WylieCoyote

Last night around 2am, driving around a corner when it was raining and the car lost control at around 50mph and spun a fair few times

Don't blame the car. You mean you lost control.

What do you use to get that hardened break dust off your wheels?

wash,polish then wax to prevent brake dust sticking :D

Being careful not to get wax on the brake disc. Results could be.... unnerving!!! lol

I got a quote once through those price comparison sites (quote was from Sainsburys bank) and the comparison site said one price (can't remember what it was) and when I tried to buy it, it took me to the sainsburys website where it came up with something completely different (much higher). I rang up sainsburys and they said that the comparison sites are a guide and they have no obligation to honour the price.

Cheek!!!

Needless to say I didn't go with them.

any body else had a vip invitation in the post?

apparently i have been selected to attend a 3 day closed showroom event, its invitation only with a security pass, with some cars being sold at less than cost plus 0% apr finance, with additional manufacturer bonus discount

you can also pre-order a 2009 car and recieve a a vip bonus discount?

is this a nation wide promo or just my dealer?

may see if its possible to pre order a is 250 cabriolet

They're not going to sell cars for less than cost - period. Let alone adding 0% finance and additional manufacturers bonus. It breaks the very first rule of economics - sell for a profit, not for a loss. Even if they're not making a huge amount on them, they still won't make a loss.

I don't believe in these 'closed' events. They're not going to turn away customers who want to buy a new car are they?

Having said that, now may be tne time to buy a new car if you're in the market for them, prestige dealers will be begging for your business.

I think there's a lesson for us all there! What a pillock! Very funny though.

So does the snowfoam eliminate the need for a sponge or does it just act as an aggitator and still needs sponging down before rinsing?

A K&N air filter should slightly help your fuel economy through freeing the breathing of the engine. Don't forget to reset the ECU if you install one, so the ECU can re-learn how much fuel to use.

Is there any point resetting the ECU? Doesn't the car just run rough for a couple of tanks afterwards and give exceptionally poor fuel economy? The ECU will learn and adjust itself. Resetting, as far as I'm aware causes unnecessary problems.

I found in mine the K&N filter didn't improve fuel economy. Backing off the gas a little and doing 65 instead of 70 on the motorway and pulling away smoothly, taking out unneccesary weight are much more effective ways. Better still, if it's a short journey, walk or take a bicycle. Good for your health and wallet.

Can't see the East European Mafia wanting a quirky 19 year old Snail van somehow? (-:)

Never underestimate the power of image. You see a quirky 19 year old snail van, the rest of the public see a quirky 19 year old snail van. The Eastern European Mafia see an effective mode of transportation that fits in brilliantly to their criminal genius visions - albeit within the body of a quirky 19 year old snail van. Think of it from their point of view, the police will never suspect it, nor chase it.

They're nice looking units too - they're very sleek and look good.

It's usually pretty easy although you often hear of people who have nighmare stories like Carlsson20. You just take your car to part ex, they ask what outstanding finance you have on it and they deduct that from your part ex figure and they'll pay the finance company off. It's not ideal as it gives the dealer another way to shaft you but it's possible - just remember to keep every single document you get as it's not unheard of for the garage to delay payment and a nasty letter or bailiffs ending up on your doorstep. That's got to say something for the IS200 the fact that you're going from the 220D back to it. Hope it all goes well.

SR is pretty good - very underrated. I'll have to confess GTA IV was a bit of a let down considering all the hype and months of anticipation - the last one was much better.

I'm definitely going to get SR2 on 360.

Nokia 6300.

Fantastic 'basic' phone - solid build, reliable, good bright screen, not full of useless rubbish I'll never use - it makes calls and sends texts which is the purpose of a phone.... right?

Down side is Battery life isn't the best but it still gives 2-3 days on a charge. It's also full of silly annoying muscial ringtones - however that seems to be the way of all phones now - whatever happened to a phone just going 'ring ring'????

I'd own another one of these without hesitation. The thing I've found with Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG and the rest, some phones are ok, some are dreadful. Nokia have, by far and away the most consistent range of good, reliable and sturdy phones. I'll never stray too far from Nokia again.

Hi everyone. Just got back from a week long trip to Vermont and New Hampshire in the states. Have I missed much?

Got a few things to report.....

Northwest Airlines don't have seats on their planes, they have rocks which they arrange to look like seats and you're supposed to sit on which they've made as uncomfortable as possible. Leg room was pitiful and food awful and the self service check in seems to have been made unnecessarily complicated!

Every time I go to the states, why, and maybe it's just me, but I always feel like the security and border protection make you feel like a criminal. You're processed like sheep by some emotionless and smile-less drone that gives you a thorogh interrogation about what your purpose of travel is, have fingerprints taken and a mugshot from a webcam. Then when you've cleared immigration and they're relatively convinced you're not a criminal, you get stopped by some 12 year old at customs who insists on searching you bag wanting you to account for your every movement whilst you're there, demands to know what job you do, who you live with, how many times you've travelled before, scans your passport and asks you about each and every stamp in it - what did you go for, how long and so on. Once the toddler is happy you're not going to bring down George Bush you're free to leave and go through the misery of getting your hire car. You stand in a long queue and when it's your turn the clerk writes a 25,000 word dissertation on the computer and then gives you your paperwork and finally gives you a car.

Enough moaning though because a trick I learned a long time ago when getting a car is be nice, polite and friendly and then just ask casually whether there's any spare upgrade cars and 90% of the time they'll give you a better car for free. This time we ordered a Chrysler Sebring Convertible and after asking very nicely we get a free upgrade to a brand new Ford Mustang convertible. We were offered a Hummer H3 too but we chose the Mustang. Where can I start on that car - in essence it's a dreadful car albeit wrapped up in a pretty body. Everything about it is just old and dated. For example, it has an 'Overdrive' button - haven't seen one of those for 20 years, it's crude, heavy, the interior is ghastly and seems to have been made by melted down milk cartons, it's slow, dimwitted and you'd be better off strapping a couple of torches to the bonnet to replace the headlights for all the use they were. Having said all that, it's a lovable car which really grew on me and I was quite sad to see go at the end and it ended up averaging about 23mpg which I don't think is too bad at all. So all in all it's a dreadful car but one I'll look back on fondly and I can think of few ways better than crusing America in one. Here's a quick phone cam snap - I'll upload full images when I've downloaded all the stuff. Excuser picture quality.

NHS is pretty stable so that's cool.

Photography wise I haven't noticed a particular downward trend.

I'm a Dodo Juice fan. Wash with Halfords Advance Car Wash, clay with whatever brand clay and Meguiars Speed Detailer, hand polish with Dodo Juice Lime Prime and then wax with 2 coats of your favourite Dodo Juice (for silver I recommend Banana Armour or Light Fantastic). Apply two coats of wax with your fingers, buff off leaving 24 hours between coats.

You can definitely tell his age!

Anyone believe the 'brother' and sob story? I don't.

Primeras are pretty good as a second hand buy.

At 245,000 miles the gearbox certainly doesn't owe you anything!! That's really impressive to last that long and I think it's well due for retirement!

I can't help you with your problem but I'll just pay my respects to the gearbox.

I had 450 out of mine a couple of times but that was on runs.

Just for ref, on my 2.4D Volvo I've done 210 miles so far on a tank, it's hovering just above the halfway mark and the trip computer says another 250 miles until empty - 80% urban driving. So 400+ for urban, that's much more like it!

I may alternate tank loads to spread the cost!

That's an interesting point. Would that make any noticably difference to anything? The ECU takes a while to learn about the fuel so if you're alternating tanks would the car ever actually know what it had in the tank? I'd have thought this was a complete waste of time but I'd be interested to hear what other have to say on this.

Once you concede that the car doesn't really know what it has in the tank, surely you also have to concede that it makes virtually no difference anyway?

There are a number of independent studies which suggest they are a waste of money, and I'd be very interested to see any non-oil company sponsored tests which empirically show an increase in mpg or performance. Unless the engine's timing is designed specifically to make use of the chemistry of high-octane fuels, of course, such as the RS200.

lol i love my rs200

???

I thought any car with a Volvo badge would be up your street Keith.

If I was given a brand new Volvo, I'd set a record for how quickly it was on the market for sale.

Then funds received would be spent on something not so Volvo like.

Can you tell I have ridden motorcycles in my life @ some point ?

PMSL! Quite right!

However don't knock it until you've tried it. There's something about driving a big Volvo that makes you feel just a little bit nice and safe. And please no comments about it would never be driven fast enough to have an accident! I'm looking at you Wozza!!

The problem is the attitude this "little bit nice and safe" feeling gives the drivers IMO. They are so secure and insulated from danger,

as a result, they tend to neglect or be inconsiderate of the the safety of other road users, especially those road users on two wheels.

Which is nontheless better than the attitude of 'I drive a performance car so I'll drive like a prat' or the 'speed limits are for other people' attitudes that really wind me up.

I'm not directing that at anyone in particular butbut we all know there are people out there that have that view.

I think Polo's have a reputation that's a little bit undeserved. I think they're expensive, underequipped, not very pretty, dull interior, don't have the reputation for reliability people think they have and I don't think much to the dealer network. I think there's much better small cars out there - I can't see why anyone would choose a Polo above a Corsa for example.

If tax costs don't matter to you the value of newer IS's has crashed making them good buys. You can get 2003> cars for only a negligible price increase from the pre-2000's.

I'll concur with Mark W - I think any statistics can be warped to say pretty much what you want them to say. I read an article a couple of years ago about the greenest cars on the planet and number 1 was........... a Jeep Wrangler 4.0 V8. Something about total life cost including materials and recycling or something. When you read the small print, you see that the survey was sponsored by...... have a guess........ Jeep!

I may alternate tank loads to spread the cost!

That's an interesting point. Would that make any noticably difference to anything? The ECU takes a while to learn about the fuel so if you're alternating tanks would the car ever actually know what it had in the tank? I'd have thought this was a complete waste of time but I'd be interested to hear what other have to say on this.