I tried to buy a new Vitara SZ-T earlier this month. The dealer advised that they were running a promotion the week after to get £1k off the price of the car, so said they would hold off processing any paperwork until then so the promotion could be applied. They said supply lines for the Vitara were not great, but that a couple of them were due to arrive in a few days, so they sent me paperwork for one of those. A week or so has passed (including the promotion weekend) and the dealer is now saying they have no idea when the car might arrive, as there is a recall. They didn’t know what the recall was for.

I wanted the new car to arrive by the end of the month so I don’t have to MOT my existing one, as it is likely to fail, but I now feel a bit stuck as I have no idea when the new one will arrive. I can’t find anything online about a recall affecting new Vitaras and I feel like the dealer is spinning me a line. They said they could take my existing car off the road to avoid me having to MOT, and give me a run around to use until the new car comes in - whenever that is.

Am I being played for a fool here? Anyone know of any recall, or what I should do please?
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I sat the Theory test when our 2 children were learning, and passed on my first attempt, only just mind, but with zero prior swotting, having passed my test back in 1978. BUT that "trick" question above was one of the questions that got me, trick as in what odds what colour they are, how could one not be aware of ones location, the type of road on is travelling on, and impending on or off slips on a M-Way. So entirely non-pertinent to safe driving.

From a reasonably educated perspective I found some of the questions poorly or confusingly worded or presented btw. this from somewhat memory. Read more

Apparently the selling of new diesel and petrol cars was to be stopped in 2040 now according to the radio it's feasible by 2030. Norway is the inspiration for this as they are well on the way to getting the majority of their population in electric cars. I have no faith in electric cars mainly because of range anxiety, until I can get a decent distance out of one in the middle of winter without recharging forget it. Read more

unfortunately, the UK will always have foreign businesses pulling out, not because of BREXIT, but because it is cheaper an deasier to close down an operation in the UK than in most other countries!
Lack of labour protection laws, no union power or worker councils etc... Read more

There is often discussion on here about the relative performance and merits of Torque Converter, DSG and CVT transmissions. My own car has DSG and I have never driven a TC but I’m driving a CVT for the first time. It’s a hire car, a Nissan Pathfinder, a model we don’t get in the UK, but essentially it’s a big old barge of an SUV with a 3.5 litre V6 petrol engine rated at 285 bhp.

You’d think it would go like the proverbial brown stuff off a hot shovel, but no - this thing will not be hurried and is no competitor in the traffic lights Grand Prix, not that it is a thing here in the US. You can floor it and the revs will soar, but the CVT will take its time to match road speed to engine speed, although it will get there eventually.

On the move it is very smooth as there are, of course, no gears and on US interstate highways all you hear is the occasional rise in revs when you accelerate past another vehicle until the road speed catches up again. There appears to be no equivalent of kick-down, although that may be me being too careful with a car that isn’t mine.

Having experienced CVT, I don’t think I could live with it in my own car. I prefer something with a more instantaneous response. I do acknowledge the lag with my own DSG gearbox but that’s something I’ve learned to allow for and it can be minimised anyway by switching to sport mode. It seems to me that CVT would suit a leisurely driving style rather than a nip here, nip there approach. Roundabouts are almost non-existent in the mid-west so I haven’t been able to try nipping out into a sudden gap, but I wouldn’t fancy my chances in this car.

Apart from the CVT, the engine is a delight, however. Once up to motorway cruising speeds it will happily purr away all day at 2000 rpm on cruise control and the roads have nothing like the motorway traffic we experience in the UK. We have done several 3-4 hour drives in the past fortnight and you can cover greater distances in that time than at home on our overcrowded roads. Read more