My car doesn’t have a spacesaver spare wheel. Should I carry one?
Spare wheels, or rather the lack of them, is one of the things that really makes some drivers mad. A recent survey showed the lack of a full-size spare was…
Category: Mechanical
Technical trouble made simple
If there are airbags in a car, should I worry that they might go off randomly?
Since the mid-1990s there have been ever-increasing numbers of airbags in a car. Your concern is a valid one. Afterall, airbags use an explosive to deploy in fractions of a…
What is torque in a car?
An engine’s performance is measured in two ways: power and in increasing popularity, torque. This is frequently used in car makers’ sales literature because the heavier our cars get, the…
How do I know if my car has problems with ABS brakes?
ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System. It’s been fitted to all new cars since 2004. The aim of it is to help drivers to maintain control when they’re braking heavily.…
Mechanical: I’m thinking of buying a hybrid car. Will I need to plug it in?
Slightly confusingly, there’s more than one type of hybrid car. There’s the standard hybrid, the mild hybrid and the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). To further confuse matters, some models…
My car brakes squeak when I slow down. What does it mean?
After its steering, the brakes are probably the most important of your car’s controls. Sometimes car brakes squeak, squeal or screech depending on your viewpoint and the problem. This can…
I keep seeing the letters WLTP. What do they mean?
WLTP is everywhere at the moment and it’s being cited as one of the reasons cars sales enjoyed a bit of a hiccough in the early part of 2019. WLTP…
How should I check the level of motor oil in my car?
Checking how much motor oil your engine has is one of the easiest and most important jobs you’ll do as a car owner. An engine relies on its oil to…
My car air conditioning doesn’t seem cold enough. What should I do?
As the weather warms up, problems with car air conditioning tend to become apparent. When you switch the air con on and turn it right down, there should be an…
Is there anything I can do to help my car pass the UK MOT test?
Every year around four in 10 cars fail the UK MOT test yet the government claims that around half of all failures could be easily prevented. Although garages frequently don’t…