Good Garages in Portsmouth?

Anyone know of a good garage in Portsmouth? My car is due an MOT and a service and I want it done properly as ALLCARS in Portsmouth are rip-off merchants.


The only other garage that I know to avoid are Perrys which is the Fiat Dealer in this area.

Any help appreciated

I'm just between Portsmouth and Fareham if that's any help.

Click on www.cars.robertsaerospace.com for further info.

Mike.

At last... i only said the other day that i needed an Italian car specialist near Portsmouth... You'll be seeing a Black Stilo in the near future...

Excellent, call of the search!

On Robertsaerospace.com web site it says cam belts should be done every 3 years or 36000 miles. My owners manual says 6 years or 72000 miles, why the difference of opinion?

1997 Marea HLX 2.0 20V

I've seen them snap at 24K and four years.

The long story is that FIAT/Alfa Romeo wanted to sell cars into the fleet market who have a rule of thumb that there should be no major servicing until 72K - ie. long after they've flogged the car off.

However, the technical documentation small print says that the cambelt should be "inspected" at 36K. By "inspected" they mean removed, examined with a magnifying glass, replaced, and the tension reset. So, you might as well just replace it.

Eventually, they said that the belt really needs replacing at 36K and 3 years.

I'm just doing a head rebuild on a car that's had a belt snap at 48K.

Yours might last until 72K, you never know. I couldn't handle the stress of expecting it to snap any minute myself!

Maserati belts - which are made in the same factory of the same materials - are two years and 18K...

Mike
www.cars.robertsaerospace.com

Excellent - I like Stilos, I wish I saw some more of them. I've got the FIAT dealer diagnostic computer (Examiner) so I can reset the service due indicator on the later cars.

Mike
www.cars.robertsaerospace.com

My 1997 Marea 20V had its belt changed at 70k, car has now done 99k . I guess I'm lucky

1997 Marea HLX 2.0 20V saloon

Or it was done at 36K and just not recorded!

If not, you really dodged a bullet...

And for anyone thinking that I have to drum up business by saying this, if you rang me today, the first booking I could give you is in mid-July as I'm so booked up. So, no, I don't have to, and am slightly insulted that anyone would suggest that I'm so bad at what I do that I need to!

Mike.

I wasn't having a go I've had this car since 36k, it has a full service history and is going well (touch wood). Because I currently do about 6000 miles per year, down from a high of 20000 miles in 2003, it gets serviced every 6000 miles. The last cambelt change cost a lot , if it's going to cost over £600 next time it's not really economical to do as the car is only worth about £800. what sort of price should I be thinking of?

1997 Marea HLX 2.0 20V saloon