Car Mechanics

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Car Mechanics

The car magazine that has saved you money since 1958.

Car Mechanics is packed with essential advice on maintaining and repairing popular makes and models, it's an invaluable motoring resource that can appeal to the DIY car enthusiast at home and the more experienced motoring trade alike.

31/12/2025

As the hours tick away ending 2025.

May all of us at Car Mechanics wish you all the very best for this upcoming year and hope you all had a safe and happy Christmas.

Thank you for your support and readership, it's very much appreciated 👍

Stay safe, enjoy this evening and see you on the other side 🎉

^MH

30/12/2025

We hope y'all had a nice Christmas.

This year I think is the first year I haven't received anything car related as a present.

What car related clutter have you received this Christmas?

^MH

25/12/2025

Merry Christmas to all Car Mechanics readers and followers.

Enjoy the festive season and we will see you all in 2026.

🎅

MK

24/12/2025

Our local plod: Sussex Police, have arrested over 180 motorists in their current clamp down on drink & drug driving.

On this evening, be sensible and avoid the Cognac or the crack. We need to see you on the other side, fit and well still holding a licence.

On behalf of all of us at CM.... Have a very merry Christmas.

^MH

23/12/2025

With the sad passing of Chris Rea yesterday, It made me remember when my Cavalier stereo destroyed his album "Auberge" with no warning.

As much as I loath modern car wirelesses, I guess we don't have to go through this kind of pain anymore do we?

(Younger readers, ask a parent or guardian)

Other albums of mine that were knackered or snapped were:

Stars - Simply Red
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
On Every Street - Dire Straits
1984 - Van Halen

How many decent albums did your old stereo devour and destroy?

^MH

19/12/2025

JANUARY 2026 issue on sale from
December 19th 2025 to January 22nd 2026.

Car Mechanics magazine is available from high street stores including WHSmith and the bigger supermarkets: Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and some Sainsbury's stores. Plus local retailers.

Or buy a copy online here:
https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/single-issue/car-mechanics-magazine

Or take out a subscription here:
https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/car-mechanics-magazine...

FORD 1.0 ECOBOOST WET-BELT CHANGE – Traders are avoiding wet-belt engines but just how bad are they? Rob Marshall looks at how involved is wet-belt replacement on Ford’s EcoBoost 1.0-litre ‘Fox’..

PETER SIMPSON COLUMN – With the cold weather, Peter looks at heating his workshop.

TALES FROM THE WORKSHOP – Real life repairs advice from our resident garage proprietor.

PROJECT TOYOTA AYGO, Pt2 – The Editor helps fit a 42,000-mile Peugeot 107 engine to our Aygo and buys a new front subframe for £100 to replace the corroded original!

HIT THE BRAKES – FORD FIESTA Mk6 – We show you how to fit front discs/pads, flexi-hoses and a caliper.

SPEEDO FIX – Rob Marshall's ageing Citroen C5 has a speedometer fault. His credit card helps fix the situation.

BUYING & OWNING – Nissan Juke 2010-2019 models.

DEALER'S DIARY – Peter Simpson provides us with an insight into the automotive sales trading world – and beyond.

RADIATOR FAN RESISTOR – Peter Rosenthal fits a new fan resistor to his Porsche Boxster 2.7.

LIVING WITH A MAZDA CX-5 DIESEL – A CM reader buys and sells a few of these each year, so he tells us what can go wrong!

HELP! Q&A – 11 pages of your toughest mechanical queries answered by our technical expert Steve Rothwell.
This feature is sponsored by ifnd.
https://ifndautoparts.com/

DIAGNOSTICS DOCTOR Q&A – 3 pages of your diagnostics dilemmas answered.

ELECTRONIC DIAGNOSTICS – 2011 BMW 318i (part 2).

SPOTLIGHT: RING AUTOMOTIVE JUMPSTART 5-in-1 REVIEW.

OUR CARS – Andrew Everett covers more work on his crash-damaged BMW 318d he bought from Copart and Peter Clayton fits a new front wheel bearing to his 2013 Skoda Fabia.
This feature is sponsored by febi bilstein and Blue Print.
https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com

XMAS FUN! – John Ward looks back at Car Mechanics from the early 1960s to review the adverts seen in the magazine back then.

FREE ADS – Sell your car or parts here!

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION – Mike Humble shares a couple of moments he shared with Quentin Willson who sadly passed away recently.

18/12/2025

Anyone off on a road trip over the Christmas break?

I don't normally like food being eaten in the car, but I make an exception for my kids on long trips. A few years ago, after a particularly arduous post-trip deep clean, I started draping old bedsheets over the rear seat before we left, to ease with the clean-up afterwards. It works great, and now I always do it.

Any other good family road trip hacks out there? ^JB

17/12/2025

Ere... Did you know?

The indicator sound on current Volvo models was sampled from the sound of a twig being snapped from a branch.

Over 300 recordings were done from dead branches until sound engineers were happy.

How crackers is that?

16/12/2025

So... The EU are on the brink of scrapping the 2035 ICE ban. I'm wondering if the UK will follow suit.

With most of the manufacturers building here being EU owned, surely we have to?

What a complete farce this is don't you think?

Discuss.....

(Image of Marina solely to give us a big smile on a cacky Tuesday)

^MH

13/12/2025

Gatwick airport is increasing its drop-off fee next month to £10.

Why? Because they can get away with it.

It is an absolute disgrace to any of us motorists.

It makes no odds to anyone, you are dropping off customers to the airport, so why charge the driver for doing that?

Gatwick drop-off fee started at £5 in 2021, then £6 in 2024, then £7 in May this year. You have 10 mins to drop off your passengers, otherwise you are charged £1 for every minute thereafter.

You can avoid the charge at Gatwick by using the long-stay car parks for up to 2hrs free parking and use the free shuttle bus service. So there is a work-around.

Other airports charging £7 include: Southampton, Stansted, Bristol and Leeds Bradford. Heathrow will raise its price from £6 to £7 from January 1. London City, the UK's last major airport without a drop-off fee, is to introduce one later this month.

Any thoughts on this?

MK

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