billynibbles

Aren't we getting our systems mixed up? Doesn't the fob's battery only power the remote central locking (and headlights on/off function if you've got it).? On all the cars I've had lately, the encoded immobiliser chip inside the key works by induction from being near or in the steering lock barrel, so it's not battery-dependent. This would explain why, with a flat fob battery, the car will start once it's opened with the key manually, but refuses to be opened remotely from the key fob. Of course, once they start completely removing ordinary door locks, we'll be well and truly up that well-known creek without a rowing implement. My wife's Smart's like that already leaving us to climb in through the tailgate if the battery in the fob dies on us. Not a pretty sight.

On occasions when I've tanked up (that's when I'm NOT taking leave of my senses and putting petrol in like last week!) and then set off gently on a long journey, the predicted range in tank has read as high as well over 700 miles. Of course you'd lose the will to live finding out if it's achievable - after all, you'd probably get 800 out of it if you stuck to a constant 30 mph but for nearly 27 hours at the wheel?!. I have however just returned from a lot of longer distance and/or motorway driving to get 55 mpg overall from my VTS 2.0 diesel. It seems you only have to stick to speed limits to achieve this. More is possible, but I don't have a trilby hat and a tweed jacket (yet)

I too had a rattle inside my tailgate (VTS Coupe). I investigated by removing the inner trim below the tailgate window just enough to let the culprit fall out. The bolt for fixing the left-hand end of the spoiler had worked itself undone. For some obscure reason my dealership saw fit to supply and fit an entire new spoiler under warranty, making a not-very-good attempt to put all the trim back afterwards.

I haven't tried fitting anything yet, but I saw this flagged as a problem somewhere else, so I've packed mine with Vaseline for the time being.

Just got the car back today, as I'd had to leave it in Hereford and go off on holiday to the Lake District in another car. Doesn't seem to have suffered in any way, although my wallet did to the tune of three hours labour, and new fuel filter and of course the wastage of 50 litres of tainted diesel fuel, plus having to tank up again straight away Double checked my fuel receipt and it definitely confirms I bought petrol - still can't think how, unless I saw the black hose and it registered as diesel in my mind - I'm used to garages with green hoses for petrol and black for diesel, and with such a long-range tank thanks to the mpg I get, I nearly always use the same filling station, but not this time. All I can say is, never fill up with a lot on your mind!

Well, I can only take some solace from the fact that it starts and runs, albeit slowly because of the warning light. Funny thing is, it's still smooth to drive - I still can't believe that I was able to drive from London to Cirencester without a hiccup. I'm hoping that the fact that I put "only" about 25% petrol in the car, plus the fact that I've only used about 10 litres to get here (i.e 2.5 litres of it was petrol) that the damage is reversible. I've read that petrol, being a solvent, can damage any plastic parts of the fuel system too. I guess that includes seals on things like the injectors - fingers crossed. Having just watched a programme about the O-Rings on the NASA shuttle disaster wasn't a good idea! Oh well, next time I go to a funeral, spend three hours getting from Eastbourne to home in west London thanks to an accident on the M25 and then find that some b*****d has hacked my ebay account and tried to buy 2 grand's worth of cellphones from it, I won't try and top up the car on the same evening so I can get an early start the next morning! I'll post the results of what happens next as I find out. Exits muttering "I'm sure that holster was black!"

Well, it had to happen I guess. After a year of diesel ownership, I seem to have topped up with petrol, although not fully. To around 20% seems to be my best guestimate. Got as far as Cirencester from west London before I got a warning light relating to a Depollution system failure (oxygen sensor?) and car went into 'limp home' mode, seemingly limited to 2000 rpm. AA got me going again and arrived at Hereford where I'm taking it to a dealers tomorrow. I'm still not convinced it was a mistake since I'm bloody sure I used a black nozzle, not one of the two green ones but who knows? I'm bloody sure my hands stank of diesel after too but the tank smells very 'fumy'. The receipt doesn't say what I bought. Car still starts and have arranged to crawl to nearest dealer in Hereford in the morning. If they're going to have to drain it, and I've only got three miles to go, should I bother with topping up with diesel in the mean time? Just how dire is this? If this is a mistake, (and not just a faulty oxygen sensor), I understand I'll have to kiss most of a tank of fuel goodbye, and possibly need a new fuel filter (or er yes and labour). Anything else before I go off to slit my wrists?

Like Stuey says, try e-bay. I got a job-lot of 'camel driver's jockstrap' fragrance at about half the dealer's price, and very nice it is too - it even makes me smell better.

This is precisely why it would be so much simpler to do away with VED, and slap it all on petrol. 'Road pricing' by the back door, and all HMG have to do is collect more Duty in return for scrapping the tax disk - sorry Swansea The 'tax disc' could then be proof of insurance instead, like a Canadian licence plate, making it very easy for the plod to nick the uninsured. The MOT and insurance should be made interdependant as when buying VED at the moment. They could work it to be 'taxation neutral' to Mr Average with 2.3 kids and a 1.6 petrol saloon doing 10,000 miles a year - this would stop all that 'this hits at families' stuff. How does this constitute road pricing? Well, for one thing if the newly raised exhorbitant price of petrol makes people consider WHETHER to use to their car, WHEN to use their car and WHERE to use their car, then the main aims (or so the Govt reckon) of road pricing are met. Heaven forbid - some people might even consider getting a more economical car instead of something that 'befits their position in life' - company car schemes have a lot to answer for over the years! With a 40% increase in traffic forecast by 2025, we HAVE to DO something - and I don't think building more roads is the answer. OK, we'll get the country folk immediately bleating about HAVING to use their cars because there's no public transport, and they've a point, but bear in mind that they're getting much better mpg, and provided they go into town, say to Tescos or wherever, they can't use that 'having to pay through the nose for petrol' argument. Maybe there's scope here under the re-evaluation project for calculating council tax, for giving them a massive rebate for the lack of bus/train services - after all, you can't eat a nice view.

Makes an interesting contrast though doesn't it? One the one hand we have the MD of Network Rail almost immediately putting his hand up to causing a train crash, whilst Tescos and Morrisons first reaction is to deny all knowledge of serving up duff petrol, in the face of overwhelming evidence that it came from them (and a few other independants I gather). Oh, I forgot, they've a share price to protect. By the way, I love the current advice - drain your tank. And do what with it pray, bearing in mind that it's illegal to store domestically in large amounts? 60 litres would keep my mower in gas for about a decade at the rate I cut the grass. Now that the finger seems to be pointing towards a silicon-compound contamination, at least we now now that we should never polish the insides of our exhausts.

I guess it all comes down to what you look for in a car. Yes, a 7-year warranty is nice, but if the consequence of buying one is driving around in something that looks like 'last year's' Honda Civic 5-door, which never did turn many heads except in the Type-R format, then I'll stick to something quirkier like my VTS, even if it's not exactly been the most reliable car I ever bought. The Kia Cee'd would probably appeal to those people who believe you can never go wrong 'dressed in a nice grey'. I look forward to overtaking a few Trilby-hatted Cee'd owners, no doubt to break down and have them pass me two hours later!

I actually took the bull by the horns and did my 6 mile commute through west London on my push bike. Seems like city folk haven't a clue when it comes to anything more than rain. I was appalled by the number of drivers who'd just used their wipers to clear portholes in the snow, and made no attempt whatsoever to clear any other windows at all. I suppose that gives them immunity from prosecution for using a hand-held cellphone if no-one can see in! The ride wasn't too bad (given what I said about unsighted drivers) as the snow was only soft near the kerb where no cars had been. God knows what it would have been like if it had packed down. Didn't lose it or get that sideways feeling once. Maybe this is one time when slimline high pressure tyres cut through to the road surface better than a wide set of 4 boots. I wonder if the C4 would have been as sure footed. The only downside was that my wedding tackle was doing an impression of a nipple and two hazelnuts by the time I got there and changed!

I'm told that the water comes out of my pressure washer at nearly 200 mph. Therefore the answer to the tyre problem is simple. Get Z-rated ones - after all, no one says you mustn't go out in the wet in case 'fast rain' hits your tyres. Sorry - couldn't wait till April 1st. If only these smilies were big enough to show when a 'thung' is firmly inside your 'theek'.

I photographed a C4 diesel VTS Coupé on the 27th December going at 48mph in a 40 mph limit on the A591. Yours faithfully, A Speed-Camera B******r - there goes 36 years clean licence!!!!!! Could have sworn it was a 50 limit. Yours faithfully, Billynibbles

One of the drawbacks of buying a nearly-new second hand car with a very long accessories list is never being quite sure what it's loaded with. It took me a while to find out that I'd got tyre pressure sensors, having never let the tyres go flat. I've now done about 5,000 miles in my VTS HDi. A few nights ago, I was driving in the dark on a very wet M3, wondering why it was that something was throwing patterns across the road every time I operated the screen wash when I got to wondering whether I'd got headlamp washers too. Blow me down, I have. A casual look at the car gives nothing away. I always thought that the two rectangles on the bumpers were blanking plates for when they really did fit headlamp washers. I can only assume that the operation is not so obvious when driving on lit roads. Thinking about it, that could have been my first dark road in the wet in 5,000 miles. I wonder what else I don't know about...........the ejector seat for example.

I'm with you on this, Rich. Nothing worse than a 'new' unexplained noise to add to the list.

Sad thing is: that would probably happen to a C4 too if you dropped it from that height.

I've raised this before and got conflicting answers. Some say that 'Citroen told me that Xenon headlamps don't need adjusting' as they don't bias to the left. However, despite extremely accurate cut-off, my lights definitely do flick-up to the left to light the left kerb. I can prove this by looking at the pattern they form on my garage door. With clear lens covers, it's difficult to see how they could be masked for use in France without constantly being flashed. My first thought is to switch off the steerable aspect in the menu, so that when I do work out where a mask needs to be put, it won't keep altering. Then I need to use some opaque tape to find out where the flick-up's cut-off point comes. Is this my only way forward, other than incurring the wrath of gallic motorists? Do any continental drivers bother masking their lights when they come to Britain I ask myself?

Anyone tempted to test this 'warmer when cornering' theory had best be warned by the experience of a lady friend of mine in her M-B 230 Kompressor. She went round a roundabout new to her at just over 30 mph. Being lost, she went round it again, not realising that a mobile speed camera unit had nabbed her twice. 6 points on her licence in less than 45 seconds for 32 and 33 mph in a 30 limit. Vindictive b******ds. Yes, she is blonde. No wonder she was down her local tyre fitters next day having both of her slightly iffy front tyres replaced. She needed another 6 points like a hole in the head.

Don't you mean wett?

I've just done two almost identically tedious runs from west London, once up the M40, M42, M5 and M6 thence to Settle in Yorkshire, and once back over the same route. On the way there, I used Tesco's diesel fuel in my C4 VTS Hdi 2.0. This smelled curiously pleasant when I sniffed my hands after fuelling up, like the fine oil you might use in sewing machines, but over the period of the run, the car refused to cruise gently at say 55 in 6th gear without jittering. (all the traffic conditions would allow for most of the journey) On the return journey, I used Shell diesel, which smelled more of its old 'industrial' self but gave perfect smooth cruising, which is what leads me to my title question; could there be a difference? I know Tesco now have 5% bio-ethanol in their petrol (more as a saving on tax than for any altruisitic reasons) but their diesel definitely felt and smelled different - even if the car didn't seem to like it.

Even after 6 months, I still keep looking back over my shoulder once I've parked it - I just love the side profile of my VTS Coupé. What's your favourite angle? I'm not so keen on the 3/4 front view as it makes it more obvious that the car's quite tall and not as sleek as the side view would suggest. Nothing wrong with looking sideways into shop windows - it's a good tip to check your brake lights anyway. I've got a long mirrored building near me, and I just love to see my own car in motion - that's before I slam over a speed ramp I didn't coming as I was looking sideways!

Not if you have a "tag" in your car. I asked you not to mention my tag - now everybody knows why I have to be home by 7.30pm :wacko:

all funny, (might only be funny because it was not me! Would be very UNfunny if it happened to us though!) I feel a bit sorry for the guy. Oh I do SO want one of those poles installed in my drive just to stop every liberty-taking lazy b*****d van and truck driver from reversing up my drive to turn, breaking off bits of my magnolia as they go. Trouble, I'm just as likely to forget it's there when coming home in the dark!

You know how it is - you go on holiday abroad and end up with a brand new hire car, which somehow takes the edge off how you feel about your own. Well, not this time. Just spent two weeks driving a brand new Seat Ibiza TDi (couldn't relate it to a UK model spec but it had the 1.9 engine), which to be fair seemed an excellent car, with plenty of guts and not too much gear changing. It engine seemed pretty civilised and it even had cruise control and climate control. So how did I feel getting back into my C4 VTS Hdi? Great, thanks for asking. Wow, what a difference in smoothness between the VAG-sourced engine and the PSA version. Citroën Peugeot really must be the masters of diesels in mass produced cars, or at least in sound-proofing and isolating them. The Seat's gear stick vibrated like a London cab after a couple of minutes in a jam. The only time mine sounds like a diesel is when working it hard in 1st and 2nd. Thank you Citroën for making coming home a pleasant surprise for a change.