October 2021
I have an older car, which I get hand washed by the various car washes. The pearl off effect does n't last. It was overdue a car wash.
It has been raining heavily, but the visibility from my windscreen is not great, especially as it was nighttime. I have new wipers (Bosch). I have tried various cleaner, but my windscreen does not clean like a new car. It was hard to see the white lines on the road. I think there is a film of something on the windscreen........ Read more
We have two Corollas at work, both are well maintained, in the last two Mot’s they received advisories about a rear tyres worn. Last year at 5.7mm and this year for the same wheels for 4.2.
What is the tester consider ‘near limit’?
The cars do about 8k per year mostly within a mile or two around the office, should we just continue and replace when down to say 3mm or should we follow the advisories? The tyres are Dunlop Sports and looking fairly good. Read more
""None of them have ever gone under 3mm of tread left, but two sets of tyres - both the OEMs on the cars, were at about 6 years old, had started to get hard and led to a few very hairy moments (documented on the forum before) in the wet in cooler months.""
I do not know how some people drive but I have never" touch wood" had an hairy moment and have driven quite a lot of cars with tyres old and well below the 3mm that some are throwing away. Driving sensible and to the road conditions is sound advice....
Hi guys,
I would like to buy a cheap used car and the majority of cars that I can find within my budget are Peugeot(2006-2011), Vauxhall Astra and Corsa(2005-2010), Ford Fiesta (2005-2011) and Ford KA (2005-2010)
I am not really bothered about speed and aesthetics, all I care about is it being able to handle long journeys without problems that generally come up with cheap cars like Citroen. I would go for Toyota or Hyundai which I find to be the most reliable cars but they are out of my budget, so how well do you think Vauxhall Astra and Corsa age? Is Ford Fiesta of that age reliable ?
Thanks in advance
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I’ve noticed many older Pugs Citroens and Renaults running around. A couple of 04 Berlingos nearby for a start. French cars get a lot of stick but maybe in justly. This ten years old and it’s scrap it time is way off. How many backroomers have a car over ten years old…me for a start.
My 2004 206 diesel was just a stopgap car until I could find something I really wanted. But it sails through MOT year after year with no advisories or failures. So did my previous 307 and 306 before that. There's nothing special about them other than I only bought cars with FSH and some degree of care by the previous owners....
"New electric car charging points in homes and workplaces are to automatically switch off in peak times to avoid potential blackouts."
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Mind you with rising sea levels London will need £billions to prevent large scale flooding.
Thats coming already as some parts of the City get flooded regularly next to the Thames, they have built up too much considering they know its flooding now, but still they build Mad imo ...
Chatting to a GF driver today about most common and least common vehicles for breakdowns. Ford Focus and Nissans he sees the least. Number one for breakdowns won't come as a surprise to anyone here - L-R Discovery, followed by BMWs and Mercedes. Many electrical issues with the two Germans. Electric vehicles are a nightmare to recover, so breakdown in one of those. Read more
Maybe just ran out of fuel ? :-)
He was 100 yards from a filling station....
Hello all
I'm still looking into getting a run around and my next question is what is the 1.6 tdci engine like in terms of reliability . I have it in the back of mind that its not so good but cant remember why or seem to find why ( but still looking ) .... Read more
I'm not sure there are many reasons to call this engine the diesel of doom. Early examples of the 16 valve 1.6 engine certainly were known for turbo issues but it came out in 2005......quite a long time ago.
Assuming this is the 115bhp version fitted from about 2011 then it is a good engine and substantially different to the previous one. No inherent reliability issues, economical, low tax/CO2 and decent performance. ...
If you want E5 petrol in the UK, you have to buy super 98 at an increased cost of 10 pence per liter. Yet in France regular E5 is still available at most petrol stations at an increased cost of 4 pence per liter compared to E10.
Why are we paying more for our petrol? Read more
If you have a Costco (with a filling station) near you, it’s worth doing the sums on a membership simply to buy fuel. I don’t pay too much attention to petrol prices (diesel user), but their premium diesel is cheaper than supermarkets’ regular stuff.
My nearest Cosco is about 17 miles away, and I wouldn't make enough purchases to justify the cost of becoming a member. It wouldn't be so bad if I could do the bulk of my grocery shopping there. Luckily I don't have to fill up with petrol that often as I haven't been working for a while now, so am less affected by the current situation, and my car can take E5 ok.
The MOT testers in some instances write in the advisory section that undertray or engine cover is fitted obstructing inspection and still let the car pass. Why don't the tester remove the stupid things and check for potential problems? Read more
If MoT tests are an important contributor to road safety, condition of safety related items must be capable of inspection. If not, why bother with MoTs anyway.
Big IF...
First impressions.
Obviously lower and smaller than the Sportage, but better ride on the road, and less "wandering". Seats ok, and everything works at it should,... Read more
Is yours one shod on 16in rims or 17/18in ones? I did read reports that this car and the Ceed (and the Hyundai equivalents) didn't ride so well on the larger rims/lower profile tyres.
16" wheels and 195/5516 tyres., One of the things I have noticed was the ride is slighlt firmer than the Sportage 205/70r 16.....
Just thought I'd make a note of how it's going so far... well 22nd Sep I took delivery of my Electric car. Coincidentally my home charge point was also installed on the 22nd. Its been super easy to live with. Mild concern the other day. I'd set off in the morning without a full charge drove 36 miles to work. Then driving home I'm getting to 50plus pct charge on the A12 and I get caught up in a jam caused by a multi car shunt. So I'm sitting there 90mins looking at the power gauge and the est range figure and I'm concerned. Well turns out I used next to nothing extra false alarm. Got home with over 50pct remaining. Sadly the small car in the Transit sandwich we crawled past looked very bad indeed.
I read to maximise battery longevity, only charge when necessary and try to keep the level between 80pct and 20pct. So that's the goal. Some advice from the dealer or the manual would have been good.... Oh I recently checked the tyre pressures. The dealer had them at 48psi the manual says 36psi so lowered them. Seems smoother. Checked under the bonnet..not much to do there just top up the screen wash. Done 1100 miles next service 12000 so a way to go. All my charging has been at home so no issues with availability. Other than that it's been surprisingly easy . A neighbour has expressed a lot of interest and is thinking about doing this but hasn't a parking space near a power supply. So I guess the dynamics aren't as clear cut if you have to rely on public chargers. Work colleagues interested but think it'll be a few years yet before they consider a bev. Me I'm waiting for my first post car power bill ! Read more
Yeah 48 is way too high. Rear only at full load is 46, my half load is 36 all round. Set it to 38 as I always run a couple of extra psi over.
Browse
See my other post about glass cleaner that works.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/158913/a-glass-cle...t...