September 2017
Short story - car dealer wont give me the keys to my car without a paper certificate of insurance.
Long story -... Read more
It seems the larger cars get the smaller the space available. Many roads round here have had cycle lanes added...hardly see a bike on them...dual carriageways with a lane painted out and the odd bollard stuck in the middle. Many roads closed altogether so we all go the same way. Give way to oncoming traffic in the middle of nowhere have proliferated. What's your area like? Read more
I live on a busy road, not an rated road but still busy. It meets up with an A road but for years it has had a 7.5 ton weight limit. Tucks need to make a detour of 10 miles to get to the other end of town, yet apart for it being a residential street there is no reason for it. People must have been aware of where they were buying their houses.
Some residents in some roads do not like HGVs driving past their houses, nor do councils like the roads destroyed and drains broken (bearing in mind they are not repaired properly now) some drain pipes underground are in a terrible state and could easily collapse under the weight of an artic ...
Here's hoping it replaces BMW's own 'voice control' system, which is utterly useless.
With their current system (and it's been identical for a decade or more), dialling a telephone number is virtually impossible ...
Press 'voice' button on steering wheel. Bleep indicates active. Say 'Telephone'. Bleep, and 'dial number'.
Zero ... (repeats back) Zero
one .... one
four ... four
five ..... nine !
etc, etc. It's slow, prone to errors, and just generally terrible.
In contrast, with Siri on my iphone 4 (I'm not one for the latest phone), I can go 'hey siri, please dial ... and rattle off a telephone number at full speed. And Siri gets it right every single time Read more
You could give it a 'dam good thrashing' when it misbehaves. Some out there may be old enough to remember the days of the Austin Maestro when it was forecast by the public AND the motoring press, that talking cars where a distraction and would NEVER catch on.
my 1.6 tdi was going perfect until i noticed to day at a roundabout it nearly died out, I put it into neutal and revved it and the 'misfire' went away. Whilst driving further down the road the glow plug light started to flash.
Once I came to a near stop at my house to put it into reverse to go into my driveway it died out. Started it again but would barely tick over and had white smoke from exhaust? The egr has been deleted although the unit is still there... Read more
bump
Hi there, can anyone help, I am looking for a radio code for serial number M000730
... Read more
Hi there, can anyone help, I am looking for a radio code for serial number M000730
...
It seems the Telegraph has a scoop. Dyson is going to make a car by 2020 – electric, of course. And, Alfa Romeo have released an SUV that will leave all the other SUVs standing.
I have owned a Dyson vacuum cleaner and it worked quite well although the handle broke within a year and it left various bits of plastic on the floor (the plastics were very brittle). Still kept working though, till the day I gave it to at local vacuum cleaner shop to use as spares.... Read more
Agreed - always said a compulsory extra with EVs should be the "back of an envelope" - maybe if you're saving on congestion charges (and have a free in-town parking space), BIK tax, etc. you can do some man-maths and make an economic case. However, you can still buy a lot of petrol/diesel for the extra you are paying above the equivalent conventional car cost
It seems that the Americans want to impose a 219% import tariff on the planes that a US airline wants to buy. I seem to remember in the brexit debate that the US was going to be a great trading partner for us and we would be first in the queue for a deal. Is this the sort of deal we were expecting? Read more
The law of unintended consequences kicked in.
Briefly - Airbus have taken a 50.1% stake in the Bombardier C series project which will be assembled in the Airbus plant in Mobile Alabama for aircraft sales destined for the USA market....
A bit off our usual topics, but my excuse is that it is travel related.
We are not currently (touch wood) affected by the above airlines flight cancellation, or the axing today of a potential further 400.000 bookings for some affected passengers...... Read more
As we travel further afield stansted makes more and more sense.
Stansted is our most hated airport. The long and mid term carparks appear to be situated in the adjacent county. Our domestic travel arrangements (road,rail,air) are rapidly becoming the laughing stock of the civilised world. Do we complain? Why bother - gave up long ago-just a waste of more time....
Hi all, first time buyer here.
My new job involves a ~100 mile daily commute (might not be five days a week down the line but will be initially). Reading around, this to me says diesel, however I can't help but take notice of general media uncertainty over rising costs and new legislation etc., as well as potentially some very costly repairs.... Read more
Agree RE the comments of petrol over diesel however there is one exception to this and it is the 2005 - 2011 Kia Rio 1.5 diesel, no DMF, no timing belt and proven to go beyond 150k miles. Ok still a turbo and other bits but they do not have a reputation for giving trouble. Within your budget a fairly low miles example with history is possible plus money left over. 50 plus mpg easily possible and 110bhp. I understand a DPF came in at the end of 2010 so get one without for sure. As you would expect the gearing is very much for the motorway and it will sit at 70mph all day long.
The Ford options such as the 1.25 and 1.6 Sigma engines by Yamaha still have timing belts and whilst officially 100k change intervals they need doing a little earlier in my opinion it is also an expensive and time consuming job to do. Have also seen the water pumps leaking on these at higher miles which again is an expensive job.
Hi
i have bought another car and my old car is just waiting to be sold. do i need insurance on that car even if i am not driving it? It is parked outside my house, it is taxed and mot'd and is on a public road, I called my insurer and they said as long as you are not driving it is ok but i wanted a second opinion of if this correct. Read more
When you're starting out on the motoring life, a bit of prior knowledge goes a long way. Handy to have a parent, for example, who can furnish you with the basic principles about insurance, tax etc etc. Some folks might not have that advice on tap, and need to be spoonfed the most basic information. My Dad told me nothing before I passed my test, and nor did anyone else, to the extent that not only did I think it was OK to go to the pub in my car, have two pints and drive home, but that when my car started the manual choke could be pushed straight back in again. I kangarooed down the road and conked out more than once before someone put me right.
Insurance is a basic matter but I can't blame anyone for taking the non-mandatory status of home insurance as a comparison, unless someone tells them different. Throw in the possibility that you might catch a call centre operative on a bad day and yes, the consequences can be disastrous....
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They're supppsed to check the car is insured before you drive off but taxing it is enough plus the dealer can easily check the MID. A copy of your certificate should have been emailed to you anyway so the salesman is being ridiculous to demand a paper copy. Tell them to check the MID and you'll be over to take the car away without any further delay. If he refuses then ask to speak to the manager as they clearly don't know what they're doing. If the manager also doesn't understand then demand a full refund plus compensation for your wasted time. People often buy cars in quick transactions which rule out the possibility of a paper cover note being available plus some insurers don't issue them anyway.