amolkarnik

Alfa 156?

does anyone have any experience of the Yaris with the 1 litre engine? Just how underpowered does it feel and is it capable of motorway speeds?

I got one at Lexus Croydon while I was there last weekend. They were handing them out to everyone present, so it looks like an 'exclusively for everyone' event

Thanks guys.

I drove the Mitsubishi Colt. Cracking car. very roomy and the 1.1 drives very well. Unfortunately they do the auto only on the 1.3 (poorly rated engine), the 1.5 petrol and the 1.5 diesel. Also the car is too new to find any cheapish used examples about.

The Yaris and the Jazz are the top contenders right now. There are a few Yaris' about so I reckon I could pick one up for about 6k. The Jazz auto is very hard to come by, their resale values are much higher and its a bit of a family motor.

Golf/Focus/Civic are not in the contention because they are slightly larger motors which is something we dont really need. That will mean more fuel, running and insurance costs. The Focus is very tempting and quite cheap for what they are, the Golf too expensive for what they are and the Civic too bland unless its a Type-R. My opinion anyways.

I have my eyes out a Ibiza, but the auto is available only on the 1.4 which is a dull engine (drove a rental 1.4 Polo manual in South Africa for 3k and it drove me mad. Cant even imagine how underpowered it will be as an auto).

I cant really bring myself to spend any money on a French car, so by elimination its probably going to be a Yaris. I will have to try out their 1 litre car with the MMT (clutchless) gearbox. meant to be very good and fuel efficient as well, if slightly underpowered.

Wife needs a car. Need to find a small automatic hatchback thats not too pricey to insure. Needs to be reliable as well (guess that rules out the French, Vauxhall and Ford). Her driving will be largely country roads, doing about 12000 miles pa. Any opinions?

i bought my car new and i was a cash buyer for it. the dealer tried to flog me finance and just to check them out i offered to pay 3.9% APR and left it to the dealer to get back to me if they could offer me that. And guess what, they did!!!! So bargain hard.

do you live in switzerland mate? i thought this sort of things dont happen there. my mate has an impreze sti-wrx thing and he parks it overnight in a garage without locking either the car or the garage . doesnt even lock it at night (in laussane)

sounds easy enough. thanks mate.

these bits are replacing the existing electric appliances and the wiring is already in place. i am not too worried about making the connections. havent just installed these type of appliances before and i am not too sure about what sort of fitting will be needed to secure the appliances in place.

We are getting a new kitchen installed. The fitters have put in the units and worktop, but the appliance delivery has been delayed. The w*nkers that the fitters are, they want to charge me extra for coming back to fit the appliances and I just want them out of the house.

All the wiring is in place (existing wiring) to sire the bits in and the over housing has also been installed. Can anyone here offer help/advise/instructions on how to go about putting the bits together? There is a ceramic hob, standard extractor and a 60cm single oven.

costs permitting, put me down on this list.

hi mate. welcome to the LOC. I am 6'2" myself and never had headroom problems, though i must admit that its not the most comfortable car in the world. move the seat all the way back and as low as you can get it. should be ok then.

go with the panasonic or the philips. sony are about the same as the other 2 but much dearer.

SHAHZ - with Plasma's i'd stick with the big brands- pioneer, panasonic philips.

I work in the city in London and work quite closely with all sorts of analysts. The one thing I've learnt is everyone talks bollocks. The market can move only 2 ways (up or down) and all analysts predict one of the 2 directions. So atleast 50% are always right. Given that I have a fairly deep understanding of financial markets, banking, interest rates etc., I make financial decisions without any advise.

Personally, if you get an affordable mortgage and think long term (5 years plus), in the worst case you wont have made any money, but you will have paid to own atleast a part of your house. If you are the types thats going to get onto an estate agents website every month to check the value of your house, I'd suggest you want a few months and see where the market goes. If you aren't going to lose sleep over a 10 - 15% dip in your property price, I'd say, start looking and try and spot a house that's been on the market for a while. As a first time buyer with your mortgage offer sorted, you might be able to bag a good deal.

I am thinking of moving myself and the house goes on the market in a week or two. I went to see the bank last week and they offered me 4.5 times my salary + 3 times the missus' salary (I have about 25% deposit). Of course I wont be borrowing all that. So be wary of what you are offered.

Banks are there to make money and any misery that over-borrowing might cause you is not their business. Apart from being liable to pay back what you borrowed, giving them a mortgage to your property, banks have their leding risks hedged, so they never lose. Its a case of caveat emptor.

Generally speaking I dont trust any IFA's or mortgage advisors. Mortgages are very simple business and it helps to select the mortgage you want yourself and then getting an advisor to do the form filling for you.

PM me if you need more info.

thats really amazing..... bet you;re happy mate.

Going to Egypt from 19-27 March. Any tips on what to and not-to do?

I got this one

http://www.jomashop.com/breitling-488.html

Had it for 2.5 years now. No problems. Had to send it in for recalibration. got it done free.

Its a bit heavy, but its waterproof till 1000M.

Breitling are among the only watchmakers that still make their own movements along with ROlex, Zenith, Patek Phillipe etc. Omega, Tag etc, source theirs from a Hong Kong based company.

look up a company called omega in cheshunt. they do quality stuff. bit pricey though.

I might be considering a move to the Bedford/MK area. Does anyone on here know much about the area and can provide some property advise?

Forgive me if this sounds ridiculous, but will a Battery thats rated higher than the standard one put more load on the alternator to keep it charged, thereby putting more load on the engine and affecting fuel consumption?

So I just pop down to Halfords and ask for some Castrol GTX?

This Stuff?

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thats the one

I think lexus requires a fully synthetic oil and Shell Helix ultra and GTX are compliant. basically i use the most expensive oil i can find. its not a great deal more than cheaper options and given that you need a change once every 10k, its well worth it.

I use Castrol GTX. about 20 quid for a can at Halfords. Shell ultra helix is another good synthetic oil. I thik the lexus approved oil is a 5W30.

Considered it myself. Dont fancy the idea of having bits of my eye shaved off using a laser.

rental nissan serena diesel. noisy, slow, lousy handling. its dire.