November 2022
Hi all,
Sorry if this is asked a lot on here, I’ve been forced to quickly replace my car which was written off by someone reversing into it. I have a limited amount of time before returning the hire car and have little car knowledge.
Needs:
Max budget £7k-£8k
Space (my Ibiza was far too small for growing family)
Bluetooth audio (as a working musician I use this every journey)
Hoping for no older than my Ibiza, which is 2014
Hoping for as little hassle in terms of garages/issues - reliability!
I usually average around 30-50 miles per day, with the occasional longer motorway journey a few times a month and a roadtrip to central France a couple of times a year.
My first question is - should I disregard diesel? Most journeys are in 30-40mph zones with less frequent long distance ones
My shortlist at the moment is:
VW Tiguan (2.0 diesel)
VW Tiguan (1.6 petrol - yet to find one suitable within budget)
Kia sportage
Seat Leon
Seat ateca (seems beyond budget)
Seat altea/Altea XL (although I think this is probably bigger than what I need!)
For various reasons (friends’ advice/ones the wife thinks are ugly etc…) I have ruled out Dacia, Skoda, Ford and the Nissan qashqai.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Read more
I have observed that HGVs have air cushions in drivers' seats. What is the advantage?
Why cars don't have similar seats?... Read more
<< it wouldn't be difficult to extend that system to power an air-sprung seat - whether the cost would be justified is another matter. >>
You might need some more headroom ?...
Hi,
New car owner/driver here.... Read more
When you say lift off do you mean pull off? As, in my (limited) experience, it takes a little bit of fiddling to get it off.
Literally lift off. So long as you apply the pump nozzle in alignment with the valve it's easy.
Hi there,
I've recently bought a 2006 Nissan Note from a used car dealer and have unfortunately discovered I may not have checked it over well enough. There is what I would call excessive movement in at least the drivers side engine mount. This movement is enough that I can feel and hear it in the car, especially when setting off. Should this have caused the car to fail an MOT? It got an MOT the morning I took delivery of it (today, 28/11/22), but looking at this I feel like it should have failed. I intend to go back to them to ask them to fix it, but I want to make sure I'm correct in my assumption beforehand.... Read more
MoT inspection manual....6.1.8 (a) ( i)............'severely damaged or deterioration resulting in excessive movement....'
You are in the hands of the examiner and their interpretation of 'excessive'. Sadly, their opinion almost always trumps yours, especially when the measurement is unquantified. However, I think that easily producing a noise of something banging against something else adds sufficient weight to your opinion that the movement is excessive enough to fail the MoT, and should not have passed. That should outweigh their opinion that it was OK. In view of the small timeframe, their counter argument that the deterioration might have occured since the test would carry very little weight. Hope this helps - good luck!
We have 2 cars on personal cover, Start rescue.
One is 11 years old, the other just over a year old, and wanted to add Eu cover foe the newer car. Personal cover not valid for EU... Read more
No question. Sir. Just the madness of the comparison on the website.
Hi
In the scenario where a car fails an MOT due to both dangerous and major defects then the dangerous ones must be fixed immediately. However, if no retest is performed because more time is needed to resolve the major defects then can can the car be driven legally provided the original MOT is still current?... Read more
DVSA tried to play up the 'if you have a dangerous fault the car is flagged as illegal to drive' line on gov.uk for the first few months after the new rules. Lots of newspapers reported the line as gospel, including the myth that the old MOT was somehow immediately cancelled.
The problem was that the primary legislation had not been changed, so DVSA were overstepping their powers. The law is not explicit on what makes a vehicle dangerous to drive - but it is usually taken to mean tyres, brakes, steering, body integrity....
Hi all
After some help, brought my partner a mk2 ford focus as a runaround. ... Read more
Cheers for the reply.
Been trying to find second hand latches online but no luck so far ??
Many folks seem to dislike driving at night, me included. The dual carriageways and motorways are fine but around sunny Basingstoke many white lines have almost disappeared. The white lines are are a great aid at night but when they fade or are non existent and very great care is needed to keep safe. Add to this the supremely bright headlights on some vehicles...and even taillights... it's a combination that driving quite difficult. Read more
I quite like, maybe even prefer driving at night. .....
I too like driving on country roads at night for the same reasons.......but there is often a problem to see where the road ends and the verge begins. We need more white lines. But my three mile cycle from my village to the town on such narrow roads is hazardous - especially when thoughtless oncoming drivers don't dip their lights for oncoming cyclists. They are clearly too stupid to realise - or just don't care- that on a dark country road a cyclist's eyes get more accustomed to the dark than a head-lit car driver - and so are more easily blinded by the transient bright light.
Hi all!
After hours (there's so much on these carbs) reading about the multitude of issues + remedies regarding the 2e2 I figured I'd post my issues with the hope someone might be able to point me in the right direction
So it's an Audi 80 b2 1.8 with the Pierburg 2e2. Bought the car in October and all in all it seems like a good un.
So... the issues. Seller told me that sometimes it cheats or over-runs on ignition off. That turned out to be a little optimistic as it over-runs quite often. Also runs super lumpy (as if its not firing all cylinders) for the first 20/30 seconds on a cold morning (0 / ~5).
Anyways I took it all apart and found that the flange which attaches the Carn to the inlet manifold was completely split in half. Carb was just sitting on top of the manifold. So replaced that and everything seemed in good order. Auto-choke comes on at 2000rpm for first 30secs to a few mins depending on the outside temp then settles to around 750/800rpm which seems right?
Since I fixed the flange the mixture smells super rich though, exhaust is pretty white which maybe because of the cold here in Norway (no sweet smell, compression all works out, not using any coolant) but it seems odd that it doesn't burn off the condensation and settle after a drive.
Also the engine still over-runs. Sometimes it doesn't at all, then every 3rd or 4th drive it'll over-run for 2 or 3 seconds.
Same with the running lumpy for first min or so on very cold mornings.
I've changed the vacuum lines, bought some seafoam and carb cleaner to clean the carb and run through the valves.
Anyone have any smart ideas? Read more
I found a 1600 Lada fitted with a Weber in an Edinburgh scrappy when I was looking for a starting-handle-compatible radiator for my 1200 Mk1. Should have bought it, but was too stingy and short sighted.
OP, running on could indicate a need for a decoke. I did a distilled water decoke on my Skywing (plant sprayer and 2 liters of deionised) and it stopped doing it, though my trigger finger got pretty sore....
Good evening all,
This is a really good one.... Read more
Ouch!
That is some list of problems....
Browse
The other issue that revolves around buying a diesel is where the OP lives/works - if its in or going into a ULEZ regularly, its highly unkilely they'll be able to afford a EU6 rated diesel vehicle to avoid the high daily entry / usage charges.
Not so much of an issue if that is rare, though as you say, BBD, owning a DPF quipped diesel second hand can prove a real financial pain, as you'll not know if buying it comes with a failure in short order (possibly the reason why the previous owner is selling it), rather a lottery unless you personally know the owner and can guarantee it was sympathetically driven....