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• Lease running out soon - what to do next 30 Dec 2008 (Forum)
  But I suspect the best thing to do would be to get hold of some money and be a cash buyer for a car. Should this be nearly new - keep hearing ads on the radio for ex dem (I think) Vectra 1.9cdti 150 SRis for £8k ish - surely a year later with 40k extra miles it won't have lost a fortune - or a bit older? Have seen almost new 123ds for £16-17k which while tempting I don't want to tie up that much money at the moment as company cash flow is iffy to say the least.
• New car shortlist - down to 3 21 Aug 2007 (Forum)
  Good to drive with minimal turbo lag; just a touch wallowy round corners, probably inevitable given the height of the car. Poor rear visibility, and I'd have to cut off part of the radio aerial to get it into the garage. Excellent local dealer - Octagon of Bracknell. VW and Skoda, unsurprisingly, similar to drive, and both good fun in terms of acceleration, ride and handling. No obvious quirks to infuriate, and both felt 'right' from the start.
• Top Cop nicked at 128MPH! 17 Feb 2002 (Forum)
  Just last month, as holiday season road deaths soared, an exasperated Arrive Alive spokesperson, Inspector Kenny Africa, told Weekend Argus: "I don't know what else we can do to discipline motorists. Today we even went on radio to warn drivers that we would have speed traps across the province and yet we are still catching people doing 150 to 170km/h. They don't seem to want to listen." Now one of his superiors has allegedly failed to listen but Douw Steyn, acting head of the Department of Community Safety, said: "We all make mistakes from time to time.
• VIP Car Sales - Knutsford 7 Apr 2017 (Forum)
  Without a choice, we drove the Jeep 70 miles back to Richard (we live in North Yorkshire). We were given a Y reg Ford focus with ripped seats, no radio, no blower (in the height of summer) broken windows and only 1 door that would open with a key. We have 2 toddlers and I was 7 months pregnant. A month later after chasing him weekly, Richard said he had reconditioned the turbo "out of his own pocket", but sure enough the next day the light came on again.
• Mazda 3 - Mazda 3 (2013 on) - your opinions please 28 Oct 2015 (Forum)
    Here are the things doing their best to put me off: Seems fairly pricey compared to some competitors (although not bad value next to a Golf or even an Auris) "55.4mpg" is great for a 2.0 petrol, but HJ Real MPG figure is 47.7 and it's not so clever vs all the small turbo petrol units out there Higher insurance group than many competitors (group 17, vs 12 for Auris 1.8 HSD) Mazda dealers rated 2 out of 5 by Which members (better examples are Skoda, 4/5 and Toyota, 5/5) Several owners reporting flimsy body panels, and one observing the car getting tatty relatively quickly Warranty... real shame that Mazda don't match Toyota's 5 yr warranty Not much low-down torque with 2.0 petrol, performance is there but needs working to get it Grumbles about ride quality on some surfaces (and I have to contend with at least a dozen speed lumps every working day) Poor rear visibility and no parking sensors on SE (why, Mazda, why?) No DAB radio (again, why, for a car launched so recently?) Complaints about the 'infotainment' screen being too reflective Complaints about rear legroom (and headroom in Fastback) - can be tricky to judge from a quick visit to the dealership (without having lanky passengers to hand) Boot space just OK in the hatchback; Fastback has better volume, but fixed frame can be restrictive Seems quite a long car for its type and it's more bonnet than boot No spare wheel - commonly an extra-cost option now, but Mazda charge an extortionate amount (well over £200 when Skoda do 'em for £80).
• Red light on ? Keep driving ... 7 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  As far as I can gather from a morose 19 y.o. teenager, the events were as follows; a small sharp noise comes from the engine, simultaneously the lights dim and the battery light comes on; son stops car and phones g/f's stepdad to shepherd him to g/f's house (by this time some 10 miles away); son and g/f listen to radio until stepdad arrives; car starts reluctantly and covers nearly 8 miles until lights go to candle mode and engine stops; g/f's stepdad arrives, kicks tyre and they abandon the AX and travel to g/f's house, stepdad slagging off Citroens in general during the journey; son phones me to ask if he still has recovery service, I explain that he is part of the family's pay and reclaim GEM recovery service, something he has known about for 18 months; son goes silent for a long time and then says he has £6 in his bank account and the GEM membership card is in the car; before I go all sarcastic and congratulate him, Mrs H chimes in and says I should go and recover him, I ask what the point of paying for GEM mebership is if I have to turn to on a freezing night with a tin of Guiness consumed and rescue his nibs; having just put a new cat and lambda probe on the car, I insist that no attempt is made to start the car, even with the spare belt (under the boot carpet) fitted; I leave Mrs H and son to sort out the finances and irritably pour a Scotch; Mrs H says if I don't want the car started, I should go and supervise the recovery; I refuse politely; I warm to my subject and criticise son's lack of organisation and expectation that everything will be done for him, quoting the time I bodged a fuel pump diaphragm with a piece of plastic bag by the side of the road on my VW Beetle, and other exaggerated feats of mechanical ingenuity; Mrs H's eyes glaze over, she may have heard this one before; an hour later the car arrives on the back of a low-loader, with the key turned to free the steering, there is barely enough juice to light the battery light; the extremely helpful recovery driver and I push the car to where I can connect the battery charger while son makes phone call to person unknown; the battery charger reports that it's giving 8+ amps and I leave it to cook overnight.
• Renault Laguna III (2007 - ) - impressions 9 Apr 2008 (Forum)
  Hello All, Too busy to spend much time on here lately however I have just had a Laguna III Dynamique DCi 150 hatch for a couple of days, a few observations, might be of interest: Interior: Not as classy as expected, quality of plastics etc, Initiale spec might be better, though well equipped. Driving position very good and all switches easy to hand, radio display looks the same as our 8 year old Clio except that it has a (Vauxhall ish) neutral illumination where as the Clio has a warm orange backlight that I prefer. Also the milometer / info screen etc is a small b/w LCD that appears to uneven when lit at night though looks fine in the day time.
• Low mileage Xantia - am I sane to reject 6 Nov 2004 (Forum)
  And that silver colour was so dull. The wheels were steel with very good trims ? no alloys ? there was no sunroof and a radio cassette and no CD player. And the price was about £500 over mileage adjusted top book. Compared to an Audi A4TDI it was- Slower- less power, had a much smoother engine, a much better ride and felt less like driving a bus.
• Cape Town driving- The Sun newspaper 3 Mar 2004 (Forum)
  quote: -------- With that in mind, you might think it would be complete carnage on the roads. But it?s not. ------------- Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!! She obviously never had a radio on in the car during the festive season! quote: ------------- The South Africans could teach us a thing or two about road etiquette. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Absolutely.
• Peugeot Woes 23 Nov 2005 (Forum)
  . - Brakes squeaking - Wind noise from the drivers window - Unexplainable noise from the rear when driving. - Passenger seat loss of memory - Problem with radio memory seems to always divert to radio 1. Went to collect the car on the arranged collection date, only to be phoned when I was nearly there to say it was not ready. Bearing in mind this was as they were closing!.
• 
  The DVLA is keeping people's passports and documents. Please help. 21 Jul 2020 (Ask HJ)
  The DVLA has kept my biometric residence permit (BRP) with them since 25 May! I am an ER doctor and I need my BRP urgently for my Visa application or else...
• Nissan Qashqai 1.6 Tekna Xtronic 65 plate auto - HELP!!!!!!! 2 Nov 2019 (Forum)
  --[endif]-->Had since new on lease, no trouble at all except “Connect” system when car was about 2.5yrs old it started: Radio and CD cutting out, Phone dropping calls, Sat Nav not working correctly, Nissan couldn’t find a fault ordered new system whilst car under warranty 2.      
• Vauxhall Corsa C - Corsa C won’t start first attempt, but will second 28 Nov 2014 (Forum)
  My friend tells me that if I disconnect the battery for an hour it should reset the ecu and sensors etc, in case this is the fault, however I don’t have the code for the radio, anywhere I can get this for free or reasonably cheap atleast? Any help would be greatly appreciated.    
• Peugeot 206 hatchback (1998 - 2006) - 03 1.4 HDI poor fuel economy, how to identify prob 12 Dec 2009 (Forum)
  It has also developed a bad sounding rattle that comes and goes. I can't hear the rattle very much inside the car, if I have the radio on I won't even notice it. When I have stopped next to friends of mine they pulled faces and asked whats wrong with it, then once I wind down the window I can hear it plainly. It seems not to happen unless the engine has warmed up.
• BMW 1 Series E81/E87 (2004 - ) - 120D SE : 6000 mile ownership report 20 Oct 2007 (Forum)
  It took two visits to the dealer to have it fixed under warranty, however, which was somewhat irritating. AM radio reception is also poor, but that is the norm for BMWs in my experience. In summary, the 1-series is in many ways a sports car masquerading as a family hatchback. The new 3-door and coupe models may suit the car?
• Oil changing - myths and urban legends 8 May 2005 (Forum)
  Locate the Sump Plug, do this using an Inspection Lamp with a 100W bulb - do not, under any circumstances, use a bulb of lower wattage or the splash cover under the engine will melt and pieces will be sucked up into the MAF and then immediate engine failure will occur. 4. Undo Sump Plug whilst humming 'Oil Be Home For Xmas' - do NOT sing any other song or the Radio will never tune into any local stations again and the aerial will need to be replaced at the next service. 5. Allow Oil to drain into a Tupperware Perspex Jug - use only perspex as other plastics react with the old oil and particles travel back through the draining oil and attack the Big-End Bearings. 6.
• news from the states 5 Sep 2001 (Forum)
  "The pictures are the same, everything else is different," said Kronk, who first told the story to Chris Core of WMAL radio in Washington, D.C. The first violation notification claimed Kronk ran a red light at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and North Lynn in Arlington on Aug. 24. The second notice said he ran a light at the corner of Jefferson Davis Highway and 27th Street in northern Virginia on the same day - but showed the same photo.
• Vauxhall Zafira A - How long can an average petrol car run for? 24 Oct 2018 (Forum)
  The only one slight issue we do have is that if I initially leave the car on with the radio running for about 10-15 minutes and then turn the vehicle on I find that the power steering doesn't work for about 10 minutes.  It's not really a big problem - someone told me that as it's electric power steering it's possibly the battery, but we've had the battery checked so many times and each time it comes back fine, the battery is still the original battery though, but it does also have a green light on the battery that also shows up fine too.
• Ford Focus Saloon - Ford Focus TDCI 55 Plate Rain/Electrical issue? 15 Feb 2014 (Forum)
  The next morning it started fine so I hoped all was well. 50 miles later in the rain after parking up for about 5 minutes the same thing happened. got a jump start and went home, about 5 minutes of driving and I hear the relays clicking like mad, power steering goes, no lights, no radio display, nothing. Car stalls and we coast into a layby. Again the battery is ready 4.7ish volts, slightly erracitcally so I guess the battery is naff. I figure that if there is a drain on the battery it should show a slightly higher reading when the positive lead is disconnected so I take that lead off and test the battery. 12.7 volts, perfectly full battery, that's not right....
• Skoda Yeti - Skoda Yeti - my thoughts on 10K miles / 1 year 1 Sep 2013 (Forum)
  I then had the Bolero (radio) flashed by the main dealer in order to address the "slow SD card read" issue - this made a huge difference. The overall average mpg was in the low 30's (70% Urban / 30% Mway). The best MPG was just over 40 mpg and the worst well into the 20's.