Hando

This one

It could just be the little plastic hinge that makes the flap pop open. It does corrode/snap easily and when it goes it won't pop open the flap when you pull the lever - so by the time you go round to it it's locked again (because the lever is back in the down/close position. Get a friend to hold up the fuel flap release lever in the driver's seat (or jam something under it to keep it up) while you see if you can open the flap with a little prise with a credit card.

Yeah I did this the other night - I used a C-Cut section of radiator hose held in place with a cable tie. Super-easy install. TBH the difference is not enormous and I can't tell how much could be placebo effect, but it definitely feels more responsive/more immediate. One thing - you definitely feel more engine vibration through the pedal (which I presume is why they put the spring system in in the first place) - but I actually really like that :) Out of 10 I'd give it an 8 for effect and a 10 for ease/price ;) If any 300 users want a cable tie and a section of radiator hose - I had to buy a lot more than i needed so drop me a pm.

Same as above - 35 all round.

The amount of work that must have gone into this.....? check track 4 :)

I did a workshop walkthrough here which was for the grom ipod install but it includes headunit removal. But get Wozza's doc too.

Don't think there's any such thing as 17" "sport" wheels. When they changed from 5 spoke to multi-spoke they did that across the whole range. There were the 18" Styling kit alloys but they were an additional option for all models. The fact that there's no rear tint means it's either SE or LE. I think they switched to full leather for SE at some point possibly 04.

yeah realtek do most of the onboard audio components. You can make that work with a Creative 7.1 analogue speaker set up but it requires a little bit of fiddling and one more cable than the speakers are supplied with. With surround sound setups you can end up spending as much as you want (some audiophiles will pay through the nose) but if you don't want to break the bank: these are what I have and they're pretty good.

From connections alone - you have a 7.1 surround sound audio card - so might be worth getting 7.1 speakers. (yes, a pair of speakers going to a single jack) BUT if it's a Creative soundcard it's worth matching it with a creative set of speakers (they have annoying jack hookups that are unique to them)

Got some radiator hose and a cable tie in my bag - will be doing this this weekend and will report back.

Vibration that you can drive through (i.e. it stops above a certain speed) - sounds like wheel balancing. I'd get down to wim and explain the symptom and have them check it out. But sticky caliper is another option to check out - check for heat or excessively more brake dust on one of the front wheels that the other.

Cheers! I'm gonna treat myself and wash the car then the missus is taking me out for dinner. :) Happy birthday P4UL T & Legendswraith!!

Guru - no way ;) I'm a videogame designer by trade and have been working in the industry for quite a long time (close to 20 years) I'm not a coder though but obviously I work closely with some very talented programmers - and some stuff has rubbed off on me - although what they do is still magic to me. I've worked on games from pre-windows PC's to current generation consoles (and pretty much every platform in between) and am now design director at a major publisher. I think there are a few games industry people on loc? certainly there was someone a while ago who was involved with championship manager.....

It's not just the fogs that are different - the Sportcross bumper juts out more/is more angled than standard (you can see it if you look around the grill area) It looks quite nice on a saloon IS imo.

To put this back on topic - you can only do that if the game supports it and currently the only game that supports it is Unreal Tournament 3 (which you'd be better off playing on PC) hope that helps. (also if you still must have a PS3 - little birdies tell me that a price drop is imminent so might be worth waiting for that.)

Lol - yep forgot GT - however for every GT fan there's an equally loyal Forza fan :) horses for courses... CoD is one of the better cross-platform games around: anti-aliasing and framerate and overall texture detail is slightly better on 360, but shadows and shaders are slightly better on PS3. But really they're pretty much identical have a look here for a slowed down hi-def side by side comparison vid Nothing in it really - like I said I'm not saying "xbox is king!" or "ps3 rules!" - I'm just saying that anyone who does say that is wrong (on both counts) No doubt though - the reliability thing on xbox was a massive ***** up on M$'s part. I'm lucky - mine has been fine since launch. Now we better shut up or Fargo will be along with a "nerd alert" ;)

Is that because of technical superiority or because the way games are developed though ? I think your "simple fact" is about the way games run, not about what's possible from the hardware. There is some truth in that yes - the difference is this: xbox has a more traditional hardware approach of a very mature dedicated gpu and a good cpu. So you can throw all your rendering stuff at the gpu (hence better out-of-the-box anti-aliasing and higher resolutions) and leave the processing stuff to the cpu (animations, physics, ai etc etc.) The PS3 has a very quirky architecture with a more powerful cpu but a rubbish gpu. However the cpu is meant to take on some of the rendering work - so you have to be smarter about where you are going to spend your cpu time. The "fact" above, you're right, is that right now all cross-platform games look/play better on x360 because devs are more comfortable with the traditional gpu/cpu approach. And most cross-platform games are developed on PC platforms (same architecture as xbox) then ported to PS3. This will change as PS3 coding matures and people learn "tricks" to get the best out of it but even with that it is unlikely that PS3 will ever be able wipe the floor with 360. There is no clear "better" console and I'm not suggesting that there is. Ultimately when you factor in all the pros and cons of each they are very very similar. But the idea that alot of people have that PS3 is some kind of super-computer and x360 is out of date is just wrong.

it is a common misconception that PS3 is technically better than 360, and that 360 is "old" but it's just not true. CoD 4+5 and PES all play on 360 and not just that but at a higher resolution (most ps3 games aren't even running in real 720p - they are upscaled from a lower res), with better frame rates and with real anti-aliasing. Name me one game that runs better on PS than Xbox? There isn't one. I'm not a fanboi and PS3 vs Xbox arguments are as boring as Mac vs PC - but the above is simple fact. Rabster - maybe you're just not a console gamer? PC is still the best platform for shooters and rts by a huge margin. And a lot of the console games are better on PC (Fallout, Mirror's Edge, Far Cry 2, Burnout...) If 360 didn't float your boat then PS3 won't either. If all your mates are playing console games online then get the same console they have.

Colin is correct: is300 belt change == 100k/10yrs.

the x360 is cheaper and technically far superior. There are only three PS3 exclusive games worth anything (metal gear solid 4 - yawn, little big planet - fun but not as amazing as everyone said, and Killzone 2 - technically cool, but just another FPS which frankly don't work on consoles because of the controls) PS3 has bluray, x360 doesn't but that's a non issue for you. go xbox.

oh yeah! Forgot about this mod - I had my 200 at the time so it didn't apply. Thanks for reminding me Aido - I'll do this one this weekend.

Looks beautiful. What I love is the fact that when you first got the 'risto you were saying "what I love about it is it's a real sleeper and I think I'm going to keep it like that.".... ... and now it's becoming a VIP-badass yakuza nutter. You just couldn't stay incognito could you? ;)

it's a plastic cover - you can take the lamps apart in the oven and remove it. I quite like 'em yellow though :)

It is mate - I'm very very happy with Be. Once you're up and running - if you have any issues with drop outs or connection in general - give me a pm, 'cos there are a few tricks I researched to help get the best out of your connection and the Be-box (supplied ADSL2 router)

I just had my 60k service done at a Lexus dealer for my 300. IS200 timing belt is now recommended to be changed at 60k miles however IS300 is still 100k. And Lexus Hatfield must be having a laugh - my service was done at a full Lexus dealer and cost £480.