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• What Fun for £20K? 26 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  It'll probably need to be new unless there's a particularly tempting reason for going second-hand. In the running at the moment is the Mini Cooper S. A possibility is the Mazda RX-8 (though some reports say the rear seating is too small). I'm going to suggest also the Saab 9-3 2.0 Aero HOT as I've just seen it for under £20k on this website. Also the Seat Leon Cupra R.
• Petrol Toyota Hilux stalling at junction 9 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  A couple of bits and pieces need seeing to, first of all the engine runs fine, but as you come to a standstill the revs seem to drop very low, and occasionally it stalls. It starts up again fine, but it\'s quite inconvenient having to start it again at every junction! Any ideas? I\'m planning to change plugs, points rotor arm and distributor cap - any other things which are likely to be causing this?
• Audi A4 climate-control tip 27 Dec 2003 (Forum)
  The stepper motors had stopped moving (not good at this time of year). Audi dealer charged him £75 to look at fault codes and told him ECU was U/S. £700 P+L repair estimate. He got a secondhand ECU for £80, connected it up and it too didn't work. I had a look at the secondhand unit's PCB and found three dry joints where the ribbon cable goes to the control keys.
• Justice? Law is unenforced, Farce 16 Dec 2003 (Forum)
  DD } \"FURY erupted in court when a failed asylum seeker and banned driver who ran down and killed a girl of 12 was jailed for just four months. Amy Houston?s father Paul had to be restrained by cops on hearing the sentence of Iraqi Kurd Aso Mohammed Ibrahim. Paul, 34, said he faced a ?life sentence? ? yet Ibrahim would be free in two months. \" Forget the asylum seeker facts.
• Golf VR6 Surging 23 Nov 2003 (Forum)
  Hi I wondered whether anyone can help me, i have some kind of intermittent electrical problem with my \'92 Golf VR6. It surges between 200 to 1000 revs when idle (have checked idle control valve and it\'s fine), it also cuts out regularly when idle. This weekend it stopped altogether and there was no power to the distributor, i have a clifford total closure alarm. Could this be the problem? Also recently changed head gasket, had major 20,000 service and 12mth MOT on it and don\'t want to have to PX my baby for something else....but can\'t afford to spend any more money on it.
• Focus to Clio? 8 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  Hi all, I currently drive a '99 'S' Focus 1.8 petrol which I've had since Jan 2001 and which has on the whole been reliable and nice to own. I am thinking of downsizing to a brand new Renault Clio 1.6 16V Dynamique+ 3dr, and have seen the Clio on offer as low as £8499.
• mazda 6 gearchange 1 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  Car otherwise excellent -rattle free with brilliant ride,handling,engine refinement steering and braking particularly .Engine not as flexible as some however so take a careful test drive if you like to accelerate out of roundabouts in third or from 50(as opposed to 60) in top on the motorway!oh and fuel consumption rather less than VAG tdi"s(less than 40 mixed-my old A4 90 consistently 46to 48 even at 167,000 miles!)
• Replacement for Driving Instructor Car 24 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  Requirements: Diesel Less than £10k to buy brand new a/c Dark interior Reasonable servicing and spare parts cost Height adjustable drivers seat He\'s looked at Yaris, but must buy a T3 spirit (?) to get what he wants therefore expensive. He had a Corsa as a replacement for a week and says he never wants to sit on one again! What would you suggest as the Fiesta Zetec is coming out favourite at the mo.
• Hyundai Getz 14 Aug 2003 (Forum)
  The base model car gets a good review in what car, and it now comes with 5 year warranty, 3 years three servicing and 3 years RAC cover, all for £6995, before haggle. Guess you could get a few hundred £'s off that. It looks OK, not a bread van by any means, and has the basic kit.. often missing from most budget cars from Ford and Vauxhall.. including... PAS, Steering height adjust, central locking, Dual airbags, ABS with EBD, electric windows, CD player and split fold rear seats.
• M1 hell 16 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  It\'s probably big news back in Blighty, but i saw this one today and thought it worth a mention. It seems as though the M1 will be out of action for some time. With a pile up of this magnatude is any other course of action available, probably not.
• The ultimate home build? 29 May 2003 (Forum)
  ;) This has got to be the ultimate home built car. A McLaren Mercedes SLR lookalike built from a 1980's Merc donor, using artist's impressions and styling concept photographs as the reference point. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=848531 Knowing McLaren's reputation for protecting their interests, I'd love to know what they think of it!
• Manual-diesel converted to auto ??? 21 May 2003 (Forum)
  will be looking for a diesel / manual probably around the size of a mondeo or laguna maybe even one of those skoda octavia\'s and hope I can have it changed to a AUTO. Your comments much appreciated..... Cheers
• Free-revving engines 19 May 2003 (Forum)
  Are Vauxhall engines generally classed as free-revving for example, or what about the engines in the new MINIs? I drive a Cooper S (not allowed to rev it yet though, only done 1000 miles!)! Honda engines seem to be generally classed as free-revving…..but what does it mean? Thanks everyone, Andrew.
• Xantia II at auction 14 May 2003 (Forum)
  When I replace my Xantia (For no reason other than I fancy a bit more kit really), I'd like to replace it with a facelift model. A 98R/S 1.9TD SX would do me perfectly. What can I expect one of these to go for at auction do you think? I find the price guides way out at Xantia prices, so thought I'd ask some people who know what they are doing.
• Flat Battery vw polo 13 May 2003 (Forum)
  Hi all, I picked up a new car a couple of weeks ago and it\'s first job was to take me to the airport for a two week holiday the very next day. When i returned to the long stay car park yesterday the car was dead as a dodo with a totally flat battery! The car is a polo - no alarm - and the VW assistance bloke who came out when i got the car home said that it was normal for a battery to run down over 2 weeks, although the manual with the car says it should be ok for 4 weeks.
• Falling Asleep .. 26 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  The gadgets on top-spec cars these days are truly astounding .. Like the new Mercedes S-Class .. distronic, park-assist, robot-swedo-masseur, bum-coolomatic .. etcetera .. etcetera .. etcetera But what about the basic problem of keeping drivers awake? It's all very good keeping the driver happy but many of these devices have the effect of lulung you to sleep.
• VW Golf Broken Accelerator Cable 16 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  The rubber bush was also in a poor shape due the poor contact with the hook. I have replaced the bush and bent the hook back to it?s 90 degree L shape using pliers. Should I really get a new accelerator cable and hook to be on the safe side? Andrew
• Bring on the clowns! 10 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  Was in my wife\'s Honda Jazz today and was nearly hit twice in 2 minutes by the same dim motorist. First time was when she did not see that I had the right of way at a junction and then later she decided to change her direction and cross my path at the next junction.
• Glass Cleaners 3 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  I have always taken pride in appearance of cars, regularly wash, wax, blacken tyres, bumpers the full works, but, for some reason, I have always just used bog standard glass cleaner from the house, Windowlene, that sort of thing. Whilst in Halfords I picked up Autoglym\'s glass cleaner and what a difference it made, clear, no streaks and shiny into the bargain! I\'m not for a minute saying that it is any better than any other manufacturers glass cleaner, but it is a million times better than windowlene!!
• Where's the progress? 26 Feb 2003 (Forum)
  The lady of the house wants a second hand small diesel. Easy I thought, back in the late 1980's we had a Peugeot 205 diesel which did many miles reliably averaging 55mpg. It was fast and quiet, cheap to service and was reliable because it had no electronics. It was a bit flimsy but otherwise great.