skomaz

The rotaries in the Mazda 787B sounded pretty interesting as well (or it did when it shot past the campsite at the bottom of the Mulsanne Straight for the umpteenth time at Le Mans...) Actually the privateer RX7's in the lower classes sounded good as well. And as for the Corvettes.... mmmm!!!

I can't understand why anyone would buy a car without driving it or a similarly powered / specified one beforehand... If the dealer said I couldn't I'd walk out and go elsewhere.

Looks to be just another sign of BMW design having 'lost it's way' to me... very 'naff' and tacky!

Sister has a Kuga... She's had a lot of bother with it... so good luck!

If you mean the ones in the extremities of the light unit the holders are push fit into the light unit and the bulbs are W3W wedge bulbs.

Car magazine did a similar interview with him and, as I read it I did think (excuse the terminology) "what a wazzock"...

I had a fault on the front ABS sensor and it was the bearing that had gone (albeit no strange noises etc.) - so I think you could be onto a winner with new bearings!

Two comments... There's a V8 Mustang near us that I saw regularly on the way home from work (when I was actually working in our office) and it did sound great (I used to wind down the window for a listen). I've always liked big V's and my daughter could identify a TVR from noise alone when she was little A small capacity 3 pot can sound really nice too - my swift is only a one litre triple but has a real nice sound to it when you put your foot down - almost like a 6 (which isn't surprising given it's basically half one). So... I get the noise bit!

In the UK it's 5 years for Skoda but elsewhere in the world, or for the same engine in an Audi I recall VAG say it's 120,000 miles but inspect at services. Personally on our old 2001 Fabia we did 80,000 miles on the first cambelt with no issues and on our current 2007 Octavia, where the recommendation is 4 years, have been changing it at 5 or 6 years, again with no issues. I'm aware of the risks but accept those given the value of the car. At 5 years and 16,000 miles I'd be tempted to decline the cambelt change and may be look at getting it done much more cheaply at an independent specialist in a year or so.

The number plate makes it look like it's got a nose ring...

Aerodynamically far better on the back.

I'm not aware that any 1.9s had a DPF - only 1.6's and the 2.0CR and 2.0 D's in the older vRS, 4x4 and Scout... An easy check is look for 7GG on the three code options sticker in the handbook or on the boot floor panel.

If it's Euro 4 you should be able to take the DPF off and map it out and still pass the MOT...

Not sure they test main beam or fog beam pattern in the MOT so probably won't worry the OP??

The OP said... Criteria is that I need an estate which will be reliable, not ridiculously expensive to run and not utterly soul destroying to drive

We had similar in our old fabia many moons ago. Even with plenty of screenwash the pump and valve arrangement froze and split

Yep - just silicon greased the seals so sorted there... can't get it inside though as the MX5 is in the garage (and not sure it would fit anyhow!). Think I'll have another blast with the hairdryer later to try and dry any moisture out then give it another squirt of WD40 and see what tomorrow brings. Interestingly I had a frozen on brake caliper this morning as well - it dragged the pads on the disk for a bit until they heated up then popped off with a bit of handbrake waggling. Been fine since...

-8 this morning here and same issue again. However, I found a mini travel hairdryer in the back of a drawer last night (it literally fits in the palm of my hand) and 30 seconds of that blowing on the latch mechanism this morning and I was sorted. The hairdryer now lives in the boot and an extension lead in the garage just behind the garage door!

Had the same freezing door / lock mechanism here the last few days as well but it has been -5 or so. It only appears to affect the drivers door so I'm starting to wonder if it is just down to how I park on a slope that means any thaw leads to water running into the lock which then freezes, or if it's to do with the drivers door being the only one with a keyhole in the handle?? Like you I've yet to find a solution and have tried squirts of WD40 and de-icer as well, which don't seem to work, meaning I've resorted to getting in the passenger side, starting the car and turning heater and heated seats on full tilt to warm things up.

jaguar say they spent a lot of time perfecting the pop out handles so they don't jam or freeze... the cynic in me doesn't really believe that given recent experience the last week or so with frozen door handles and doors due to the daily thaw / freeze cycle

Yep - the reviews I've seen of the Honda E seem to rate it highly purely on the full width 'screen' inside which personally i thin looks awful... and don't get me started on the fake wood trim.

For me for personal use at a 'reasonable' and 'realistic' cost there's only two options on that list - the Soul or Kona... The others are all stupidly priced and well out of my price range, too full of 'guff', too 'premium' or too small. However, I probably won't be buying one anytime soon unfortunately

I'm south west on the Derbyshire / peak district border - so sounds like it was similar across the city! 4hours commute is bad though!

4" of snow here in Sheffield today (my part anyhow) with what appeared to be hardly any gritting or ploughing - no problem for our old Octy 4x4 with Cross Climates getting to and from hospital across the other side of town with my daughter...

It's still f'ugly no matter how many vids of it are posted...