February 2025
Mrs F returned with grim face....'sit down dear, expensive car bill...'. An RTC on a fast road with... a stupid pheasant! No chance to safely stop and pick up the bits (and the 'free' lunch). Nothing left of mirror, casing and light apart from battered chassis, which still retracted. (Why no way of turning off this irritating feature which will amost inevitaby wear out the motor). Off to the indie....quoted £390 plus vat plus labour. Thank goodness for buying the last of the line rather than the first of the new model. Obtained one for £80 from on-line breakers (wrong colour grey so another £16 for spray can) and thanks to an excellent U-tube tutorial managed to fit it myself with help of 20mins of hairdryer directed through hole in the armrest (for the window control) to soften up the plastic door card poppers (still managed to break one!).
Why post this? Partly to amuse, perhaps also to help, but mainly to complain about how appalling it is that such minor damage to what should be a simple component can render what would be a hugely significant unexpected bill (north of £500 if neither nous, time nor competence to fix themselves) for a young person on a low wage driving an oldish car just about managing. (Although according to gov.uk if the car was made before 2010, it could just have been removed and not replaced; it was the nearside). Read more
My daughter took her 14 year old Fiat Panda for £300 service & MOT at a Halfords workshop. They did the service first, then MOT. It failed on imbalanced brakes, front and rear suspension components, a tyre, faulty lights and and exhaust leak. Should those major safety faults not have been identified in the SERVICE and been reported to my daughter ? Should the MOT have been done BEFORE the service ? I think she's been taken for a ride. What action should she take with Halfords ? Thanks chaps. Read more
Changing the oil and filter, topping up this and that and giving a glance at the brakes is all that’s generally done at a short service. Have you got a list of items ( tick box) that Halfords said were needing to be checked for your £300?
Hi all.
I'd very much welcome your advice/opinion please.
I'm about to enter into the market for a used 'hot hatch'. When I say that, I mean early contenders include a Golf GTI, Golf R, Cupra 290/300 etc.
I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out any other cars/brands to consider and naturally people's opinion on any of them.
For context, I've always driven Diesels (company car) and now that I've started my own business and I'm working from home alot, I don't do half the miles and also want to get the enjoyment back into Driving. Previous cars I've owned include a Leon FR, Volvo V40 D4 & currently I have a Golf GT TDI (Hence the natural look at the VAG offering)
Budget wise probably around £16k and I don't really want to go older than 2016.
Any advice/opinion would be most welcome!
Thanks in advance,
Andy Read more
Hyundai i30n was my first thought. A Honda Civic Type R would also just about be doable. If you don't need practicality (or much comfort) you could go for an Abarth.
Hi all,
This is my first post so please let me know if I’ve posted in the wrong place.
I am urgently in need of some advice about what used family car to buy. I’ve been looking for several months and am going around in circles and haven’t been able to make a decision. It’s driving my family mad and using up all my time and mental space! Would be v grateful for any advice.
I have recently had a 3rd child- all 3 kids need car seats and ideally I’d like them together in second row. Isofix not necessary but want all 3 to fit safely. Am not considering multi Mac car seat which accommodates 3 kids but doesn’t rear face for as long as I’d like.
Currently have a Hyundai ix20- love this car, it’s been so reliable and was fine with two kids but now my eldest has to sit in front seat which I don’t like and boot (whilst excellent for size of car at 440L) is now too small (also have a roof box).
Live in ULEZ area so would prefer petrol car. Can’t have electric as live in terraced house and couldn’t charge it at home.
Drive down France couple of times a year to visit family and camp so need a decent boot space.
Trying to save to buy first home but have to use savings to buy car - would prefer to spend under £15K or as little as I can get away with.
Don’t mind about look or drivability of car! Drive a manual and assumed best to stick with this as less to go wrong? Priorities are safety, reliability and space.
Thought a Berlingo type van based MPV would suit us well but got spooked by the Ecoboost / wet belt engine stuff. Same with Peugeot 5008.
Considering SMAX but don’t know if this has same Ecoboost engine problem?
Looked at a Sharan but reliability seems mixed and I’m worried I’m paying for VW badge which I don’t care about.
Sadly think the Toyota Verso and Kia Carens boot is too small.
Would be v grateful if anyone has any thoughts to share. My family think I’m overthinking/over researching this but it’s the most money I’ve spent on anything and I’m worried about making a costly mistake.
Thank you in advance. Read more
Yes I saw the Sharan had gone from 5 stars to 4 stars and worryingly the rear door detached completely… so take your point re difficulty comparing cars tested a while ago with newer models
We have a 2015 Corsa E with the 90bhp 1.4 petrol engine. Tedious car but it costs us peanuts to run, and it has heated seats & steering wheel which seem to be very expensive extras on any new car these days.
The car has 75,000 miles up and was running OK, apart from an irritating fluffiness / slight stumble just off idle rpm. I decided to have a look, and removed the inlet trunking from the airbox. Looking at the motorised throttle body, there were brown / black deposits around the throttle butterfly's edges and a small ring were the butterfly rests against the TB's sides.... Read more
Always a good idea to keep the throttle body clean and free of debris , however some manufacturers, notably Ford , specifically say not to do this , as the Tb has a special coating that can get damaged if you take a brush to it . In fact there’s a sticker on the Tb to warn you of this .That's interesting. The Corsa throttle body looks like very ordinary machined aluminium alloy, and the butterfly the usual coated steel. No warning stickers on it, and we've had the car from new.
The brush I used was a fine, soft artist's brush which couldn't possibly scratch anything, it just helped to lift away the carbon deposits loosened by the carb cleaner. I was also careful not to push on the butterfly, so I didn't disturb its position and confuse the sensor. ...
I have a phone contract with Tesco mobile for my normal phone. However, I want a payg phone for emergencies when I am out cycling. I want a sim only as I have a couple of recently pensioned off phones that I can use. This will likely be used purely for texting or calling, no web stuff. I don't want to pay for any bundles deals or contract or to have to provide any bank details etc. I just want to register the sim and then put some credit on using a card etc, as in the good old days. I then want that credit to remain until I have used it. I would obviously have a different phone number but that isn't a problem.
I was going to go with Tesco, my normal provider. However, they are not the cheapest but also all their payg deals seem to involve you paying monthly for data/text/voice bundles which seems more like a normal contract to me. Can anyone recommend a cheap, simple payg sim that would do what I want?... Read more
Not a PAYG deal but I bought a sim for my tablet.
Iirc 5mb a month for 6quid a month. Unlimited calls/ texts. They use the three network, free EU usage etc...
As some may remember, I've had this car since 2016. I've put over 50,000 miles on it and it has been remarkably cheap to run. A couple of brake disks fitted on the rear a few years ago. New tyres. Apart from that, until recently no repairs needed.
Last autumn, after a longish drive to the far north-east from Hertfordshire, I could hear a knocking noise from the suspension. New stabiliser bar mounting needed.... Read more
Mirrors my own experience of owning several Mazdas over the years and I’ve never had any major issues with any I’ve sold.
I have seen complaints about this engine's excessive oil use so I thought I would report my own observation having kept a careful eye on this since new. The big '0' has just arrived - just turned 30,000 miles; 10k and nearly two years since the last change. For the first time ever, a 'top up oil' warning has appeared a couple of times recently in between the 'oil level correct' message on start up. Never knew it had one!
There are 40mm, equating to 1 litre I believe, between the minimum and maximum marks on the dipstick. The level is currently 28mm below the max mark which, assuming zero fuel dilution and a regular 25mls per mm, equates to 700mls oil use, i.e. around 14,000 miles per litre. That seems fine to me. I shall refill with my usual choice of Castrol Magnatec 0-30 which, despite Halford's robot saying it's probably not suitable for our car, clearly has the required PSA spec B71 2312 printed on the label. ... Read more
An issue that too many people ignore is coolant changes, its not that the coolant will no longer protect against freezing temps, its the changes that occur in the coolant itself over time which may well attack head gaskets etc.
Hmm. I have disagreed with this assertion on many occasions here. Assuming the cooling system is almost completely sealed, acidic glycol degeneration will be minimal once the dissolved oxygen has been used up. In my opinion, the fresh supply of corrosive oxygen dissolved in the replacement water of a coolant change is more risky....
Hi - can anyone help please - I've had my car in the local garage twice for this and they can't find the cause of my high pitched intermittent rotational sound...(Peugeot 3008, 1.2 petrol, manual, 17 plate)
My first guess was brakes - but they have 50% left...
The annoying thing is when I start driving my car from cold - the noise isn't there - takes around 10 mins of driving to become apparent - so when garage took it for drive - they couldn't replicate the noise... but I've had the noise for a few weeks now...
Backing plate was moved a touch by garage - no solution... Read more
Yes the rear tyre was 'out of round' - which gave the false impression that a wheel bearing needed replacing - same wobble feeling in car
Hi
I have had my Mini Cooper for 2 days when the active bonnet was activated due to a deer crossing my path. There was no collision, the deer wandered around in the road & then headed off & there isn’t a sign of dent, scratch or even dirt on the front of my car. Has anyone else had problems with this? Read more
I’m I bit concerned that the bumper is out of alignment, but the Op says there was no impact ??
OP states they've had the car for two days and it's a 2024 model. Maybe an earlier impact and cheap repair?
Clearly, as they don't worry either about the high early depreciation, which many now pay via their PCPs ?