Michael McAleer answers your queries
From Patrick L O'Brien,
Cork:
I found it interesting to read about people living near a suburban train station who have to suffer commuters parking outside their driveway.
It all goes back to the old problem of lack of the infrastructure - in this case adequate parking at stations.
It's something with which Ireland, unlike other EU countries, is unable to get to grips. It crops up all the time; witness the proposed Adamstown development near Dublin . . . throw up thousands of houses without any thought to the road requirements.
From Colin:
Various references have been made in Motors to the changes introduced by the EU under what is called "block exemption". There are claims that dealers are having to close because they don't have the cash to re-invest in their businesses. This would suggest that they are all going to improve dramatically in the next few months. I work across the road from a dealer who works out of what only could be calleca glorified shed and there's no sign of even a lick of fresh paint at his oily den.
Under the new rules resulting from the EU block exemption decision, dealers are appointed so long as they meet the selective criteria laid down by the manufacturers. The criteria can vary in levels of detail depending on the marques involved. Under the rules, all dealers must meet the criteria. October was set for the deadline, though obviously if major renovation is afoot some leeway will be granted.
Without knowing the garage you refer to, we suppose that it's not one of the premium marques. Many of these have laid out requirements for dealers that include the colour of the floor tiling on which the cars must be displayed, the number and size variety of spanners they must carry, and the sign and position of the hoardings and signs for their sales area. Others have been less specific.
Even at this late stage some manufacturers are still hammering out their criteria, leaving little time for dealers to make the changes.
There may be one other reason why your neighbour has not cleaned up his act. There remains to this day a mindset that "these EU rules don't apply to us down here in Ballyhob". It's an attitude that pervades our relationship with the EU, and it's just as obvious in agriculture or manufacturing. The problem is that manufacturers are taking the new rules seriously and see it as a way to force dealers to clean up their act. It also opens the way for them to shed what they would see as those who are a liability to their image.
From Peter O'Connell:
We're wondering whether to opt for either a manual or an automatic. Which would you recommend?
Automatics these days offer a level of responsive that easily competes with manual boxes. In many cases they allow you to change up or down at the touch of a button or paddle.
We've always preferred the manual option, having bad memories of driving an old automatic Mercedes which took about five hours to change down, leaving a trail of irate motorists weaving around behind us. It had the uncanny ability to wait until the onset of a sharp corner before calling on a lower gear to offer the required acceleration. The old kick-down system, whereby you pushed the pedal to the floor to call a lower gear never really appealed to us.
Today's automatics are far more astute. A very general rule that we frequently break is to opt for automatics if you are doing a lot of town driving - this can save your left leg from all those first- and second-gear changes.
However, we would always choose a semi-manual system, which allows you the chance to change up or down at will but takes control when you don't really need to interfere.
Otherwise, if you spend more time on suburban or rural roads, we would go for manual. Unless you are buying a Porsche, which has a fabulous tiptronic system, we'd think the manual is a better bet for more driving pleasure.
Send your queries to
Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail them to motorshelp@irish-times.ie