When your car key battery starts to fail, your garage will be happy to offer to replace the battery for a fee. Mine quoted me ?25 (circa $30) for this insanely simple task? crazy! I thought I?d do a quick guide for others who may be cautious of just diving in with a screwdriver! I?ve […]

This may seem odd, but after 10 years of driving, it turns out that my obsession with hand washing my car myself, means I’ve actually never used a car wash before!! Having received some vouchers for free car washes at the ARC/IMO car wash, I’ve been giving it a go, and it’s certainly a quick […]

Whether you’re looking to save money by reducing garage bills, or looking to improve your safety, and that ofyour passengers, good car maintenance is an excellent place to start. A well maintained car runs more efficiently, and attracts a better price when selling. This post aims to document some of the basics of car maintenance […]

General Exterior – Wash 1. Use plenty of water. If possible, rinse the car down with a hose first (low pressure so as to wash off grit etc.. without scratching the paintwork). 2. Use a car specific soap (NOT washing up liquid). I use Triplewax Car Shampoo (available from Amazon or eBay, if you don’t […]

Engine oil is an amazingly under-appreciated element of a car. Many believe you can wait until this gets low to top it up, or wait for your next service. This simply isn’t the case. Once your engine oil gets low the top of the engine WILL be incurring higher wear and tear, with higher friction. […]

This post came from an assumption that the standard “generic” bulbs I was buying meant I was possibly sacrificing visibility, and therefore safety in my bulb choice. Particularly having seen the claims of market leader Osram with their “up to 90% more light” “up to 10% whiter light”, and up to 35 metres more visibility, […]

As with all older cars they often come with noises which start off small but eventually get so bad you have to do something about it. I had the exact case when I bought my A3. The power steering pump and rack was making a small whining noise when the steering was turned. My initial […]

I have just been looking for new insurance. As I am a young driver with no no-claims bonus, I am the worst type of driver an insurance company wanted on their books. To make the matter worse the car I wanted to insure was not the best either – an Audi A3 sport. I tried […]

Many of us suffer with this problem and up until recently I have been reapplying bumper restorer each time I wash the car. I became frustrated at this process and eventually looked for a new answer to the solution. I came across one talking to my local mechanic. You need to clean the whole car […]

Well I have created this post after I was monitoring the search terms used to come to this blog. Checking the power steering fluid is very easy on an Audi A3 but I have included a few extra checks just to make sure that everything is working as it should. Firstly open up the bonnet […]