May 2023
I find it increasingly hard to see the front signaling indicators at the presence of powerful LED's when tightly adjacent to said indicators.
I especially have hard time reading the turning intensions of certain American EV's, is it just me ?? or do you also cant see the blinking amber/red lights? Read more
Just reading the thread on the astra with a shaky dephaser and a thought occurred to me. Normally when I have thoughts late at night they're stupid, so I'm bracing myself...
Why bother with cambelts and chains at all? Why not just have a geared connection between the top and bottom ends? Read more
I have had some 50+cars in my life.
The only one I know off that was non-interference engine was my Mazda Xedos - in my 15 years of ownership no real repairs needed on the car - cambelts changed 2x....
Hello everyone. I have an Astra H 2010 1.6 VVT. It’s a cracking car if I’m honest and is currently on 73,000 miles. It is now at the cambelt stage. Also I’ve been advised to have the camshaft pulleys changed to remove this annoying rattle in the engine bay. It is a common thing apparently on these. For maintenance purposes I’m also having the water pump, thermostat valve, coolant drain and refil, aux belt, rocker cover gasket, oil change and filters. I service it myself every 5k miles. My repairs will be quite costly so I’m pretty sure I will have it done because the car has never let me down yet. I do 15,000 miles a year in it for work. A very small part of me has started to wonder if I should just cut my losses and buy a run around for £1500 with a years mot and take my chances. Just wondering what people’s thoughts are. I’ve never had a diesel so the thought buying one isn’t filling me with ease. I hear some right horror stories about dpfs etc. I do have a few mates who just buy old diesels and run them until they fail the mot or go wrong then spend another 1500 on another one. Doesn’t sound like a bad idea as long as you get a good one. I have no idea what diesels are decent. Read more
I think it’s just the culture we live in. Everyone wants new stuff they can’t afford. And are not realistic. I’ve also never agreed that if repairs cost more than the book value of the car, they shouldn’t be done. The way prices are at the moment I’d say it’s not the right time to change. I’ll keep this running as long as I can and keep putting a bit away. The car is spotless underneath. I’ve also had all the discs and pads changed last year. It’s had part of the exhaust changed. And I service it myself every 5k miles. I keep the oil topped up, not that it ever drinks any oil and drive it sensibly. So it should be fine. I think it will need a clutch within the next year or so but again, it’s west and tear. I don’t think you can have anything against a car needing wear and tear items replaced. When you consider I only payed £1700 for it 3 years ago and it was on 43,000 at the time, I’ve had my moneys worth 3 times over.
Does anyone know whether this is going to be law soon? They were talking about it before the pandemic but this news is from a few weeks ago - www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/new-dr...9
I just passed in Feb but I'm almost 40 so I don't think this applies to me but just wondering... Read more
The debate should be about how to reduce/avoid offending. Effective punishment relies upon understanding what works. We need some objective analysis before there is any chance of finding the right pragmatic solution.
- how many offenders are repeat - I get the impression that numbers are material suggesting current deterrents do not work well
- what is the offending demographic - young, professional, decent job, tend to have too much to lose to offend regularly (drink and drugs excepted)
- financial penalties unlikely to have impact if offender can't pay anyway.
- other penalties - driving ban is of no consequence if it is ignored, seizing car pointless if stolen or very low value
- sanctioning police violence against offenders, humiliation, etc is unlikely to win woke public support (nor should it|)
The alternative of escalating punishment or increasing severity is emotionally satisfying - but imprisoning someone for doing a few donuts is probably a little obsessive. Oz no longer takes our miscreant convicts so deportation probably not a runner....
Whenever I change my car for a new one I always wash and clean it before I collect my new car, don’t know why, as I suppose the dealer doesn’t care, but it’s just me, I like to show up with a nice clean car , before I collect my nice new clean car, does anyone else do this.? Read more
Never sold a car, but the last one I scrapped I’m embarrassed to admit I cleaned first. It had been semi-abandoned for months and colonized by rats.
Some manufacturers are just converting their ICE cars as EVs.
While some others are designing their EVs from ground up.... Read more
No tunnel, even insignificant, on mine, nor IIRC on any of my previous FWD cars, though I’ve mostly had RWD when those were an option, so not much of a sample.
Triumph 1300 may have been an exception, but not really typical FWD and may have shared pressings with the RWD Toledo, which had a family resemblance.
So they must have been very prescient, future proofed designs that I failed to appreciate at the time. Maybe I could do a quick electro-retrofit on the Skywing and save myself a head gasket
nltimes.nl/2023/05/03/hague-charging-eu50-10-minut...s
Interesting to read, but parking in Holland is so difficult and expensive anyway. Read more
The public transport in the Hague is so comprehensive, the only reason to drive would be if you are transporting something heavy or are disabled.
Hi all-
I'm having to go down the legal route to get my money back on a car, and wondered if a Small Claims Court is the right way to go. Back story is on the 'Technical' forum, but a summary is:
We bought a 2015 "Style" (1.2 VTI) from a dealer last week. On the drive home it manifested an EPS fault, and I phoned the supplying dealer there and then. They asked me to find out what the problem was and they'd foot the bill.
I got it checked via an independent Pug/Citroen specialist and their diagnosis was a failing EPS system, about £2500 all in using genuine parts. Clearly, this was why it was traded in. My bad. It seemed like a good one.
The dealer has been informed (this was a trial involving using a mobile phone borrowed from a friend) and wants to repair the car. For various reasons, mostly around them attempting to avoid my calls since the issue happened, I dont want this. A trustworthy outfit wouldn't have avoided my calls, and if I did, they'd have my car and my money. As it stands just now, even the promised invoice for sale hasn't yet arrived by email, never mind anything else. Fortunately I have a full record of the transaction, including Auto Trader advert, bank transfers, their iMessages (listed against their published AT contact number). So I want to reject the car entirely.
And apparently, I'm legally entitled to do so:
https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/rejecting-a-car/
Short-term right to reject – the first 30 days... Read more
It's in the throes of doing so. The accountant let slip that the new business was being prepared by him. It will be weeks, not months.
I suspect I may not have been the only disgruntled customer.
The new Honda CRV is available as a 2.0L engine and is now a hybrid. The previous was a 1.0L petrol with Turbo.
The new Honda CRV is available as a 2.0L engine and is now a hybrid. The previous was a 1.5L petrol with turbo.... Read more
I was issued with a diesel LR Defender when I was abroad limited to 40 mph because there had been so many written off due to speeding on desert roads, made worse by a severe bend near a overground fuel pipeline !
It was painful to drive .
I have a VW Golf estate import from Japan and though I don't drive it much - about 3k a year and the service light is on.
I don't have the previous service book so I decided to book a garage for servicing and found the site - A garage service booking company who seem to offer servicing at major dealerships - but whats the catch?... Read more
What was an American astronaut once said: How would you feel about sitting on top of 6 thousand lowest quotes?
No not just you, and some of the rear lights are next to useless too, VW's notably where the rear indicator is a circle on some Golfs, in bright sunlight a trafficator from the 1950s would be more effective.
One of the reasons i like older Subarus and Toyotas, particularly large Toyota 4x4s, where the front indicator was in its own lamp unit far away from the headlights.
Some of the faddish scrolling rear indicators are as much use as a chocolate teapot, see them fitted to some trucks now, equally useless.
Mind you given the intensity of so many headlights and DRLs now, most of us are driving around half blinded at the best of times, and don't get me started on the roadsaide lit up advertising screens, some of those on the M6 West Mids illuminate half the county, if you looked at one directly you'd see nothing else for 20 minutes, surprised the old bill traffic haven't kicked off at the dangers of those and got them dimmed or preferably scrapped.