August 2006
I'm gonna stir things up with this one!
According to a survey by confused.com a lot of prestigious cars are involved in a disproportionate numbers of accidents - see cars.uk.msn.com/news/car_news_article.aspx?cp-docu...1 . In this "top ten" you will notice Alfa, BMW and Audi are well represented.
The Managing Director of confused.com said, "...luxury and executive cars have among the highest accident rates because they are often used for long distance travel, with busy, stressed and tired executives behind the wheel."
Do I hear the sound of violins? Doesn't it basically mean these cars (as many of us have always suspected) are driven by plonkers who should know better? - Discuss!
Notice also the "bottom ten" of cars involved in the least number of accidents; surprise, surprise - the least street cred equals the fewest accidents! Read more
Time for some cheery, positive vibes !
We've seen the thread for the worst car. How about your best car ?
Mine was a Honda Integra Type R. I won't list the good points - the post would be too long. I'll just list the "sub-optimal" points :
1. Glovebox was a bit small.
2. It was a bit noisy on the motorway (but heh, what a great noise from that VTEC engine !)
3. I struggled to get more than 5000 miles out of a set of front tyres.....can't think why ?!
That's it. The rest was superb. Read more
fiat 132 2.0 litre twin cam
terrible car............but
lovely sounding engine when spun up..........i still miss it........but not the rot
Hello
I have just fitted a new clutch and have done something wrong. When I did the "slowly depress the pedal, wait ten seconds and slowly bring the pedal back up" routine recommended in Haynes, there was no pressure at all, but just before reaching the end of its' travel; it snatched the pedal to the floor, where I think it would have stayed had I not pulled it back up. I've had the slave cylinder back out to check if the bearing was properly snapped in and there seems to be only enough play for the arm to move between the two sets of lugs. During the work the push rod fell out when I accidently knocked it but at no time was the clutch pedal depressed. Any advice?
Regards Tom Read more
Hi Mate
Thanks for the input. Yes it's a master slave set up, one of the push types. I am trying for a pattern one but I wont see any results till tomorrow. How did I get air in the system? Well, I figured that if the system is sealed; as long as the clutch pedal wasn't depressed the rod would be held in by the hydraulic vacuum. So I put it to one side when I got it out and didn't bother to tie it in. But I knocked it while I was struggling to get the L.H. support bracket off the transmission housing (what a pig of a job that was) and the rod fell out. Either my theory about the hydraulics was wrong or I damaged the seal on removal. Perhaps because it has been on there for 197000 miles or perhaps because my hands are not strong enough for that particular job I had to use mole gripsto get it off.The cylinder didn't look to be distorted but Maybe it doesn't have to be in order to break the seal. Also, because of the awkward position it is in, I definitely knocked it against its' housing as I was removing it and so could have pulled it out of its' seal. Never having seen how far it should protrude from the cylinder I have no way of knowing.
Remember driving a newish one a few years back and thought that it was fantastic. I'v e spotted an on old one for sale........ Read more
I think the metal strip across the dash is very smart. Give the Italians their due,it`s styling is superb-even if they had some American help. Nothing new there!
I love everything about the car,in fact it`s the only car i`ve kept for so long and I have no desire to change it. Looked after properly it can stand up to and even shock more up-to-date coupes.
Cam-belt can be changed for £400-£500,but not by Fiat,who still want £1200.
Going to look at a 1996 1.8i Honda Accord today.
What sort of things should I be look out for on this sort of car? (I've never owned a Honda before).
Thanks for any help. Read more
Thanks for the help.
Bought it yesterday. Very nice drive back from middlesex to kent it was too.
The only problem (hopefully the only one) which is no big deal is the remote key fob.
Please see my post in tech matters if you can help.
Cheers again for the help.
Looks like a good wheeze. Sort of.....
www.mongolrally.com/teamlist.php
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Seem to be quite a few old Polos. Let's hope they have packed a fuel pump and Hall Sender...
I have a query re HPI and settling finance agreements - once the finance has been settled and funds cleared how often do they update HPI's database? Is it regularly updated or would you have to do a check yourself and pay the HPI fee?
Thanks Read more
I noticed in the letters section in one of the classic car mags one of the letter writers moaning that the feature writers were using metric measurements when imperial was more appropriate ie for spanner sizes etc.
Well have a butchers at ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/EUDirective.htm .
The gist of a meeting between EU reps and United States reps was the fact imperial measurements after 2010 will be outlawed and that includes usage in Magazines and Books. Read more
Isn't it strange that we're all taught in metric at school yet the real world is still using imperial?
To be honest I see no reason for a complete change - I'm happy to use both and do, as I wouldn't dream of measuring th diameter of a rod or hole in inches, yet I'd always use a 5mil or 10mil grid for PCBs!
For the amount of money which would need to be spent changing every road sign in the country, I honestly can't believe it would ever happen. You just have to think of the number of things we still specify in metric, like TV sizes, wheel rims, wipers, tyre pressures, burger mass, etc to realise that changeover just isn't practical. My generation was bought up on metric in school, yet you don't see us going around talking about 46cm wheel rims and asking for a 113 gram-er with cheese at McDonalds.
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Mike Farrow
I am being driven nuts by my previously mega-reliable 4.0L ltd auto cherokee (75000). The engine took to just stopping whilst driving (annoying and dangerous) and finally traced this to the Crank Position Sensor. I had this replaced but now, though, it and not me decides whether it starts or not. Once running it goes just fine (no stopping like before). When it chooses to start it just fires up at first crank - if not then nothing will make it fire.
The ''experts'' that have looked so far say 'electrical' but can find nothing wrong.
I reckon it is another sensor playing up. Any ideas out there?
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I've not heard about that before, but the car has been undercover for most of its life and all of the last eight months. Could previous heat have affected it?
Does anyone know which factory is building RHD Alfa Romeo 159s for the UK market? I haven't asked AR themselves yet - just wondered if any reader knows. Wikipedia says South Africa but other internet sites point to Italy.
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I would ahve expected some comment in the following review if they were SA .
www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=757&f***icleId=3279306
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>I've got the biggest stone tent you ever saw.
Been there, done that, On 1,2 & 3. When I moved out 32 years later I cried. Was in the area couple of years ago could not believe my eyes when I saw the scaffolding and skips arrayed nearly cried again.
Takes all sorts :-((
Phil I