Michael McAleer answers your queries
From Jim Jones:
Browsing around used car lots at the weekend, I came across a pristine silver Scorpio 2.4 V8 with black leather interior, every conceivable extra and just 50,000 on the clock. It had just been sold for about €7,000.
Why has Ford stopped making cars of this calibre and size? Will they ever go back to making a big car?
It had the looks of a submarine or a smiling frog, the interior of a luxury executive car and enough buttons to confuse a Nasa engineer, but in terms of second-hand buys it's actually quite a catch.
From what you write you obviously are blind to its strange, droopy, headlamps, swollen-belly bonnet and rounded bum. It was a frump-fest that made many wince, but inside it was a bit of a charmer, with rich upholstery and powered seats.
On the road there was little road or wind noise and there weren't that many reported problems, bar electric fuses and an annoying habit of turning the driver mirror towards the kerb when reversing, thereby limiting the ability to see solid posts or pedestrians walking behind.
The big engines are better in the Scorpio - it's not exactly a light car, though it did reportedly manage pretty respectable fuel consumption for its size.
Introduced as a top model Granada in 1985, the Scorpio was Ford's flagship since the vehicle was revamped and the Granada name dropped in 1994. But sales of the vehicle - mainly as company cars - never matched those of its Granada parent and it was dropped in 1998.
As to Ford's future plans, it has more than enough luxury on its books through its Premier Automotive Group (PAG) brands such as Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover. Lessons were learned from Toyota which have also kept the luxury and mainstream separate through Lexus branding.
It's a fact of life that people have a hard time accepting their big executive bus could share its badge with a Fiesta.
From Yvonne Beades:
I am currently looking at buying a new '04 automatic Nissan Micra. I've heard that there may be a problem with the gearbox. Have you heard anything of the sort?
We've not heard about any problems to date. Brian Byrne, who writes Marque Times for Motors, recently bought an automatic Micra and has found no fault to date. Nor has he heard of any problems with it. Nissan did announce a major recall late last year, but this was to do with the engine management system and not the gearbox. Nissan Ireland says it has no records of problems with this model. If readers have heard of problems please let us know.
From Tony Walsh, Limerick:
Do diesel cars retain their value better than petrol models?
Your short question deserves a slightly longer answer. Diesels generally keep their value because of the perceived longer lifespan and general hardiness.
Diesel cars also come with a premium that should be taken into account when comparing the used price with that of a used petrol car.
From James Kennedy:
You referred last week to the quality of tyres on a new car compared to replacements. I was wondering, on a similar issue, if there are any tips for how to handle a puncture? I recently had one on a long stretch of road and it scared the life out of me.
The best advice we have is to apply the brakes gently and avoid using the gears to slow yourself down. Using the gears may seem more natural than applying brakes to a shaky car, but slowing down using the gearbox has a tendency to make the car more unstable.
The trick is to slow the car gradually, and preferably on a straight road.
From P.L.
The changing of the road signs to metric measures in September seems like a complete nightmare. What are we hoping to gain from it all?
The reported urban speed of 30 kph is probably fine for Dublin, where you wouldn't get up to that speed anyway, but it seems completely crazy for some of the country towns and villages with little traffic.
The new rules are being introduced because of past commitments made to Europe, but it does seem that the case for the changeover could be made in a more constructive manner than simply blaming previous administrations.
The new even-slower limit makes sense around schools and perhaps in housing estates, but the biggest fear is that local authorities will put forward undeveloped areas on the outskirts of towns for the new limit in the hope that it makes it easier when they apply to rezone land as industrial or residential.
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Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2