July 2005
i am considering buying a honda accord (auto) has anybody heard any bad reports about this car / or are there any things i should look out for when buying this car? Read more
hello
the electronic speedo has started working erratically - either it doesn't work at all or it works normally or it swings all over the place. i've messed around with the sensor connecter near the front wheel (non abs) to try and ensure a good contact but nothing changed and the haynes manual doesn't tell where the converter is. i've searched the forums here but haven't found anything on the astra (but i do seem to remember having read something about wild speedos in the (distant) past).
can anybody help?
thanks
mike Read more
The Australia Govt has just released a study into over a million vehicle accidents. The statistics show how likely you are to be injured in an accident in various types of vehicles by category.
www.mynrma.com.au/used_safety_ratings.asp
Not a lot of surprises. Newer cars are better than old, bigger better than smaller. In the luxury category I noticed that the Volvo S70/V70 didn't score as well as the 700/900 which is an older design. The BMW E34 didn't do as well as either. In the small cars the pre 98 Astras got a much better rating than the post 98 ones. The Focus is not listed because it wasn't imported into Australia during the period of the study but the old style 95 to 01 Mondeo gets a good rating. We didn't import the new style Mondeo. Read more
hi folks,
hope someone can help..
1 i have a 2000 318se touring and have an intermittent rattle in the drivers door...it comes from the window which when dropped by only half an inch stops rattling....bmw mechanics have changed window seals on more than one occasion for no lasting benefit....also when it is rattling i can feel any play between window and frame that could cause such an annoying noise on an otherwise good car
2 is this a chain driven cam or belt? - at what mileage should it be changed
3 can anyone recommend a good servicing garage (non franchise) in west london area
thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions andy :) Read more
I've got an E36 with a rattling passenger door card, it was badly re-fitted after a trip to the bodyshop.
Anyway, it seems that it is actually held in place by small plastic clips, two or three of which are broken, suprisingly though, they are easily replaced and can be bout for about £2 for 20 clips from a BMW dealership. I thought that the entire door panel would need changing as seems to happen with other makes.
If the panel in the E46 is fixed on in the same way then don't worry about causing damage when you pull it off, in fact I'd recommend using new clips as a matter of course, our bodyshop didn't and now I'm going to have to dismantle it myself!
Blue
I'd just like to say thankyou to the idiot in the silver 106 who overtook me on an uphill stretch of dual carriageway near me that had just been re-surfaced. Despite the presence of 20 mph limit signs and and 'no overtaking' signs, you decided to go for it, and thanks to you I now have a bonnet thats covered in a million little stonechips and a windscreen with a crack running the length of it that will no doubt cos me hundreds to put right. You'd better hope that I never see you driving about again.
There is no real point to this post, I just needed a place to have a rant. Rant is now over.
Read more
I think that in that situation the only solutions are to either:
a) Floor it when they try to overtake, forcing them to abort. Depends on your car whether you can pull this off, as it might just be you get overtaken at twice the speed. Also extremely dangerous.
b) Stand on the anchors when you see them start to pass. You'll still be pebble-blasted, but hopefully for not as long.
c) Move out into the middle of the road when you see them pull out to pass. Even more dangerous than (a).
d) Let it happen, follow them home and demand insurance details. Risk of damage to various body parts depending on driver.
e) Catch up, attempt to get them to pull over, fail, get their reg number and report it to the police as they left the scene of an accident without giving details.
I have a 1998 Vauxhall Vectra 1998cc Turbo Diesel with DTL engine. The engine management system is giving an EGR error code.
The engine feels flat and initially the warning light comes on when stationary (at lights) and then stays on continuously after 15-30 minutes.
My local garage has looked at the car and has changed the EGR valve, MAF sensor, checked the vaccum control to the EGR valve and still the fault remains.
Does anyone have any idea of what to try next?
Cheers Read more
The car Andrew mentions is my company car...I called him in because he was well recommended by this site....with good reason.
He has indeed apparently finally got to the bottom of the problem that defeated the local Main Agent and my local independant garage who have replaced various bits at great expense without curing the problem over the last two years.
I am waiting for the replacement cat to be fitted by him but the car is already running much better.
And he's a jolly nice bloke as well as good mechanic - .
Firstly Hello as I'm new here.
I'm looking for a bit of advice,
I'm looking into purchasing second hand a current shape Fiesta and have seen a nice 1.6 Ghia with the optional 16 inch wheels which look great on it.
However I've read a few reviews saying that the Fiesta with the optional 16 inch wheels has unacceptable road noise, although the plus side is the handling improves.
Does anyone have any experience with the Fiesta on those wheels.
Thanks in advance
Nick2 Read more
Take it for a drive and see what you think.
The Fiesta isn't the most refined small car in the world, but it's handling more than makes up for it. I had one with the 15" alloys and it was a laugh to drive, if the 16" wheels improve it then i would say go for it.
Unfortunately I've never driven one with the 16's on it.
Blue
Just had my XC90 back from it's first 'proper' service at 12k. This is the first experience I've had of main dealer servicing for many, many years, as the previous family cars have all been old and serviced at dependable but relatively cheap independants.
For what appears to be an oil/filter job, plus a once over, I'm hit for £325. My main point of interest is how they manage to arrive at a figure of £75 (excl. VAT) for diesel oil.
On the upside, cleaned inside 'n out with a tin of Volvo mint imperials sitting on the passenger seat for the kids to scoff over the weekend. Read more
My first service at 12500 miles for my Mazda6 was £100.That was Mazda dealership with loan car for the day.I doubt my local garage would of matced that.There again £100 for a stamp in the service book is a lot.DIY after 3 years.
After taking some sage advice on here recently I've taken the plunge and bought a 95 M-plate Nissan QX for £750.
I'm happy with the price, but I'm interested to know how low these cars are really valued.
The car is the 2 litre V6 - with 144k, 10 months MOT, fNsh (quite substantially overserviced, in fact - with £700 spent this year ) excellent aircon, dark met blue with grey velour interior.
Bad points are: Broken aerial, a couple of light scrapes and dings, broken stereo head unit and one interior light not working. Might need a new battery too. Read more
What you've paid = to 2 & a bit months lease payments, on similar car new.
So looking it that way, if it lasts 4 months you've made a profit!
Chances are it'll be good for a year or 3 more!!
VB
For those of you who like me are happy users of TomTom Navigator3, but unlike me don't subscribe to TomTom's newsletters:
TomTom Navigator5 is now available, to which users of TomTom Navigator3 can upgrade for EUR59 (Just over forty quid) plus postage.
Link: www.tomtom.com/shop/upgrade.php?action=pdasub2
Included in the price is:
> New Interface and features
> Full postcode navigation in UK and the Netherlands
> New GB maps (Let's see if the new Tring bypass extension is shown!)
> All the detail maps for Europe, including (never before available) the Czech Republic and Poland. This suits me fine because in a few weeks time I'm going to be driving from the UK to the Czech Republic!
This is stonking value (I paid £100 for the TomTom Navigator3 versions of the Western Europe detailed maps alone a few months ago, though thankfully have had plenty of use of them in the mean time!)
The only restriction is that the new software is not compatible with the following PDAs:
Fujitsu Siemens (all models)
Toshiba (all models)
Siemens SX 56
Acer N10
Eten P700
Mitac Mio 558
PackardBell Pocket Gear 3025
ViewSonic V37
Yakumo DELTA 300 , DELTA 400
ASUS MyPal
TomTom add "We are working on achieving compatibility with the Toshiba and Fujitsu Siemens devices by Autumn 2005. For technical reasons, NAVIGATOR 5 will unfortunately not be made compatible for the other devices on the list."
Other TomTom products (like GO) are also updated, but I didn't research the detail as they are of no interest to me.
Well, I've upgraded and wait for the thunk on the doormat. Read more
Have switched to TT5 with mine and it works OK (2210 & CF GPS), If it wasn't for the updated map (TT3 does not have M6 Toll so most of the junctions on my route to work are out of date) I would switch back.
GPS fix by the time I have done 300 yds from a cold start.
It does "grey out" the map occasionally when it loses a satelite or two but continues to show progress - maybe it thinks its fix is not accurate enough but it has always shown a correct route.
The loss of the "use previous fix to plan route" is a big loss since I nearly always start from the place it last had a fix.
Browse
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I bought a manual 2.0 saloon in Feb. I am very pleased with it. Great performance and reasonable economy about 38 mpg, mainly on motorway driving. The engine is incredibly smooth and the ride is fine. The seats are somewhat firm but that is how I like them.
Had a minor problem with a creak from the windscreen area particularly in cold weather (March was generally cold). Took it in to the dealer, but the day was warm and the prob did not show up. As luck would have it, I picked up a chip in the screen a few weeks later going through the roadworks near Heathrow. Result no more creaks.
Syd