All your motoring queries answered
From DB: I drive a diesel Mondeo and got caught in a downpour two weeks ago coming home from work. The road wasn’t that badly flooded and I took my time but since then the car seems to have lost the will to live. It’s hard to start in the morning and it’s like the accelerator is only partly attached to the engine. Does it sound like flood damage and will my insurance cover it?
It sounds like you’ve got water into the engine and since it’s a diesel that can spell real trouble. Get to a mechanic quickly.
In terms of insurance, there is no issue if you’ve got comprehensive cover. There seems to be a lot of readers who think flood damage is different from other insurance issues and means they won’t get covered. It’s no different from any other damage, be it running into a wall or breaking down on the side of the road. Comprehensive insurance covers repairs to the car or compensation if it’s written off.
There’s no issue with flood damage, unless you’ve got only third-party insurance, in which case you’re looking at a pretty nasty bill.
From G Jennings: I was shocked to see the closure this week of EP Mooney. Is there going to be an auction or is it not open to the public?
It was a great surprise to see such a landmark dealership close. The new car stock will mostly go back to that brand’s distributor and will be sold through other dealers.
The used stock is likely to go to public auction. According to the liquidator, the proposal is for an auction to be held on the Long Mile Road site in mid-January. The details have yet to be agreed with other creditors, but there could be over 400 used cars going under the hammer.
From A Fairbrother, Dublin 16: In answer to a query recently on biofuel you said all modern cars can cope with at least 5 per cent biofuel. I drive a 2008 Skoda Octavia Tour diesel. On the fuel cap cover there it states: “No biodiesel”. Will there be two pumps in service stations: regular and bio diesel, for those whose manufacture does not recommend bio diesel?
I checked with Skoda and they said to check the handbook. The assumption is you use EN590 fuel, which allows for a tolerance of up to 7 per cent biofuel. According to a Skoda spokesman: “Such a mix is available for sale in a few European countries, namely Austria, German and France. It is best to wait until the oil companies introduce the product here as they are unlikely to introduce a fuel that is not compatible with the diesel engines on sale in Ireland.”
They are also eager to underline the “mix” is done by the oil companies and not by individuals adding 7 per cent biofuel to their diesel during refuelling. I suspect the label refers to the use of biodiesels that have a mix in excess of the 7 per cent limit.
From Prof N O’Donohoe: I would to suggest you should take time off from writing about vroom and expensive cars to write about a practical problem facing readers. Although I suspect you despise them, I am particularly referring to automatic cars. I believe they are safer, especially in cities. I have driven automatics for 10 years and love them. I am driving a Honda Jazz I-shift.
I don’t like the gear changes: there’s a brief hesitation in forward movement.
Why don’t you test some of the automatics and repent?
I don’t have a problem with automatics at all and we’ve tested plenty of them in the supplement over the years. For city driving I agree there is nothing better. However some of the CVT boxes fitted to city cars or superminis just don’t deliver the power. That brief hesitation you notice in the Jazz is what drives me to distraction. When I press the accelerator it’s meant as an order to the engine, not a request. While it’s just an annoyance in the city, it’s a real issue when you are overtaking, sitting on the wrong side of the road waiting for the transmission to decide which cog it fancies to engage with this time.
Modern automatics in mid-range cars have dramatically improved and even in sports cars you actually get better performance from the automatics than the manuals as the new systems are far quicker to change than even the most nimble driver can manage.