Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Leko - the Ikea car


Is Ikea planning to branch into automobile manufacture?

A microsite for the mysterious Leko suddenly appeared linked from the Ikea France site. It features a rotating car covered with cloth and a designer called Christophe Grazs talking about it in French. I have no idea what he's talking about but I can probably get my brother-in-law to tell what he is going on about.

It has generated a fair amount of interest but seems a lot of people are not taking it seriously.

I hope they are not going to ask their customers to assemble it using an Allen key.

Monday, 23 March 2009

Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Mitsubishi Motors debuts two models in Geneva


i MiEV (white) and the i MiEV SPORT AIR (blue) concepts

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation launched two concepts at the 79th Geneva International Motor Show at the Geneva Palexpo exhibition and conference complex on the 3rd of this month.

The two new cars are the i MiEV and the i MiEV SPORT AIR concept models. MiEV stands for Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle.

The i MiEV prototype is the precursor to a model that will be introduced to the European market in 2010.

The i MiEV SPORT AIR does bear a close resemblance to the VW Beetle.

Sunday, 22 February 2009

Independent Volvo Specialists in Coventry

Are there any independent Volvo specialist garages in Coventry?

I have been trying to find one for sometime but without any success. My old Volvo S40 is giving me a headache. The remote doesn't work and opening the car manually with the keys sets off the alarm and the hazard lights start blinking. Unlike other cars, there is no way to manually shut off the alarm from inside the car. I know my old Proton car had a button that you could press to shut off the alarm.

Searching on the net reveals that other S40 owners have had similar problems but unfortunately there were no solutions. I tried a few garages but they were not able to help me.

A friend suggested VRS who call themselves "UK’s leading MOT and auto repair experts". However, when I told them my problem, the guy on the line replied that they had diagnostics solutions for every brand apart from Volvo.

In the end it look like I have to go to TMS Volvo Coventry - the official distributor here in Coventry. Of course they would be the best people to help me but the problem is that like all "authorised" garages, they will charge me a lot. A call to their service centre confirmed it: "It will be £80 to run the diagnostics". You should note that this £80 is only for the diagnostics and don't cover the actual repair costs.

Now the car is parked there in front of my house, practically useless while I wait for my pay to come in.

I do regret buying the Volvo and should have gone with a Ford Mondeo instead. Cheaper and easier to repair.

Arrgh!

Sunday, 15 February 2009