Is anybody to have owned the smallest diesel engine Rio on the market?
I am think to buy this car, I have taken a test driver I like the car, I am aim to buy the most fuel efficiency rather the performance for my long driving to work as I am self-employment take medical tablets etc. to the hospitals in Southern of England, which I am average 120-190 miles per day. My currently car is Fiat Bravo 1.6 Mutljet Eco now is at 178,600 miles is start to leak oil from the crankcase seal it can be repair, but the bad rusty on the subframe is about time to look for another car.

When the Rio say it can do 78.8mpg I was wonder if it is real figures? My Bravo was supposed to do 64.8mpg, but I am only average on computer trip 57mpg (the real mpg is round 54mpg)


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I purchased Rias Car insurance based on Truspilot Reviews as good customer care is important to me. I contacted Rias to let them know that my car which is insured for Business use as well as Private has been Sign Written with my cleaning company name, telephone number and SafeContractor Logo. I understand that Insurers class this as a vehicle modification so wanted to let them know ASAP. I was informed that this was ok providing it does not cover more than 25% of the car. I questioned whether this is the whole door including the glass and whether the percentage includes for both sides as there stipulation lacked clarification and they did not know. I felt that in my case it did cover more than 25% and said that it was greater than this but tastefully done and not covering any glass. The advisor contacted the Insurer direct who then promised to contact me and said it should not be a problem as it is to stop none business owners covering the vehicles with stickers. I asked if I am still insured to drive the vehicle whilst this is being looked into and was told yes no problem and that they would ring me back shortly with a reply. I have not been contacted and I am not happy with how this matter has been left. I contacted you in good faith and feel let down that no one case contacted me. As a self employed person who takes Customer Care Seriously I feel as if this matter could have been rectified by simply following up on a customer query. I then received a reply from Rias on Trustpilot asking me to contact their Customer Service Team, which I did immediately, even though they had my phone number and promised to phone me back. Explained the situation to a Rias Customer Service Advisor only to be told that my car insurance is currently declined if I kept the Signwriting on my car. So I have been driving around for a full week with a question mark over whether my insurance is valid, even though I was informed that I was insured. Diabolical company with terrible customer care based on my experience. Spoke to Swinton Insurance immediately following my phone call with Rias, and cover with Swinton for a car with Signwriting is not a problem with them, so instantly took cover with them and cancelled my cover with Rias. Never again and so annoyed with Rias. So if you have Signwriting or get your car wrapped don’t automatically assume that your insurance company will cover you.

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I think that buy to let has wrecked the housing market for first time buyers. Prior to buying to let really becoming popular, the price of a small home suitable for first time buyers would generally be limited to local average salaries and multiples there of.

If the price of initial homes exceeded what was affordable to first time buyers then they ( in the past) would not normally find a buyer and the market and upward chain would grind to a halt until salaries increased enough ( unlikely), or the price would match the buyers affordability.

I can well understand why people with excess cash would choose to invest in property, when returns from other investments may be poor, but I think it must be accepted that there has been a perhaps unseen bad affect on the housing market.

The reason for this rant is that I have two grown up children with good careers and decent salaries who are struggling to afford a property, while we sit comfortably in a mortgage free property bought in the 90’s before the housing market became crazy.

And yes we struggled through the late 80’s early 90’s boom and bust housing bubble plus incredibly high interest rates when we were first time buyers ourselves, but it was never as bad as this. Read more

Some years ago (2009) there was a thread on here about the AEC's that built the M25 and a link to some photos: www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=73899

Well I found an interesting video, presumably of the same AEC's, as they were moved from one site to another. This is them working hard on the Chelmsford bypass in 1986:... Read more

Hi everyone,

I have been having issues with our Ibiza the last few years, firstly I had to change the throttle body which I managed to do myself apart from diagnostic cost. Now the last year I had intermittent EML light)limp mode which is now constant. I had the diagnostic done yesterday and they want 500 big ones to fix, wiring has corroded to the turbo sensor and one of the dpf soot level sensors is faulty.... Read more