Adam Evans

I pay almost £1000 with Direct Line 5 years no claims Been driving for 6 years and one fault crash in the last 5 years (lots none fault) 0 points on my licence Oh and I am 23 years old But this year I will (hopefully) have 6 years no claims and I think that should count to something Been with Direct Line for the past 5 years and every year my renewal from them is the cheapest and I cannot match it on the market with anyone else but I still ring up and knock them down a bit

I am sorry to tell you this but Blueprint is NOT oem at all. You have to be very careful about this as they are just a packaging company and it is a lucky dip as to what parts are actually inside the box Taken from their website: http://www.blueprint-adl.co.uk/products.htm Blue Print is the leading brand of aftermarket parts for Japanese, Korean and American vehicles. The Blue Print range contains over 20,000 part numbers in more than 100 different product groups. The range not only covers every mainstream Japanese and Korean model, but also many derivatives, “platform shared” European vehicles, Japanese “Grey” Imports and UK specification American Vehicles.

Yes it kicked in - good job because with the power under my foot it felt like I could spin the world backwards !

Yessssssssssssss its the closest photo I could find. At least that one was done with a purpose and not to be lit up in McDonalds carparks. It's not my taste at all but that was the kind of car it was as I said but with a bad paint job and odd wheels. Bet Monster-Mat wouldn't try racing me on a public road though :P Changed the photo as I don't want to offend anyone on here and the new photo is a bit more fitting with the spoiler too !

Yours looks rather nice Not just silly boy for trying to race me on a public road but just silly boy in general for trying to race me :P Yours looks really nice and NOTHING like the one that I saw today. It looked really dark matt green (or just a bad paint job) blacked out badges ridiculously lowered but it must have had a good sound system to hear the radio over that racket that the exhaust kicks out :P Nice job on yours Chris that's tastefully done His kinda reminded me of this Only with odd wheels and a crap paint job !!

As we all know I have the 4LITRE MK4 LSFOURHUNDRED Anyway driving back towards mine today there was what could only be described as a "silly young boy" in a IS200 This particular car had an exhaust I could fit my head in, green front wheels and pink rear wheels. I can only assume that the rear wheels were different for driftin' LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Anyway coming up to a few roads from mine he decided to put his foot down and gave a bit of chase, which obviously, wasn't quick enough to get away from me. Next he pulls into my road and drives at just under 10mph before turning into where he lives and "lighting the back end up" to drift it into his drive. This is the EXACT reason why I didn't buy an IS200 as when they come from the factory they were a fantastic car but now they are all FCUKED because of people who feel they have a point to prove. P.S I do not need to prove any point in my car as I found out the other day by total accident I drive a 1.3CDTI corsa combo van during the week so at the weekend I forgot about the 4Ltr beast under my foot and pressed the throttle too hard the other day. At 40mph it kicked down and wheelspun - in the dry too !! but I shan't be repeating this as the tyres are too expensive and little silly boys may try to race me which will make them rather upset when I whop their bottoms !

That not too bad at all however I know of a few people that sell things on eBay saying 100% uk and they are not. But there are a few ways to look at it. You were either stitched up by someoe who bought them from china and put a stamp on them (the markup difference between mine and yours is about right) or they genuinely did come from England the bit from the economy works both ways. If they are from englad great. If not you have kept an importer in a job and off the dole. So kudos for that :-P

So how much were the Chinese struts ? About £35 for the 2 delivered so its not too bad

Yeah you are right That stamp was definitely made in England !!! Seriously the stuff from China is getting much better these days so I am not too fussed if its from China However they do look pretty good

My car never had one of them anyway so I was not too fussed about it at all The end of the battery tray that is closest to the engine is the part I cut off so the battery sticks out however if I hadn't have told you without really looking you would never know With me doing a lot of long distance driving I wanted to make sure I had enough juice in the battery to last http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Lexus_LS_4.0_1998/p/car-parts/car-electrics-and-car-lighting/electrical/car-battery/?444773357&1&990657e924e55c2b108f138aeffff6712c473b81&000020 I didn't know about the battery cover until you just mentioned it, I am sure I can get one that goes around like a sock (on the astra or vectra) that will look just as good That's the one I fitted to it

I have the bigger Bosch one in my car and I "adjusted" the battery tray to fit it in Mine seems fine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxUsGiGp3w watch this the second half is brilliant !!!!!

I have heard that at 30mph they actually use more fuel than a 530d BMW and that some people have had them chipped ............. to make them slower !!!

I think that Prius drivers should try it Drive it to the moon ......................... and stay there !!!!!!!!!!!

I've just done a few calculations as to why I love my Lexus and thought I should share !! It is £22000 for a new Prius you would have to drive nearly 4 MILLION MILES to save that money over a LS400 on LPG 100000miles at 50mpg will cost you £11819.84 (Prius) 100000miles at 25mpg on LPG will cost you £12365.37 (LS400) That means that over 100000 miles driving a Prius you would save £500 so in order to save your initial outlay of £22000 you would have to drive pretty far. And be putting fuel in along the way at a cost of nearly £475000. Can you really see the new Prius doing 4M miles ?? To put into perspective you would have to drive to and from the moon 8 times comparing to LPG !!!!! So to recap, in order to save the initial £22000 you will have to drive 4M miles and put in £475000 in fuel along the way that is worse than the banks interest and also you would either have to do average mileage for 333 years or be a taxi driver doing 50000miles for 80 years. I think I will stick with my Lexus !! I have edited this post as my Petrol calculations were MILES wrong !!! LPG is still correct though

.

Talking about cost and efficiency, you could buy a Prius Now here is a bit of a scientific rant. Prius-es and the people who drive them to "save the planet" are whoppers !!! They take their ELECTRIC car and plug it in - are you with me so far ? Where does the electricity come from ? ............. you guessed ........... the power station .......... powered by coal (more emissions than petrol) !!!! Yes there are wind farms but the majority of our electricity supply comes from COAL !!!! Next are the batteries that are warranted from Toyota for 100,000 miles but usually break after 120,000 miles at a cost of about £3000-£5000 After all of this how much did it cost and how much did it damage the environment to build the factory to build the Prius in and also the factory to build the batteries in. After all of this I feel that I am damaging the planet FAR less that someone who has a Prius and they are a hypocrite by driving such a ridiculous car. Stick to your Lexus and don't look back !!!! As for a smart car !!!!!!!! don't get me started. Aren't those the cars you have to open the boot and pull start every time you want to go anywhere :P they are AWFUL cars and I bet you spend more in repairs on it than you will putting fuel in your Lexus. I know this to be true as I know someone who bought one for good money between £2-£3k anyway next MOT came around and the repair bill was £1800 just to get it to scrape through !!! Seriously Lexus is the way

My Toyota Sera did this when I was getting off the ferry in Dunkerque a few years back I switched it on and then got told to turn it off as the queue was not ready to move yet. 30 seconds later I needed to start up and it just wouldn't fire. But I have a fail safe on the gas system which is if it won't start on petrol for any reason after cranking for 5 seconds and no luck it will automatically start on gas Anyway I heard the gas solenoids click and it fired up on gas instantly. I have no idea what it was or why it did that but at least I had the gas system to fall back on.

It's ok now. Back in the UK now. Due to the recent floods in the south the Dover to Calais ferry dropped us off in Birmingham !! Only joking. On a serious note hope nobody was affected as a result of the floods. Only found out about them on the boat on the way home

Oh I didn't know that !! Thanks for letting me know anyway it is fixed now and as the saying goes. If it works don't fix it.

Also Malc, we are the lucky ones to be able to find a mechanic who will weld it up as I have heard plenty of times that members have been told that their y-piece is totally broken and they need a new one to the tune of nearly £600 !!! What ever happened to make do and mend ?? Maybe because you drop off a 20 pack at Christmas your mechanic is more willing to help you. Just goes to show, it works both ways

No harm meant by Mr English man it's just because I was here I had no choice and when you see a grinder come out near your lexus you do fear the worst !! If you look after your car it will look after you. Same as your mechanic which you clearly do with the Xmas booze :-P Mr Polish Man said that it looks like it is a common fault as it seems as though the heatshields come loose and rub against it. Not sure how true this is though. I may look at investing in a full stainless next year. I think the going rate in England is £450 from cat back. I will see what it is here when I am next over. Just to make crystal clear. I am not knocking Mr English Man but I am just saying how efficient Mr Polish Man is and I was quite surprised !!!

There is nothing wrong with aliexpress. It's justlike eBay. If you don't use your head you will be stung Never pay through western union and always use their Escrow system and you will be ok. I have never had a problem before You can also press the chat now button and talk to the people you are buying from. You can usually get a feel for the company this way and also have a bit of a haggle as the prices are never set in stone !! Also you can do a deal on 2 or 3 sensors as you can sell the remaining ones one eBay to maybe cover your costs of buying your one for your car There are lots of options Just be careful as eventhough they tell you the part comes with a warranty are you seriously going to send it back to China if it is faulty ?

Wow three times more expensive I do suppose that the overheads in England may be a bit more than Poland I did work out that it took him 15 minutes for £10 so to work on that it would be £40 an hour !! How long did it take Mr English Man to do it as the chances are that Mr Polish Man was on more money per hour as he didn't hang about !! He put the kettle on the boil before he started and poured a hot cup of coffee when he had finished !!

Firstly let me start with a few days back Driving through Germany my car didn't feel fine Took it to a garage and they said my hub nut had come loose because someone has cut the hub shorter and now the nut can't lock. I asked the garage to tighten it up and put 2 little tacks of weld to hold it in place but they said no they cannot as that is dangerous so they tightened up with studlock and made me sign a document to say I understand that my car CANNOT be driven as I could potentially die !!! Fast forward a few days when I got to Poland and I take it to a garage. They put it on the ramp and say "I don't see what the problem is, pass me that welder now" And it's all done I say how much do I owe you and he said that that bit is for free as long as I pay him to fix my y-piece on my car as it has been bandaged up in the past. I said to go ahead and repair it Anyway out comes the grinder and out comes the welder and 15 minutes later I have 2 brand new sections in the exhaust. They do not blow at all and he got it right first time unlike every English person I know !! Oh and it looks really good When I come to pay him he said it would be 50PLN which is about £10 !!!!! Absolutley over the moon car is now safe and that hub nut will not come loose and my exhaust is like a brand new one !! So all this "bloody polish coming here stealing our jobs" I wish he was in England with the professional job he did as it means I won't have to travel so far next time !!!