Car advice

[RandomGuy.]

You can do the same with housefires.

A room on fire? Simply close the door so you cant see it anymore.

Problem solved.

[KnightswoodBear]

7 hours ago, Grem456 said:

Hi all. I drive a BMW X5M. Very cool car, everything in it suits me. But as you all know with the German cars very often strange things happen. this is me compared to the Japanese, with them I never had any problems. Constantly began to knock out different errors on the dashboard. I have already visited all possible service stations. They couldn't help me anywhere. I need to go to the dealer, and this service costs unreasonable money. Okay, if it helped, but so I went to them and in half a year again the same picture. After much anguish, it was decided to buy an OBD. Now I myself without any help, once a week, sometimes more often, read all the errors and just one click smartphone reset them. I understand that this is wrong, but no one can help me. Even the dealership does not give me any guarantee on their work. Maybe someone will find this information useful. If you have this situation and no one is able to help you, do not bother, just solve the problem yourself.

Have you considered winding the windows down and putting the heating on full blast? 

[Andy Dufresne]

Arnold Clark have now sent my wife's car to an auto electrician and he has said what my wife's son said 7 months ago it is the fuel sender unit,he is funny enough an Arnold Clack mechanic.

[8MileBU]

38 minutes ago, Andy Dufresne said:

Arnold Clark have now sent my wife's car to an auto electrician and he has said what my wife's son said 7 months ago it is the fuel sender unit,he is funny enough an Arnold Clack mechanic.

Arnold Clark are fucking chancers. Just had car serviced by them (normally go to Farmers on Grahams Road but they quoted £50 higher on the phone than their website said) and AC offered the next best price. Anyway they phoned my missus when the car was pretty much ready but they wanted to give a “urgent advisory” on both the front and rear disks and pads which they could’ve replaced there and then for £500-and-something.… The car hasn’t even done 25000 miles! 
 

Clearly Arnold Clark still in the dark ages and think they’ll make a fast buck if it’s a women they’re dealing with. 

Just to be sure though I went and asked the neighbour a couple of doors down (a mechanic) to have a quick look. He said they look like they’ve done about 5000 not 25000.

Edited January 19, 2023 by 8MileBU

[Arthur daley]

On 17/01/2023 at 14:43, RandomGuy. said:

You can do the same with housefires.

A room on fire? Simply close the door so you cant see it anymore.

Problem solved.

Little known hack that firemen don’t want you to know . 

[Uncle Psychosis]

Folks, 

Mrs Psychosis needs a new car because her Focus is dying. 

High on the list is a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. 

Any thoughts? What I know about cars can be summarised as "you get small ones, big ones, fast ones, and they come in all different colours". 

[Derry Alli]

On 17/01/2023 at 14:43, RandomGuy. said:

You can do the same with housefires.

A room on fire? Simply close the door so you cant see it anymore.

Problem solved.

Worked for Grimbo. 

[beefybake]

14 hours ago, Uncle Psychosis said:

Folks, 

Mrs Psychosis needs a new car because her Focus is dying. 

High on the list is a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. 

Any thoughts? What I know about cars can be summarised as "you get small ones, big ones, fast ones, and they come in all different colours". 

As mentioned elsewhere on P&B, IIRC....., Ford, Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot are disposable cars.

Also steer clear of any and all combinations of small engine, turbo-charged, and diesels.

Suggest, in descending order of preference....  A Toyota, Honda or Mazda.

 

 

 

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, beefybake said:

As mentioned elsewhere on P&B, IIRC....., Ford, Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot are disposable cars.

Also steer clear of any and all combinations of small engine, turbo-charged, and diesels.

Suggest, in descending order of preference....  A Toyota, Honda or Mazda.

Second that…but a couple of tips:

Instead of the factory maintenance schedule, change the oil every 5,000 miles or six months. Do that on a Toyota instead of the “recommended” 10,000/1 year, and it will last 300,000+ miles (watch The Car Care Nut on YouTube for examples…master Toyota tech).

If you have a Honda (or Nissan, or anything) with a CVT, change the fluid every 30,000 miles and it will last much longer. 60,000 mile changes don’t help, even if that’s the recommendation.

If your vehicle has a lifetime fill transmission, change the fluid at least every 100,000 miles…the manufacturers idea of “lifetime” is about 100,000 miles. Note that dealers may actually decline to do this job.

If you have a Subaru, go to a specialist because it’s entirely too easy to miss one of the gearboxs/differentials and/or miss fill them.

[Thistle_do_nicely]

10 hours ago, TxRover said:

Second that…but a couple of tips:

Instead of the factory maintenance schedule, change the oil every 5,000 miles or six months. Do that on a Toyota instead of the “recommended” 10,000/1 year, and it will last 300,000+ miles (watch The Car Care Nut on YouTube for examples…master Toyota tech).

If you have a Honda (or Nissan, or anything) with a CVT, change the fluid every 30,000 miles and it will last much longer. 60,000 mile changes don’t help, even if that’s the recommendation.

If your vehicle has a lifetime fill transmission, change the fluid at least every 100,000 miles…the manufacturers idea of “lifetime” is about 100,000 miles. Note that dealers may actually decline to do this job.

If you have a Subaru, go to a specialist because it’s entirely too easy to miss one of the gearboxs/differentials and/or miss fill them.

afaik the oil change advice is indeed sound and will prolong a cars life, but i think you'd be doing well to get most cars in the UK to 300,000+ miles! rust murders just about everything no matter how well looked after, something to do with salt iirc.

going purely by judge judy 'murica has a funny old car market, shitboxes with 200,000+ miles that are still valued at thousands of dollars.

suppose climate is king, was in spain a few years ago and saw a remarkable number of mid to late 90's cars that are just about dead in the UK that looked in good condition. standout was a lovely wee peugeot 1.9 gti

edit: vans seem to live longer i think, or they're just mechanically raped into lasting for as long as possible for their lifetime as they're generally commercial vehicles

Edited January 21, 2023 by Thistle_do_nicely

[TxRover]

9 minutes ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

afaik the oil change advice is indeed sound and will prolong a cars life, but i think you'd be doing well to get most cars in the UK to 300,000+ miles! rust murders just about everything no matter how well looked after, something to do with salt iirc.

going purely by judge judy 'murica has a funny old car market, shitboxes with 200,000+ miles that are still valued at thousands of dollars.

suppose climate is king, was in spain a few years ago and saw a remarkable number of mid to late 90's cars that are just about dead in the UK that looked in good condition. standout was a lovely wee peugeot 1.9 gti

edit: vans seem to live longer i think, or they're just mechanically raped into lasting for as long as possible for their lifetime as they're generally commercial vehicles

Yea, I considered that aspect, but todays Toyotas will last that long if rinsed off promptly after salty drives. The ‘Murican market depends on the location, with the Mid-West and North-East destroying cars with salt and slush, while the South and West let them live.

150k cars for $10-$15k is common now, market is f**king insane.

[pozbaird]

Important thing first - like most of us, I have encountered some shoddy service and have had frustrating run-ins with different companies down the years, but I’m not the kind of guy who would stand outside a business with a placard saying ‘never shop here’ and look like a moon howler with a grudge. Standing the in rain, shouting at passers-by.

Just want to put this out to anyone on P&B who might, just might, have been thinking about the following, or know someone who was thinking about it…

Never buy a Mazda car from either Western Barnetts at Newbridge Car Village in Edinburgh, or Arnold Clark Mazda on Kerse Road, Stirling.

No need to into full details, this is just my advice, based on one full calendar year of Mazda ownership, and dealing with these two establishments. Actually, my personal experience means this will be the first, and last, Mazda I ever buy - and I appreciate there may be folk reading this who own a Mazda, and have had no problems at all. Me? My next car will likely be back to a VW.

Anyway… no ranting, no raving (much). Feel free to ignore this post if you wish. I would highly recommend avoiding both of these dealerships though, should you choose to buy a Mazda from somewhere.

[Molotov]

2 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

Important thing first - like most of us, I have encountered some shoddy service and have had frustrating run-ins with different companies down the years, but I’m not the kind of guy who would stand outside a business with a placard saying ‘never shop here’ and look like a moon howler with a grudge. Standing the in rain, shouting at passers-by.

Just want to put this out to anyone on P&B who might, just might, have been thinking about the following, or know someone who was thinking about it…

Never buy a Mazda car from either Western Barnetts at Newbridge Car Village in Edinburgh, or Arnold Clark Mazda on Kerse Road, Stirling.

No need to into full details, this is just my advice, based on one full calendar year of Mazda ownership, and dealing with these two establishments. Actually, my personal experience means this will be the first, and last, Mazda I ever buy - and I appreciate there may be folk reading this who own a Mazda, and have had no problems at all. Me? My next car will likely be back to a VW.

Anyway… no ranting, no raving (much). Feel free to ignore this post if you wish. I would highly recommend avoiding both of these dealerships though, should you choose to buy a Mazda from somewhere.

Is the problem here the franchise or the car?

Even with certain premium brands I’ve had horrendous issues with the dealerships.

The turnover in staff in many of these places leads to really poor customer service. 

I have been waiting 2 weeks to take ownership of a car that the dealership, the leasing company and the manufacturer HQ are arguing over an item that was originally ordered (Harmon Kardon) but was removed prior to build as the supplier of the speaker system probably couldn’t meet with demands to reduce price by MINI. 

The last three days I’ve not even bothered phoning. They just don’t seem to give a shite about customer service. 

Seriously considering cancelling the order and losing my deposit and let them continue to argue. 

[scottsdad]

10 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

Important thing first - like most of us, I have encountered some shoddy service and have had frustrating run-ins with different companies down the years, but I’m not the kind of guy who would stand outside a business with a placard saying ‘never shop here’ and look like a moon howler with a grudge. Standing the in rain, shouting at passers-by.

Just want to put this out to anyone on P&B who might, just might, have been thinking about the following, or know someone who was thinking about it…

Never buy a Mazda car from either Western Barnetts at Newbridge Car Village in Edinburgh, or Arnold Clark Mazda on Kerse Road, Stirling.

No need to into full details, this is just my advice, based on one full calendar year of Mazda ownership, and dealing with these two establishments. Actually, my personal experience means this will be the first, and last, Mazda I ever buy - and I appreciate there may be folk reading this who own a Mazda, and have had no problems at all. Me? My next car will likely be back to a VW.

Anyway… no ranting, no raving (much). Feel free to ignore this post if you wish. I would highly recommend avoiding both of these dealerships though, should you choose to buy a Mazda from somewhere.

You went to Arnold Clark?

[TxRover]

5 minutes ago, Molotov said:

Is the problem here the franchise or the car?

Even with certain premium brands I’ve had horrendous issues with the dealerships.

The turnover in staff in many of these places leads to really poor customer service. 

I have been waiting 2 weeks to take ownership of a car that the dealership, the leasing company and the manufacturer HQ are arguing over an item that was originally ordered (Harmon Kardon) but was removed prior to build as the supplier of the speaker system probably couldn’t meet with demands to reduce price by MINI. 

The last three days I’ve not even bothered phoning. They just don’t seem to give a shite about customer service. 

Seriously considering cancelling the order and losing my deposit and let them continue to argue. 

I certainly wouldn’t let them off the hook by paying them for their stupidity. They contracted with you to deliver a vehicle, and now are unable to deliver said vehicle as contracted. It’s on them to either amend the contract terms an d get you to agree or they have to release you unless the contract has some language of a ridiculous nature allowing force majure changes.

The semiconductor shortage has caused a lot of this kind of thing, but usually with the components in place but inactive…so be sure what they are offering/promising. Either way, with a lease, get extremely explicit documentation it was delivered without an item it would normally have via spec or they might try to charge upon lease return, if you elect to accept it.

[beefybake]

45 minutes ago, Molotov said:

Is the problem here the franchise or the car?

Even with certain premium brands I’ve had horrendous issues with the dealerships.

The turnover in staff in many of these places leads to really poor customer service. 

I have been waiting 2 weeks to take ownership of a car that the dealership, the leasing company and the manufacturer HQ are arguing over an item that was originally ordered (Harmon Kardon) but was removed prior to build as the supplier of the speaker system probably couldn’t meet with demands to reduce price by MINI. 

The last three days I’ve not even bothered phoning. They just don’t seem to give a shite about customer service. 

Seriously considering cancelling the order and losing my deposit and let them continue to argue. 

They accepted your order, and took your deposit money on the basis of that agreement.

If they are unable to fulfill what was agreed, there is no legal basis for them to withhold the return of your deposit.

I'd cancel, and go somewhere where you're not being messed around.

 

[Long ago, I leased a new Astra. One of the options in the brochure was a smart set of alloys.  Come near the day of pickup, the garage informed me that Vauxhall weren't now offering the nice alloy wheels on that spec of Astra. The garage did offer to pay to fit an aftermarket set of my choice.  I wasn't at all happy about the whole scenario, but 'want a new car' had gripped me, and I'd signed all the documents, so I went along with this, chose a set that looked good sitting on a shelf. They looked crap, and totally out of place when fitted to the car. A learning experience for me. If your're being messed around, just face them down. If they are unable to supply what was agreed, it's their problem. Don't make it yours . ]

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by beefybake

[pozbaird]

2 hours ago, Molotov said:

Is the problem here the franchise or the car?

Even with certain premium brands I’ve had horrendous issues with the dealerships.

The turnover in staff in many of these places leads to really poor customer service. 

I have been waiting 2 weeks to take ownership of a car that the dealership, the leasing company and the manufacturer HQ are arguing over an item that was originally ordered (Harmon Kardon) but was removed prior to build as the supplier of the speaker system probably couldn’t meet with demands to reduce price by MINI. 

The last three days I’ve not even bothered phoning. They just don’t seem to give a shite about customer service. 

Seriously considering cancelling the order and losing my deposit and let them continue to argue. 

The problem is both the car, and the dealerships. It was bought new one year ago from Western. I used Arnold Clark in Stirling as a Mazda dealer to try and fix a problem under warranty, as Stirling is easier to get to than Newbridge. If I went into the entire experience I have had over the past year with both the car and these two dealerships, I would very quickly get into the realms of angry ranting, and I don’t want to go there.

[hk blues]

16 hours ago, beefybake said:

They accepted your order, and took your deposit money on the basis of that agreement.

If they are unable to fulfill what was agreed, there is no legal basis for them to withhold the return of your deposit.

I'd cancel, and go somewhere where you're not being messed around.

 

[Long ago, I leased a new Astra. One of the options in the brochure was a smart set of alloys.  Come near the day of pickup, the garage informed me that Vauxhall weren't now offering the nice alloy wheels on that spec of Astra. The garage did offer to pay to fit an aftermarket set of my choice.  I wasn't at all happy about the whole scenario, but 'want a new car' had gripped me, and I'd signed all the documents, so I went along with this, chose a set that looked good sitting on a shelf. They looked crap, and totally out of place when fitted to the car. A learning experience for me. If your're being messed around, just face them down. If they are unable to supply what was agreed, it's their problem. Don't make it yours . ]

 

 

It would all depend on the terms of the agreement though

[Elric]

Was looking to but a new Hyundai and went to Square Deal Motors in Falkirk.  Older Salesman started to deal with us, told him I would be trading in a Volvo and he stated they did not take anything other than a Hyundai as a trade-in. I asked if he was serious and stated the same thing. Walked out and ended up at Arnold Clark to secure the vehicle I wanted. Not my first choice of dealership but transaction went seamlessly.

Later found out from another salesman at Square Deal that what he had stated was a load of bull and it would appear that he just could not be bothered dealing with customers that day.

[Duszek]

1 hour ago, Elric said:

it would appear that he just could not be bothered dealing with customers that day.

Well, we’ve all been there.