July 2024
While in my dealership for servicing, noticed half dozen. Omoda cars in their glass house. They all look similar with distinct perforated grills.
Interior looks nice, like any other European brands. ... Read more
Hi all,
Apologies for the long first post but have been reading through the forum and found lots of really great content.
My wife and I have a 2 year old, 1 year old with another on the way. We now need a larger car and have been sopping the market for the past month. We narrowed it down to X5, VW All Space, XC90 and Discovery Sport of cars we liked within our budget.
We wanted all 3 baby seats to fit across the middle row and it turns out surprisingly that the X5 and VW All Space couldn't accommodate that. That leaves the XC90 and Discovery Sport
Within our budget there are 2018 and 2019 XC90s with roughly 110,000 miles on the clock or 2020 Discovery Sports with 60,000 miles on the clock. Both would be 2.0 Diesel and would be purchased through dealers with full service history and 1 year warranty's.
Our main concerns were about space and reliability and we are now wondering which would be the better pick factoring in age and mileage? Any advice or experience would be really appreciated? Read more
Have you looked at the "Multimac" which is a triple child seat which fits in the back of any reasonably sized car?
This then opens up many other options in terms of cars to buy, meaning you can get a normal estate car or a 5 seater crossover which will be significantly newer and lower mileage than for an XC90 or similar....
I bought my car new in 2017 and it came with Michelin Tyres which were replaced in 2021 with Michelin primicy 4 after the car had done 24,000 miles, The car has now 46,000 miles on the clock and there is still plenty of tread on the car, But i am looking at replacing all 4 tyres with another set of Primicy 4s. Speaking with ATS and also what i have read on line, It states the the average life of a set of these tyres are 10,000 to a max of 15,000 miles depending on Driving, So am i just been lucky or are they under estimating the life span of these tyres .
The tyre sizes are 195/55 R16 87H Read more
<< It would also seem at least possible, though, that performance in the dry, where tyres spend most of the time, is compromised at the higher tread depths, and a reduced tread depth gives better average overall performance and safety >>
All this is blatantly obvious, explaining why F1 drivers prefer tyres with no tread at all for dry conditions. Real-world people like us, however, don't have the luxury of a pit-crew able to fit a set of wet tyres in about 20 seconds when needed !...
Have you seen the new Ford Capri? What an absolute disappointment! It's an electric crossover , yet another one, boring, ugly, an insult to the name! Which got me thinking about their current lineup. What have we got? The EcoSport, totally average , the Kuga, totally average, the Puma, possibly slightly more interesting but what is it? Then the Ford Ranger, of limited interest and ability. Is there anything else? I remember so many interesting and fantastically sought after models, the Capri 2 litre & 3 litre, Escort Mexico, RS 2000, etc, Lotus Cortina, Cortina 2.3, Granadas, the list goes on. Even the later ST models were true enthusiast cars. There doesn't seem to be a single car for true enthusiasts in their line up these days, I wonder if they're serious about the European market? Read more
I find it quite strange that Ford has pulled the Fiesta from sale. While VAG still seems to be able to sell 4 cars in this segment (Ibiza, Fabia, Polo & A1).
Same story with the Focus, which they are about to pull from sale too. VAG is still able to sell in this segment too (Leon, Octavia, Golf, A3, Scala)....
After a chat with a mechanic friend of mine who looks after a fleet of Citroen/Peugeot\Vauxhall vans fitted with the DV5 diesel engine, he was saying he's seen a lot with timing chain problems with the 7mm chain needing to be changed to the 8mm one after an issue with chain stretching or worn followers.
I have some questions as I almost bought a 2008 gt line with this engine, am I right in thinking this could only affect the vans as they are worked harder in their life, or is there an inherent design fault with this unit and should I be wary of this engine? Read more
There's a recall to replace the chain with the 8mm version - but only if it's noisy, be lucky to catch it between OK - Noisy - Broken I would think! Later cars (maybe from beginning of Jan '23, but seems to be conflicting info) are fitted with the 8mm from the factory. It's possible to check the number stamped on the rocker cover to see if it is 7 or 8, but it's not easy to see!
I had a scary experience last weekend. I had just joined a motorway when my three-year-old car with 30,000 miles on the clock started to jump from one gear to another without warning. My dashboard told me it was in 5th gear then 2nd, then to 6th and back to 3rd. Luckily there was a nearby exit slip road and I managed to get to the hard shoulder. A friend later googled Volvo clutches and found a posting in 2021 from a man called Dazzler who had suffered a similar experience in the same model as mine. Interestingly his was first registered in September, 2020, the same month mine was first registered. I have been quoted £2,385 for a replacement clutch, flywheel and slave cylinder by the Volvo dealership. I wondered if anyone else out there has had a similar incident with this Volvo model and what was the outcome ? I have been driving for more than 50 years and I have never had a clutch problem before. Read more
What really confuses me is the fact that the dash says 5th to 2nd and then 6th to 3rd yet the OP does not mention the sudden increase in revs such a change in ratios would cause.
If that is really the case logic suggests to me its a simple sensor problem and the dash is displaying the wrong number.
Having read on here about serval problems with insurance - Axa declining business and the Lexus NX300h having some sort of easy to steal fault - I was concerned as renewal time is at the end of this month. I had been with LV who suddenly became too expensive a couple of years ago and switched to Axa. Now they decide not to renew my policy.
Quite by change an email arrived from LV prompting me to get a quote, around £770 - ouch! Last year I paid £435. Onto the comparison sites and Alliance came in at £575 and LV £602, for exactly the same risk (NX300h with self, wife and daughter covered). ... Read more
In the local social media forums, there is someone reporting a theft of their car every few days.
Have you tried getting insurance from Lexus directly?
Yesterday when driving locally a message came up saying DPF Soot accumulation too high. We decided to do a 22-mile run on the motorway at 3,200 revs to try and burn it off. We only did about 2 miles before the P2118 error code came up, followed straight away by a 'DPF Malfunction' message. We were fortunately not far from a slip road so immediately left the motorway. We pulled over and plugged in the OBDII and the following came up:
P2118 Throttle actuator control (TAC), throttle motor current-range/performance problem Status confirmed.... Read more
There are plenty of other factors but if you buy a seven year old approved used Toyota or Lexus it will have three years left on the warranty. Likewise a four year old Kia, a two year old Hyundai etc.
Hi All :)
Would anyone be able to tell me if the 1.4hdi in my Bipper Tepee has a timing belt or chain?
And if belt what the intervals are?... Read more
If you’ve not done a cambelt previously, I’d leave it alone . You’ll also need the timing tools to lock up the camshaft and crankshaft.
I'm looking around at some nearly-new car options to replace one of ours which has gone to the sc***-heap in the sky, but also seeing various new car offers with substantial discounts "subject to taking out a PCP". Some of these seem to offer the possibility of a new car for barely more than a 1-2 year old model.
I think I've read people on this forum saying that it is possible and legal to take out one of these PCP deals, but then settle it almost immediately, and effectively buy with cash but at a discounted PCP cost. If I've understood that correctly, please could someone explain how this works?! Are there any gotcha's which can cause that to fall through? I've done some googling, but maybe unsurprisingly this doesn't seem to be clearly explained anywhere!... Read more
Thanks all for the responses. I'll dig into this a bit further... Still open to any other nuggets of advice or experience!
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They will - which I expect is one reason they bought the brand as people will not know they are not the British brand.