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• Small Car Advice Reqd 18 Jun 2009 (Forum)
  Due to it being a "necessity" purchase for work, she is wanting to make it as cheap as possible to buy and to run. Initially she is looking at 107 / C1 / Aygo and Panda. She does not want to go as big as Corsa, Punto etc as she perceives that to be more than she needs. Ideally she wants another diesel but that I think would narrow it to C1 or Panda.
• Which new diesel automatic? 5 Jun 2009 (Forum)
  I am getting together a short list of suitable cars and would welcome comments, both positive and negative, from owners of the following cars: Audi A3 Sportback 140 S-tronic By the time the options are added it gets quite expensive. BMW 1 Series 118d auto I have heard that the run flats give a harsh ride and that the interior quality isn’t great. Volvo V50 Powershift Some people complain about the poor economy and, according to one of the magazines, is due to be replaced next year.
• BMW 3-Series E36 (1991 - 1998) - buying an old BMW 2 Jun 2009 (Forum)
  Is this to be taken as a good point or might there be underlying problems with low miles? - possibly lots of short runs.... Okay - lets assume that I can be persuaded that the car's low mileage is a good thing i.e. that most of it's miles have been motorway miles, and lets assume that the paperwork all adds up, it's as clean as it sounds and my local friendly mechanic says he can't find any hidden nasties.....
• Ford C-MAX (2003 - 2010) - 04 1.6 Warning 12 May 2009 (Forum)
  Ex-motability car 18,000 miles, three years old, full main dealer history with 1 year warranty. Car immediately started hesitating - generally at about running pace accelerating from a standing start - leaving you stranded in the middle of roundabouts. The car was taken to a Ford main dealer, rather than supplying dealer 15 times in 18 months and various fixes were tried - EGR valves, wiring changes, breather hoses, sensors etc.
• Mazda RX8 (2003 - ) - When is a new car not a new car? 8 May 2009 (Forum)
  At the end of March I ordered a new Mazda RX8 R3 from the local Mazda dealership after taking a test drive. The dealer took all the details and completed...
• Vauxhall Zafira A (1999 - 2005) - 03 2.0 glowplugs 25 Apr 2009 (Forum)
  My rescue service came and tried to get me going - after a lot of white smoke the car did eventually run again (seemed completelly back to normal). I drove the car home and left it for about 2 hours to cool down. When I went to try and start it again, it turned over and I got a slightly burnt smell.
• Car suggestions 22 Mar 2009 (Forum)
  Advantages - looks the part, I assume will drive well though I am yet to try one. Disadvantages - older so perhaps reliability problems, running costs. Skoda Octavia VRS (fast, reliable, based on golf but cheaper to buy). Disadvantages - not as nice to look at as the other suggestions, interior a bit dull, badge. Golf GT 1.4 170 or GTI (realise I may have to increase my budget a bit for one though) Audi A3 (again probably over budget and overpriced so will probably discount) Obviously prefer the golf or audi over the Skoda but then is it worth the extra for a nicer interior / image?
• Mazda 121 (1996 - 2000) - 96 1.3 - Intermittent Clutch 20 Mar 2009 (Forum)
  Hi, If anyone can give any advice I'd be very grateful I have a 96 Mazda 121 (it's a rebadged Mk4 Fiesta) that has an intermittent clutch problem. Most time the car runs fine and gear changes are fine, easy and smooth, everything as normal. Sometimes, after the car is parked and turned off, when I start the car and press the clutch in, I can't select a gear. The pedal still presses and springs back but it's like pressing the pedal hasn't engaged the clutch at all and the gearstick won't slot into gear (any of them).
• Rover - P6 3500 / 3500S 7 Mar 2009 (Forum)
  I'd like to make the car as economical as possible (my stock 3500S with 2 SU carbs did 29mpg on a really long motorway run) - would fitting EFI be worth doing? Can one fit an ECU? Would an ECU be worth having? I wonder about using an SD1 Vitesse engine with the EFI, but I'm not sure. Help! I'm not going down the LPG route, by the way.
• Volkswagen Golf II (1983 - 1992) - 91 1.3 Lack of Power, Carb Spitting, Poor Braking 2 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  I've tried putting my thumb at the end of the manifold pipes with my dad having his feet on the throttle and brake but I can?t feel any pressure sucking or blowing. I?m not too sure of if this could relate to the poor running or is it just nothing? Help please.... Thanks
• Cost of spare parts - how long will the scam last? 23 Dec 2008 (Forum)
  A 500gb hard drive now costs £40, these are quite complicated, a motherboard costs £40 and is very complex compared to an ECU which is actually a very unpowered simple computer running a fairly simple computer prgram (compared to what we use on our PCs). So how can they charge £1k for an ECU? £300 for a TPS etc? I understand cats are expensive because they require a lot of metal and a lot of engineering is involved in the manufacturer but I get mad when people are forced to pay £100's for a very simple part on a fairly modern car
• Motorbikers - A special case ? 15 Dec 2008 (Forum)
  On average about 16,000 motorcyclists ride into central London every day, up 40% from 10 years ago, the council spokesman added. " So their argument seems to be that they don't cause any congestion ? They do however run on petrol and that does ( as we are constantly told, cause climate change ) How ever, the demo was about parking fees, not the congestion charge so it looks like they are just being awkward for the sake of it in my opinion.
• Rover 200 (1995 - 1999) - 1998 1.4 - 214 overheating - help! 5 Dec 2008 (Forum)
  When I got home and let the car cool down I opened the bonnet and realised that the coolant was empty. I filled this up and the car was then running fine...... until a couple of days ago. The same thing happened to me again and when i looked under the bonnet the coolant was empty again. I filled it up but then the morning after I had trouble starting the car.
• Honda Jazz/Fit (2001 - 2008) - 08 1.4 Alternator Voltage 24 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  However, I then plugged my motorbike GPS (TomTom Rider) into the cigarette lighter socket and that, to my horror, instantly expired on starting the engine. I immediately checked the voltage at the lighter socket with the engine running and found that it was never less than 14.65 volts and switching loads in and out (lights, aircon) at one point it reached 14.8 volts. With every possible load on the system from lights etc it never drops below 14.65 volts.
• Family car for a horsey type 21 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  Hi We need a new family car We are a one car family so it must be a do-it-all Since we bought the last one we have acquired 2 kids and a horse The main driver is a keen petrolhead The rest of the family just want something comfortable to potter around town and go away for the weekend in The complicating factor is that it now needs to be able to tow as well as traverse a steep muddy rutted rocky farmyard on a regular basis, this is currently destroying our present car Im at a loss as to what will fit the bill An Audi Allroad seems obvious but until this month they fail miserably on CO2 emmissions and hence VED I want a 6-18 month old car to lessen the depreciation shocker It will be kept for several years so after I buy it Im not massively worried about further losses On the other hand it must be reliable (bye bye Disco3) because as its our only car we just cant have it laid up for days on end when it breaks down Budget flexible 30k should buy most things I can think of at 18 months old The Audi is the safe option if a little dull A stonking V8 (petrol or diesel) will sort my midlife crisis even if its a 4x4 - I dont care about VED or running costs if its 'cheap' to start with as it will be kept for years And a knackered Defender and an A6 wagon etc is an option we have considered but we really only want one car :) Any ideas - Im spoiled for choice in the current market Anything to a 65k Merc GL or a RR can be had for a stupendous discount at the age Im looking at, the thing with the RR would have to be reliability......
• Ford Escort (1993 - 2000) - 1998 1.6 exhaust blowing? 17 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  Hi all I have a S reg Ford Escort 1.6 16v petrol. The car has done 103500 approx miles and I use it as a run around for my work. Afew months back the exhaust started blowing, I took it to the mechanic who has been looking after my cars for years and after having a good look around the car informed that it was the middle bit of the exhaust that was blowing, it may last alittle longer as it wasn't blowing excessively but would need a new middle exhaust evenually, also the cat converter was falling apart but again it was not determental at the present time but would need sorting out before the next MOT.
• Volkswagen Phaeton (2002 - ) - Am I nuts? Or just plain old fashioned mad? 7 Nov 2008 (Forum)
  Am I completely mad to consider spending 30k of the children's inheritance/my pension fund on this? I know it will depreciate like a heavily depreciating thing, but I would be inclined to run it for at least 10 years and probably wouldn't put any more than 100k on it in that time. I mean, is 30k that much more than a top of the range Mundaneo? I know people who have spent more on unspectacular Volvo estates for heaven's sake.
• Peugeot 309 (1986 - 1993) - Advice on buying an older diesel. 25 Oct 2008 (Forum)
  I don't know anything about cars so would like to ask for some opinions. I've been looking for a safe and cheap (to buy and run) used car in Cornwall. I have found a G reg 309 GLi Peugeot. It's done 160, 000 miles, has no tax, 12 months MOT, no PAS, 1.9 litre diesel engine. It's being sold for £300 by a guy that looks as if he could be trustable.
• Vauxhall Zafira A (1999 - 2005) - 2001 1.6 Stalling problem 22 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  Having read up a bit, this does seem to be quite common, but most people seem to get this after long motorway runs while my car is actually fine after a motorway blast - just not when I give it a quick blast. Where I've read there seem to be 2 possible causes - one school of thought is that the Idle Control Valve is carboned up & needs cleaning or replacing (I'm guessing expensive as apparently it's in the throttle housing) & the other suggests that the EGR valve is to blame & requires either replacement (& a lot of comments seem to suggest that the problem returns after a couple of thou miles) or blanking off by the dealer.
• Vauxhall Corsa B (1993 - 2000) - 95 1.4 Can too much oil in engine cause HG failure 18 Aug 2008 (Forum)
  Seems high.. The car has a few dents and isn't really worth much but now we have to pay £209 to get a non running car back! Any help much appreciated.. :-)