December 2019
First time ever I used google sat nav on my phone whilst driving in a town centre and found it to be excellent. I have never used any sat nav of any kind before.
My question, is there any advantage to be gained by purchasing a stand alone sat nav as my car does not have a screen ? I would only require UK maps if that is of any relevance. I am guessing google maps is using my phone data? Is much data consumed? presumably a basic stand alone system uses GPS to reference stored data and there is no charge (as in payment not sparkes).... Read more
Hello, please can you help? Wifes car. Owned from 6 months old. 100k miles. Has been stone reliable, except when a main dealership damaged the fuel pressure sensor on a major service. I do annual oil and filter changes etc. I renewed both banks of spark plugs two years ago (Back 4 looked like they had never been changed !). Runs well. Indicated average 45+MPG on short run normal use. Just recently it started suffering with a "glitch" on light/medium load between 1500-2000 rpms. It is exactly like momentarily switching the ignotion off and then back on. It only seems to do it in "normal" CVT mode. Not in 7 speed or manual mode. I have removed and cleaned (overnight in brake cleaner ) the EGR valve. No difference. Runs as usual before and after the event. Any ideas please? Thanks for reading. James.
FWIW, I changed the CVT fluid. No change. Then one day the car had a sustained misfire rather that the momentary stumble. I did some more research on line and found this. I removed both banks of plugs ( rear were, as expected , very sooty ) and renewed, but with gaps set to .8mm rather than the 1.1mm specified. Car has run like a train since. Pulls hard in any gearbox setting and is now quite fun to drive...YMMV.
"Labour say these changes would cost about £1.5bn per year. The funding would come from a wider change planned by the party to create a sustainable transport fund from the revenues bought in by vehicle excise duty, or VED, which is based on emissions."
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In 1885 trains from London to Edinburgh were scheduled to take 7hr 30min including stopping for water.. The same today non-stop takes ~4hr 30min. ...
So ever since basically the start of September we've been hitting a daily average of about 28 to 35 degrees Celsius, and it's going to stay like that till roughly April, which means that the majority of our year
However I recently been looking into buying a new car for the wife and everyone seems to heated seats, no I mean they're probably really good in climates where it gets cold, but when the average winter temperature here really gets below about 10 degrees in most of the country, and even in the coldest parts it only get 2 maybe -5, it seems that for about the 3% of the country that gets really cold, heated seats and not much of a selling point.... Read more
I can count on both hands (feet too) the number of times my legs have got burnt when sitting on leather upholstery on a hot day ... fabric is much kinder to skin when heated by sunlight ... my gripe is why is it that heated seats may be standard on leather upholstery cars but not nearly so often if the upholstery is fabric ....
Is it possible to get some winter sun with a ferry trip and a drive, rather than submitting myself to the unpleasantness of air travel? I do it often enough for my liking with work, and at least then I am getting paid for it. Read more
Thanks, I see a plan starting to form!
Which car has been the most awkward to change bulbs on? Rear bulbs on my Volvo V70 are a skin shredding contortionist job. Not needed one on my 2012 slk but needs a panel removing behind the front wheel to change a headlight bulb.
Renault Modus is a bumper off job to change headlight bulbs......
What’s the best day to transfer ownership from parent to child to minimise the road tax bill? Read more
>£400.
£400? What is it - a Ferrari?
I've just upgraded the dismal headlights on my 12 reg Civic, using Phillips extreme and the results on dip are quite good, a significant improvement. Main beam was ok but most of the driving round here is on dip. Truly an awkward job, had me cursing and vowing to flog the Civic at the earliest opportunity, together with hands cut to shreds. It got me wondering which cars have decent non HID lights. The Civic comes with H7 main and dip, our focus the same but the focus lights are excellent by comparison. None can compete with the superb lights on the poverty spec 12 year old Panda believe it or not. Our Corolla is mediocre, with I think some strange bulbs too. This is such an important aspect that doesn't get much review but was wondering which models out there are decent. I drove a 5 series a few years ago and was astonished how poor the lights were. Hopefully when I buy a van, I will be able to see a but better at night! Read more
IE Don't wander about dark country roads in dark clothing etc?
Funny you should mention that, I was once in favour of LED street lamps and learnt over the months that pedestrians are even harder to see even with light clothes on, but would have thought councils would have experimented with different lights so pedestrians were more easily seen...
Hi all
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Sounds like at least one of the ABS rings has a crack / break in it which is confusing the system - it thinks the wheel is locking up, and hence fires the ABS at low speeds, which is the noise you can hear. On the front at least these are built into the wheel bearings, so it's not a cheap fix....
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Hi all
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Can’t see any problem driving it . Just remember that the anti lock/ skid function will be inoperative.
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I find that Waze has far more accurate traffic reports than any other system, it bases its info on reports from other drivers using the same roads. Only problem being that you have to touch the screen to report an obstruction and thus risk a fine. Don’t know if you can update using voice...