September 2021
Does anyone know what, if any, the minimum fill / fuel delivery is at the pump with the main petrol forecourts are? BP, Esso, Shell.
£5 / £10, 2L / 5L?... Read more
On the Service Schedule for our 2008 (A94F) - EB2ADTS/EU63 1200 3 CYL PETROL under 'Authorised Engine Oils' it says...
00W20 B71 2010 (C5) - 00W30 B71 2312 (C1C2)... Read more
What a lot of faff, why bother buying into silly designs like this in the first place, as daft as BMW making Diesels with the timing cahin at the back of the engine, better off owning simpler proven engineering.
Its not as if these companies are known for extending warranties in case of failure for these designs on properly serviced cars, say to 10 years or 100,000 miles, which Toyota have done mutliple times when weaknesses in their designs have manifested.
Hi all, What is the most realiable automatic gearbox ? For car after year 2010 , also cvt or automatic gearbox is more reliable please tell me some brands and models or cars ... thanks.
I’ll wager he hasn’t had to deal with many of them beyond the occasional low mileage Polo. Ask any VW specialist however and they’ll be advising caution, especially with the dry clutch variant in lower power VW’s. Yes they do require fluid changes on schedule and missing this would cut lifespan but there’s loads of cases of properly maintained cars with ruined gearboxes. Ask any dealer or group buyer at auction and you’ll hear how wary they are of them. I’ve stood and watched perfectly nice Golfs and polos with DSG boxes fail to sell through the ring as dealers don’t want the hassle. If they do sell they do so for well below book money. My local VW dealer typically refuses to sell any beyond 5yrs of age. Later versions will no doubt be more robust but I simply don’t trust dual clutch gearboxes. DSG and Powershift have tarnished the reputation for me and the trade are rightly wary. I wouldn’t buy one nor would I advise anyone else to do so. The three golden words of of used car buying are ‘keep it simple’ and a highly complex twin clutch automated manual gearbox is as far from this as it’s possible to get.
The problem I suspect is that a lot of (uninformed) car owners wrongly buy cars with dual clutch gearboxes thinking they work similarly to 'traditional' TC auto boxes except that they achieve quicker gearchanges and get better mpg.
DSG type gearboxes are still manuals and still have clutches than can be worn out relatively quickly, rather like a standard manua gearboxl. That people edge forward in heavy traffic or reverse up steep slopes very regularly means their clutch pack will likely wear far more quickly than the equivalent in a TC auto box....
Hi,
Still looking at options and have never driven the Mazda 1.8 petrol before. There are a couple of decent cars locally with this engine fitted?... Read more
Never had any issues with any Mazda engine I’ve owned or sold. I do know a couple of cases of slightly excessive oil use on Mk II Ford Focus 1.8’s with the same Mazda L series motor but they still keep going with regular top-ups. I’ve personally owned a 3 1.6 petrol, Mk II 6 2.0 petrol, a Mk II MX5 1.8 and a Ford Mondeo 1.8 petrol all with similar basic engine designs and not had a moments bother with any of them. The Mazda 6 was an excellent big car that drove well and was surprisingly decent on fuel.
I’m pondering getting some rust proofing applied to the underside of my mk2 MX5. It’s just had its MOT (and passed) but the friendly chap at the local garage said if I want to preserve it, then he would recommend some protection (contrary to my initial thought, he wasn’t trying to sell it- this garage is a small local which just does servicing).
Does anyone have any advice or experience? Is it worth it in a car only worth a couple of grand? I’ve had a quote for what seems a comprehensive job for £500 locally (removing plastic trim, cleaning, inspecting, treatment and coating). Read more
Good point.
No...
Any signs of panic buying of fuel where you are?
I noticed my local Shell filling station had Out-Of-Use signs on half of its fuel nozzles yesterday. Today, on the way back from Southampton, I needed to fill up with petrol. I did see a couple of filling stations with some cars queuing out onto the road and all looked to be busy. The one I stopped at had all its pumps working, but fortunately I didn't have to queue. It was a lot busier than usual though and they had 3 tills open where there's usually only one at that time of day.... Read more
motorists have finally had enough of 'Insulate Britian' and taken matters into their own hands and dragged the 'protestors' out of the road.
Youngrovergirl and myself have been invited and have booked our booster jabs.
I'll see what reaction I have this time.. Read more
Letter in this week - Covid jab again for us oldies - this will be #9 - we have been Covid free!
Of the 4 households in the immediate family there are14 (including us 2 oldies)...
I bought an ex-demonstrator Xceed plug in hydbrid about 4 weeks ago and I thought I'd let you know my thoughts on it.
I managed to get a First Edition model which has every conceivable option on it.To name a few it has a power tailgate,electric memory seats,sunroof,heated seats in the front and rear,heated steering wheel,cooled seats,digital dash board and every safety item such as blind spot monitoring,lane keep assist,collision avoidance etc.... Read more
As an update on my original post,I have been away for a few days and got to test the car out on motorways and A roads. The lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control worked perfectly on the motorway,keeping the correct distance from the car in front and virtually driving itself with lane keep assist.I set off on my journey with a full charge(32 miles) and left the car in automatic mode to juggle the battery and engine as it saw fit.During my various journey's and the motorway back again the car returned 63.4mpg overall. The app that comes with the car proved to be a godsend.I could search for my destination in the hotel room and once found,send it to the car.When I then got in the car the destination was already on the screen and asking if I wanted to start navigation.Very handy and saved alot of time messing around with the touch screen.The car has a raised suspension height and so even on 18" wheels,it coped very well and was very supple. I did find that SPORT mode was hugely addictive on the twisty roads and sharpened up the response very well(at the detriment of the fuel consumption).
Overall I am still very impressed by my Kia Xceed and I think ORB is pleased with his new Kia.The quality and value for money has come in leaps and bounds and they are highly recommended.
While our old Corsa is being repaired, we've just had a week with a newish Fiesta Ecoboost mild hybrid: the full-house 155bhp ST Line version.
Pros: it really does go, all that power & torque in a 1200kg car means it's amusingly rapid. Hybrid system is very mild, you notice the regenerative braking much more than any assistance from the starter / generator (apart from the below). Tidy handling, the steering is really direct with very little understeer. It also corners nice and flat. All the toys you could wish for: climate, big touchscreen for media, etc. Roomy for its class.... Read more
The vast majority of potential 'buyers' will never own the car and as such, the RRP is utterly irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the monthly payment.
And there's the rub. For such a pricey hybrid the monthly PCP payment will be around £250, which translates to an annual depreciation, or cost of keepership, of around £3000 which, unlike the purchase and ownership of a new car, will never diminish as the years roll by. ...
Disclaimer: I know that this site doesn't provide proper legal advice. I just wanted to get an answer relating to something that has just happened, I'm not planning on pocketing the advice and taking it to court it's more a case of how worried I should be.
Returning from work this afternoon I turn around onto my driveway and crunch... there is a car parked in it and I've driven into the back of the car.... Read more
But is it a private driveway? The UK law on this is far from clear.
What is a public place?...
.jpg)
Can't be any less than that, because every so often I fetch mower petrol in a 5-litre can, but only buy £3 or £4 worth.