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• Any - Scrappage - French style 11 Jan 2018 (Forum)
  Your old car (or van) must have been registered before 1997 for petrol vehicles and before 2001 for diesel vehicles … so if introduced in UK probably wouldn’t take too many BR readers' cars off the road! The trade-in vehicle must be registered in France, and have been owned for at least one year. The amount you might be paid varies depending on the household’s financial situation, with up to €1,000 available for taxed households and €2,000 for those that do not pay tax … not an irresistible incentive I imagine.
• Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0 Diesel 2004/5 - Intermittent Fault - black smoke and loss of power 20 Aug 2015 (Forum)
  However come off the motorway and try to get up and down steeper hills, and it really struggles. My local garage (here in France, and NOT a Hyundai dealer), did a diagnostic test and identified a "problem" with the Air Mass Sensor - so we replaced it. All was well for a couple of weeks then the problem came back. Garage said new diagnostics test showed "No Faults".
• Skoda Superb Estate, VW Passat Estate, - Diesel or Petrol Estate/MPV 14 Dec 2012 (Forum)
  Daily commute is 26 miles round trip most of which is dual carriageway/motorway. Plus, annual holiday invovles trips to sourthern france, so round trip of 3000 miles. Not sure about diesel or petrol. Have 2010 Fabia 1.2 TSi to trade in, very disapointed with fuel economy. Also , have a 1999 Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDi, which regularly achives 45mpg in town on short trips and 60mpg+ on motorway and still going well at 162K+ miles and so will be keeping this.
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  Is this fuel economy acceptable for a Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI? 29 Oct 2012 (Ask HJ)
  I know you have reservations about the economy of the VW 1.6 TDI. I have now covered just over 30,000kms [19000 mls] and have averaged 62.3 mpg. Although...
• Nissan Primera II (1996 - 1999) - 97 2.0 What will eventually happen to the UJ? 4 Feb 2010 (Forum)
  Hello My wife and I live in France and we are very poor financialy. To cut a long story short we have been running our old nissan with a defective UJ for nearly 2 years. Before he moved back to the UK I asked him what would eventualy happen, he said it would get noisy and to avoid full lock.
• Can you claim against own spouse for accident? 9 Jan 2009 (Forum)
  Apologies for the vague details so far but I am intrigued by the following: My friends had an accident in France in summer. A car side swiped them on autoroute, their car somersaulted, hospitalised, holiday ruined etc. They gave statements to the police and insurance companies, as did other witnesses who stopped to this effect but all reports are now in and police have been unable to trace other driver, no CCTV etc so is going to have to go down as a claim against his own insurance.
• Citroen BX (1983 - 1993) - 1987 Turbo Diesel - Flat battery 7 Apr 2008 (Forum)
  Hi all, I am currently living in France, and still hanging onto my old (1987) Citroen BX Turbo Diesel. Living in the Alps, but it usually performs remarkably well in the cold. This is the second time though this year that we've had a flat battery, first was probably due to extreme cold and that we hadn't given the car a good run for a while.
• Many UK bus drivers don't speak English! 26 Mar 2007 (Forum)
  I have been to many European countries, in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, majority of bus drivers understand English. In France, Spain, Switzerland mostly not. But how come in UK, drivers don't speak English???
• What Sat Nav? Advice appreciated 7 Nov 2006 (Forum)
  I want to be able to: 1, Type in postcode onto the screen and then be directed to my destination. 2, Transfer the unit from one car to another as we may share it in the office for journeys to customers we have not visited before (unless they are really cheap). 3, It needs to do mainland Europe pretty well (France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland) - I managed to take the wrong route roung Brussels 3 times yesterday. 4, Do they charge from a 12V socket in the car or are they just rechargeable-at-home AA batteries?
• Education worth more than money? 30 Oct 2006 (Forum)
  It's Monday again and Saturday's Telegraph has reach rural France. I read, with increasing disbelief, a letter to HJ from the owner of a Porsche Boxster that had very obviously suffered a failed head gasket yet the guy - whose choice of words shows clearly he has no technical knowledge - had gone on driving it with 'plumes of white smoke' pouring out, then taken it to a track day and totalled the engine!
• UK Car abroad more or less permantly 23 Feb 2006 (Forum)
  3)Are there any countries where their equivalent to the MOT is accepted by the authorities in the UK? I see many ads for UK registered cars (on ebay for example) which are in Spain or France- do their owners really drive them back to the UK several times per year or is there another solution? Thanks in anticpation
• Fast cars - why bother? 8 Dec 2005 (Forum)
  Most of the time we suffer from a 30mph dawdle along congested routes; and when the roads free up there seem to be cameras all over the place. Even in France the Police seem to be getting stricter on speeding. Maybe this is a good thing but it seems to make fast cars a bit pointless.
• Proper European Cover 6 Sep 2005 (Forum)
  I live in the UK but for the next 12 months I will be spending at least 50% of my time on the continent - in France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, etc). My insurance is up for renewal and I want a policy that will cover me while in Europe *at the same level* as I am covered in the UK, i.e. TPFT. Also, I'd rather not have to phone my insurers every time I go away/come back, as my trips are rather frequent.
• Mitsubishi parts & pricing 15 Mar 2005 (Forum)
  Is this a 'Made in Japan' filter flown over from Tokyo with its own seat and in-flight entertainment on a B-747? No. Open the Mitsi-branded box and on the filter inside it says 'Purflux - Made in France'. 3. Even worse was to come when I asked for a new alternator belt. Nearly £45 for just a belt!! In the past I helped someone source a Mitsubishi idle valve (a common failure point) from Australia for about £100, when the UK dealer wanted over £400.
• Sofa so good! 13 Aug 2004 (Forum)
  How he ever got to Dover without the lot ending up on his bonnet I don't know. Did he get far in France I wonder? Anyway - any views on a sofa please.
• Polo Mk5: lights for continental driving 23 Nov 2003 (Forum)
  I recently took my 2002 Polo (1.2 E 65) to France on holiday. Before going, I asked my VW dealer about headlamp converters (the handbook says consult your dealer). They duly ordered me a conversion kit (about £10) and fitted it (about £15). The kit turns out to be two small strips of adhesive tape, and apparently an adjustment to the lights was also necessary.
• More ammo for HJ 21 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  Knowing HJs opinion of Renault, I think he might enjoy this little tale. Just returned from holiday in France (you know, those people who love the British so much). Rented a Laguna - having asked for a Vectra. Nice car but whilst there I managed to achieve a blow out on a front tyre (don't ask). No problem, thought I, there's a full size spare, and the car has only done 3k kms.
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  We want a dash cam but don't know where to start. What should we buy? 10 May 2021 (Ask HJ)
  We've been advised to get a dash cam but have no idea what to get. It's very confusing. Neither of us is very tech-savvy so really we need a medium-priced...
• 
  MGRV8, XJS Convertible or TVR Chimera? 6 May 2025 (Ask HJ)
  I am looking for a British modern classic convertible. I love a classy looking car for Goodwood days etc. I have whittled it down to the MGRV8, Jaguar...
• Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 - New Dacia Duster 1.5 diesel 4x4 -first impressions 1 Mar 2022 (Forum)
  New Dacia Duster  II 1.5 DCi Blue 4x4 Prestige to replace our old L200 bought from an online agency in France as no dealer stock available in our region. Allegedly an 01/01/2022 pre- reg car that was manufactured in October 21 by the VIN and turned out to have never been registered in France so may have come from either Germany or Czechoslovakia, and it's first French reg is with us.