Small 4X vehicle

My "Auto Story in Pictures Wednesday" post.

These kind of vehicles are used in the University of Warwick, Coventry by the Landscaping people. Not sure but I think they are Kawasaki 4X mules.

Fuel prices may go down in the UK

According to Sky News, petrol prices may fall in the country. I hope this is true even though I am not betting on it.

It's quite funny to see petrol pumps increasing the prices as soon as World oil prices go up. However, when the World prices go down, they will take their own sweet time to lower the pump prices.

According to the report, the most expensive petrol prices are in London. Even in Coventry itself, prices vary between pumps. The costliest in our area is the Texaco, while the cheapest is Shell.

First batch of MGTF LE500S leave Longbridge

A batch of MG Rover cars left the Longbridge plant in Birmingham today - the first time since April 2005 when MG Rover was taken over by Nanjing Automobile Corporation for £53 million. The first batch of 47 MGTF LE500S was sent to dealers all over the country. The will be launched to the public on 20 September 2008.

Only the first 500 cars to leave the world famous Longbridge factory will receive the LE500 designation. I guess LE stands for Limited Edition.

They say that the car will be available in 6 body colour choices but so far I have only seen the orange coloured cars.

The car is powered by a 1.8 16v 135bhp 4 cylinder dohc engine with 5 speed manual gearbox.

Ford Fiesta ECOnetic

Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, the latest fuel efficient car from Ford is set to hit European roads soon. Recently unveiled at the British International Motor Show, the car does 65 miles to the gallon (some say 63.5 miles to the gallon). It has been hailed as UK's greenest car.

However, it won't be sold in the US. The reason: it has a diesel engine and apparently the fuel is still not popular with Americans due to a negative image plus the fact that it costlier than gasoline.

Proton GEN-2 ecoLogic

Proton Cars UK has announced the launch of the GEN-2 ecoLogic range (Yes! That's how they write the name). Available in a hatchback or saloon version, the ecoLogic models are priced 10,995 and £10,795 respectively.The dual fuel models are able to run on either petrol or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).

This is not something new for Proton in the UK as the Humberside Police have been running LPG-converted Proton vehicles for over 10 years.



The Proton ecoLogic GEN-2 has a 1.6 litre engine and is available in a sporty hatchback or saloon version, priced at £10,995(OTR) and £10,795 (OTR) respectively.

Both cars come with reverse sensors, air conditioning with pollen filter, electric front and rear windows, automatic central locking and alloy wheels. All customers can get a black leather interior on the GEN-2 ecoLogic hatchback absolutely free for a limited time only. This will be optional in the future and customers would have to pay £100 extra for it.

Since I didn't hear anything about this in the news, thought I should spread the news around. Read their press release here: Half price motoring with the new dual fuel ecoLogic.

Buying from a used car dealer

A few friends are looking to upgrade their cars and having read my review of Station Garage in Balsall Common, were asking my opinion on various options available.

Buying a used car is always a gamble. There are usually three reasons a person sells of a car:
1. Upgrading to a new car
2. Financial problems &
3. Some problems with the car.

More often than not, it is usually the third reason. So be very careful when buying a used car. Used car dealers are usually costlier than private sellers. However, most usually offer some kind of warranty or the other. Take Station Garage for example. Their main selling point is the fact that they offer 12 months warranty on their cars and 12 months MOT as well. However, I have to be honest.

I am not really happy with the garage. I specifically requested them to change one of the back tyres and to top up the engine oil as I found out that it was quite low. They did change the tyre and topped up the oil as well. You will notice that I say "topped up" and not "change". That's because they simply topped up the engine oil with some used oil. Some of my other friends confirmed this as well.

I am not sure why they did this but it really lowered my evaluation of the garage. I stopped recommending them after I found out about the oil. Going to have to go for a full service soon because I am not really sure what they meant by "car serviced" and what they did with the car now. That's what happens when customer don't trust a company any more.

Satisfied customers will usually recommend the company and help bring in new customers. On the other hand, unsatisfied customers will spread the bad news even more, more so when they happen to be bloggers.

Washing the engine

I plan to sell off my old Ford Escort. Decided to give it a nice wash before putting it up on the market. Took it to the car wash nearby, just behind "The Pilot" pub on Burnaby road. The rates were not bad - £5 for external wash and £10 for steam washing the engine.



The guy did a great job and my car looks like new (well almost).



However, the story does not end there. Yesterday, I was driving to Ikea with my wife, the car suddenly started backfiring and jerking. Quickly drove over to KNS Autoparts Ltd at Foleshill. Found out that a pipe was loose and leaking air (I am not sure from where) and also that water had got into my engine (where the spark plugs are located). So they took my car in for a while and cleaned the engine up. The damage was not that bad - only £10/ The car was perfectly OK after that but what a scare.

My "Auto Story in Pictures Wednesday" post.