Ok, having nearly started a riot already today, time for you good ladies and gentlemen to consider the following:

3/5 door hatchback to be used for daily 45mile round trip, 40 miles of which are NSL A roads or Dual Carriageway. Budget of about £5-6k. Likely to have to double as a small pick-up-truck for plants and other horticultural paraphenalia as SWMBO is giving up the rat race to become a kept woman on a Horticultural course in deepest Dorset.

Now, I'm tempted towards a diesel for the lower running costs, but then there are plenty of petrol hatchbacks that will see close on 50mpg with that kind of use.

Currently thinking in terms of Punto diesel, Yaris petrol, Ibiza diesel in that price range.

SWMBO loves the way the Alfa drives and previously had an MR2 so likes a car that goes where it's pointed.

Any other ideas I should be considering?
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All,

I\'m just about to get a new (to me) Focus. It doesn\'t have a heated front windscreen although I\'d like to have one.

Does anyone know whats involved apart from changing the screen itself. I\'ve spoken to a Ford dealer and was somewhat surprised at just how little they seemed to know.

Has anyone done this before? I\'ve looked at the Haynes manual and it seems to me like it could be as simple as a new switch assembly, a relay and a couple of fuses. The $64k question is how does the screen actually connect to the car electrics as this is obviously (I\'m guessing) missing on the car I\'m getting.

Comments appreciated - and yes its too late to get one with the screen already fitted!

In anticipation.

Robert Read more

Having recently bought an E30 318IS (H reg) with 15 inch alloys and then suffering a rear puncture, I was fairly disheartened to discover that the studs would not "reach" throught the BMW spare wheel to screw into the hub. There are no spacers fitted or anything strange about the spare or the hub. I checked with BMW and the studs are original BMW studs (they only make one size/shape of studs) so why wont the studs work with the BMW spare wheel? Nobody seems to be able to help! One solution i've thought about is that the spare may only fit the front wheels so that the diff isn't ruined by having different size wheels on the rear axle (spare is 14 inch rim with higher profile tyre to compensate) - ie. in the case of a rear puncture you put the spare on the front and the front (15inch)wheel on the rear! SOunds ridiculous and very laborious - can anyone help at all? Any suggestions very much appreciated!!!

Matt Read more

I thought the instruction this week was *much* better.

The problem areas identified tallied with my own views on my riding and seemed to be:

1) Tailgating. - I do it so I can use my acceleration to overtake cars out of corners. I agree it's wrong and I shouldn't. Just too tempting. If there's no hope of an overtake I leave 2 seconds plus a bit for the rain.

2) Entering corners too fast. - I do this 'cos life's too short to change gears all the time - I try and leave it in a high gear all the way round - this often means going in too fast and therefore sometimes braking mid corner if something unexpected occurs. Laziness really. After a few hours in the saddle constantly keeping the bike in it's power band is too tiring. (In fact the real problem here is gear work not cornering.)

3) Forward observation. I am amazed this was a problem because I'm always peering into the distance. However It's irrefutable that I wasn't taking note of signals from road signs and road markings. I can and will correct this.

One thing mentioned that I disagree with is positioning. I reckon my positioning on Sundays slippery unpredictable roads was 90 per cent correct and as good as anyone else's.

What wasn't mentioned was that slowing down a bit would help get all these things right. But I don't want to slow down. I want to keep up with the fastest...

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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads. Read more

This is really an eye opener.... Water or Coke? We all know that water is important but I've never seen it written down like this before.

WATER:

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.

4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon
cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

And now for the properties of COKE:

1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident. [1]

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.

4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of aluminium foil dipped in Coca-Cola. [1]

5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of
Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion. [1]

6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes. [1]

7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminium foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.

8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains.

9. It will also clean road haze from your windshield. [1]

For Your Info

1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.

2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly corrosive materials. [1]

3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years! [1]


Now the question is, would you like a glass of water or coke?


[1] Motoring connections. Read more