steelwind101

Patently; In general with hybrids you dont have to pull the dead weight. I dont know much of this Volvo unit, but really what should happen is the car makes the most effcient use of what it has. This rarely ever means turning anything off. The system should just combine. But basically, there is a lot of "****" hybrids out that use various mixes which leads to confusion. The "best" way of doing a hybrid is by "series-parallel" for example "Toyota Synergy Drive" which is also used in various Nissans under lisence as well as Lexus's. Here by you can use 0-100% of electric or 0-100% of fuel burner or ANY MIX IN BETWEEN. Most of the time, its a mix. Thus: If you are crusing on the motorway, it might be better for fuel economy to simply run the fuel engine to power the electric drive. Most cars with "series-parallel", do not run the same engine cycle as your normal car. There is a general misunderstanding of how these things work, comfused even further by the edition of Mild parallel hybrids, series hybrids and PHEV's! As per the batteries:this was a major consideration at first, like 10 years or so ago. The replacement batteries for the old buses and Prius vehicals was a lot less then originally expected in terms of cost and enviromental damage. Further more they hold alot more charge and charge better so imagine with another 10 yrs of magic can do! On the flip, i doubt anyone really cares if you have to dig up a load of new Nickel to make new batteries! Lets face it bad things happen every day to people all over the world and we destory just about everywhere going about it. If doesnt happen in your own back garden its probably not an issue you need to deal with! I have the latest generation Prius and its doing 68MPG and i think the quote from the Toyota on my one is 72.9MPG. Im not sure many other automatic diesel family hatches are doing that? Prior to purchasing my Prius i went to an event about "hybrid power". Pretty unbias and with out giving specific cars they broke down the types of systems and what works and what doesnt and why etc. There are so many "misconceptions", althought i was open minded to the hybrid idea i was just as confused as everyone else before i went in! Geoff

The 930 The 300CE, always better looking as the coupe but a good convertable too. Superbly built and it drive really well!

I often think, atleast in the UK how new the car is plays as much of a part as "what" car it is. Drivers who like driving aside, i think a fair few people will probably easily dimiss 5 yr old C/E class or 3/5 series, X5, Mini etc. I think New New New to many people increases there perception of you.

I have been wandering round the car showrooms this past week and there seems to be a lot of unsold "stock" and way way off list if you are happy to accept the specs and colours they have. I suspect everyone is wanting to get rid of the pre-regs or whatever!

Excellent news! You might want to consider purchasing this cheap and easy to use product: Aquartz Iron Cut - highly effective cleaner well anyone with a "white car" infact! Its called Iron Cut and is a spray on product that removes the the fall out you had an issue with. Most detailers would consider it "part" of a process but you could use it alone. Wash the car, ensure the car is out of the sun and the paintwork is not hot. Spray the product on the paintwork, glass and even the wheels. Iron Cut will turn a reddish colour when its removed the metal fall out. Wash off the residue and admire! Personally i would always chase with a coat of wax but im sure thats optional! Do it everty 12 months or when required and it should keep freckles away. Geoff

I drive a Prius in the city of London most days of the week. Im not a greenie or eco fanatic, im just a jew

Hi I might ask the question how old is the turbo or how many miles as it done? There is point when it too may fail. On my petrol turbo Volvos often you had the actuator go on the wastegate, a decent mechanic should be able to tell you what part has gone exactly or if its the whole thing. Actuators are a quick replacement job, on some of the 170K V70s i just plumped for a new turbo as they are quicker to fix and you can/could get a recon one pretty cheapily. Depending on the setup you might be down to almost pulling the turbo off by the time you have got the waste gate released and your probably and hours labour down so the whip in a recon turbo is probably only going to cost you a little more and you'll probably get 10K or 12 months warrenty. Geoff

The metal can create acids which burns and corrodes the paintwork beneth (its porus and will obsorb the rusty water quicker) which leads to an "etched" look where the metal can even seem "sunk" into the paitnwork.

Where ever cars are transported by train you nearly always get it too. I parked my white Dodge pick up at the Underground station for a year and it was it had freckles by the end of the of the first 4 months!

Are you sure the car is rusting? You might have metal dust or shavings (eg: iron) it gets on to your car in many ways. It sits on the car and then rusts, very noticeable in the USA as an example where vast amount of cars are white. Less common here as people do not have the white to see it, but now white is more popular its becoming something more people are posting on the car detailing forums! Can you post up a photo or two? The use of a clay bar should help remove the rusted metal contaminants, i would then follow with a alkali and acid wash down to pop any further metal from the metal work before a neutral wash down (aka decon kit). Polish to finish and keep protected with a good wax or sealant. Geoff

Synthetic protection tends to be weak against bird crap, tree sap etc. a 'nuba wax tends to hold up better.

Time to flash those lights, the M25 at slow speed when it "clear" is a sin and a crime! Im driving about the same as normal....!

Hello The problem could one of two things: Paintwork is porus, some of the lotion (oils) could have been obsorbed in to the clearcoat leaving a stain. Its possible that product which cleans below the paintworks surface could help. This would be something like Klasses All-In-One or Meguiars paintwork Cleansers Step 1. However, depending on what was in the suntan lotion you may find you have acutally "etched" the clearcoat. I have seen various posts before on the internet where this has been the case. You will probably need to use a selection of abrasive polishes to restore the finish to its best. If you have something like Meguiars ScratchX on hand (a paintwork cleaner and abrasive) then you can attack it from both view points and probably improve the situtation! Geoff

VW are such a humble company image in the USA, i doubt they would sell as many here if they had that kinda marketing and image!

The styling thing was a very classic Japanese model. They "iconised" everything and nearly all the brands did this until recently when the designs hit the end of the road or really were looking too outdated. Until recently, Lancer really followed Lancer fresher everytime but that same classic shape, its a safe move and the first Primera was a hit, they took familiar and kept what was safe and produce other changes.

The Japs do a range of performance sedans, just not here. If you want to sporty Hondas then Acura do that there very much the kit and colours you get here in the Accord but with the US size engines IIRC its the TSX. "MazdaSpeeds" are pretty common in the US too but the sports range has failed to make much of an impact here. My dad has the older H6 with the 5 speed auto, it like so many non turbo Subarus is acutally way slower then you could imagine! I think the paper 0-60 is about 9s but then it does have AWD, but acutally going along it makes alot of noise and uses a fair bit of fuel doesnt seem to delivery much turn of pace. He acutally uses for fishing etc. so its well used and is capable car in that sense.

I would argue the point, you dont want to buy them and thats it! I dont know exactly what "sporty" means, good handling? Fast engines? Engaging drive? I dont know the UK market is a tough cookie simply put you dont want to buy anything that isnt BMW or Mercedes and when your forced to look else where the choices that are made end up being Vauxhalls or Fords (mainly). I would consider "sporty" to be something that is not an Evo (to be that would be a "fast car"), i would think a car that was decently "quick" probably around 8 seconds and had good engaging drive with good handling? Honda have offered various offerings over the years with revvy Vtechs, decent interiors and good drives but apprently Vx and Fords were better purchases? The original Avensis came with a 2.4L but it was not in the right market. The last Civic Hatch came with a standard 170PS 2.0L.... Take the Lancer Saloon they had out recently it was a Sedan, 2.0T, Evo 9 chassis. They took off AAYC (that makes it a bit real you's who dont like computa driving) 0-62 in 7.8s viewing youtube reviews from the US it seems to be a bit quicker on there drags. Reviews in UK magazines picked out the Ralliart has "a hoot" or "fun to drive" at list of £19995 (its now a more expensive hatch) you guys were all out buying it....not. In general cars are faster in other markets and larger engines sell better eg: Lancer 2.4 (170) is standard fair along with Kia's, Corrolas, MAzda 3's, 2.0, 2.3s and 2.4's but they just are not cost effective here. Sales of the Accord in V6 sport Spec in the US are huge (one of there top sellers) here it isnt even viable option to bring over as people cant afford to run them. Realistically people want to have diesels a 2.0 is about good enough 150-170HP and i have never been all that impressed with any i have driven. The markets for anything more in a Mondeo or Focus size car is niche.... On the topic of the Legacy: I dont think any of the really quick or fast ones were ever sold here. The best you got was a H6 which wasnt as quick as you might think, while swifter varients tend to be staple in forgien markets.

You hardly ever see "battery" dial in the UK telling you how much voltage you have etc. Anyway i love getting all the info about the car, tyre pressure etc. So good few dials for a the basics though having got a heads up display in the Prius, im thinking you really only need RPM meter in the middle with a digital read out of the speed incase you look down. But if theres no head up then you need to have a anologue speedo in the middle. Speedo Rev Fuel Temp Turbo Boost Plus some micro dials to show levels of washer fluid, brake tempture and they glow a cool redish colour when they start to get low. ATF fluid tempreture dial, sure i have ATF pre-heat but i want to know how warm and how long its taking.... Dual dials work well when you have a alot, half one thing half another. Arms swiping on start up like the new XJ is a pretty feature too....

I think also i see so many young drivers on new plates or newer cars thats they dont need to "mod" them. Prehapes, for now its just not the in thing and having new is?

I also have over taken a police car a few times too a silver 5 series, limited markings with the low profile LED lights across the top, just a few weeks ago infact at a 2 in to one after some traffic lights. It was the 3rd car in the line and no on was in the outside lane. I breezed down the outside not noticing the cop, the lights changed and i kept up on the power wizzed passed followed by some heavy breaking! I was pulled over in the states once by police motorbike which was coming towards me....needless to say i was i confused by that and it was some way further down the road when i pulled over and cop wasnt very happy!

Hot/warm tap water here too.

I use tradional DE with Merkur blade

Someone should probably have put there back out by now pushing that for so many miles

How amusing!

Dull is the in thing (sadly) i always thought the 6 series looked poorly proportioned.