August 2009
I'm looking to buy a 2006-ish Focus petrol (had enough of diesel DMFs,EGRs,DPFs etc!) and assumed the 1.6 would be the most economical.
However a few forum searchs show many people are disappointed with their 1.6 economy - never reaching the 40mpg figure. I know these figures are a guideline but has anyone had any experience of the economy of the 1.8/2.0 petrol engine?
My commute is about 15 miles on the motorway, 5 miles of urban and a 20 minute queue so I cover all types of driving! I assume the 2.0 litre would be more economical overall on the motorway, but worse in the urban traffic. For the sake of 3-4mpg I would opt for the 2.0 as they seem to be cheaper (possibly because of the higher tax?) Read more
Hi,
My wife hit a parked car on Tuesday as she was pulling alongside it. Minor damage to the bumper but as they are plastic on modern cars, I guess it would need a new one (it was an 08 Vauxhall).
Nobody was with the parked car as you would expect, so my wife did the right thing and left a note under the windscreen with her phone number. We haven't heard anything yet.
We don't want to inform her insurance company at this point as they will certainly hold her NCB in obeyance for 2 years whilst there is an 'open' claim and therfore we would pay 2 years of premiums at a higher rate.
Where do we stand here? My wife didn't take the reg number of the other car other than it was an 08. Should we go to the police to report it just in case the other party claims we we trying to avoid detection or should we just sit still.
We are not trying to avoid our obligation to the third party if ever they should claim, just leaving our options open by not informaing our insurance company so that if the bill is low (ish) we can pay for it ourselves and leave the NCB as is.
Thanks
PS - It was not windy on Tuesday so VERY unlikely that the note blew away. The car was gone about an hour later when my wife went back to get the reg number. Read more
>>I tried to report it and the police said as my vehicle was undamaged it wasn't
an accident.
You were given incorrect advice. If your vehicle was damaged only i.e. the other one was damage free...then you don't have to report. If someone else's vehicle or roadside property is damaged and you don't exchange your names/addresses.... or injury is caused, then you do have to report
On an other occasion someone smashed his bumper driving into the stationary LandRover left a name and address and drove off. The address turned out to be false. Again the police weren't interested as no damage was done to my vehicle.
Again incorrect. The legislation states 'if owing to the presence of a m/v on a road....etc'. So this covers yours parked unattended. I would imagine leeway was applied because there was no way of knowing if the other vehicle was in fact damaged.
You often get most junior officers posted just for one day to the front counter or civilian staff who don't necessarily know the wider aspects of the law, so unfortunately advice can be variable..
I take the point that "exchange" of names and addresses is a 2-way process. But
you can only be legally responsible for your own half of that transaction surely?
Yes. If you've not 'exchanged' you have to report, regardless of what the other person does.
Hi all,
Does anyone know a way of removing dried tree sap from car paintwork without causing any damage?
The roof of my car is covered in the stuff due to the previous owner parking under trees.
Its an Omega estate with no sunroof and has solid paint.
In anticipation.
Rob
{made non make model specific as could apply to any car, not just an Omega} Read more
Hard bird poo comes off with a sponge soaked in warm water left on the stuff for a little while, I'd try that first.
That does work a treat, been doing it for years, normally use a piece of wet kitchen roll to be honest, sticks to vertical surfaces better....
My 2005 Golf 1.6 FSI usually goes very well and is smooth. On other occasions it is noisier with a rougher engine note and lacks power. This often happens on the same day - it can be fine in the morning, then I park it for a few hours and then start it again and it can be bad again. As an example, it is usually fine going uphill on a motorway at 70mph in 6th gear, but sometimes I've had to drop down to 4th gear to maintain speed on the same stretch of motorway.
Other observations:
-It seems to have more power when the weather is cold and is worse when the weather is warm.
-If I accidentally don't hold the ignition key in the 'start' position for long enough it coughs, splutters and chugs into life (probably unrelated).
-It is not remotely prone to stalling at any time - in fact it's quite happy to pull away at idle.
-I've tried 95ron and 98ron petrol - there's negligible difference between them in terms of fuel economy and performance, even after 3 successive tanks of each.
-Fuel economy is worse when it lacks power.
-Switching off the air-con makes no difference.
It's got its first major service (4 years old, 25000 miles) in 2 weeks, which will mean new spark plugs, oil, oil filter and air filter (I need to check what else is included).
Has anyone got any suggestions? Sorry for the slightly vague and long post.
Thanks,
Tim Read more
How does that work in the rest of Europe where you're lucky to be able to buy 95 unleaded in some countries?
I certainly can't think of a petrol station that sells 98 unleaded within 30 miles of here, nearer the coast maybe, but up in the mountains we're all tightwads!...
I've seen ads in Autotrader for recovery vehicles and they say that they are MOT exempt. Is this correct? If so, why? Read more
Vehicles exempt from M.O.T. tests are: ........Any vehicle on an island that has no tunnel, bridge, ford, ferry or other vehicular access to the U.K. mainland.
Source:- tinyurl.com/www-direct-gov-uk See pdf document tinyurl.com/mot-exemption for full exemptions.
This post has errors - the correct wording for section N is:-
Vehicles used only on certain islands that do not have a bridge, tunnel,
ford or other suitable way for motor vehicles to be conveniently driven
to a road in any part of Great Britain....
Hi its come to that time where ive got to replace my battery in my ford focus 1.8tdci 52 (2003). It been wondering what battery ti choose from, the spec on th etop of my battery states its 60Ah, 12V, 540Amps with fit 075. It also states in my handbook that i must replace it with a calcium based one.
Ive been given some options a Bosch S4004 or the Bosch S4007. Now ive been looking through the spec of the S4004 and noticed that it matches the exact spec stated but when i asked the seller he advised the S4007. This however doesnt match the spec i stated.
Its safe to say im confused as to what to do. Can anyone reccommend a good calcium based battery? Read more
www.bosch.co.za/content/language1/html/5154.htm
Yes the S404 is a calcium silver battery for Focuses 03 onwards. you can even but them on ebay.
Regards Peter
Dear All,
I was recently stopped on a bright morning for having no brake light. I just had the light changed but for whatever reason it was not working at the time I was stopped.
My initial thought was that I would only be slapped with a fine and a maybe a telling off, but to my suprise I was told it was an endorsable offence. That means 3-points slapped on my clean licence. I would appreciate advice on writing for a leniency on the offence, as I understand going to court could cost me more in fines and points. Thank you
SmoothEddy Read more
Wonder how the OP got on?
Who knows - people panic, post and clear off??
Date registered: Sun 23 Aug 2009
Last visited forum: Wed 26 Aug 2009
If you are thinking of buying a Mondeo diesel for its fuel economy, think again.
I have just bought a new 2.0 TDCi Titanium X Estate fitted with a DPF, which will not achieve more than upper 30's mpg. The DPF has had an effect on fuel economy, so if you want a Mondeo IV diesel to get more MPG, at the moment it is best to go for the 1.8 TDCi which does not have the DPF as standard. Read more
As previously mentioned fuel consumption depends mostly on how and where you drive. I run Citroen XM 2.1 diesels, an engine design that is now over 20 years old and a car weighing in excess of 1.5 tons, my average consumption is well over 40 mpg with 50+ on a long journey, I regularly get in excess of 800 miles on a tankful. But, I do live in a rural area and I don't drive hard or fast.
Modern common rail engines are more fuel efficient so should be capable of a better mileage than this. Unfortunatly they are not as durable, these old Peugeot engines can do 300,000 miles with no serious problems.
Just curious really. I have occasionally overtaken articulated lorries at 70mph which are travelling marginally more slowly than me. Last night on the M5 going south was an example. The lorry was Northern Irish registered, and doing about 65. Are there any exceptions, apart from emergency service HGVs, to the 56mph rule?
Read more
In theory no, but the Irish do seem to have a liberal interpretation of 56MPH, as do many foreign lorries! PatPat, you seem to have Northern Ireland (British) confused with Southern Ireland (Irish). Vehicles with Northern Irish registrations and part of the UK, where as Irish registered vehicles are foreign to the uk. Regards, Ulsterman who's tired of people who do not understand this.
Hi we have a new neighbour on our street & i have recently noticed an increase in cars coming down our road, it appear that the new owner is selling cars from his home, is this illegal? Does he need permission from the council?
It is an end terrace so he has plenty of room, he has 3 cars on the drive & he has a large garage in the back of his house with 2 or 3 cars in there, i have noticed several cars coming in with trade plates & have seen him taking customers on test drives with trade plates.
I decided to investigate & found his website, it appears his a legitimate car dealer (limited co) who recently closed down his 25 car site & now sells from home, I guess the recession has effected him, his website shows his a limited co, registered with vat, registered with dvla, has debit credit card facilities, offers finance the whole usual dealer package!
I have no problem with the cars, as they all seem to be 34 year old cars minimum £5000, no one has complained, his not got any signs on the cars & only parks on his drive way or in his garage, any visitors park out side his driveway
The questions is he allowed & should I be concerned? Thanks for the advice.
Read more
Holy thread resurrection batman!
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I've been running a petrol 2 litre Focus Mk 2 for several years now - manual, not auto.
I'm a pretty gentle driver these days, but even I was surprised at Easter this year, when SWMBO and I took one of her sons and friend (two strapping lads) with some luggage down to Cornwall and back. Average 43 mpg....