May 2009
I had a driving experience this morning and would like other BR's opinions please.
I was driving along a newly resurfaced road with a car in front of me, we then had to stop because in front of us was the yellow lorry that was repainting the road markings. At this point it was stationary doing some wording on the road, but it had parked inbetween the curb and a small central island (the ones with the blue and white keep left arrowed sign on it), now unfortunately this was at the brow of a small incline so any on coming cars where hard to spot.
The car in front clearly was very hesitant about going around the island onto wrong side of the road but this was the only way to pass the vehicle unless we had waited until it had moved.
Eventually we both indicated and passed on the other side of the island, did we do anything wrong?
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Parked in a quiet road in Stretford to get the tram. I was no where near anybody's drive and was parked 100% legally, I actually spent a good minute straitening up to ensure I was not causing anything like a remote obstruction. This busy body gets out and the conversation goes as follows:-
Woman: Can you move your car please
Me: why?
Woman: Because I live here
Me: I am parked perfectly legaly and I can park where I want, however I don't like the look of you and don't trust what you might do to my car so I will move it.
Woman looked shocked and didn't say a word :)
I causally then move my car having a joke on her.
Why do some people seem to think they own the road? People park outside my house all the time and I would not dream of going out and asking them to move.
The problem is I now feel she has got away with it :(. Read more
Me: I am parked perfectly legaly and I can park where I want however I
don't like the look of you and don't trust what you might do to my
car so I will move it.
A pleasant and reasoned conversation would have done you more credit, instead of supercilious sarcasm.
I have had Explorer crash a couple of times on me in the last couple of days. The non-responding file has been the popup that comes from here. IE blocks most of mypopups, but sometimes the ones from here creep through, and they're normally fine. I obviously have no idea whether this is the fault of the HJ popup, but circumstantial evidence suggests...
Running 7.0.5730.13
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Point noted and reported to site admin - thread locked.
Mrs BB fancies updating her 6 year/80,000 mile Merc CLK 240 cabrio. She wants a new or nearly-new 'proper' 4-seat cabriolet that needs to have room for the shopping in the boot with the roof down. Which rules out a BMW 3-series, and leaves just another CLK or an Audi A5 as the only choices(?). We obviously know the CLK and so we booked a test drive in an A5 (2.0 TFSI) manual.
Now I haven't driven an Audi for years, so it was all-new to me.
Good bits: Very smooth 4-cylinder engine, good build and materials, roomy, good boot, reasonable performance, stiff body, good price.
Bad bits: High waistline makes it hard to judge extremities and hard for junior BBs to look out of from the rear. I found the dashboard strangely 'dated' in design and layout. But the biggest problem is that the pedals are seriously off-set to the right, such that I could never drive a manual and walk afterwards. Are all modern Audis this bad? With auto therefore being essential you get a choice of a CVT box (no thanks - sounds like the clutch is slipping and Audi CVTs don't have the best of reputations) or a DSG with quattro (don't really need/want the added expense of quattro). A 2wd DSG would be great, but ... not available.
Overall: The bad bits outweigh the good bits for us, so I'm out.
Which leaves ... another CLK - we drove a newer CLK200 Kompressor, but it was (unsurprisingly) very similar to our current car, and not worth changing for at a cost-to-change of £20k!. The new E-class coupe cabriolet isn't out till next March and will be too expensive. They had a new E-class coupe in the showroom and it looked a fair bit bigger than the CLK.
The only other potential on the horizon is the new Lexus IS convertible, but I suspect the rear legroom wil be designed with the home market in mind - time will tell!
I suspect the Eon/308/Focuses will also be too small - is there anything else we've missed? Read more
"A 2wd DSG would be great, but ... not available" - yet!
In usual Audi style they have only released the A5 cabrio with 2 engine choices. Give it 12 months and there will be a much wider choice.
BTW I also have problems driving Audi manuals.
Ran into a friend on the other side of the Angel last night. He refused to stop off for a drink at my favoured dive in Kentish Town and suggested we stop at his favourite dive in the Portobello Road, in our home district. I agreed and we set off, he in his partner's MINI and I in my rough old Escort.
I got to the pub, which was crowded. He wasn't there yet. They had run out of my favourite tipple so I had to have Young's ordinaire, the next best thing. The staff took ages to get to me and I got us both a pint. He turned up at least seven minutes after me. He told me he had come by the direct route: King's Cross, Euston Rd, Marylebone Rd, flyover into Notting Hill. Most of that route is dual carriageway with two or three lanes.
My route, probably a mile or so longer, was convoluted, through Caledonian Road, Kentish/Camden Town and appalling rich mimser-infested St John's Wood, with many twists and turns and fifty or sixty speed bumps, ramps and cushions, lots of cobbles and traffic lights including temporary ones. Of course I don't let those slow me down any more than necessary. I let the poor jalopy take the strain (and it's beginning to show it too). It helps to accelerate optimistically when one sees a green light, instead of slowing down like Eeyore as so many do.
I say this not to boast - I'm not quick really, you can't be these days - but to draw attention to the sabotaging of westbound traffic flow in Euston/Marylebone roads and the inner reaches of the M40. This set in under Ken Livingstone and hasn't been corrected yet. And from the way the new mayor is talking I don't think he means to do anything about it. Read more
Surely by spreading traffic out, we ease congestion on other routes. We also spend less time driving and if all those two minutes are added together, we are certainly cutting down on pollution and carbon emissions. Touch of NIMBYism by some rat run claimants , me thinks.
Well Ive had a Mazda 323 gsi for bout 6 months. Out of the blue it just stopped. Took it to the garage and told it may be an ECU rpoblem. What sholud I do next? Srcap or repair? Read more
Trade it in on a new car-it's ten years old.Seriously ECUs are ultra reliable-it's usually connectors that give problems.
I seem to recall that a few members of the BR experimented with adding ethanol to petrol to improve mpg. It now seems that Ford have been researching this and designed a "direct-injection ethanol engine". The engine runs on petrol but injects ethanol when maximum power is needed. The use of ethanol allows a higher compression ratio to be used.
See this weeks new scientist for the article. Read more
Now there's an idea vitamin C as a healthy fuel additive.
Image the advert the ultimate fuel now includes a powerful antioxidant to help prevent free
radical damage to your vehicles engine.
it used to be called leaded fuel
i've recently seen a bargain for oil, Havoline Energy Oil 5W-30, however, i'm not sure if it will be ok for the duratec engine, what are your thoughts. i have no idea about oils as my car has always had a service, but i've now decided to do the basics myself, thanks in advance. Read more
Havoline also produce an excellent 5W-30 oil that is ideal for Ford engines.
Best wishes from your Irish mate Hav OLine.
I currently have a 2001 VW Golf with 70k on the clock. I want to replace it with an economical car with a bigger boot and better access for my golf clubs and trolley. Read more
Any hatchback seems to do the job with folded down seats. Folks at my club get clubs and trolleys in Golfs, Polo's, dosent seem much of a problem...take your pick !
what would you do at a red light that was stuck on red?.....same principle, no one is going to expect you to sit there for ever