May 2006
I've had had my car for a year now after being off the road for a few years, and I mostly use it for local driving within five miles or so of where I live. I tend to be a bit nervous driving on routes I don't know, especially in central London. Anyway, I had to do a journey from Cricklewood to Aldgate East, so planned it well with my London A-Z so I knew every bit of the route.
Everything goes fine on the way there, but coming back the trouble starts with a guy who wants to overtake me when I have just come off a roundabout. I slowed down a little because I was trying to see if I had taken the wrong exit. I can't go into my left lane because there is a coach parked there, but while moving into my right lane this guy decides to overtake me because 25 mph or so is obviously not fast enough for him. We end up inches from each other with both of us hitting the brakes. He doesn't beep, but waits until he's in front of me before he does the DELETED - DD for me to see.
OK, so now I'm annoyed. I get back to some roads I'm familar with near the junction of Pentonville Road and City road, and now can relax a bit. I wait at a red light where there are two lanes, which are left turn only lanes going onto a road called Penton Rise. The lights go green and I pull off, but somehow a cyclist decides he is not going left, but makes his way straight across me, heading for a cycle lane. I only notice him when I hear him clammering against the side of the car and bending my wing mirror. I hit the brakes again and, not being 100% sure since I don't know the route, I kind of don't say much back when he says "come on, man," as if I have done something wrong by turning left in a left turn only lane, which he seems to be ignoring. (Maybe there is a special rule I missed where cyclists do not have to obey road markings for left or right turn only?)
Lastly, I get within 100 yards off my own house and some guy pulls over to reverse park, he has only just slowed down and pulls in. Since there is room and he is not yet in reverse I decide to go round him. He couldn't have checked his mirrors because he decides to pull out a bit more to the right to make a better position to reverse from. Again I hit the brakes and skid a little, then come home feeling terrible.
Do I need an advanced driving course, or is London just a terrible place to drive in, nervous driver or not??
{Franco, I don't know about the advanced driving course you need, more likely you need a bar of soap to wash your mouth out with. As I've previously warned you about your swearing on at least 2 separate other occasions, consider this your last warning - DD}
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Local area Ceefax story tonight about Rossendale bus operators and a collabortion with the local council.
Seems the bus operators have finally tired of motorists, van drivers and others illegally blocking bus stops, so have taken action to curb the transgressors.
They asked the council to allow traffic wardens to travel by bus arund the area and, if a warden comes across a vehicle or vehicles blocking a bus stop (it's difficult, apparently, for the disabled and elderly in particular to get on or off buses because of the problem), the warden nips off the bus, issues a ticket or tickets, and then nips back on the bus...:-)
So neat and simple and saves traffic wardens all that walking...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by Read more
>>but it seems a little unfair to book them just for that.>>
LOL
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
You bump started a car wrong? IE, put it in reverse by mistake, rolled forward to a reasonable speed, and let up the clutch?
Could you potentially get the engine going backwards? Read more
Thanks Sman - I did realise after my first posting, hence my request for a delete button!! I can only put it down to
a) Lack of thought before posting
b) My difficulty in "seeing" these things.
c) That rather swiggable red that I was sampling
d) I'm a bit thick sometimes!
Regards
--
Phil
I see the International Engine Awards have been announced for 2006 (usually these are dominated by BMW and Honda but VW have done well this year):-
Best Overall Engine = BMW 5l V10 (M5)
Best New Engine = VW 1.4l TSI
Best Fueal Efficient Engine = Toyota 1.5 hybrid (Prius)
Best Performance Engines = BMW 5l V10
Best Sub 1 litre = Honda 1.0 hybrid (Insight)
Best 1.0 -1.4 = VW 1.4l TSI
Best 1.4 - 1.8 = Toyota 1.5 hybrid (Prius)
Best 1.8 - 2.0 = VW 2.0l FSI Turbo (Golf GTI)
Best 2.0 - 2.5 = Subaru 2.5 Turbo
Best 2.5 - 3.0 = BMW 3.0l twin turbo diesel (535d)
Best 3.0 - 4.0 = BMW 3.2l (M3)
Best 4.0 + = yes you guessed it the 5.-l V10 in the M5. Read more
I maybe asking a daft question but why is the 5l v10 so good? Due to 500bhp without forced induction?
due to the design fault where the wing rubs against metal where it meets the bottom of the windscreen? Read more
Therein lieith the answer.
The chrome trim is an after thought!
Can they really be that bad, especially the JTD's? Only I noticed how cheap a 3-door JTD Dynamic was today passing the local dealers - £5,000 - 03-reg. It looked really nice, so what is wrong with them, really?
(I mean a Focus TDCi of similar vintage would cost £7,000+) Read more
ford dealers (a few now) are doing brand new ka's (must be reg before end of august - eg. 06 plate)
£3995 if you take out finance.
beauty is - you can pay of the finance after 6 months in a lump sum
car will only cost £4280
quite a few for dealers are offering it.
get your local one to price match.
Thinking of buying a Saab 9-3s or 9-5 2.2 Tid with the Vauxhall 2.2 diesel engine.
Any info would be great. Does any one own or driven a 9-5 diesel auto I would like to hear your views, Thanks.
Also I would like to know apart from being a bit noisey at tickover is it pretty reliable & economical? Any info would be great! Read more
Have driven a Vectra SRi with the 2.2 DTi engine. Very impressed. Torquey, relatively refined (although not as quiet as the new common rail engines) and very economical. It's owner told me he averages high 40's MPG with mostly motorway use.
I've copied this out of another thread to see if there is any more advice out there from those with expertise in, or experience of, turbos. [Thanks for responding on that thread, mss1tw.]
I picked up an MB turbo today, hence I've recently been trying to learn a bit about turbos. I assume that three fundamental things apply equally to turbos fitted to diesels and petrol engines:
* In the words of one MB expert, "anyone with a turbo engine should never consider using a non-synthetic oil".
* Frequent oil changes are essential (i.e. 5000 miles max with fully synthetic; oh, alright, 7500 miles then).
* Letting the engine idle for at least 30 seconds before switching off is equally essential, to allow the turbo to spin down from tens of thousands of RPM under lubricated power (cf. allow 20 seconds before repowering a computer).
That is, if you are interested in prolonging the life of a turbo.
I welcome additions and corrections to that list. Read more
Thanks, BB. As long as there are clear warning signs, that's good. HJ's Car-by-Car breakdown warns of the problem at around 90k, and I've seen other references to it between 70 and 90k. If it cost you £580 at a main dealer, I guess it's a five-hour job, so shouldn't be too much of a shock to my car's new owner if he takes my advice and makes a priority of finding a good independent with plenty of VR6 experience.
[As I tried to post this, the system couldn't find the message to which I was responding. A nippy mod has obviously stepped in and transferred your correction into your main message, as happened to a correction of mine recently. Hope this works now.]
Hi,
I've just secured an industrial placement (unix/solaris/oracle/db2 database stuff, not much MS :-) ).
However, its based just 1/2mile from the city center in Durham, about 40 mile roundtrip overall.
Sat Nav (tomtom)takes me on A1 for a while then another A road which seems ok during the day and evening. I live about 1 mile from a1.
I'm from Coventry originally, so I was wondering does anyone do this route and are there any suggestions? Best I set off at 7am?
Cheers Read more
Thanks for making that clear. I dont mind .net although VB is a no no :-)
Most likely wont find traffic light, going to make it realistic and do a practise run in the morning. Yes, this student does get up before 1pm :-p
I'm taking a look at a 95 Uno diesel for sale, it's due for a timing belt change. For a garage to do the job, is it a short job, 3-4hrs or a long job? Read more
2 hours taken to do a 1.6 petrol from driving in to driving out.
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Oh, fear not my child coz it's sheer pleasure as long as you're equipped with 4 pair of eyes & stuff like that huh.
If you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to fear, if you've something to hide you shouldn't even be here ;)
Or come down to where I live now - one roundabout, one church, one pub, one post-office, one restaurant. And huge amounts of green forest. And mud. And... er, to keep it motoring-related... a proper 4x4 is a necessity.
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I am the only Pole over here.