Well, thats according to BBCs Real Story this week.
They bought a Sierra from auction. RAC inspected it and did the usual "its a deathtrap" routine for TV. All he found was a rusty but servicable fulepump bracket, a few 1" holes around the boot and a split steering rack gaiter. Apparently according to our unbiased completely impartial reporter, it was going to cost £5000 to fix!
F*ck knows what garage they're going to but I think I'll give it a miss.
Ah well Sir, you see that as the holes are in a 'structurally sensitive area' we will need to change the whole bodyshell! Mind you, you can just as easily find a £5000 "deathtrap" on a main dealer's forecourt. I went to look at a motor for a family friend about 2 months ago and he had a choice of 3 of the smae make and spec. They all were just under
3 years old and probably from a fleet as the reg numbers were very close. We drove all 3 and only one out of the 3 was, in my book, even safe to drive. On one of them, the steering pulled markedly to the n/s even when not braking. A look underneath showed that this was down to a track control arm which had been hit *hard* and was visibly bent. The front tyre on that side was nice and new also! The other car had virtually bugger all handbrake holding force on even a slight hill. He scrapped the idea of buying a newish car after that. He's now got a very sweet 320iSE on a K-plate with full BMWSH for just over £2000 cash. JB
Amazing how they blow hot and cold. A program a while back exposing dodgy dealers took the same car to various dealers, one of the faults was a leaking wheel cylinder, the garages, (almost all of them ) spotted the leaky cylinder and wanted to change it. (perfectly reasonable you might think) However the program slated these rip off merchants and said: " a leaky cylinder is not dangerous !!!!"
I must admit I was somewhat incensed by this, as although a slight weep is not of itself immediately dangerous, it is not going to self heal and will lose brake fluid and lead to poor or non working brakes, possibly in a very short time. I wrote to the TV station, but didn't even get a reply.
mrcheerful
The message from "JB" contains these words:
I understand this is the case in Germany where you're not allowed to weld to structural parts.
I purchased a car recently in a private sale - after taking a test drive and noticing it had f*ck all braking I took a quick look underneath and found a damp rear drum and there was *no* fluid in the resevoir. The seller was oblivious to this - he genuinely hadn't noticed the bad brakes and really didn't comprehend what I was saying when I attempted to explain the cause of the leak.... he must have driven the car for months with the leaky cylinder. However, I did get a good few quid off the asking price.
when is it on?
Guy King was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:
That's bollix, that is. You are allowed to weld structural parts, but you have to do it in a certain way - for example, if the part was spotwelded on you can't seam weld it.
Wonder how they make new cars...
Pretty well indeed, eh?
JB
Hello,
Was on this week.
rerun?
Dunno. Was on BBC 1 Real Story on Monday? Programme was about hit and run drivers. Might be repeated on digital channels.
Well, with labour at £152 an hour in London and a slow mechanic, posing for cameras........
Richard Murphy ( snipped-for-privacy@murphy00.wanadoo.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Might they be the same company as N*t**n*l T*r*s?
_______
Good job it's not National Tyres & Exhausts, they might have a gung-ho legal department......
It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Adrian saying something like:
Notional Tarts?
Oh, and they'll probably damage the centre box taking the back box off so you may aswell get a full system.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required