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• Mk III golf suspension problem 13 Aug 2003 (Forum)
  Got the car back and it seemed fine. Drove about 10 miles and started hearing clonking noises under braking and when steering. Drove back to the garage and they looked at it and said the bush had not been compressed sufficiently because the bolt wasn't tight enough as the thread in the sub-frame was damaged.
• Distracting motor cycle behaviour 1 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  In the next few miles I witnessed some really stupid behaviour as the group started undertaking, rapidly accelerating/ braking, slowing down, weaving in/out etc. in what was heavy but relatively free moving traffic as we approached the M25. One of the bikers nearly caused an accident as he undertook a line of cars in the outisde lane and almost drove into the back of a car in the middle lane !
• VW Inspection service lunacy 27 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  I went to my local dealer in London (SW11) yesterday to price a basic first inspection service on a 2003 petrol Passat. Quoted a hilarious GBP183 for what is essentially an oil change and check of the brakes. My dealer local to my parents (Bolton) wants GBP66 for the same service. Assuming that it takes no more than 90 minutes and GBP25 (although as we all know its a lot less by the barrel anyway) for the oil, that is a fantastic GBP105 per hour for the privilege of visiting a dealer that won't pick the car up, has a much scruffier showroom and appeared to have no secure facilities to store my car for the day whilst I was at work and they were playing Midas with their black gold.
• To replace or respray....?? 11 Jul 2002 (Forum)
  I don't want to buy one of these and have to do all the work that I have done to mine all over again! (I've had a new, exhaust, clutch, clutch master cylinder, power steering pump, Brake Discs) I'm sorry for rambling on, My question is: Should I sell my car, which considering it needs touching up I'll be lucky to get £2000 for. Get a loan and get a nice 2.0 16v L plate with 60,000 miles on it.
• OMEGA HELL 5 May 2002 (Forum)
  I purchased a 1996 Vauxhall Omega 2.5CDX Petrol in January. The car was brought for a good price as it had an oil leak from the engine and needed new brake discs, pads etc. I had I checked over by a local car trader who told me it was sound, but would also need the plug leads replaced. With this information I left the car to a mechanic, and entrusted him with the work.
• Motor May 13th 1972 8 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  A road test of the Citroen GS Club Estate. Plus points included - Outstanding ride, roadholding, steering and brakes. Excellent luggage platform with high lifting tailgate and self-levelling suspension unaffected by load. A comment that the 7-litre AC Cobra had held the 0-60 record time of 4.2 secs for over four years and they couldn't see when it would be beaten.
• Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 diesel - First 5 months of ownership 25 Feb 2012 (Forum)
  The front map lights are way too weak for map or newspaper reading in the dark. The foot operated parking brake takes a bit of getting used. If you park on a slope and don't press it down hard enough you have to remember to keep your foot on the main brake pedal and press the parking brake again to release it and then again harder to put it back on.I guess it has to work this way and on the positive side it gives you a usefully large two part storage bin where the handbrake would be.
• BMW 3-Series E90 (2005 - ) - 325D Final installment 24 Apr 2008 (Forum)
  I should just knock it back into D and let it be an auto. Instead I panic and back off the gas. With engine braking this immediately brings the car almost to a complete standstill without benefit of brake lights. Consulting the rear mirror I notice that the bonnet of the car behind has taken a sudden dive. With luck this might prevent intimacy.
• N/A - Luton Van Road Rage 8 Feb 2022 (Forum)
  I’m following the car in front of me, and the Luton Van which previously undertook everyone in left the left hand lane is ahead of me by about a foot and starts indicating and merging into my lane as im speeding up, he comes right over forcing me onto the central reservation. Im blowing my horn thinking he has not seen me, I have a car close behind me so I cannot brake. The Luton Van effectively overtakes the HGV by driving down the centre line between myself and the HGV. I’m not sure if the HGV had to go onto the Hard shoulder to avoid a collision. After we overtake the HGV he returns to the left hand lane and then swerves in front of the car behind me flashing his lights and the swerves to left back and forth, we now overtake another HGV with another van in front, all the while he is driving up to me pretending to ram me from behind, then undertakes by breaking the speed limit again, recording me on his phone not looking at where he is going and almost rear ends another Van had I not pointed to it.
• SEAT Leon - Dealer Illegally Changed Service History 27 Oct 2021 (Forum)
  I went back to the dealer and the manager was very unhappy that someone in his staff team would do this as they have committed a crime by tampering with with another garages service history, he checked with his service department and they confirmed the belt was not changed because it was recently done (even when it wasn't) so i got my money back only even when this could have been a more serious issue as I could have been driving down the motorway and that thing snaps on me and the car would have lost power steering and the brakes, so I made a complaint about this issue and was told this could even be a legal matter because even if I got my money back the dealer or someone in the staff team committed a crime. So my question is what should I do with this matter and what are the chances of having a case for complaints or even a legal matter.
• EV versus PHEV 5 Oct 2020 (Forum)
    Both of these can go at least 250 miles on a charge, and that can if needed be eked out a little further if you don't rush and you use regenerative braking.  Both have terrific acceleration even in Normal mode, and the Kia in particular has a very good ride/handling balance, better than the Kona. Both EVs and PHEVs cost more than their petrol equivalents.
• Any - Real Fuel Saving at Low Cost 4 Sep 2020 (Forum)
  For example, improving fuel economy from 51 mpg to 59 mpg in June/July 2019 on a 94 mile round trip, with the car driven gently (no aggressive acceleration or braking) but cruising at around 65 mph on dual carriageways. That is a 16% improvement in fuel economy. The 51 mpg figure is what the car has achieved on the same journey without the battery pre-charge before hand.
• Great road safety ideas from other countries 27 Jun 2020 (Forum)
  Trains used to be regulated by single then double (fixed) amber lights before the red in a similar fashion. This obviously encourages drivers to ease off and prepare to stop, saving petrol and brake pads, although Greek drivers still tend to overshoot the stop line to the extent that they can't see when the red light has changed to green! 2. Spain still has radar-activated red lights in the approach to many towns and villages: exceed the speed limit and you get a red, but keep to 30 (50 km/h) and you sail through on green.
• Ford Focus II (2004 - 2007) - 05 1.6 Engine System Failure on 115PS 12 Jan 2020 (Forum)
  (one previous owner, bought at 2.5 year old, 25,000 on clock, now done 42,000). Power loss is similar to someone lightly dabbing the brake, hardly detectable to a passenger but detectable and annoying to the driver. Loss is not quite enought to visibly move the rev counter down. Yesterday evening this stuttering was getting worse making me think it could be an ignition problem (was going to check plugs when I got home), then doing about 70mph just about to leave the M42 it came up with an "engine system failure" light on the dash and then when I pressed the acknowledge button on the end of the indicator wand it said it was in "Speed Limited Mode".
• £72k Renault Megane? 5 Dec 2019 (Forum)
  The car in question is the Megane Trophy R, which as 'standard' costs £51k, but if you add the carbon wheels (£12k) and carbon ceramic brakes (£9k), the price is £72k!. Here is a link to Autocar's online review, https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/renault/megane-rs-trophy-r This car is classed as a hot hatch (albeit an extreme one), but i have a bit of a problem with that designation.
• VW Polo 2004 1.4L - 54 Plate VW Polo randomly cutting out 26 Oct 2019 (Forum)
  Today driving to work it happened again, I slowed to go over a roundabout and it just cut out so I manged to limp it over and turn hazards on, again after 2 attempts including revving the engine it started - I got 200 yards down the road, it happened again - this time I was just driving at about 30mph, it was when I pressed the brake to slow in traffic that it cut out. I called my recovery company who asked me to try and turn it over, I did but it just started then died immediately after - it did this 2 or 3 times. I left it turned off while I waited for the recovery mechanic, and thought I would try one last time - low and behold it started again and kept running with no issues, the engine sounds fine and after the mechanic got to me, there was no fault to diagnose - he drove behind me for about 25 minutes to check it didn't happen again and it didn't - so I got to work OK, parked up - tried turning it over again when there just in case and it's fine.
• A generation of cars - 33yrs and 696,900 miles family motoring costs 30 Nov 2018 (Forum)
   Impressions -  it helped to do own maintenance (cars never had a ‘service’ apart from the MoT – I did simple stuff like oil changes and brakes).  It made sense to buy good used cars (none were new) and keep them a long time so that car cost was kept well below fuel cost.   After 1993 the TR7 was an unnecessary extravagance, but useful on the rare occasion one of the others was off the road for some reason, as we always had to have a car.
• Servicing and MOTs done on the same day or not 20 Nov 2017 (Forum)
    Fortunately it didn't (though it was an 'advisory', only one of two recorded in its history), and I did have the part replaced as well as some work done on the brakes not long after. I was wondering, given the age of the car (though it has only done about 63k miles), is there any worth in me bringing the annual service forward to early December, in case any potential MOT failures are discovered, hopefully giving me time to have them rectified before the later MOT date.
• Audi A3 - Second hand car troubles - rights? 1 Aug 2017 (Forum)
  This morning when driving the car myself the ABS light has come on along with a large exclamation mark on the dash and the warning 'BRAKES'. My question is what shall I do and what legal rights do i have for having the car repaired? The door damage I'm happy to cover myself and I've had a quote for £200 with a local body shop we just want the engine issues sorted.
• Ford focus 1.6 tdci - Focus 1.6 tdci 2006 engine systems fault/cluster 17 May 2017 (Forum)
    What actually happens is I will get engine systems fault then steering assist failure, sometimes it might show something about the brake light then reduced acceleration.  This can happen at any point after starting.  So Friday it played up during the heavy rain.  Didn't use Saturday,  Sunday not a thing wrong, Monday am fine then it rained and the fault came back.