Ian D

I do have one consolation though. I told my wife we were never going to use them again as I didn't like their attitude. Skip forward a year or 2 and she's now my ex-wife and just because I said not to, she takes her car there for an MoT & gets hit £80 for number plates as those on not have make's name on - serves her right as she ignored my warning as law had just made requirement (for her car, but not all, I think, but I'll be corrected if I'm wrong!). :P ps Nice car, Ormi

"you dont check the spare on a mot.its not part of the mot." I checked - you're right, tester only has to tell presenter. Will **** me sideways. About 4 yrs ago took then car (a Honda) for MoT, tester said that spare was down to limits and had failed test! Cost me a new tyre (went on front, but still had to pay for new one) and a retest fee. I've been done. I feel even worse now. Ian

Went to see my dream IS200 this afternoon, an SE limited edition. 'Mint condition', 'you won't be disappointed', 'just serviced', 'full history', warranted '49,000 miles' were just some of the words from the seller. He's asking a fair price for the car described Did reg check, completely clear but current owner registered in end-Aug, so bit strange for 2 and a bit months ownership. But he assured me on 'phone. Went over there but seller delayed at work by 2 hrs, so sat around drinking coffee and reading paper. Finally got to see car. Seller says some bloke coming down from Birmingham to see it and he has to be off for meeting in 30 mins time - so he's not trying to pressure me then. First check tyres: different types on front axles, spare is frayed so much on inside edge that has worn completely through canvas (yes, it had a big hole in it). Not a good start then. Let's check bodywork..... Had been resprayed front and rear nearside quarters. 'Forgot' to bring service book with him. 'Recent service' turns out to be 20 mths & 10,000 miles ago. Shows me MoT chits - there is a 7 month gap between Mar & Oct this year, and how the h*ll did it get through an MoT with that spare - puts doubt on the car. Claims that actually had car for 6 mths and previous owner 'forgot' to send off docs to DVLA. Alloys kerbed, front discs well-worn & due replacement. Still might be worth a gamble, so I said "2 new tyres, front discs & pads would cost £500, service another £400, so that's £900 of work to put it in condition you described, let alone the respray" and he said "I'm not coming down in price, there's a bloke coming down from Birmingham......" so I said 'It's not the car I thought it was, I'll give it a miss........" Cue one unhappy viewer (5hrs of my time wasted). Cue one unhappy seller. What is it with sellers? Most of us aren't idiots and will check documentation, so why lie? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk: Ian

Hello all, :D I've been away for a time, having had to sell my IS300 at the end of last year (long story) but I am at last free to choose my own car. I'm looking at a few IS200s around the 2003 mark. My IS300 had the Navigator fit but I found it frustrating - input by joystick, disc out of date but cheaper to buy a stand-alone sat nav than a new disc. Anyway, my current car is a Vauxhall Zafira which has a multi-function display at the top of the dash. I was intending to take a sat nav such as the TomTom 520 and fit it in the MFD's place and put the MFD in the roof just behind the driver's mirror, following the route taken by several others. This sort of set up interests me as I've had the car broken into by some scroats who smashed a window just to get into the glove box for an old sat nav with security code worth at most £25 (decoded) on eBay. Replacing the window cost me over £100, a great deal of hassle and half the skin on my knuckles. Has anyone done anything like this on an IS200/300? I did a quick search but couldn't find anything on aftermarket fits (for the Zafira, you can get an all-singing all-dancing unit for about £600 fitted that has CD/DVD/satnav/parking camera facility/......) - is there anything like this for an IS200? Now I think about it, anyone fitted a parking camera, parking sensors etc:? Thanks. Ian B)

Don't judge the mechanic too quickly. I have an official manual, and setting the adjusters at the disc iaw the manual gives a lever that is very high when it bites.

B....y cheek though. He's only spent £66 (albeit for 6 months), nothing like the £210 I've had to pay...............

HIDs: Read Dept of Transport note on HIDs Quote: "In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs ...." Of course, what the law says and what you can get away with can be different things. I have enough of a problem with people in loaded cars not adjusting their headlights without adding to the problem with illegally-fitted HIDs (the beam pattern is wrong from a HID in a standard headlamp - a HID headlamp has different grating patterns). Ian

Don't knock it until you've driven one. I've driven several of the more powerful ones (no 1600s please), and they were great fun with a bonnet that seemed to go on for ever and 'hoppy' handling (dontcha love leaf springs) from all but the 2.8i version. One year the 2.8i version was the sports car/hot hatch recommended as the car to buy by all the car mags (around 1986 I think). Ian ps If you don't know what a leaf spring is, look it up - more than 50 years of motoring can't be wrong.

The impact is pretty complex, as there are all sorts of factors involved, and varies with time. Any bets on what inflation is going to do? The BoE base rate isn't the rate that affects mortgages. There are loads of different rates that reflect the cost of borrowing by mortgage lenders. The BoE rate does have an effect, but, most certainly, lowering it by 1.5% doesn't lower the banks' costs of borrowing by 1.5%. Of course, what's good for borrowers is bad for savers, such as pensioners using savings interest to supplement their pensions. Wasn't it cheap lending that got us into this mess in the first place? For me, I'm being shafted on my savings (I have no mortgage as I saw house price falls coming) and my service pension that is fixed (so that inflation screws it). Inflation is going to shoot up, so I'm going to lose out even more in the future........... On a last note, don't be fooled by some of the c**p you hear. For example, the idea that the banks are being bailed out is a bit of a laugh. Gordon Broone is lending the banks money and gets 12% tax-free whilst borrowing at 4-5% from pension funds and the likes. I'll have some of that! Ian ps I work in the insurance industry helping manage funds numbering in the billions, so do speak with some idea pps there's only one solution, emigrate, but not to the US, Europe or Russia!

The prosecution of the law on plates is nothing to do with common-sense, it's all to do with making sure we do as we are told and hitting easy targets. IMO, the fine is harsh. Your plate is easy to read, and if anything is easier to read than the legal version. I was recently fined £30 by a motorbike cop for an illegal size plate on my bike. :tsktsk: The fine annoyed me less than the sanctimonious twaddle I had to listen to while he checked my details and wrote his ticket. Plus, having being burgled 3 times in 10 years and had no interest from the Police (I identified the scroat who nicked my wallet and used my cards, but even with that the Police weren't interested), I was angry that they find it easier to nick a law-abiding motorist than a burglar :tsktsk: . OK, the plate was smaller than that required, but it was perfectly readable in all situations. I have no sympathy with funny fonts, colors etc. I also had grief from my ex-wife when her MOT tester said the spacing was wrong on her/my other car (the gap between the first letter and first number was 1/4" too large!) and this cost £60 and lots of hassle to put right so we could get an MOT. As from next year (not far away) you need to have the maker's name on the plate or you will fail the MOT, so beware. As for HIDs, unless you have a self-levelling system (eg IS300) then they are illegal and dangerous to other road users. I have no sympathy there. Keep you eyes peeled. Ian

Best I saw was a lovely picture of a BMW M3 mirror, lovely write-up about the mirror, with bidding getting over £35 with 3 days to go. I was looking for 3-Series mirrors, so was tempted. Then I saw in small print 'You are bidding on the M10 bolt in the picture'. Wonder what the winning bidder thought of that later............ Ian

All PMs gratefully received. My ex-wife checks her car underside with a mirror every morning.......but she's safe as I'd never risk blowing up my boys by mistake. She'd better watch out for the pressure-activated shotgun cartridge underneath the driver's seat though. One of my lads did build one for a motorbike but we persuaded him it was a bad idea to put it on his own bike as he might forget to flip the arming switch off one day (it was pretty spectacular when we set it off on his test bike) Cheers, Ian

Full spec of Sportcross is pinned on one of the boards - in my view, it is an IS200/IS300 sport with a different body shell (hatch instead of boot).

I spent 20 yrs as an engineer in the RAF, specializing in later years in weapons and explosives - don't annoy me, I know 100 different ways to re-unite you with your creator. Now, I do something a little different. My main job is as an actuary in life insurance determining how much money we need to keep the company solvent and meet all the rules. If you don't know what an actuary is, and most people don't (the remainder regret they do), it's effectively an accountant who's very good at maths and has no personality. There are a few jokes about actuaries. E.g. what does an actuary use for contraception?; how do you spot an extrovert actuary? See below for answers. We actuaries are useful though. I can tell people how long they can expect to live and how many years they can expect to live gibbering in a rest home, or the size of Gordon Brown's pension in multiples of that paid to the average pensioner and how much he takes from every litre of fuel. Bet you regret reading now, eh? I have some other jobs, such as free babysitter for my boys when my ex-wife wants to go out, free business adviser for my ex-wife, bank-rolling my ex-wife in her 5-bed house while I live in a rented flat in an Asylum (honest). I'm thinking of packing it all in, living off benefits and replacing my maintenance payments with unpaid work for my wife (seriously). Ian His personality! He mumbles at the other person's belt not his shoes.

Me, I'm a practical and sensible bloke by outlook, and I just can't understand why so many people are so biassed against Hamilton. Sure, some people including me don't like the guy for perceived arrogance and self-interest in running off to a tax-haven so that I have to pay more in tax. Driving a better car? Look at the constructors championship! Glock deliberately slowed down? He was the fastest out there on slicks, he was behind Hamilton when the latter pitted, have a look at Raikkonen letting Massa through earlier in the season. Massa won more races? Not when you reverse that perverse penalty earlier in the season. For me, the only other driver that comes out well this season is Massa. What a wonderful example of sportsmanship he was yesterday, even in these PR-sanitized days. As for the insults from Spain and Italy that I've seen on websites, why do they hate black people so much? Anyway, well done Lewis and commiserations to David Coulthard, his last race ruined by some prat (again) barging into him.