January 2021
Just wondering if anyone can provide any advice on the difference between these two cars in terms of ongoing maintenance and repair costs since whilst I prefer the A4 I've been reading a lot saying that it's not that reliable and I'm looking at a roundabout 2017 A4 Avant or Vauxhall Passat and much as I like the Audi I know nothing about cars and I'm a bit worried that even going to independent garages I'm going to get hit for ongoing expensive repairs with the Audi..... would appreciate anyone's views on this that has knowledge of Audi running costs Read more
For those like me who travelled on Christmas Day to be with family and a now waiting anxiously for the inevitable brown envelope it comes as little comfort to find the new HADEC 3 cameras are churning out tickets at an alarming rate. Over 40,000 in Surrey alone.
Time for a rethink perhaps when life returns to normal ? Read more
But the siting of the cameras should be where they do the most good and not where they collect the most money.
As it may be difficult to determine correctly where cameras might 'do the most good' I don't see why both these objectives should not be met, possibly as they are now....
Advice needed.... Just bought used 2009 Mazda 6 Tamura yesterday from a dealership. test drove it ect... Felt fine. Got home, took a trip to work this morning and I found it cut out in neutral twice whilst stopped at lights. Drives fine but sometimes the smell off rotten egg comes n goes which I've only noticed today. I have a six month warranty, I'm guessing this will be fixed if I take it back and just explain my concerns? Its just had a fresh Mot ect so I'm guessing this shouldn't be happening? I dunno.
Wondering if anyone can give me any advice. Read more
If you have just bought the car from a trader you have rights especially in the first 30 days and then the first 6 months. The AA have a great guide to this:-
My car has been SORNed for a couple of years and I'm now getting it back on the road again. I've insured it, but I'm having difficulties taxing it on the gov.uk website - it says the V5 reference number is not valid, I guess because of the SORN status.
Does anyone know the best way to tax my car? I want to do it online if possible.... Read more
Please ignore the previous post - I managed to tax the car using the V5 after all.
ok so I'm currently looking into buying a cheap run around car and I've come across an 03 citroen saxo desire 1.1L for £325. The car looks in great shape and has been well looked after. The problem though is that it has no MOT and hasn't done since November 2020.
Now I've been in touch with the seller he has told me there are 3 problems with the car. 1. he has replaced the wiper motor as it wasn't working but says there must be another problem because the wipers will not run if there's any resistance. 2. he says that the rear left hand brake isn't engaging as well as it should. doesn't know why but says he can feel it. 3. there's a loose bolt connecting the drivers seat to the floor and he says it's possible the floor could be cracked but doesn't know. ... Read more
Leave it, look for another car with an MOT.
The clutch pedal has started making a squeaking noise when I press it. I've tried squirting WD40 into the hole in the floor where the pedal goes through (no idea what's under there!) but that made no difference. Any ideas anyone? Read more
Very interesting look at the VW earring advertisement on YouTubeThe clutch pedal has started making a squeaking noise when I press it. I've tried squirting WD40 into the hole in the floor where the pedal goes through (no idea what's under there!) but that made no difference. Any ideas anyone?
Ah I get it now! :-)
Hello! Please help me choose the right car. My budget is no more than £ 8000. Used car, but a reliable, economical main condition and an automatic, preferably Japanese. My very old diesel Volkswagen Lupo is completely unusable. And now I want a more comfortable car and a bigger one. I was thinking about a Lexus ct200h or Toyota Prius, but from the review I understud that a hybrid is more of a city car. And I live outside the city, I do not stand in traffic jams, I live in the suburbs, but I often drive on dirt roads and there are also intercity trips, the driving style is not hasty. Does a hybrid make sense or is a diesel better? The choice of cars is so large, and I'm at a loss, how to start the search? Read more
Mine has just expired on the warranty which is 5 yrs from new however the battery is ten years. The battery requires an annual check/service at Toyota which is approx £60 to keep this valid. Using logic of how long a car usually lasts after the warranty has expired, I am hoping the batteries are good for 15 years plus and so far hearing no issues of the older ones still in use now.
Last nights BBC documentary about the project and the man shone some but not all the facts about the project.
Essentially an engineer but with a flair for marketing he pulled off some amazing projects when at GM making them a fortune in the process.... Read more
I didn't see the documentary, but I remember watching him on TV at the time. He overused the adjective "asinine", which I had to look up. He was using it to criticise others and I came to the conclusion that he was a conman.
Filling the odd half hour browsing YouTube, I have noticed multiple clips where a sudden steering move to avoid a slow/stopped car or obstruction results in a sequence of alternating left/right swerves and a crash into the barriers.
Now it seems that stability control programs were built into ABS systems and mandatory on new cars since 2011 in Canada, 2012 in the US and 2014 in Europe. ... Read more
but the real advantage of active safety features is that they will react more quickly than the driver following unexpected events.
Agreed, though it's hard to go back to a car without.
My last car had active radar brakes. I was on a motorway junction roundabout when a car raced on to the roundabout without stopping. The car stopped and put on the hazard lights before I had got my foot to the brake pedal.
My thoughts are on buying a reliable but cheap to run car thanks to a request from a friend. Here’s an example of one of my favourite small cars. It’s a 2019 Hyundai i10 and assuming it has a full dealer history it has a manufacturer warranty until 2024 so there’s no repair costs beyond normal servicing and thus little risk.
These are perfectly capable little cars and quite pleasant to drive yet they’ll offer an easy 50mpg without the compromised reliability of an older higher mileage diesel for the same money. Something said friend had to be talked out of.
A high street bank loan for £7500 over 48mths would cost £134pcm and ultimately cost £547 in interest. Far far cheaper than a PCP on a used car which typically has an APR in the region of 10%. Another thing this friend had to talked out of.
As much as I’m a fan of bangernomics this is probably the best way to buy a cheap car when you factor in running costs. There’s no repairs to worry about for another three years at least and with 50mpg plus economy plus cheap insurance it’s probably as cheap as it gets. But the big saving comes from not taking the expensive dealer finance and instead opting for the cheaper and more flexible bank loan. This saves the best part of £1200 in interest over a typical used car PCP deal at 9.9% APR.
www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101218194893
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In that connection, it might be worth noting that the new-shape Hyundai i10 gets only a 3-star rating from Euro NCAP. The previous model (the one SLO is talking about) got 4 stars. The tests have no doubt got more stringent since that model came out in about 2014.
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2017 Audi A4 has a longitudinal engine and gearbox layout, 2017 VW passat is transverse. Based on different platforms, considerably different in many areas including suspension.
Audi dealers are likely to charge significantly higher labour rates than VW, to support their upmarket placing in the VAG group....