******* Motors Chat Thread *******

Halfords take one4all I think, doubt any of the smaller places would

No. I attempted to fix the problem of the wrong parts coming up for a car. It was impossible to give feedback to the suppliers of the data. Local motor factors and some Irish websites use a reg look.up service offered by one or more providers. In some cases they get official from manufacturer information, but for many cars they seem to just suggest parts that likely fit that model and won't 100% guarantee to fit. Some suggest 3 or 4 different size size filters for the same reg car, indicating they are not sure.

Often parts are relatively cheap from main dealers, now I tend to walk into motor factors with air filter in hand so they give me right size, for oil filters I keep a record of model number so I can get right one next year. I find micks garage quite bad at suggesting correct parts based on reg. It's not an easy task as manufacturers during build often switch parts when they run out of stock and then may switch back later in the same year. There are often low power and high power variants of same size engine for same year.

But would it not make the accelerator very on/off as opposed to gradual making the car hard to drive normally or can you easily turn it off for normal driving ?

Just about to suggest likewise

The ancient lexus IS250 passed it's NCT not too long ago. Red battery light still displayed constantly since I replace the alternator over a year ago. Just keeping it on the road really, doesn't move all that much these days. Although it did need an O2 sensor recently, but it was very handy to swap out.

Not in the slightest, I loved the BMW, and glad to have owned it for as long as I did. It was a perfect car for my 20's, but had to move on. The IS is grand and comfortable, I reckon it's a bit quicker than the 325Ci too. The Lexus was probably the wrong choice of car when I got it, but sure it's what I have now.

We have an Octavia 1.0 tsi auto as the main car and Lexus is mine in case I need it. But really I don't have much use for it, I've pondered just getting rid of the Lexus altogether but I think for now it makes some sense to hold onto it. Not a particularly good time to try and replace it with something else given the market. It has new tyres and fresh NCT, getting ready to tax it now, so it's probably good for another year.

Second NCT with the red battery light on now. I say it to them before they take the car in, and they say it has no bearing on the test. I mention it now more to let them know it's not about to die on the ramp!

I have that hill assist thing on the Fiesta, can't say I've had any issue using it. Actually find it handy enough, especially when the car behind decides to park on your bumper when you're on a hill. Happens a fair bit on Fishamble street in Dublin.

I heard good things about these

I wanted a DSG oil change but in the end I just went to main dealer. They were around same price (main dealers pricing varies between every garage) and their location and lack of interest. They actually said they were very busy and said for automatic gearbox to contact someone else:

"Pat Cassidy his number is 014299944  that's all he does is auto transmission as i will be tied up for the next month"

All good garages seem to be crazy busy these days.

If you are a bit clearer on car, what needs done, exactly where you live etc someone might be able to direct you better. Some garages specialise in diesel engines, others fault repairs, others routine maintenance. Some are cheap, others good ...