing a special light that clipped onto her boot. I came upon one on the main street at twilight, dressed in brown, brown horse, a tall one. I was turning right and saw her at the last second. Must have given her as much of a fright as it gave me.

Mike Bell

For about six months the car has, I think, had two simultaneous faults.

1) A failed DPF regen about 1000 miles after a filter replacement. ... Read more