We go to Cornwall a couple of times a year. Coming from East Yorkshire its quite a long trip 350 miles or thereabouts. The route we go is down M1 to M42 then M5 onto A30. Journey times vary whoever you speak to. I have a couple of mates who one says 6hrs another says he's done it in less but when not much traffic. Personally i do it in about 6 and a half hours with 2 stops. My first stop is at Strensham services and my second at Taunton Dene (i like to fill up with shell) both of these are on the M5. We always take our own sarny's and a flask. The fill up at Taunton i try to make it do so i stop there on way back fill up to get me home. Over the years that A30 has got much better especially now Bodmin is bypassed, i think there's only one stretch to do now. The M5 is a good motorway by that i mean the views the land and things you can see (has anybody seen the Glastonbury Tor from it). We always say the journey is part of the hol the anticipation on arriving is there when going down. When you stop at service stations you always get the feeling everyone is doing the same and having a cuppa on there way to Cornwall. I thought i would start this thread to to see what other backroomers experiences are with this long journey. Where do you stop off, what sights do you look out for. Anyone know of somewhere good to stop on A30. Read more

Hello people, I wonder if I could count once again on the brilliant minds which gather here...

I had my car serviced at my local indie about three weeks ago- they found nothing but, since yesterday morning, there's been a knocking noise from the front passenger side, not too intrusive but obviously it's something that needs looking at.

The problem is that I cannot be without my car until next week though I do not need to use it for any journeys over 10 miles.

I've been meaning to replace the car with something newer for some time (laziness!) so I'm not looking to own the car for anything more than another 2 months or so.

What, in your opinion is this? And, how safe do you think it will be to cover no more than 80 miles until next week?

Any opinions/musings very welcome. Thanks in advance :) Read more

Can anyone advise me on what would cause both suspension coils to snap at the same time? This happened to me when I was driving my children to school last week. The driver's side coil pierced the tyre and I am told that I very narrowly avoided what could have been a tragic accident. This is our family car and neither my husband or I drive irresponsibly. I have no recollection of hitting anything that would have damaged the coils and now feel very uncertain about continuing to drive this car given doubts about safety. While the garage agreed to pay for the £600 repair despite the fact that the warranty had expired, I have to say that I found even this suspicious. This was mainly because garages are not prone to volunteering to work for nothing (in my experience anyway) and that depsite asking, the faulty parts were not all returned to me. (I was expcting four bits of coil - I got two). I was advised by a passing Samaritan who stopped to help me with what looked like a simple burst tyre, that the coil had been pressing against the inner rim of the tyre for some time and gradually wore it down. The garage deny this and say they both spontaneously snapped. Any advice anybody? Read more

My son has just bought himself another car to use for commuting, he's wisely decided to make the Subaru a toy.

During his discussions with his insurance broker, they somehow got onto the subject of the job situation.
The broker told him that there had been 2 cases he knew of where people had lost there jobs and become (hopefully temporarily) unemployed, but didn't inform the insurance companies.
They subsequently had claims and both were denied as null and void due to non informing of changed situation.
Apparently some companies wil not insure unemployed people, even if the unemployed person took out there policy whilst in work.

Is this correct? If so it disturbs me greatly. Read more

I need an H7 replacement, I will fit a pair, should I go for standard, premium, +50%, or +80%? Is there a trade off between percentage of upgrade and bulb life? If there is any great difference, why dont the manufacturers fit them, or is it more snake oil? Read more