Mike_B

There was a series of articles on the BBC News website a couple of months or so ago, showing exactly how statistics can be (and are) manipulated to show whatever the author wants them to show. Was a great read - 6 articles on the common misconceptions relating to widely used statistical concepts such as averages, 'our survey says', etc etc. Linky

Are you filling it through the radiator or the expansion bottle? You seem to suggest you're using the radiator itself - the expansion bottle is usually the highest point in the system, so try putting more in that?

To further the answers already given, in P it is (usually) engaged into first and reverse simultaneously, preventing the wheels from turning. In N it is not locked into any gear...

Maybe cos Audi pay for one and the others don't?

I also did that run about 4 years ago, in a Chrysler Sebring. 2.7l V6 - was a nice car to ride in but an appalling gearbox. 3 speed auto, FFS... We did a week in San Fran, then rented the car and drove to Vegas through Yosemite National Park. After a few days there we came back through Death Valley rather than the more northern route we took previously. Death Valley was amazing. One point we stopped at was a viewpoint alongside a steepsided valley which was obviously carved by some kind of tributary, so it was side on to the main valley. As we were stood there a fighter jet screamed along the floor of the main valley and turned up to come up the valley beside us. An F16 with full afterburners, level with you heightwise, and no more than a hundred yards away is something I'm not going to forget in a hurry. I think we got up to about 45C as well, warmest point was at the bottom of the valley (Badwater Creek, I think it is?).

The problem with allowing people in when the safety car is out is that everyone does it. Which kind of makes sense, but it's also true that it's a lot more dengerous than it already is in the pits, which I think is why they brought the rule in. It's fair to say that some people randomly benefit from the current rules, but if you'd just pitted when the safety car came out then you'd be on the losing end of a random event. I think it's a bit simplistic to say the rule should just be changed back - you'd end up with a more dangerous pitlane and still get people 'unfairly' benefitting from an incident. Racing always has, and always should, involve an element of luck IMO. How about a rule that cars cannot run so low on fuel that they cannot make it round another two laps (ie have a reserve tank with 20 litres or whatever in it, giving you a buffer, but at the end of the race there must be a minimum total amount left in the car? That way you would never actually need to pit under safety car conditions, but you'd only be very mildly penalised (half a second or so extra for fuel when you finally did pit) and it would be the same for everyone.

Strangely, when I actually had a Vectra, I used to get all sorts of cars as courtesy vehicles. Their courtesy cars (and heaven knows I had enough of them in the six months I had the car, most unreliable heap of junk I ever had) were often supplied by the nearby Europcar rental place, so I had all sorts including Fords and Renaults. That's the only place I've ever been where they used non-brand cars though. To answer the original post, personally I wouldn't give a monkey about it. It gets me from A to B, it's only a few days, and it's nice to drive something different briefly. It's a similar size which is the most important thing, I hate it much more when they give tiny little runabouts in exchange for your big motor.

Yes, but it's also why your next service will cost n hundred pounds...

Damn, that's a nice job you've done there. Not being hugely familiar with ICE, is that the original head unit still in the dash, and you've just upgraded the speakers and amps? Does the original still work (for radio) or does it only work with the iPod I can see fitted now? Looks sweet though, you've obviously put in a lot of hard work and I quite like the fact it doesn't look too modded, wheels and chrome light strips aside...

If they were the slightest bit of use whatsoever, they would be fitted as standard. Any claims 'demonstrating' their effectiveness are outright lies which will not stand up to any form of rigorous scientific scrutiny. In other words, no.

Nah, it's rubbish. You wouldn't like it at all... Nice colour though, they look really nice in the metal and I really like the contrasting light colour interior. Deep red with cream interiour is very nearly as nice as deep blue with cream. PS -Get a 430 one, that's got a proper engine in it!

I use Castrol in the bike - it's good oil anyway (specialist motorcycle oil, obviously) but it's also a bright pinky-red colour which is pleasing on the eye.

Americans tend to be a bit obsessive about oil changes - read any US car forum and it seems the general belief is that if you keep your oil more than about 4k miles then you must be some kind of half-wit. They are always stunned when you tell them that many cars here only recommend changes every 20k miles.

I had an IS200 before the GS430. The fuel economy is worse, but not all that much worse. It's only the size of a new Mondeo. And it's a hell of a lot faster, and I really mean a hell of a lot faster. And the tax isn't going to be that much worse because the IS200 is hardly a low-CO2 car itself.

You sure? I thought you could have blue, as long as they were small, but the one colour you *must not have* is red. Could be wrong, though!

My IS is terrible in the snow. But then I used to have an Impreza, and before that various FWDs so I'm a bit spoilt... As far as I'm aware, all Lexs, Mercs, and BMW are awful unless you change to winter tyres. Which is a highly marginal thing to do in our randomised weather! Or are the GS TRC systems especially clever? ISs are notoriously bad in the snow, but then they have a rather simple traction control system. The GS has a full VSC system which from personal experience I can say sorts it out quite nicely in the snow. It's ability to brake any wheel completely independently of the others means it can put the car back on the straight and narrow even after the back has started to drift. How often does it snow though - couple of days a year? (OK, maybe more on high ground or in Scotland). Most of the time it is just wet rather than actually snowy, and in those conditions RWD provides much better traction at junctions etc.

It can be turned off, it's the User Account Control in Control Panel under User Accounts. It's really not that hard to switch it off - MS are damned if they do and damned if they don't. People whine about UAC but then they whine about not being told if their systems do things on their behalf without letting them know. I assume you're running the 64bit version of Vista then, if you have 6GB RAM?

Thanks for that. Looks like the boot is roughly the same size as mine, but minus the higher bit at the back. The Mk II has a step in the boot floor, seems like the higher bit is used for batteries. Although the mpg would undoubtedly be better with hybrid, I think it would be fair to say that if I filled that portion of my boot with a large LPG tank and fitted a good quality conversion kit, I would probably still be better off than paying the extra for the hybrid. I was amused by your comment re airport runs - having had large estate cars for years, I got throughly cheesed off with always being asked to do airport runs, trips to Ikea/B&Q, taking stuff to the dump etc. Now I've got a saloon I don't get asked to do that half so much, even though for the most part the items would still fit it!

Pity. Looks just like the GS inside, and has the advantage of FWD. Radio has AUX in too! The advantage of FWD? With a big engine you just get a shedload of wheelspin and chew up tyres every 5k miles. On a runabout FWD is much better, but I'm not convinced it has any value in large, heavy cars, especially with modern traction and stability systems. Aux-in I would agree with though, these really should be standard fit these days. All MP3 players have a common headphone standard, it would cost pennies to add a socket to take a lead from such a device.

Highly unlikely. It's basically a Toyota Camry which didn't sell very well here either. The ES is a front-wheel drive car and isn't really a separate Lexus model, but very much a re-badged Camry which is unlikely to help the Lexus image in Europe.

Pretty much all laptops are made by third parties anyway, and their components definitely are. Not really sure why it matters that it was screwed together by Chinese children wearing a DSG shirt, as opposed to being screwed together by Chinese children wearing an HP shirt, a Sony shirt, or a Toshiba shirt. Or an Apple shirt, for that matter. Are these laptops only sold in DSG stores? What happens if you'd bought it from a store which went out of business? It's the manufacturer's responsibility to look after you in that case, I've dealt with manufacturer's before when stuff has gone wrong - tell them the shop has closed down and you have to fall back to them...

Since Windows is more expensive than OS-X, isn't your argument that 'you get what you pay for' a load of cobblers? BTW, my Vista laptop still hasn't blown up, bluescreened, died, or indeed done anything especially unpleasant or unexpected since I bought it. Neither has my iMac, so they are exactly even on that score. Perhaps he wants to do things like join Active Directory domains, and run admin tools for such? Not everything and everyone has solely home-based needs.

I'm not averse to 'modern art' in principle. That said, however, every time I go round the Tate Modern I think at least 50% of what I see is pretentious tat. Some of it is rather nice though - I like the way colours are used to form something that is interesting and pleasant to the eye without actually being a 'picture of something' in the traditional sense. But the pickled calf, shark etc - not art IMHO. Interesting to look at, certainly, and it's well executed. But they are really laboratory specimens in a fancy case. How do you define 'art' anyway? I don't think there is an empirical definition, everyone has their own. Some will define 'art' as being such merely if the creator says it is. Others will only call it art if they personally like it. I can't help but think that for a few rich people, art is a combination of the first definition coupled with a big price tag - hence Hirst's sales yesterday!!

I suppose a little Googling to check on the status of Castrol before posting rumours was out of the question?

I think Steven Spielberg is a big Lexus fan, not sure what he's got though. Paul McCartney just took delivery of an LS600h as well.