Mike_B

Never occurred to me that the F1s would make a difference to fuel economy, at least not by that much. I run them and have to say that I think they tramline a lot *less* than the Bridgstone RE040s that were on before. But then it might simply be that the old ones were very worn, whereas the new ones were obviously not. The ride was noticeably better with the new ones too. But it's interesting you note the sharply worse economy. I have noticed that it's not as good on a run as it used to be - maybe that's why!

Blimey, that sounds scary!! When I went to Estonia in November last year, I was struck by the odd noise all the cars made. When I looked more closely, it turned out that they all had studded winter tyres on. I know Estonia is colder than it is here, but I do wonder if perhaps we shouldn't do the same. Your close call would never have happened... According to the Beeb, Aberdeen is rather warmer right now than it is down here in Surrey!! :)

One would assume there is one motor for up/down, and another for forwards/backwards. Seems most likely that the up/down motor is stuck in some way, which would mean it needs removing for attention - unless you can dismantle the plastics, see the motor, and get some WD40 on it to try and free it up. But that last bit was speculation, I don't actually know if you can do that!!

I wonder how companies like Kaspersky will respond to this. They write some quality AV software, but are Russian based and I suspect they have long memories of the KGB and their 'secret police' activities. Whilst fat, lazy Western corporates like Norton may well roll over and let our upcoming secret police force (aka 'anti-terrorist', so no-one complains about their activities) tickle their bellies, I think there will be plenty of other AV suppliers who will call this out for the intrusive Orwellian surveillance operation that it is. I wish someone would point out to Jacqui Smith that Orwell's '1984' was a warning, not an instruction manual.

Just come down to 82.9 round my way too. Very variable though, that price is at the Shell garage. But the local Jet garages are both 87.9 still I think, Jet always used to be the cheapo stuff! Tesco and Sainburys are both more expensive than the Shell place too. Regular 95 for me, tried the pricey super-unleaded stuff and the only difference was the money emptied out my wallet a lot quicker. 280bhp out of 4.3 litres is a pretty low state of tune, so no benefit to me at all from the super unleaded.

Mine has memory seats on the driver's side only too. Were they ever offered with memory seats on both sides, then?

Prob not oil - more like the coolant is either old or else a different brand. Checked mine briefly yesterday, there is definitely a small pipe coming out from the expansion tank just under the cap. However it doesn't actually attach to the radiator, it runs down behind it, more like a drain or an overflow. So maybe not such an issue if your tank is missing the pipe?

You absolutely sure you didn't just leave the lights on?

Was actually quite nice to see Clarkson on a bike. He even seemed to 'get' the appeal of them by the end - halfway through the coast road bit he 'had an epiphany'... and then by the end he said that if his kids ever got a bike, he would understand completely. Makes a nice change, wonder what he would have said if he'd been doing it on a real bike though, something more like Hammond's one, rather than a knackered old scooter with tiny wheels that made it hard to ride long distances.

I will check tomorrow, but i'm pretty sure mine looks the same as Colin's, i.e. it has two small from rad to expansion tank including the tiny one to just under the cap. It would seem logical that if yours is missing the hose and therefore has an opening straight off the rad, that there is no capacity for pressure in the system. If that is the case, don't let the motor get too hot or it will just boil the moment the water reaches 100C and spit all the coolant out the hole! If someone has changed it, hopefully they sealed up the radiator too...

You missed the word 'useful' in my post!! :D

There have been calls for these before, and they've never happened. It takes control away from the driver, encourages zombie driving, and you get issues when cars aren't set to precisely the same speed (much like trucks with their 56mph limiters meaning they take forever to overtake each other, causing tailbacks). And what is going to happen when you are on a motorway, and it suddenly a GPS positioning error of a few metres makes it decide you are in fact on the 20mph residential road that runs right alongside it?

I think there's plenty of demand for netbooks, the EeePC has been a good seller and there are plenty of other makes who think they will sell well. Certainly more so than there was for the last 'big next thing' - the Tablet PC. I could never see any demand for large touchscreen devices for a number of reasons, but I can see a demand for what amounts to an ultralight notebook. Especially these days where wifi is becoming available on planes and trains, carrying something very small but still useful could be a hit with business.

Quietish one with the missus for me. Bottle of wine, some good food and maybe a movie. And maybe a bottle of bubbly too, I think :)

They have found a storage format that with outlive us - papyrus. No, I'm not joking. Nuclear waste dumps have warning signs made of papyrus in them amongst all the bits of waste - it's the longest lasting stuff apart from stone tablets, and pictures can be made pretty obvious. The thinking is that the warning signs will still be obviously warnings long after the English language has fallen into oblivion.

Well, it must be going somewhere... Water isn't compressible, so if you keep adding more then it's either leaking out somewhere or else there is a big old airlock somewhere that you are slowly filling up! Can't remember off-hand whether you are supposed to check the coolant level with the engine warm or cold; I'd guess cold because you'd need to be careful of escaping steam if you opened it up whilst it was hot. How much more water have you added now, compared to when you got the car?

The early bird gets the worm. But it's the second mouse that gets the cheese...

Aren't they supposed to change the valves anyway when they change the tyres? I have cheap black plastic ones on mine these days. They do the same job, cost almost nothing, and don't get nicked. Maybe I'm just getting old! :)

No, the 14 days is fine. The problem might be the nature of the contract - if it was an unfurnished place and the washing machine was simply left there as a convenience so you didn't have to buy one, then it's your job to replace it. If it was supplied as part of the flat, in the same manner as the boiler might have been, then it's the landlord's job to fix it or replace it. Why are they saying it's your job to sort it out? IME agents usually take the easiest option, it's not their money either way, so they are usually right about things like that. Sounds like you need to speak to them to get some proper feedback as to why they are sending the letter.

Maybe the last owner was deaf and had something a bit louder fitted? You can get indicator buzzers for bikes now, too. Since bikes have no automatic cancel it's a lot easier to leave them on, with potentially unpleasant consequences!

I'd have an IS too. The ES is a fair bit larger - pretty much GS sized but since it's FWD, it doesn't have a transmission tunnel so appears roomier inside. Actually, I'd have a GS in place of either of them, thinking about it!! :)

I assume you mean that the edge of the wheel should stand proud of the arch, since that is the only direction it could be 'wider' and not strike the arch itself. But that would be illegal - so hardly the epitome of good design!

There are prizes for winning, but the main money comes from the sponsors who pay large sums to have their logos writ large along the cars. In F1, that can run to millions for even a smallish logo if it's prominently displayed, especially if it's visible from the on-board cameras. See here for some generic numbers...

The problem with rallying recently is that it is, frankly, rubbish. Back in the day it was long, difficult stages, lots of night stages - now it is mostly short sections of tarmac and all held in the daylight to maximise TV camera time on the sponsor's logos. How on earth did the once-mighty RAC Rally get reduced to a few short strips of Welsh forest track, half of which are exact repeats of what happened the day before, and some poncing around inside a rugby stadium? Well done to Subaru for seeing sense and pulling out. Spending a fortune on something that gets only specialised TV exposure and limited fans makes no sense whatsoever. The only reason mass-market manufacturers go racing at all is to sell cars, and they aren't doing well at that right now!

The bluetooth car kit isn't up to much on the TomToms mate - I tried using mine with it but gave up and got a proper fitted SonyEricsson kit. I suppose it's OK for very occasional use but the trouble is you can't use it without sticking it to the windscreen each time which rapidly becomes a pain. But the ability to update is great - and TomTom normally have a sale in the new year. I got the latest software and full Europe maps for my 720 £39.99 last year direct from TomTom!