February 2002
I don't know how many of you are old gits like me and will remember him, but I have just been very saddened to hear the news that Tony Pond passed away on Thursday night from Pancreatic Cancer. I remember some of his storming drives like the 1977 RAC when he was lying second in a TR7 until the darn thing fell apart under him. He also had some amazing drives on the Manx International Rally. In 1978 he won driving a TR7V8 that was truly awesome to watch and probably most impressive in 1984 came second overall in a production SD1 Rover.
One of lifes gentlemen and were he twenty years younger, Messrs McRae and Burns would have more than their hands full! Read more
Having regard to some postings, the poor oil companies can give a whack off, to them, and it means very little. 5% off from HMG would be significant.
Why, oh why, do the purveyors not post the actual price of the juice and HMG's imposts together with the total. It used to be done; is it illegal, or forcefully discouraged, now? Read more
Our local Telegraph garage produced a leaflet last year with the fuel price and tax shown seperately.
I seem to recall it was made illegal by snide politicians to show it on the pump.
If they did, more folks would realise that duty is added first to the fuel price and then VAT is added to the total.
So we are in fact paying tax on the duty as well as the fuel. A tax on a tax. How very clever.
I am thinking of buying a car from carcraft. Has anybody had dealings with them please, as I live some distance from Sheffield and know very little about the company. Read more
Anywhere that advertises on the telly has got to be bad news.
Those TV adverts don't come cheap!
just bought second hand focus estate (3yrs 45000 miles) the engine makes a slight tinkling noise - bit like a quieter version of when a water pump is faulty. not too noisy but can hear it inside car. any idea what it might be? thanks for any help Read more
I have this in my 2yo Focus tdi. It is almost inaudible to anyone but me, and started after a few months from new.
It sounded to me like a brake-pad JUST brushing against a disc & making it 'sing' slightly, but it's still there, after 31k miles & new brake-pads.
Doesn't SEEM to be causing any problem, but I do occasionally wonder what's doing it!
Having recently upgraded to the plush luxury (relative to what I used to have) of a 2001 Honda Accord 2.0 SE Exec, I can't help but feeling nothing more than "content".
Wondering if it was just my choice of an old man's car (I'm only 27) that was causing my perfectly comfortable but equally dull driving experience I had a thrash about in a few other cars.
Father in-law's 110bhp 1.9TDi Golf (Mk4)
Friend's 1.8 GTi Golf (Mk4)
Friend's 2.0 GTi Golf (Mk3)
Brand new 1.6 Civic (courtesy car - now that did get a serious thrashing) - my Accord was in for a minor hi-fi tweak.
The Mk3 GTi was OK, but all the others were seriously dull, all competent, all sturdy, all safe, all boring. And I'm the sort of person who thinks (or thought)that it's a bit sad when people criticise cars for not being "fun".
Take my Accord, you couldn't wish for a sturdier, better built, safer, more comfortable car, but the thing damn near sends me to sleep (and yes, I would have liked a Civic Type R but I'm paying £800 insurance on the Accord....), all this modern efficiency stuff means you need to dial the thing past 4000rpm to get it do anything and even then a passenger could have a cup of tea and a scone in the passenger seat quite comfortably.
As a final test I had a word with the guy I sold my Mk2 Golf 1.8 GTi 8 valve to, and he was happy to let me take it out for a blast for old time's sake. And guess what, it was the most fun I'd had behind a wheel since I sold it. Despite (or because of?) 150k, thrashed, raw, no air bags, no anti lock anything, no side impact this and anti-roll the other, light as a feather and a pleasure to kick into a corner at 90mph and feel it twitch (I live on the Isle Of Man so this sort of thing can be done quite legally and safely on a quiet unrestricted road).
Modern cars are the dull, overpriced equivalents of extra-safe condoms. They'll get the job done, but you won't feel much along the way.
I wish I would have just bought the £10k Jap Import Celica GT-4 and used the change from the £13k the Accord cost me on the £2300 the insurance company wanted to cover me on the GT-4. (And even then the new GT-4 is just a shadow of its former self).
Oh well, maybe when I have more than one year's no claims to offer.....
Alex.
P.S. I realise that the comeback on this is "Well why did you buy the Accord then?" - but my point is that all modern mainstream cars that come in below Insurance Group 15 are pretty much of a muchness, all safe, all reliable, all boring. In years gone by "normal" cars could still have a bit of kick and fun about them, but that's been all but designed out. Pfffftt. Read more
Phil,
Can't say (nothing sinister, just can't) but it could so easily have been. And I think you'll realise I was only picking on the downsides for a bit of fun......except for the lack of speed bump ability.
Just a shame I never had time to rest it on the tip run.
David
I know that 4wd is 4 wheel drive but exactly what does 4X4 mean (other than =16)? Read more
All wheel drive was to emphasise the fact that is was for use on the road (as opposed to off-road)
Hi,
I have a 'Blaupunkt Windsor SQR 38' radio in a 1988 Golf, and I need the code. Can anyone tell me if this is likely to be the original, so that I can get the code from VW?
Regards,
LAS Fan Club Read more
Just for the record, I've had an '89 & 90 Golf, both had Panasonics in, and I'm pretty sure they were the originals.
I've got a CD player in the current '90 one but still have the original at home.
Just got the Makro catalogue through the door and as well as a video recorder for £40, there's a Jag X-type on the cover for £17,500 - am I going mad? Is this a block exemption thing?
Quote "Jaguar X Type 2.5 v6 free delivery 12 months road tax - Suppliers suggested selling price £19,459.27 - our price £17,499.99" prod no. 146567
I'm going to pop down there now - there's nothing on the web site about it.
God knows how it's going to fit in the trolley though......... Read more
What dealer's threats?
The westbound slip of J3 of the M55 has had one lane closed for a couple of weeks now, due to the most minor of road works.
Each day during rush hour, queues of up to 3/4 of a mile form back onto the motorway.
People wising to leave at J3, keep in lane 3 ?till the last minute; having passed the stationary queue in lanes 1 and 2
This leads to all three lanes being blocked or at best moving very slowly.
Drivers approaching J3 brake, drivers behind over-compensate and a shock wave of stationary traffic is sent back down the M55 towards the 4 lane M6 {the country's major motorway in terms of vehicles per day - more use the M6 in Lancashire than any part of the M25 {London orbital}.
Meanwhile on the slip road, the cause of the hold up for thousands of people, one man works with one pick for 6 hours per day.
On major road like this, why oh why can we not have 24 operations under floodlight and have the job done in a day ???????????
In LA {USA}, after an earthquake a few years ago, they re-built about 6 miles of collapsed elevated highway in as many weeks. About 2 years ago, the Highways Agency all but closed the M6 / M55 junction for 3 months to paint a few flyovers ?pathetic. Several major accidents occurred in these roadworks, the worst I was stuck in, the M6 was closed for about 10 hours ?the whole of the Northwest was in grid lock ? I do not know if lives were lost ? if they were who do you think was to blame, the driver who ?caused? the crash {it could so easily have been you or I} or the Highways Agency?
All to paint a bridge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've read that one fatal accident costs the state over £1,000,000. Each year many people die as a result of such roadworks . Yes ultimately a driver has caused the accident by making a mistake, but the actions of the Highways Agency make accidents far more likely.
The highway agency blaming the driver for the accident is a bit like the government blaming everything on foot and mouth. BSE ? blame someone else.
But when will it end, the colour of the government changes nothing.
Such ?penny pinching? roadworks are a false economy and wreck lives.
Sorry to HJ-ers from the SW and Home Counties who do not know of the M6 ? the UK?s first motorway, or the M55, the first purpose built ?holiday motorway?.
Alex. Read more
I have noticed that the gas company (Transco?) seems to have been replacing an awful lot of mains over the last year or so: fair enough, the old iron pipes are worn out, but they seem to dig as many holes as possible, make the coned off area as large as possible, and even store materials such as pipes on coned off road when there is acres of pavement adjacent where they could have been kept.
The major route into London from the north-east, at Tottenham, was subjected to this for four or five months, with a major junction half blocked, when IMHO the job could have been completed in four weeks max.
Is BG being paid a backhander to cause as much disruption as possible? It certainly seems like it.
The saga of buying a new car took me into an Alfa dealer on spec. Apparantly 156 Sportwagons are now virtually unavailable new (!!!!) and this means that nearly new ones are costing at least the same as new.
Didn't really like it anyway so it's all a bit academic, but some guys really do try it on. Read more
First it is true HJ, I was there....
Second, I didn't like the driving position. I have an arthritic condition - ankylosing spondolytis if you must know - and some seats are a real problem to me. The other thing I was really unsure about was the lack of space but this is a problem with many of the "lifestyle" estates.
Call me a philistine if you like but the Alfa engine seems to have lost a bit of soul in the endless quest for emissions figures as well.
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Peter,
It seems wrong to say thanks for the post, but you know what I mean.
I had no idea that he had been ill. What a bloody shame. Until quite recently I believe he was still doing development work for Rover, and I am sure he had lost none of "it". That 100mph lap of the IOM was quite something - I remember seeing the film of it some years back. Also remember seeing live that TR8 through the RAC stages in Wales - well wicked. A great loss.
Adam