We are looking for a reliable 5-door car with good build quality - should we buy petrol or diesel?

We have recently retired and are planning to spend around £20,000 on a new or nearly new car. Being conscious of escalating fuel costs we were planning to buy a diesel engine, but are now confused by the...

What has caused my Volkswagen Polo's cam belt and tensioner to fail after just three years?

I have a 1997 Polo 16v 100bhp (the one with the ridiculously low gearing). I love it and, since I’ve owned it, Volkswagen has serviced it once a year. In June/July 2008, as per schedule, the cambelt and...

Do I need to service my car?

In October of last year I purchased a pre-registered Volkswagen Fox ( registered in June, 2010. ). For a number of reasons, by June of this year it will only have covered some 2,000 miles. Will Volkswagen...

I need a seven-seater

I'm in the market for a new car to replace my 52-reg Ford Galaxy Ghia 1.9 TDI. I'm looking for something similar and I can't decide whether to go with diesel or petrol. I've noticed the Citroen C4 Grand...

Should I pay £500 extra for larger wheels on a Volkswagen Golf TDI?

Could you please advise me as to the benefit of larger wheels on the Golf TDI Match demonstrator which I am thinking of buying? The dealer is wanting an extra £500 for these.

The new Golf Cabrio

Do you think the new Golf Cabriolet with 2.0 diesel will be a good long term car to own? This would be my 'retirement' car. My other choice is a Scirrocco.

Shifting problems

Do I have a transmission problem or a "dual mass flywheel" problem if the engine over revs when shifting from 2nd to 3rd? It's also noticable once and awhile from 3rd to 4th? Seems to stick in 2nd and...

Best value engine size

My bad back makes driving my current Honda S2000 painful and I now need more space, an auto box and ideally a metal folding roof. I rarely use the huge power available. Vauxhall Twin-top is cheapest but...

ESP failure

My 56 reg golf plus has finally produced an ESP failure caption. It has covered 30,000 miles with full VWSH. The main dealer diagnostic indicates a failure which requires an ABS unit repair kit, which...

Boot lock malfunction

I have a 2004 VW Touran TDi Sport. Recently, the boot lock has starting acting strangely. The boot will, of it's own accord, unlock itself and/or if unlocked will release itself onto the secondary catch....