Why am I writing about convertible cars when there’s an inch of snow on the ground outside? Well partly because this is supposedly the best time to buy a convertible, when demand is low and prices are cheap(er). Partly because it’s almost New Year and therefore the promise of spring and warm weather is already …
Whether your car is cruising down the motorway at 70mph or bobbing about in town, the engine is generating heat – well it’s not called a combustion engine for nothing. In fact only about 28% of the thermal energy released by burning fuel in the engine is available for driving the car; 42% is lost …
You use your senses every day to make sure things are OK in many aspects of life; a quick sniff of a foodstuff is usually enough to work out whether it’s sensible to eat it. Why not do the same with your car? It can give you early warning of issues which may need looking …
The oxygen sensor is a small but vital part of your engine, and one of the important parts responsible for keeping your car’s MPG as low as possible. Oxygen sensors are also known as O2 sensors, lambda sensors, lambda probes or EGO (exhaust gas oxygen) sensors. What is the oxygen sensor? It is a small …
There seems to be no stopping the oil companies, as the price at the pumps continues to rise to astronomical heights for a myriad of reasons, valid or not. Civil wars, international conflicts, hurricanes, lack of refining capacity… they all seem to conspire to increase oil, and therefore, petrol prices. In the face of rising …
Being sensitive to your car’s sounds and the way it feels and reacts when driving will allow you to detect common car brake problems early on and potentially avoid making unscheduled diversions into the roadside scenery. Despite all the high-tech wizadry on modern cars, the brakes themselves (ignoring ABS for a moment) remain relatively low-tech – they …
Once you’ve identified a suitable tyre for your car (as if that wasn’t enough to think about in itself) new EU regulations mean all tyres have to have 3 more pieces of information provided for them so you can compare them when buying. The information is represented as three charts which provide a quick visual …
Although as I write it’s a bright and mild winter’s day outside, no lesser authority than the Daily Express are warning of a six-week sub-zero Arctic cold spell starting in January. Mind you where would the Express be without a weather headline to invent-I-mean-report. When it does get cold though your car’s battery, the unsung …
One of the most common causes of MOT failure is faulty lights on a vehicle, meaning the exterior lights not the many and various dashboard warning lights which are now the subject of separate checks. It’s easy enough to check your lights before bringing the car in for an MOT. For a start all lights …
Comparison site TootCompare.com has compiled a list of the cars with the best and worst pass rates for their first MOT, using 2013 data supplied by VOSA: 1. Lexus 2. Subaru 3. Honda 4. Toyota 5. Audi 6. Saab 7. Land Rover 8. Mercedes-Benz 9. Suzuki 10. Hyundai 89.5% 88.7% 87.2% 85.7% 84.8% 84.5% 84.3% 84.2% 84.1% 83.8% 32000 31000 25000 …