November 2019

Sally Metcalfe

I recently picked up my brand new car, a first for me so very exciting! Bit of a long story but I had put a small deposit on a used car at the dealership so when I decided and ordered my new one instead of giving me a £50 refund I said to use it for fuel when it arrived which they agreed to. So collection day comes and I am being shown all the features before driving off and I noticed it only had between a quarter and half a tank of fuel. Given it is a 1.2 engine I was surprised. I asked if the £50 fuel had been out in and was told yes. Then I panicked a little saying crikey it’s going to cost a fortune for a full tank......

So, days later the fuel goes down to nearly empty and I decide to fill up. The whole tank cost £44 from red to full tank. So I emailed the, saying I think there may have been a mistake and the £50 of fuel not put in - the response I got was along the lines of new cars arrive with so little fuel, they have known people break down between the dealership and petrol station and it was because the fuel lines were empty so it absorbed so much fuel. Being a female who has never had a new car I am annoyed. I think they are taking advantage, I’ve googled it to death and can’t find any reference to this. My sensible thoughts are, if what they say is true, then surely I would have say 3/4 tank, losing a quarter to the fuel lines, I think I need to make more of a fuss but would be ever so grateful if anyone here can tell me whether their claims are reasonable. It feels like they are taking advantage! Many thanks in advance. Read more

concrete

"Instead of giving me a £50 refund I said to use it for fuel when it arrived which they agreed to."

They didn't fill the tank - so I hope that by now Sally has gone back to the dealer and simply asked for the promised refund (such an agreement is better in writing but legally doesn't have to be)....

Sam M

Are there any owners who can recommend a used model based on the below? I've seen some ranging from £6k but understand it is an old battery model so therefore lower range.

If I buy direct from a garage they will fit the home charge for free but the models start from approx £10k.... Read more

Engineer Andy

Not all old tech is worthless - useless, but if it works and is in good condition, they are collectors items, if not many are around any more. A relative owned a 1970s HP calculator, which if it had still worked, would've been worth £0000s.

I get your point though about early adopters, especially getting the bang for your proverbial buck - my 23in LCD TV cost me £400 in 2006. I can get a much flashier 4K (or higher) TV about 3 times the size today for that money. Admitedly mine still works fine....

Stackman II

Yesterday I spent some time with my brother who was driving a Stelvio Quadrifolio.

I wanted to like it but, apart from the comical performance, was decidedly unimpressed.... Read more

Brit_in_Germany

Only on summer tyres when it is getting a bit colder. Now with winter tyres on there is no problem. I understand that the crabbing is due to the 4WD, like with the Mercedes GLC.

Cubic

I've just got an Audi A1 1.6 TDI. Before, I had a 2008 VW Polo petrol. Don't have much experience of driving diesels.

The Polo would sit happily on a flat road at 30 in 5th, but the diesel won't. Even 4th at 30 is a struggle for it sometimes.

I'd have thought with the diesel being more powerful it could do it, so why can't it without it labouring the engine? Read more

Andrew-T

There is a lot of internal friction in a car, due in part to the tight piston rings. Have you tried pushing a car in gear, it's not easy for this very reason.

I'm not quite sure what you are saying here. Many of us will have tried pushing a car in gear, it's difficult because of trying to compress the gas in the cylinders, not because of friction or tight piston rings etc. But I don't think that is what you meant? (it's easiest if the car is in top gear)

Alex of Smeg

Van had been sat for a few weeks in the cold and wet. Now, shortly after starting the glow plug light and some strange warning light above it (that resembles a heart rate monitor) come on and remain on. The van drives fine and performance is fine, although it now won't rev higher than 3800rpm (If i'm honest I don't know if that was always the case). a quick google gives me suggestions like clogged EGR valve, turbo pressure boost solenoid, corroded/moist electrics/wiring, faulty glow plugs... Can anyone narrow it down more given the circumstances? - bearing in mind sitting unused for a while was probably the cause... Read more

elekie&a/c doctor

Could be any one or more of a thousand options . On these Renaults and variants , the glow plug light is the malfunction light together with the service fault light. If the engine does not rev freely , then there must be a fault stored in the engine computer system.

OceanMan

This is an odd one, and quite hard to explain, but...on my car (2009 fiesta) there's a small gap at the bottom of the handbrake stick. Today I dropped a £2 coin and it somehow slid into this gap and disappeared. I'll get over losing the coin but I'm wondering if it could somehow damage anything underneath the handrake box? I don't know if it can get jammed or cause other issues there. Read more

dan86

Some UK coins are made from steel - plated to look like copper/brass coinage.

I- 2p - 5p and 10p are all magnetic....

Bob Rock

A couple of years back one of the headlights stopped working on my MK3 Clio. Putting a brand new bulb in made no difference, so I ended up taking it to a garage. They found a loose connection and all was well again.

The fault has just returned and I'm thinking of having a crack at it myself this time. Unfortunately the garage did not elaborate where the loose connection was originally and I doubt they'd appreciate me asking now.... Read more

elekie&a/c doctor

It gets complicated from here . It could be a fault within the fusebox or a connection underneath it. You will need to lift the fusebox out of the plastic protective box and check the multi pin connectors below. Not very easy as there is not much length in the cabling to pull it up for inspection.

Engineer Andy

Nein. Read more

Comment
Ta-Ta JLR

The answer for the Discovery Sport EGR fault overlooks the systemic exhaust design fault that led JLR to warn its sales staff not to sell this particular car (Evoque and E-Pace as well) until the customer's needs had been fully qualified. JLR knew this would happen, so it's not fair to blame the owner in any case of this type. If it had been a Jaguar XE the fault would have been significantly less likely to occur, so with these cars adjudication must always find in favour of the driver. To demonstrate this fact, the law firm below currently enjoys a 100% success rate in achieving just outcomes for such owners in ombudsman hearings

www.linkedin.com/pulse/land-rover-dpf-issues-oil-d.../... Read more

jchinuk

It's not an unknown ruse to ensure the sale is outside eBay, which despite it's faults, does provide some buyer protection. A friend of the seller or the seller under a different account out-bids the buyer. The seller then contacts the buyer telling them the winner (in reality a fraud) has dropped out, do they still want the car (or whatever). It's against eBay rules, but it happens.

FiestaOwner

RE: "Electric shock"

If you can get a full refund, I would return the Tesla. You clearly won't be happy with it if they attempt to repair it. I wouldn't find the paintwork issues acceptable on a new car either. I wouldn't ask them to fix it.

Wouldn't be concerned about the lack of drinks and flowers, the customer pays for these through higher prices.

As you don't like the way Tesla (both dealer and manufacturer) have treated you, I would definitely look at a different brand of car. Plenty of other makes and dealers out there.

Think most factory order lead times are around 3 months, so I wouldn't be ordering a car with a lead time of much more than that again. Read more

Engineer Andy

I believe that US YouTuber Scotty Kilmer doesn't like that sort of product because it can dislodge gunk from parts of the engine that they aren't doing any harm only for them to get stuck in area that would.

I too remember them becoming 'fashionable in the mid-late 90s (my local Nissan dealership carried them out about 3-4 times on my Micra back then) and then it stopped being done as part of the service from around 2000 - 2002....