Paradroid

Looks like it is indeed going to be date of registration, is sanity perhaps prevailing at long last ?

Yes but not entirely!

My father in law has a Merc E270. It was registered in the UK in 1999 but was exported out the country, as it was an Armed Forces car. It was brought back into the UK in about 2004 I think, and was re-registered. I've only heard this 2nd hand so am not 100% sure of the facts, but it's definitely a 1999 car as it's on a W reg!

He noticed the car was in the top tax bracket of the CO2-type bands, and not the pre-CO2 bands, so he called the DVLA. When he queried what the tax bands went off, they said it was the date of *first* registration. When he pointed out the car was actually registered in the UK in 1999, they then backtracked and said it was the date of *last* registration.

That seems dishonest to me, the car was made in 1999 and technically they don't have emissions data it because their figures only start on 2001 models!

I liked it till I looked round the back! Not keen on the rear end styling changes.

You seem to be under the illusion we still have a british car industry :P

Yeah you're right, it was the early 90's when we still had Rover, they were producing good competitive cars, and they were still UK owned.

I bought a MG ZS180 new in 2004 (the one with the side fins) and was well happy with that, but even that was a niche car really, was never going to sell in big numbers.

The US was another market that got battered by imports offering better reliability. A real shame because some amazing cars came out of the US motor industry, especially the classics of the 60's and 70's. But when the imports came offering reliability, more efficient engines and better economy, they got hammered. Plus for some reason American car styling seemed to fail miserably past about 1975, the trash they threw out in the late 70's and 80's was unbelievable

The best selling car in the USA has been the Toyota Camry for years, mad when you think how many cars of that class they make in the USA.

What's always amazed me about the UK is that I could never understand how so many people bought French cars in preference to UK cars. OK German cars offer solid build quality (not necessarily reliability), Japanese cars offer reliability, but in the pecking order of car making countries, I would never say French were better than British!

This has been talked about for years now, but is it getting closer?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment...government.html

The scary quote is GM could run out of money 1/2 way through next year, and they're asking for help of the Govt. Sounds like 2005 in the UK and we know what happened there!

Have the US car manufacturers left it too late to get their act together? GM have a smart sounding electric car coming out in a year or two, but will it be enough to save them I wonder.

Cheers Wozza :D

Looks like it's just the retrospective bit (i.e. for people who already had these cars before the changes were announced) that is being delayed - although that's certainly the bit that made the least sense.

To be honest I thought the tax rises were harsh, but on new cars at least people know about them and can change their buying decision appropriately. But ripping people off on cars as much as 7 years old (2001) was just disgusting.

I see what you mean, changing the other two is a way of indirectly changing the castor which is not normally adjustable :)

I should find out today what the situation is. My worry is he just changes the bracket and it appears to be alright, then when I get the geometry redone elsewhere it highlights that the tie rod is actually slightly damaged, then it's another round of fixing and geometry :(

But that's the worst case, hopefully it'll just need that bracket doing and all will be well :)

Well it was a very unpopular move and there was a lot of complaints about it.

I wrote to my local MP and to Downing St.

It's nonsense especially on a car like the IS200 where it's production run overlapped 2001.

A 2000 IS200 and a 2004 IS200 are exactly the same car in terms of emissions, yet one is paying twice the other.

But - I've not heard of it being scrapped so far although I do have my fingers crossed!!!!

That sounds right to me Stevie, I think they were looking for an obvious way to adjust the castor and couldn't see any way to do it. I was sure it could be done but like you say it's probably not straightforward.

Chris, I know what you mean about costs, the thought did enter my mind as to whether to try and sell on and get a better looked after IS200 (there seems to be loads of late-model sports on autotrader now, typical!), but I was already too deep into spending money on this one - and you always think "after this everything will be perfect" :)

I think I prefer that Camaro to the Dodge! Does it handle any better?

Do you want me to call them for technical support or are you happy with how things are going?

Wow, much appreciated Tony! I was hoping you might be able to help in another way however :)

I don't think they are able to do "full" geometry where I'm getting the work done, they are certain the castor angle is not adjustable on the IS200, and it must be because of course your settings change it. I asked them about castor and KPI off your settings because I figured out they are the things that very few places they can do, and they pretty much confirmed they can't do that stuff.

So...

I'm going to ask them to get the wheel aligned as best they can once that bent bracket is replaced (so at least the camber and toe will be fine) and make the car safe, and them could I bring the car to you please to get it finished off properly?

By the way, you mentioned the tie rod, is that the piece that goes from the wheel towards the back of the arch, with a bend in it? They wanted to replace that item too, but he found out today that is £125+VAT, so he's going to try just doing the bracket first. With the bend in that piece, it's impossible to tell whether it's bent from looking at it!

I liked that Caddy too, it was just the right mix of subtle but aggressive at the same time. Nice car. The other two were awesome too, although I don't know if I could put up with the awful handling on the Dodge :)

Yes mate you could be right :)

I thought there was something about the standard flywheel that could cause judder but can't remember what it was.

I guess changing the flywheel could stop clutch judder too - I find it quite hard to pull away in my car without getting clutch judder, it has a dual mass flywheel I think?

I think it's most likely to be a kerbing too. There's no bodywork damage at the front that's for sure, and underneath there's no signs of any other damage.

The previous owner must be an idiot though, I found a spare tyre in the boot worn down to the bracing on the inside, I thought this was the common Lexus tyre wear problems, but it's obviously down to everything being misaligned on one corner. You'd think he'd have realised something was wrong when his tyre wore down like that after smacking a kerb or whatever he did

Anyway I've had some good news, the bent bracket is only £30, and two hours labour so I'm looking at about 80+VAT.

There is another part the garage wanted to change as a precaution but he checked and that is 125+VAT for that part, so he's going to try just the bracket first.

If it turns out to just be the bracket I'll be quite relieved :)

Yeah thanks Steve

I'm a bit gutted really, I thought I'd checked the car over really carefully when I bought it, but it just goes to show there's always something that can be missed. An RAC inspection is looking good with hindsight!

It's one of those situations where I just have to pay out and get it fixed. Already spent too much to make it worthwhile cutting my losses and selling up (plus I love the car) so I just hope this next set of work is the end of it!

Anyway I'm happy that there's nothing really serious to this problem, it's in an accident repair place and they've checked the car over because they were suspicious of more damage, but they are happy that the car and chassis itself is fine, just the suspension that's suffered some damage :)

More grief with this now :(

Got the car back Friday after paying £170 to get the lower suspension arm replaced. Wheel still not central in arch, and the car was all over the place to drive because of course the geometry place had done the alignment with a bent arm.

So I took it to a place down the road to try and get the geometry done just to a point where the car was driveable, they weren't happy with the wheel position and found another bent suspension component - the bracket near the wheel.

He reckons I need to change that and something else, so the car's with him (I can't really drive it anyway). Getting a price today.

Over £300 down already from getting the geometry done and the arm replaced. Reckon I'm looking at another £300 as well probably.

And no car!

My car is on 58k and is 4yrs old. I spoke to the local Lexus dealer, they said they would check the belt but not replace it at the 60k service/6yrs service because the car is not 6yrs old.

My last car came with Continental SportContact so I always replaced them with the same, but they always seemed a noisy tyre.

Off a recommendation I've put Vredestein on my Lexus and am very pleased with them. Price was reasonable too which is another key factor :)

His comment about truck drivers (which I think he nicked from Viz because they used to say the same thing years ago!) was quite cutting, but it was an attempt at making people laugh. It's very hard to have humour without offending someone!!!!!

What I can't work is what people offended by a joke like that are doing watching Top Gear in the first place

Yeah I heard about that!

Absolute dog of a car though :o

Yes I think that's right.

Try eBay and see what's available, that's all I can suggest, unless anyone on here has a set kicking around :)

I quick look on Auto trader and you can pick one of them up from a dealer with warranty for 12k

Really? Well maybe it wasn't such a steal. Suppose the problem is the usual thing with prestige cars - most people who can afford to run one can also afford to go and buy themselves a new one.

It's funny, I really dislike the Cayenne, but for 12k I find it quite tempting!!!

The financial problems at the moment mean there could be some bargains cropping up - but obviously be very careful if the price seems too good to be true.

Did anyone see that piece on the TV lastnight where they went to an auction of cars from bankrupted companies (and individuals I suppose)? They had a Porsche Cayenne there, 54 plate, needed a new windscreen, it was no reserve and went for 10.2k!!