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• VW Tiguan - Family car help needed 30 Nov 2022 (Forum)
  I usually average around 30-50 miles per day, with the occasional longer motorway journey a few times a month and a roadtrip to central France a couple of times a year. My first question is - should I disregard diesel? Most journeys are in 30-40mph zones with less frequent long distance ones My shortlist at the moment is: VW Tiguan (2.0 diesel) VW Tiguan (1.6 petrol - yet to find one suitable within budget) Kia sportage Seat Leon Seat ateca (seems beyond budget) Seat altea/Altea XL (although I think this is probably bigger than what I need!)
• Vauxhall Insignia 1.4turbo - Residue from new brake discs/pads 18 Jul 2018 (Forum)
  Hello all, I wonder if someone could please answer what's probably a daft question! We moved to France a few years ago, and re-registered our Vauxhall Insignia here. We've just had the rear discs and pads changed (for Bosch parts BP1233 and BD1367); there was a bit of confusion at the garage as to what pads were suitable for the car, but in the end they seemed to sort it out.
• Nissan Qashqai+2 - Finally traded my Tino in 1 May 2018 (Forum)
  I really wanted an automatic and wasn’t after a diesel but I do enough long runs and will be driving to France this year so the fuel economy will be nice. Had Diesel vans for years so kind of know what to expect with maintenance. 12 month warranty and 2 years free servicing plus got £400 for my Tino which is what I paid for it and it’s only worth £100 now.
• Ford Ka - Unregistered foreign car 5 May 2015 (Forum)
  They told us we can't drive it, so we should book a TRUCK to have it transported to Calais, France, where we will be able to drive it once again. Does anyone know a better solution?? QUOTATIONS for this kinds of operations are unbelievable and unaffordable for a young couple like ours. PLEASE help us!
• Any recommendations for large boot and 7 seats? 27 Feb 2015 (Forum)
  Essentially it's used as a run around for daily short trips mostly but every couple of months we load it up with two children, a ton of clothes and general child rearing paraphernalia plus a large ish dog and take off for a camping trip/visit to the relatives/trip to France etc. Currently I have to consider the logistics of putting the dog on the roof as the Golf is completely stuffed full (don't worry, I've almost never resorted to actually putting him on the roof ;-) )..
• Kia Sportage 1.7 litre - Biodiesel blocked fuel filter 21 Dec 2014 (Forum)
  My local Kia service garage warns against using cheap supermarket diesel whilst Kia Sportage and sister Hyundai IX35 models now have warning door stickers against using biodiesel. i regularly drive in France but have found no one aware of this problem there. I have phoned Kia Uk who deny that there is any fault with their cars and especially fuel filters but there are many filter problems reported on the Kia owners forum web-site.
• Buying advice needed: Family car - thinking ahead 14 Jul 2014 (Forum)
  Drive mainly short journeys but coupled with the odd long haul run up the M40 to my parents in Oxford. I'd like to long drives in France each year, but my wife isn't keen.   I'm happy to buy a nearly new or 3 year old vehicle which I would run till it falls ot pieces. During the life of the next vehicle I expect to do university runs.
• Peugeot 2.2 Diesel - Runaway Peugeot 2.2 Diesel 20 Aug 2013 (Forum)
  This happened with a Peugeot Boxer -Based camper but is relevant  to any turbo diesel on the motorway last wednesday cruising at 65mph after returning from France in Boxer-based camper everything running very smoothly.....van has 19000 miles on original engine (engine is Peugeot 2.2Litre diesel 2008). all of a sudden engine started Missing, say 10 times, then power dropping, started to smoke out exhaust pulled into hard shoulder switched off engine as soon as I switched it off engine started to runaway at absolute max revs - very black smoke Let out the clutch in gear and stopped it after max 2-3 secs (FRIGHTENING!)
• Mitsubishi Outlander - Moving to Switzerland - Mitsubishi Outlander CVT 22 Oct 2012 (Forum)
  Finally, since Switzerland is not a member of the EU, there is the option of importing a car from France or Germany etc. Whilst there might be a saving to be had (not sure how large), my gut is telling me to be wary of future repair, servicing and most of all warranty issues. Again, can somone offer experience on this please?
• Hyundai Santa Fe - Chances in small claims court 12 May 2012 (Forum)
  We have never really driven the car on any long journey (90miles at the most) but we decided to go to Spain this year by driving through France and the car broke down at a French Toll Booth. The fault has been diagnosed as the gearbox and this will need to be replaced. We have had the car serviced every year by a local garage as the Dealership is 45 miles away, this has been done with the scedule in the owners manual as well as evreything else getting a visual inspection (Fluid levels ect).
• Citroen Grand C4 Picasso - liability for repair costs for broken cambelt 28 Oct 2011 (Forum)
  The cam belt failed two weeks agoon our car  when we were on our way back to the ferry in france -towed on and off and back home.  The car, a citroen c4 grand picasso had only done 30000 miles and has a full service history, bought from citroen dealer at 2 years old. The car has been sitting in a citroen service centre since then whilst we negociate with the garage and citroen who asked us to pay for an "investigation" to be conducted on the car.
• Rover 75 - Rover 75 Turbo Failure Dispute 20 Sep 2011 (Forum)
  At the end of June I had a full service done at my local garage in the UK at 94000miles. 1500 miles later, when in the south of France,  the low oil pressure warning light came on  and it took 4litres to restore the level.
• Citroen Berlingo Multispace - Importing a previously registered UK car 5 Aug 2010 (Forum)
  Hello,   This October I'm planning to fly out to Alonissos (a Greek island) to pick up my Granddad's X reg Berlingo, and drive it back to the UK via Italy, Switzerland and France. My Granddad bought the car in the UK as normal back when he lived here, and used it to travel out to Greece when he moved there. Back in 2004, he officially exported the car from the UK. It was never registered in Greece, as it was over 10 years old and could not be registered.
• The Donkey trap future - motoring with no motor 31 Mar 2010 (Forum)
  Shambling figures in tatty jeans, bloated by the puffery of wadding and internal padding. Long gone, the effort or fashion of looking good - except in France, where the odd female of a certain age stands as a beacon of desire and fashion that actually attracts the jaded eye. Best not mention the blokes, pants hanging off flaccid bottoms and in age, gardening blue jeans and fleece tops - multi piled with 10,000 washing cycles on 60c and twinned with the rotting garbage sack, composting under the apple tree in outer Mongolia.
• Is a tyre company fobbing me off? 23 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  A local branch of a well known national tyre fitters said they could do the work, so they fitted tyres and my tubes to the new wheels. I was in France about a month later and had a puncture on the motorway, which seems to be due to a failure of the tube rather than the tyre. When I took it back to the fitters, the manager refused to look at the wheel as apparently they "never touched wire wheels", because of the difficulties associated with fitting tubes.
• Renault Espace (2002 - ) - 05 2.2 Grand Espace - electrical 16 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  Wish I'd done a bit more research (eg Googled "Espace problems") before buying 2005 2.2dci from a crook last November but.... Already been through the usual cracked inlet manifold at 70k miles - fixed by Renault France - and all has been fine for 12k since then and I do like the car. Now couple of dashboard issues I'm hoping you guys might be able to help with: The car lives in the Alps during the winter and when it is very cold (less than -6 degrees say) both ESP and ABS lights are illuminated on starting - which is a bit disconcerting on icy roads!
• Setting records for age of fuel in the tank 28 Aug 2009 (Forum)
  Petrol and diesel. (I touched on this a while back) I was just reflecting on it. Arrived home from France early July, the remaining diesel from Calais then lasted a few weeks. Refueled and weeks later still have a 2/3 tank of derv left. Now the next continental trip in the van, has been canceled and we will be flying out to the far east - even for the first time using a taxi to Manchester airport.
• Winter Biking. 7 Feb 2009 (Forum)
  Surrey to Switzerland on a Honda 350K4. Off the ferry at Dieppe at 4am (ish), lovely ride across France, nice lunch somewhere. Then it got cold. Somewhere near Dijon I stopped to put plastic bags over my gloves and boots. Then it started snowing. I was riding with my feet down, following some car tracks in the snow.
• Driving on side lights 24 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  A resulting front end crash could destroy any evidence that the car had no lights on, leaving the other party to pick up the insurance claim. I seem to remember driving in France a few years ago, seeing a roadsign that showed rain and a car with its headlights on. How difficult would it be to introduce a simple lights policy law, instead of leaving it to the cheapskate drivers who put themselves and others at risk.
• 130gm per km CO2 the new benchmark for VED? 18 Oct 2008 (Forum)
  In Japan, Toyota's September sales fell from 213,042 in 2007 to 144,260 this year. China's car sales, after months of rapid growth, have slumped, and in Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany and India sales also fell: there is almost no one in the world, it seems, who feels that this is the right moment to buy a new car. To make matters worse, the financial turbulence comes just as restrictions on carbon emissions are finally catching up with car makers.