May 2019
If the price rise is due to a rise in the price of OIL, why is diesel not going up at the same rate?
Not long ago I could usually expect a difference of very nearly 10p a litre.
Now I see places where petrol is only ONE penny a litre cheaper.
Couldn't possibly be due to new-car buyers now shying away from diesel cars, could it? Read more
All in one: A Skoda Superb 272 HP 4x4 saloon or estate in Sportline trim may fit the bill if he can get over the badge with 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. It's no lower than a M5 and will hold an awful lot more. Fun to drive? Maybe not so much in corners but assured with four wheel drive and will pull caravan if need be. Read more
Recently hired a Kona in Australia, or rather hired a "Mitsubishi ASX.....or equivalent" from Budget at Perth airport and we got a Kona after back to back flights and landing late at night, so I can categorically confirm the Kona's boot/trunk is minimalist and no where near the previous 3 hires there (ASX x 1, Dualis/Qashqai x 2). This time we covered 3200km in WA over 4 weeks, mixed freeway/urban and long distance on mainly sealed roads plus a 30k "detour" on an unsealed national park "road"!
Once we'd corrected the 25psi overinflated tyres, the ride was better but as mentioned in the video the cabin noise is still bad, worse still was the passengers seat, neither of us could sit for long in it before lower back pain reminded you that you were sat in the passengers seat which also explained why when trying to take photos of the scenery all you could get while sat down was half a frame of dash/screen/bonnet- the lack of seat height adjustment made the position terribly low and the wife summed it up as "feeling like a little old lady" where it was so low!
The car was a petrol + automatic, fuel consumption wasn't brilliant as mentioned although it did go better if put into the mid driving mode, the basic setting is pretty sluggish TBH. Best bit of the car was the media unit with fair sized display together with being ready for Android Auto- used this with a UK vodafone contract that included inclusive Oz calls, pity their network is as crap as the UK but hey-ho being a seasoned Vodafone customer having downloaded the bottom half maps of WA we found dear old Google maps + Android Auto to be brilliant- the days of a built in sat nav requiring expensive updates looks to be old hat now?
The car in question had done 50,000km in nearly 20 months so was well run in. Other than than it was noisy, too small and uncomfortable! Read more
They look quite nice, but having now done a bit of investigating, it seems to he a classic case of style over substance from Hyundai on this occasion.
Met another happy owner today.
Mine, no further problems or niggles, and really like the dashboard and controls, except the speed/cruise control lever which is hidden behind the steering wheel, but as i don't use it, no problem. fuel consumption continues around 40-42 mpg so happy with that.... Read more
Back in 2004 I hired a car in Tuscany. Months and months later I received notification from Avis that I would receive a traffic regulation infringement fine from the authorities, and my credit card was being charged x amount as an admin fee. I never received anything further and nothing was charged to my credit card.
We've returned to Italy twice since, although haven't hired a car.... Read more
Back in 2004 I hired a car in Tuscany. Months and months later I received notification from Avis that I would receive a traffic regulation infringement fine from the authorities, and my credit card was being charged x amount as an admin fee. I never received anything further and nothing was charged to my credit card.
We've returned to Italy twice since, although haven't hired a car.... Read more
I understand your reasons Dieselboy. The Italians are a lovely gregarious and enterprising race, but administration is not their strong suit. Even their administrators cannot administer efficiently. My daughter in law lived their for a few years, she is a translator/interpreter, and she agrees that any contact with officialdom is frustrating beyond limits. She translates legal and technical documents and has occasionally to interface with Italian officials. Whilst very charming they are hopeless and don't get the concept of deadlines.
Cheers Concrete
I understand that my local council is planning a village consultation exercise( population 7000) on the issue of increased traffic flow and car ownership combined with a chronic lack of public and residential car parking. A large central car park is the obvious solution for now--but undoubtedly there will be complaints, much discussion and probably -a decision to do "nothing" . Hey ho!... Read more
The pub is worth a try, but it depends upon several factors. The landlord may only be the manager and the owner (Enterprise, Pubmaster, Punch Taverns etc etc) may not agree. There may also be an issue about public liability when using the car park. Of course during opening times could be awkward for pub customers too.
Other points raised are fair, but rely on two things. One that 'Joe Public' is actually going to respect or observe them and the local authority highways department agree too. From experience in our village (2000 in the parish-600 in the village) the local authority( probably County Council) do what is best for them. This is usually nothing because it may cost them money and set a precedent for other areas in the authority area. By all means have a go but don't be too disappointed if it comes to nothing. Personally I would try the Parish Council first and get their support, then try to push through the two most important issues you have instead of 6 or 7....
Following on from a previous post of petrol vs diesel I am looking for a Mondeo 1.5T petrol - my gut says diesel could be expensive based on the type of driving I do.
So, I have been looking through the usual websites: CarGurus, Parkers, Autotrader to find a suitable car. However, I have noticed that some dealerships do not appear on any of these searches. Are there better sites that include more dealers or is it just a matter of a manual search in all locations?... Read more
Look on Cars for Sale on this website - link at the top of the page. There are quite a few petrol Mondeos listed.
Sold our Nissan Qashqai+2 and looking at other cars. I never liked the Qashqai, its build quality was pretty poor. The petrol 1.6 engine in it is seriously underpowered.
I need a car that can seat 5 people (2 adults and 3 kids, out of which 2 are in car seats). I would had liked Audi Q5 but the middle rear seat is very tight.... Read more
Apologies - I was wrong. No petrol auto as we speak.
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Re : Missing gears, I fear your correspondent lacks a basic knowledge of why internal combustion engines require a gearbox. Neither electric (or steam) cars really need a gearbox, though electric cars suffer from HJ's "bête noire" of only having two pedals, increasing the chance of hitting the wrong pedal.