It's been one of those days today but capped off by having a hit and run this evening when dropping my son off for work.

I had dropped him off at the local supermarket where he works and was waiting to turn out of the service road into the main access road when I saw an old lady in one of these electric buggy things coming along the pavement from my left some 50 odd yards away. Meanwhile I'm waiting for a gap in the traffic and she's getting closer, gap appears and I start to pull out, she promptly drives straight down the ramped kerb, without slowing down, and straight into my rear nearside wheel as I'm pulling away. Almighty bang and car jumps in the air as my rear nearside wheel, presumably, drove over her front wheel. By the time I've realised what's happened she has done an about turn driven off down the service road and down an alley, promptly parked the car to one side and gave chase but when I got to the other end of the alley there was no sign of her.
Fortunately she only seems to have hit my wheel, no other visible damage, and it is on my old Fiesta, but obviously she wouldn't have been insured had she caused some serious damage and no doubt I would have been painted the big, bad, nasty driver had I needed to sue a defenceless old lady for damages.

I then had to report it as I hadn't been able to ascertain whether the old lady was injured or not and I wasn't to know that she hadn't collapsed round some corner somewhere, so to keep things all squeaky clean trotted off to the local nick. That was the worst bit of it really, having to go down the local nick, with all my documents, and spend an hour queueing to report it. Local desk clerk had trouble keeping a straight face and kept muttering about Hell's Grannies and how I was lucky there wasn't a group of them! But he did agree that they are becoming a pain.

Must admit I can see the humourous side to it but on the serious side these buggies are becoming a liability as the 'drivers' of them seem to be a law unto themselves as they rattle along at, I believe, 8+ mph on pavements and without a care in the world. Would have been handy if this one this evening had had a number plate at least! I've no wish to remove anyones mobility but they really should have to have some form of basic training requirement or somesuch. Read more

S reg 1.6 petrol Megane (obstinate pig model)
1.has started first 'go' from new.
2.june 05. Under 2 miles after usual instant start, 50mph on flat, engine cut; no 'flipping' the pedal refired it and it coasted to a stop.
3.engine readily turned over, but no sign of firing. Went for a walk and a curse. Came back (15minutes?) and it started first time.
4.This performance has never been repeated, BUT
5.About once in twenty starts, always when hot or warm, will not fire at all. Go away and come back a bit later and off it goes first touch.

I had got used to this and regarded it as a spoiled child, but I have now passed the car on to my son and find myself worrying about it.

Any tips on what to suggest to the local renault whizz kids would be very gratefully received.

cheers Colin S

{subject header amended to make less vague. DD}
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Slightly tenuous connection to motoring, but I thought the petrol-heads might like to know that a boat has recently circumnavigated the Isle of Wight (60 miles) in 32 minutes. Having 16 litres of Lamborghini driving the propellors probably helped.

Given that it was limited to 90mph in the Solent (how petty is that?) this is a record that seems likely to stand for some time...

More here: www.mby.com/auto/newsdesk/20050729111853mbynews.ht...l Read more

Have a 1.3Gsi Getz which has been great so for, just noticed one minor niggle that the rear nearside suspension has started creaking when moving at low speed (under 10 mph) particularly when turning/manouvering to park. Don't really want to go to a dealer unless I have to as the nearest one is almost 1 hour away. Someone has suggested it might just be dry bush(es) any advice on possibility and whether there is an easy cure without having to go to a garage? many thanks Read more

The 3-series is ugly and noisy at motorway speeds... C-class too old and Audi's A4 not too good value for money.
So we're all waiting for the new Lex IS200, aren't we?
I hope this time around it'll come with dual climate control and better ride - just recently a friend of mine gave me a lift in his current shape version on standard 205/55 R16 and guess what ? Much more quiet than my current shape Corolla 1.6, that's for sure, but way too firm & bumpy. Too firm, in fact.
I think an air suspension would be nice, as an optional extra, naturally.
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I am the only Pole over here. Read more