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• overtaking competently, a lost art? 18 Apr 2016 (Forum)
  Yep, matey in the Avensis mk1 chooses closing on this second bend to overtake, dawn is breaking but headlights still needed, he's about half way past when i see the lights of the oncoming artic about to clear the bend, so i hit the anchors dropping about 25 mph sharpish, lorry the other way brakes hard too, matey in the car just manages to slip in between us with a hard swerve left and right and luckily for all of us gets away with it unscathed, closest i've nearly been involved with for a long time.
• Car with no luck 28 Jan 2015 (Forum)
  In the last 2 years, I have had Windscreen Replaced x1, A/C Compressor Replaced x1, Hand brake issue x1, Car Park Incident x3(All hit and run victim)   I don’t think this would have managed to smash a bottle of champagne when it left the factory….
• FIAT 500 - Fait 500 clutch problem 5 Aug 2013 (Forum)
   My wife is now uncomfortable about driving the car and within a couple of weeks there was another cloud of smoke from under the bonnet accompanied by that distinctive brake/clutch burning smell. Neither my wife or I 'ride' the clutch, I've 40 years driving experience and have never had a clutch burn out in any of the cars, trucks or vans I've driven or owned. I don't know how bad a driver you'd have to be to burn out a new clutch in 43 miles.
• Ford Focus II - Please recommend best garage in/near north London 21 May 2013 (Forum)
    Recently the car has begun to stall frequently when idle (e.g. at traffic lights) and the rev counter (tachometer) keeps dropping below 1000 rpm.  (Also when driving it sometimes feels as if something is exerting a 'braking force' on the engine and the car could stall at any second, but the problem is worse when idle.)   The engine warning light (orange) has come on and generally stays on (while driving), but sometimes disappears for long periods of time.
• BMW 535/Honda CRV/Volvo 40 - Acquiring a fleet of cars - need to let one go 14 Nov 2012 (Forum)
  Wife drives a 2004 Golf 1.6 SE (a bit of a squeeze, but refuses to use CRV/Volvo as feels they are less comfortable for her bad back than the Golf)   Here are the motors: (1)Honda CRV (2002) 85K miles (so due a timing belt change at next service), full year's MOT left, driving well though occasionally front offside brake mildly binding and due brakepad change soon. Does 30/gallon. Used value approx £2K (2)Volvo V40 (2004) 97K miles (but new engine at 62000 miles),MOT'd until July 2013, driving well. Does 34/gallon.
• Citroen Saxo (1997 - 2003) - 98 1.1 (petrol) Engine stalls/spontaneously revs 28 Jan 2012 (Forum)
  If nothing else, I'd like to know a little more about what this might be, and perhaps some pointers if anyone's got any ideas. FWIW, the brakes are terrible (though pass the MOT nicely) - perhaps I'm just spoiled by my Celica, but I always have a few heartstop moments whenever I first try to stop the Saxo on the fairly rare occasions that I do drive it!
• Help please with bump in work car park...girl claiming more damage than i caused. 5 Aug 2010 (Forum)
  My car wouldnt start so had to push it back to get start leads to the engine. When i pushed it back my abs wouldnt work as the engine was off so no brakes. As a result i bumped into some girls car and dented her front left side wing. So i went back into work and asked at reception whos car it was. They made a call on the radio and some girl came out.
• Torx T30's and phlips head screws rounding 15 Nov 2009 (Forum)
  I really dont want to make any mistakes as they always just cost time and money Can somebody with some skills let me know what the propper thing to do here is, as i guess this kind of thing will keep comming up given the age of the car and my intention to nurse her back to full health. also i had a similar problem with one of the philips head Screws that holds the brake disk to the hub it was clearly rounded by somebody previous to myself as it was damn near imposible to get off and on i changed out the pads and disks and i had to put it back on because i didnt have the appropreate screw to replace it (i learnded a lesson here) i want to replace it but cant get it off now again what do you do with rounded nuts and bolts of vairing types.
• Renault Espace (2002 - ) - 04 2.2 acceleration probs again - sell? 15 Oct 2009 (Forum)
  upon switching off the engine, there has been a very loud and alarming noise which sounds not unlike a Boeing 747 about to take off (the cooling system?) which seems to be going into hyper-mode. I have had the battery, turbo-charger, brake discs and pads replaced on this car, and now I'm told (by Renault) that I may spontaneously combust any day unless I replace the cam belt (as standard procedure) I have done 44,500 miles. Should I get rid now, before this car bankrupts me?
• Chrysler Sebring Saloon (2007 - ) - It is worse than I expected 6 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  He is not a kean driver but does a lot of milleage and I asked him what it was lke to drive expecting him to say it ok his answer was "it leaves a lot to be desiered". The brakes also made a racked as if the pads were worn even though it had done less than 15k and was on a 58 reg though that might be due to the fact it was a hire car. My impressions are: If you can get these as cheap as HJ adverts suggest e.g less than £10k they are a massively large car for Fiesta money which will made a lot of people very happy but for my money I would rather have a year old low milleage Mondeo or Passat.
• Vauxhall Vectra B facelift (1999 - 2002) - 00 1.8 rumble noise, differential? 1 Apr 2009 (Forum)
  hi, i think this is one those problems left over from the bad weather at the beginning of the year. basically im getting a rumble/roar on acceleration and a chaffing noise on deceleration. both noises are amplified by having the windows closed. the noise nearly disappears if both front windows are open during the day. when you can hear it the noise sounds bad, very bad the rumbling roar on acceleration only happens in gear (all gears and all speeds), rolling down a steep hill in neutral doesnt recreate the noise. the sound is like what i'd imagine a totally broken bearing to sound like, with balls, outer and inner races crunching togather. the rumble is gone with clutch dipped and in neutral the other noise is a chaffing and only notice-able in deceleration. sounds like chaf, chaf, chaf, like a brake disc may when distorted at one part of its revolution. this noise is not always notice-able and becomes very faint when not in gear but you can still hear it very faintly. during the bad weather, i had the misfortune of being stuck facing uphill on an iced street a few times. i must have had one wheel spinning for at least 5 mins in total during that particular week. also at another location i couldnt get on to a pavement (parking space is a tarmaced extention of the pavement) . a couple of times the vehicle just couldnt mount the kerb and would just slide on ice along the kerb after the initial bump. to top it off people had cleared the pavement and dumped the snow onto the parking spaces , so car could have driven over these mounds of snow once it did get on. im not 100% sure whether these incidents caused the fault but after leaving the car parked for three days during rest of the bad weather, i instantly noticed the appearance of these noises. it has been getting slowly worse since.
• Stupid driving 8 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  The C5 shot out of lane 3 into lane 2 just as I was drawing near and judging by the plume of diesel smoke absolutely floored it. This caused me to brake firmly which I would have preferred not to have done but it was no big deal. Vectraman had by this time lane hopped into lane 3. Our hirsute librarian then undertakes Vectraman at speed and then forces his way in front of him into a gap which really wasn't there and hits the anchors hard.
• Repairing cars in this recession. 5 Oct 2008 (Forum)
  .;) Ifithelps and i had started a little discussion on the possibility of old fashioned repair not replace methods coming back very soon as this recession worsens. [[ But all we hear at the moment is "it's ten years old and not worth spending 50p on". ]] I wonder if we might be glad to buy that 15 year old carina soon, older fashioned but basically sound design. [[ Part of the reason is I'm sure parts are now much more expensive in relation to cars. ]] But are parts really more expensive now, or have we got lazy or is that so many parts are no longer 'user serviceable' like washing machines, can we even obtain those parts now? Over the years i've done loads of cheap fixes, re rubber complete braking systems instead of replacing master cyls and calipers, having clutch plates relined instead of a complete clutch assembly, slipping new bushes/brush packs into alternators and starters. All of these fixes reducing £100 to £500 bills to £10 to £50 bills.
• Overtakers, what reaction? 6 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  If the lead car coming the other way just eased a little over to the left as well, we would all be safer, no one needs to brake or take any evasive manoeuvres, just move 3 ft to the left. I truly believe that some drivers would sooner have a head on smash with a late passer than just ease over a bit to the left and make everyone's day safer.
• What would you have done differently? 11 May 2008 (Forum)
  Now i'm convinced the other driver had dropped off, and the sudden waking up caused the heavy reaction. For myself, i could have braked hard, but two things in mind, if he had carried on course, he would have been fully in my lane before i could have dropped back enough, probably pushing me and whoever else onto the central reserve, apart from that i didn't want a full bore panic stop with a truck on the motorway, that itself would have caused mayhem.
• `Luxury bloat` small cars, to efficiency priority? 2 May 2008 (Forum)
  Weight, Drag, engine efficiency. 1) Weight is a growing problem don`t you think? 2) Drag, It almost seems like some car makers don`t bother too much. All those little `air brakes` around fake front grills and recessed fog lamp housings and too tall...too big bodies. 3) Engine efficiency, despite the forthcoming twin cylinder petrol engines, surely the extra thermal efficiency of a same type of diesel will always keep it in front.
• ANPR cameras - they work y'know ! 25 Oct 2007 (Forum)
  I slow down to 75'ish to allow him on and tuck in gently behind, not wanting to appear cheeky. He slows down, no brake lights so I look to pull out thinking he might be looking for something on the hard shoulder. Suddenly I notice there is a car along side me - what the ! Then I notice a car right behind me and suddenly I'm surrounded by blue flashing lights from 4 traffic cars !
• Servicing. Why bother? 30 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  Let me clarify, I would always recommend an oil and filter change when due, but you can get that done at most quick fit places for around £20 - £30, air filter once a year, brakes obviously need to be checked but these can be checked every 6 months or so, depending on mileage done each month, when the oil filter is done. I'm not saying that this 'schedule' must be followed but taking your car to a main dealer for servicing seems expensive when I can only think that they 'suggest' to change parts when really they have a few more months or 1000's of miles left on them?
• Mazda 6, what to watch out for? 13 Jan 2007 (Forum)
  But, having read through the CBCB, the following gives me pause for thought: "Enough reports of premature clutch and clutch/flywheel failure to state that the model seems to suffer a much higher rate of this than would be normal. One reader also suffered 5th gear failure on a diesel at 34 months old. One reader had ... brake discs re-skimmed (23,000 miles: again seems to be a common problem). ... On the 136PS 5-speed diesel, labouring of the engine in 5th (and towing) can lead to a short 5th gear life as the selector pins wear.
• Party Transport Policies 22 Apr 2005 (Forum)
  They will also be wrapped in bubble wrap to make them safer. All trains will be fitted with an automatic braking system that will function as soon as it sees red; this will include people who have been completely enraged by having to stand waiting on a platform for 3 hours. Rather than to attempt re-opening disused railway lines we will put sound systems every 500 yards along the disused tracks which will play sound effects of old steam trains to keep railway loonies happy.