Set out below is an exchange of emails I have had with "Honest John" who writes a column in the Motoring section of Saturday's Daily Telegraph:
Dear Honest John
I am not quite sure how to put this without being too adulatory- But I have to say that I am an avid reader of Motoring Telegraph and have been for some time and am constantly amazed at your breadth of detailed knowledge from the propensity of VW Passats' interiors to fill up with water; various malfunctions with BMW engines and VW's ABS systems as well as the information you share on speed humps and traffic fines. I have NEVER found myself disagreeing with any of your opinions.
So my question is are you really only 1 bloke- or is "Honest John" a nom de plume for a whole lot of experts encompassing legal and technical issues?
I flew long distance from Johannesburg to Frankfurt in February and found myself sitting next to a senior VW electronics engineer. We were sharing car talk- he too races classic cars, and he told me the reason why, in his opinion, Toyota/Lexus cars have had sticking throttle troubles. He said that in most modern cars there is an electronically operated fuel supply and when the throttle is released and the brake depressed a microprocessor shuts down the fuel supply. In all VW cars there are two such microprocessors, but Toyota/ Lexus only use one. Thus in his opinion the problem relates to the failure of this one component that governs fuel supply cut-off. VW have always used two microprocessors to build in a failsafe. Have you heard something similar- if true this would explain why the earlier Toyota/Lexus recall over faulty floor mats is not the solution?
We also discussed VW taking over the Jeep brand, and doing the VW thing of letting the brand develop based upon solid VW engineering and benefits of scale as they have done with Bentley and Skoda- VW do need a credible 4X4 brand, and many of the smaller Jeeps are already engineered to accept VW diesels. Anyway if it does come to pass you heard it here first! Does make sense doesn't it?
Kind Regards
Tim
T.C.Boles
his reply:
It's one bloke.
But the website
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk has now extended its editorial staff by hiring an editor and another staffer is due to join on 5th May to answer e-mails generated by the site. (I can do 70 - 80 a day; 150 - 200 a day is too much.)
About 50% of the information you see actually comes from reader e-mails.
The total so far is about 550,000. No one else has ever handled that volume of mail about cars, no one else realised that it would be such a useful two way process and no one else documented the results.
Your VW guy has at least explained one thing. Why VW automatics and DSGs die on you when you are trying to exit a side road or join a roundabout.
Very frightening. The throttle control from the brake sticks shut.
You should have asked him why VW wasn't replacing the duff Teves ABS units on its cars free of charge, rather than trying to make money out of supplying sub-standard cars that then need expensive safety related repairs at 4 years old.
HJ
and my reply:
Dear HJ
From this email I think you can’t get your new staffers soon enough
Your email was sent at 02.21 in the morning!! And it was a Monday morning!
And I thought I worked hard!
Regards
Tim
and His:
Rest easy.
I'm on the other side of the world, 6 hours ahead of the UK.
HJ
_________________
Kind Regards
TopCat
Secretary
Classic Camaro Club
Member of The Association of American Car Clubs UK
Email :
tboles@strathnoon.co.uk Websites:
http://www.classiccamaroclubuk.com and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhLJtR_ZY4
Register
Login
FAQ
Search
