Mincey

I was really pleased to hear the news too. If there is a God, they won't employ that utter ***** James Allen. Martin Brundle had better be a part of the package though.

I opened the pic of the Jag into Photoshop then cut out the area where the number plate is. Next stop was a website where you can preview numberplates, so that's where BO08 JOB came from. Back in Photoshop, I pasted the numberplate in as a new layer, then made the whole layer the same yellow colour. Combining the two layers gave the finished product. I'm a complete duffer at Photoshop and I'm sure that someone who uses it a lot more than me would have a faster way of doing it.

The "Lexus van" reminded me about the spy shot of a Ferrari Ice Cream van I took at Brands Hatch a while back:

You're not wrong:

Oooh no - I don't like the back end at all. It looks like they've not bothered to finish it off properly with that chrome strip/light combo.

I saw an XF in Dewsbury a fortnight ago and my first thought was "I didn't know there was a new GS out"...

The easiest and most obvious way is to click on the triangle in the middle of the YouTube window. I want one of those - GT5 on that would be the business!

I had some non tyre-related issues with my first IS200 back in the early noughties and instead of writing to them, I rang the head office and asked for the then MD's fax number. A fax was duly sent with spleen in full vent mode, and two days later I received a letter from the MD and a free service voucher. Regarding the tyre wear issue, I must have spent about a grand on new tyres on my two IS200s during the time I had them. It's my own fault - I joined the Owners Club in '02 when I got my second IS200 but then I let my membership lapse. Had I not done so, I'd have found out that Tony at WIM could have set the car up properly. The local people I use for tyres and tracking know what they're doing, but they only have the data which Lexus give them to do the tracking. Every time I went in to have another set of scrubbed away fronts replaced, they'd say that the tracking was "within limits" and that they'd seen many IS200s with the same symptoms. As for your expected reply, can you be sure that they haven't replied? Perhaps it has got lost in the post. Do you have proof that it arrived? And as Scorps says, you should check your tyre pressures/wear every week.

50s out of an IS250 auto?? I drove mine at 60 all the way up the M11 from the M25 to Peterborough at 60 with the cruise on and thought I'd done well to get 41. Admittedly the aircon was on, but 50+? - isn't that a tad much...?

I do this, but unless I've specifically told them to leave it alone, I'm always charged for a top up. It's not just Lexus either....

That engine sound - wow!

its just starting now,quick stick channel 5 on!!! Well that wasn't too bad apart from the beeping flappy paddles. I was expecting it to get slagged off royally for not being an M3 but it came out rather well didn't it? What will Clarkson and Co reckon I wonder... Looked crap in white though.

Perhaps we should all look out for Alfas next time we're out and about. If there's any chance of a bit of fun, note down the model and the distance travelled and post the results here. No doubt there will be an infiltrator here who will post back to the Alfa forum and we can see how it looks from the other side...

That tickled me. I've never liked them. I don't know why but they've just not appealed to me. I don't know which model it was but my cousin had one many years ago - it absolutely flew! He did get rid of it because of its faults though. You've just reminded me of the time my boss drove me from Huntingdon to Stevenage in his 164 Twinspark Jobbie. Fog suddenly came down and he said "nobody's going to run in to the back of me!" and pushed the front and rear fog light switches. When he let go of both, the rear fog light switch launched itself towards the rear seats. "Hmm - that's quality" I thought to myself.

SWMBO filled up at 101 in Leicester yesterday.

Having owned two IS200s and done over 110k miles in them, I still have a soft spot for them. Before the engine is on song, yes they're a bit pedestrian, but once over 4,500rpm, they're a hoot. I had both of mine flat out* - once on a mercy mission down the A14 and once when putting some manners on a BMW on one of the local parkways. I found that the faster you went, the faster it went if you see what I mean. When someone asks you what car you drive and you say "a Lexus", you don't get asked "which one" (as you do with a BMW/Mercedes/Audi) or "a what?" (Alfa Romeo). When someone asks SWMBO what I drive, she just says "a Lexus" and they go quiet. (* I know it wasn't big or clever)

A mate of mine had a 156. When he took me for a drive in it, he showed me a sticker at the top right of the window which went along the lines of "Make sure you keep an eye on the oil level" and wryly told me that the engine could run for quite a while with a dry sump.... The engine sounded sweet but I'm not sure that I could have lived with the (red) interior or fwd. Red looks great in a Maserati, but in a 156, it just looks like a pimp mobile.

996,527

I can't tell you what it was, but I had the exact same thing on my IS200 after I'd had it for two years. Leicester noticed it at a service and had it back in again to change some parts in the gearbox. Just before the service, there was a trip up the M6 where I couldn't get it into 6th gear.

It helped soften the blow (slightly!) on my IS200 when it had a 60k service plus a new water pump and a cambelt....

No, you are correct on both counts. 15% of what? On my last service at Milton Keynes they applied the Gold Member discount only to "parts" and they did not include the engine fluids as "parts", so I got very little discount in reality. It's 15% on parts.

No, you are correct on both counts.

13 miles? In Peterborough I have the choice of Leicester, Cambridge or Nottingham, all of which are a fair old trek. I'd give my eye teeth for a closer dealer - especially one only 13 miles away!

Thanks!

That sounds a little extreme... but it might work!