December 2017
Hi,
I’m looking for a second hand large family car. I don’t do a lot of miles, it’s mostly for driving away on weekends. Some long trips but no commuting. I do less than 10,000 miles per year.
Currently I have a Nissan Almera Tino automatic that I really like but probably needs a new timing chain so likely to be getting rid. Let’s say budget 8 grand. What do you think of this? Could be a money pit with DSG and a timing chain as heard of problems with both of these? Or wouldn’t it put you off buying it? (If you’re an automatic person).
Doesn’t have to be a superb but the Tino has a massive boot and my wife doesn’t like the look of estates.
Anything else? Not really after another mpv. We only have one child, it’s just the drives away why we end up filling the boot.
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20171102088...d Read more
Got 2 motorcycles different makes both fitted with ABS. On both it is necessary to ride at greater than 6 or 8 mph depending on bike before the ABS check light goes out. This is stated in the handbook, different speeds but within 2mph for both..
As we all know ABS has been fitted in cars for many years now. Of the 2 cars I regularly drive both ABS lights come on but extiniguish before the vehicle moves.... Read more
how old are the motorbikes?
A 2012 KTM Duke 690 and a 2017 Triumph Tiger Sport...
I shear sheep all over the Basque Country and need a new vehicle:
Needs to have room in back for a lot of equipment (metal frame, wooden boards, toolbox trunk, dog crate.
Needs to be able to access tough, rough tracks.
As I do a lot of miles, it needs to be fairly fuel efficient.
Also needs at least 3 seats in back.
Have been looking at 4x4 kangoos, dangel partners, berlingos, vitara lwb. Any ideas? Nissan Navara any good? Budget up to €6000.
So far have been using our family megane estate with a roof rack and at times a trailer but it's getting wrecked on the rough terrain and my wife isn't very happy about taking it to work the next day smelling of sheep! Read more
Basque breeds are indeed tough: sheep, dogs and more besides. A land where men are men and... (I'll leave readers to imagine the ending of that potentially un-PC comment! :-) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_breeds_and_cultivars
What is it with people on this website that they cannot post correct links, in this case to 30.12.2017 Agony Column Part 1 or, load the said article to the right location for the link!?!
This is happening far too often, get it sorted! Read more
What is it with people on this website that they cannot post correct links, in this case to 30.12.2017 Agony Column Part 1 or, load the said article to the right location for the link!?! This is happening far too often, get it sorted!Yes, ridiculous isn't it?What, with you paying how much for being able to read all those articles and reviews on the site...
Nice one groaver! I don't see glidermania making much of a worthwhile 'contribution' to the forums either (probably because when he did previously, he was made to look a fool) in his posts. Its not as though the issue he complains about is a major one - a bad link to go from page 1 to 2 or vice-versa on the weekly letter collumn. All he has to do is email the IT people to report it, and mostly its fixed within a few hours. In the meantime, he can always just go to the 'News' page and look up the other half of the letters that way (hardly a chore)....
free hospital parking wanted ? the "profit" from car parking buys more drugs and more nurses, in Wales we have free parking and free prescriptions for all and despite a slightly larger budget per "customer" the welsh NHS has no specialist stroke centres,no reumatology speciality units and 5 years ago I know there were around 25 life saving and life extending drugs which all english NHS trusts could afford but deemed too expensive for the Welsh NHS - now is free parking such a benefit? Read more
A bit more than small scale... PFI's are appalling value for money but Labour left office in 2010 and the Tories have continued with more PFI's in the subsequent 8 years....
The difference Chris is that the Tories (however poorly many of us think of the current lot [far better than the alternative, which says a LOT about both sides]) would bother to look over the contracts, unlike Labour, before agreeing to them. Many signed by NuLabour were (like the GP contracts) so far biased (financially and regarding penalties for poor service or overcharging for work/items) towards the firms taking on the contract that they were, in effect, a licence to print money with little risk on their side - most, as we've seen, was on the taxpayers' side....
As I am going to be spending some time in Oztralia and as buying a large engined car in the UK puts one at risk of being publically burnt at the stake,I have hatched a cunning plan to get one while in Australia.
... Read more
John Cadogan is brilliant imo - we could do with a UK version of him. His problem with Jeep is more about their customer service than their reliability, which admittedly is not great. The Grand Cherokee, however, is one of the more reliable Jeeps, probably because it's been around for so long and they've had time to iron out most of the problems.
John actually admits he likes the SRT - just that Jeep after-sales puts him off....
I am on my 2nd Alfa Romeo Giulietta and due to various problems have spent too much of 2017 at the service reception counter of my local dealer, that in turn has given me the chance to look at the new launches from Fiat, Chrysler, Alfa, Jeep. Oh dear, not a single hybrid or Plug in Hybrid, or Electric option. Already I know my next car just cannot be a diesel, it could be a light efficient petrol in a smallish car , but something mid sized, or even a medium sized estate car is probably what I need. I did look at a Volkswagen Tiguan 1.4tsi petrol but was quoted nearly a year delivery time. Today I went to the VW website looking for the hybrid golf... (the GTE), oh dear again, they aren't even offering it. Barely a few months after it's launch it has been withdrawn, www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/golf-vii-pa/explore/gte
Its all very well advertising the product, whether it's lightweight efficient turbo charged petrol, or hybrid, but if you can't deliver you are misleading the market about your green credentials (VW? misleading the market? who would every have thought it)
Its not just FCA and VW group though, despite 20 years passing since Toyota launched the Prius the supply of alternatives to diesel in anything other than the small car segments still seems so skewed to diesel.
I do know a little of the politics behind, how European consumers were encouraged to by diesel, and how the manufacturers responded, but the writing has been on the wall a while now, several years at least.
I fear for the future of the large European companies, if the Chinese or Koreans crack the alternatives and produce cars that people want to buy (Including SUVs) in a way that can scale, and with the quality Europeans like, I don't see that VW, FCA. PSA. BMW etc are positioning themselves to respond. Read more
I wonder if the Mini Countryman PHEV (running on the same platform) is as well thought out.
The Mini has been roadtested recently by several of the major magazines and on the HJ site too (curiously, the 225 wasn't promoted to anything like the same degree -- it's like BMW were shy about putting it out there). The tests are unanimous in praising it. ...
Has anyone ever bought a newly new/approved car and found absolutely nothing wrong with it a day or 5 after delivery?... Read more
Not nearly new, but three years old - Mazda CX-5, bought last summer from a local dealer.
Pretty much immaculate. No faults have become apparent, of any kind whatsoever. The worse thing I can say about it is that the tyres were over-inflated when I got it. I put two new tyres on before the winter took hold. And that's it....
my wife owns a skoda fabia 2015,she as owned it from new ,and every time the weather is cold she complains how long it takes to get warm ,do they still have winter and summer stats,or is there another way it will get warmer any quicker thanks Read more
Unlikely to be a faulty thermostat if it's done this from new.
Which engine is it fitted with? The diesels do take ages to warm up.
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I ran an Accord estate for 3 years and 30,000 miles from 2010-2013.
It was great, I had no issues apart from front tyre wear (I had to change tyres on the front once a year). ...