November 2023
Walking past the local WBAC place today when the transporter was collecting. Five cars onboard, all relatively old and all coincidentally black. What I noticed however was all had the driver's door window open an inch or two. Why?
As the subject says, possibly one for GB. Read more
Hi. I have £2500 to spend on a nice cheap motor. It will be a mix of normal and motorway no more than 8k.miles a year.
We really like the A3 (especially tdi models), Ford focus and for extra room in case we wanted an 2nd car for the dogs the VW Touran.
I've been on all their FB forums and what a suprise they all say their cars are best but they all say I could pick a decent one up for £2500
What do other people think in terms of reliability, maintenance etc
Cheers Read more
We had a 2003 Touran 1.9 Tdi, bought secondhand, which served us well for many years. Problems tended to be electrical, which I guess would be the same for the Audi A3, as it shares much of the same technology.
The main dislike of the Touran was loud tyre roar at the back when travelling at motorway speeds, something we never solved. Ours was a 5-seater, which meant it had a proper spare wheel.
I took a new high spec BMW 540Xi 3 years ago and was not told about a subscription and now they have removed traffic data and want me to pay £89 p.a for this important thing packaged with a load of things I do not want - Alexa etc - I do not want an entertainment centre or sit in car fiddling with downloading on my Iphone but I want traffic data that I have on two older cars free of charge. I will sell the car that I bought for touring as its now like a useless r****** skip and buy a new car of another brand that will assure me no subscriptions. They will not lose this one 'order' but several. Its a bib mistake to fleece customers who pay a lot for their cars.
Read moreYou don't need a phone mount. You plug your phone into the USB and start Apple Carplay or Android Auto, which then gives you access to Google or Waze on the infotainment screen. On a sw***y beemer, it may even be wireless.
Ok, I need some input here.
Quick history first.
Passed my full UK driving test about 17 years ago.
Licence was revoked under the new drivers act for driving without insurance due to a lying mechanic and me being too naïve to question what I was told.
Long gap between that and resiting the test as required, mainly due to not really NEEDING to drive as I live in a large city with plenty public transport but also because I was really disgusted with driving after what occured with the mechanic.
Eventually got my licence back. Clean as a whistle. Conviction completely expired and well outwith the time to declare to insurance. Like it never happened.
New licence card, and the government website, both show my license for class B as being issued in 2006 and NOT the date when I passed the test the 2nd time.
Currently in my first years insurance which I declared as having my licence less than 1 year and paying £1232 for the year and I was insured before my photocard came in the post.
Now I've realised my card, and the website, say I've had my license since 2006.
Ran a quote using the 2006 date and zero NCD and I would have paid £700 for the year instead. Slightly p***ed.
Which one do I legally need to declare to insurance? 2006 or 2023? Nothing, anywhere, shows any sign of passing a test in 2023 but everywhere shows as having a licence since 2006.
... Read more
Doesn't sound to me like it was your fault.
Unfortunately the law does not agree. It is a driver’s responsibility to be absolutely sure that cover is in place before driving. The only exception to this is where a driver is using a vehicle not belonging or hired to him, in the course of his employment and he neither knew nor had reason to believe that cover was not in place. This is described in the RTA, S143(3). However, all water very much under the bridge....
We're in the market for an auto 7 seater, ideally around £8k but I'm aware that may be an impossibility in the current market, so we can stretch to more.
We currently have a petrol Golf SV which we're outgrowing with three children. We don't have any hobbies which require a large boot space but we do occasional lifts for friends which would make an extra row come in handy (eldest is early teens).... Read more
“ I can't believe there would be a shortage of trim or body parts given the insane number of the PHEVs that I see rampaging around.”
Tends to happen when a manufacturer leaves the market. Support in the way of parts availability will dry up pretty quickly. You’ll certainly find used bits though, the hybrid was their biggest seller towards the end. Shame really, back in the 80’s and 90’s Mitsubishi produced some great cars.
Our 2018 Arona with the VAG 150ps 1.5 turbo petrol engine has started 'sighing' when you lift off the gas. It sounds like the sort of noise you might imagine air escaping out of a hole in a pipe might make. Anyone experienced anything similar and/or know what might be causing it?
It doesn't seem to be affecting performance to a noticeable degree, and we'll be booking it into a trusted local garage soon. Have considered taking it to the local SEAT dealership, but I'm not convinced it requires specialist knowledge. Read more
I assumed from the title that you'd had the cylinders bored out, which I didn't think was a thing any more.
Now I'm un-surprised, but still a bit disappointed.
Whilst driving my instrument panel suddenly dies and the speedo drops to zero and then it suddenly comes back to life only to do the same thing again, also the car seems to lose very slight power when it does it?
I have read that sometimes it can be just the instrument panel that's faulty, if so can you just swop it for another or does it have to be coded?... Read more
Instrument panels were troublesome on 2002-4 models . The panel would go completely blank. This is an easy fix . The other issue of speedometer drop out and loss of power, is due to the speed sensor on the gearbox. A common problem.
Hi,
I'm about to change front shocks. I have got online haynes manual. The manual shows two different control arm specification and different torque settings on each of them:... Read more
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It works the other way too. Looking back, I can see that several of my lucky breaks in life have been the result of being helpful to complete strangers.