Toms View of the World

I don’t know how they do it - even with cars that aren’t actually new - but my “new to me” car (replacing the troublesome Peugeot 307) does have “that smell”…

So, yes, I’ve been out and bought a nice dark grey Ford Focus (around 6 months old). I’ve not actually driven it all that far yet - but I’m happy with it. I still need to learn how to drive it well, I’ve been driving it like a Diesel, and it isn’t one - so it doesn’t have the same “lag” in power brought on by the turbocharger, nor does it need to be “floored” when starting…

Hopefully, in time it’ll prove more reliable than the Peugeot ever did…

This is a great idea - but doesn’t go far enough - such driving assessments should be made compulsory.

Cars have to be checked that they are up to the required standards for use on British roads every year (once they reach 3 years old), so why not have a similar assessment for drivers - say every 5 years, every driver has to have certain aspects of their driving assessed - most importantly, their eyesight, and their ability to perform simple motoring manoeuvres without endangering other people - you know, things like roundabouts, traffic lights, using indicators, correct motorway lane discipline, using mobile phones, and so on…

Yes, today my car is back in the garage again for another repair under the guarantee…

I have so much sympathy for this guy - who wants to crush his 307 - mine hasn’t had half the problems he’s had, and I’m fed up with the car, and the dealer too…

In the last year, I’ve had a small number of electrical faults - which have taken repeat visits to the dealer to fix - in most cases, the fault reoccured before I even drove off, and I was able to walk back into the service reception and book it back in for another repair.

The most annoying problem was in the spring of 2006, when there was a fault with the electric windows, which resulted in a window opening automatically when the car was locked with the central locking. This took 4 dealer visits to sort out. After the 4th visit, it became apparent that they’d broken the wing mirror adjusters while fixing the window controls - a 5th visit was required to put that right…

Now, since suffering a flat battery in December, it’s been in twice more, once to fix a set of electrical problems which occured after the battery died, and today, to fix the same fault again, as they failed to fix it last week, despite telling me that they had.

In fact, there are several other websites devoted to how rubbish Peugeot cars are - not least the fact that the 307 was second-last in the Top Gear survey for 2005… a position it rightly deserves, only beaten to last place by the 807, which itself has a website devoted to it’s faults too.

Apparently I’ve been lucky, and haven’t had the car try to kill me by shutting down the engine at speed, or the flywheel disintegrate… I have had a dashboard failure, but only once, and it rectified itself - but for a while the fuel guage was reading double the amount of fuel actually in the car…

Other 307 websites:
http://www.peugeotsucks.co.uk/ (this guy has also had dealings with my local dealer in Cardiff)
http://www.crushmy307.co.uk/

And the worst thing, the dealership is expecting to to part ex my lemon of a friday-afternoon car (their words!) for another Pug. I don’t think so…

Time to buy something else

Despite the fact that I am currently in the market for a new car, I think I’ll give this one a miss, yes it’s cheap, but even so…

(thanks to Dave for the suggestion…)

Yes, here in the UK, some short-range FM tranmitters are now legal but only those with a CE mark - so many cheap imported ones found on a certain well know auction site, probaby still aren’t…

(nod to BBC News)