J Henderson

My washers are staying usable with this stuff from Halfords. -20 Concentrated Screenwash Used neat. They also stock a -30 one, but that comes in a smaller bottle. Avoid "ready to use" products IMO. You're just paying mostly for water.

Had this happen a few times. Normally, I'd suggest just doing nothing and they'll retract on their own once it gets warmer, but it doesn't seem like the temperature is going to rise above freezing anytime soon! You're going to have to heat them up somehow. A hairdryer or similar would probably be best. Buy some screenwash with a lower freezing point to try and prevent it from happening again.

I have ordered from there a few times, although never with UPS shipping. I did have to pay duty, but what I ordered was worth more than a tenner and I expected it.

Calipers for vented discs have the number 18 stamped on them. (The disc thickness, I believe).

Absolute rubbish. You can still buy new parts for a 30 year-old LS400. Definitely report or submit a complaint about whoever tried to fob you off. RC300h Exhaust trim

£25.49 for 2x Clamp & 2x Bolt, delivered by UPS. You could try Lexuspartsdirect, but I'd be surprised if it's that much cheaper since they charge at least £5.99 for P&P.

If you don't mind buying from Japan. Clamp Bolt

Do you spot what you need here?

Exactly this. Relying on the heater to clear the windscreen takes forever and burns an insane amount of fuel. Invest in a decent scraper (I've been using this one for a number of years), and a quality trigger-spray de-icer, and job done in a couple of minutes. I recommend the Autoglym one. Also. Never use the folding mirror feature at this time of year. If they get frozen stuck in the folded position, it takes forever for them to get warm enough to move, and leaves you screwed.

Toyota were Fiorentina's shirt sponsor for a number of years. The Lexus brand seems to be targeted at more "affluent" sports like Golf & Tennis. As for England. I've found them quite boring to watch in most of their matches. There's been too many long periods of the GK, back 4 and Rice passing the ball sideways between each other with seemingly no idea of how to progress farther up the pitch. I swear this went on for about 20mins straight at one point against the USA. Who, they probably should have lost to. They're capable of anything because of the players they have at their disposal, so it wouldn't surprise me if they beat France, but it's like they play with the handbrake on under Southgate. As a neutral, the team I would like to win the tournament, is Argentina. Their fans have been amazing and also because of Lionel Messi. He's a joy to watch, even when past his best like he is nowadays, but if he finishes his career with a winners medal, it'll put to bed any argument about his standing in the game and being compared with others.

Did you notice this? *Not ABE/ECE approved I believe this technically means it's not road-legal. However I doubt this system is mega loud since it's just an axle-back, so it ought to avoid any scrutiny.

The high sticker price of a new EV is just one thing. The technology is still in it's infancy and constantly evolving and improving. Meaning, even if you can afford one, by the time you've paid for it - 3, 4 years later or whatever. Your car is basically second-rate and undesirable compared to what'll be on the market then. Plus, of course there's the battery degradation that you mention to add to the equation. If that means old-tech EVs will suffer very heavy depreciation and be relatively cheap, then yeah that might mean there could be a 2nd-hand market for them. Otherwise, who would want a used one indeed. Another thing that'll be a factor is just how many EVs will actually survive long enough to make it on to the used marketplace. Savagegeese raises this question and a few others in this review of the BMW iX. It's a real eye-opener. Because it, and many other luxury EVs are so complex and weigh so freaking much, the manufacturers are increasingly making body parts out of carbon composites and other exotic materials, and making the battery pack an integral part of the structure etc. Which could potentially make even a minor prang hideously expensive to repair, or write-off the car altogether.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63743597.amp

Yeah, but the "customisation" Mercedes are charging a subscription for, is something the car is already capable of. It's just locked away behind a pay wall, videogame-style.

Instead of budgeting for a 40min journey at 75mph. You could leave 10mins earlier and stick to 60mph* * If feasible since I understand the 220d has notoriously tall gear ratios... Other basic tips; Accelerating slowly at low revs can actually be less efficient than reaching your desired speed briskly. Then use light throttle inputs, or cruise control to maintain that speed. When you are accelerating, try "block shifting", which is a known fuel-saving technique where you rev out a gear slightly more than normal and then skip the next gear altogether - going from 1st to 3rd, 2nd to 4th etc. Anticipate the road ahead. Braking heavily typically leads to more fuel being used. Leave a decent gap to vehicles infont & coast more when approaching junctions, traffic lights, nasty bends or roundabouts. And lastly, a clean car uses less fuel than one that is dirty. Although, it's hard to keep a car clean at this time of year.

Whatever next? Mercedes performance upgrade subscription 😄

Pretty much. And some of the things are one-off, long-term outlays - Coolant, spark plugs, gearbox fluid etc that won't need attention for a while. According to the list, the rear calipers were only replaced or repaired in March...and now they need replaced again?

I think that's possible on all 2009+ cars. Even those without a navigation unit. Although having the screen certainly makes choosing albums & tracks much easier. As well as USB sticks, or a phone. I believe you can also plug in a 2.5" HDD if formatted properly (FAT32). I haven't tried this myself though. Another thing of note. The 2009+ Mark Levinson system allows CDs to be ripped and stored in a small allocation of the system's HDD space (either 10 or 20GB, can't remember which). Plus, the ML system can play DVDs featuring Dolby 5.1 & DTS soundtracks.

Used Lexus Edinburgh for servicing up until 2020. No real complaints with how I, or my car, was treated. They were one of the dealers who offered a discount for LOC Gold Membership, although they refused to apply said discount to an Essential service for me ("it's already discounted"). I guess they would probably honour the deal for a full-price service, if they are still involved in the scheme. Showrooms full of AMG and M cars within spitting distance, if you're planning to wait.

Well, as someone who drives a truck, I want to stick up for those guys. 🙂 Yeah, we've all experienced the above scenario, even if it is exaggerated, but You'd be surprised just how much time can be lost when a driver is prevented from doing the full 90km/h. The drivers are often operating within fine margins where a slight delay can have a disastrous outcome or knock-on effect. Their every move is also literally being watched like a hawk in multiple ways - tachograph, GPS tracking, on-board cameras and telemetry systems. Not to mention, the recent ("Hierarchy of road users") changes to the highway code has placed them under additional scrutiny. So no, I personally don't mind waiting a minute or whatever for an HGV driver to overtake another. They're just doing their job, so that annoys me far less than the main issue brought up by @NemesisUK (vehicles speeding-up when they are being passed). Now that is annoying, and infuriating when you yourself are in a speed-limited vehicle and don't have the option of accelerating more to complete the pass.

This 50/50 picture shows the subtle difference between the bumpers.

No problem. The light on the dash gone now?

Yeah

Thats a new one for me. I know radials and crossply tyres couldn't be mixed, but the wording there suggests that, having say, a directional tyre and an asymmetric one on the other side would be an MOT fail?

Here you go. Just nipped out and took this one.