He is a she, and she is bonkers. The website is designed that way on purpose...

ARG! MY EYES!!

I'm looking at the 1.6 TDCi Fiesta Zetec S for when I have to get a car again. £20 road tax!

This one Flis..

I've been dropping hints around the MD this week, concerning my car. He said last year he'd look at getting me something in the spring so yesterday I slipped into conversation that it had 75k on the clock (which is a lot for a 3.5 year old car on a 36 mile long island) and I'm only getting 38mpg out of it (shut up, nothing to do with how I drive it). Plus, over Christmas it needed a new hose to the turbo charger so stuff is starting to go wrong with it...

I'm patiently waiting to be told I can go shopping for a new one. I have no idea what to get.

What about you?

What about you?

I thought you just got a new one then stacked it in the car park?

the Celica, unlike many cars, has a dedicated parking brake

Pretty much all cars with rear discs have a dedicated parking brake. If you clamp a disc calliper on when its hot, it gives way as it cools and then the car rolls off; that's what happened to all those Citroen Xaras back in the day.

Did you take it to Mike?

Pretty much all cars with rear discs have a dedicated parking brake.

That's why the Americans call it an emergency brake, as they don't use it for parking.

It's that it has to be cable operated, so that you've got a backup in case the hydraulic brakes fail. That's very unlikely now with dual-circuit as standard, but it's probably been a law since 1912 or whatever. That's why the Americans call it an emergency brake, as they don't use it for parking.

Cars with electric parking brakes still have a cable between the motor and the mechanism, I suspect to comply with that.

really? I'd say only about 30% of cars have this, its mostly a jap or high-end thing. It is good though, the alternative is a large threaded thing that lives inside the rear calliper and fucks up every now and then in an un-fixable manner.

some volvo V70 models have a park brake that adjusts itself electrically (it still lives inside the calliper mind and has a cable to it) and to wind the piston back to put new pads in you have to plug in diagnostics and tell it to wind back!

I'd say that's more to do with them all driving automatics with transmission lock, so not needing to use it for parking. The people with manual transmissions presumably still rely on it just as much as we do.

Yes, that's precisely what I meant

Are you talking about an internal shoe brake mounted inside a small drum which is itself part of one rear disc? Because that's also a "dedicated parking brake" in my book, as it's a separate mechanism. What I meant was, they don't use the disc calliper itself. Presumably these could suffer at track days, as the drum could be very hot.

The alternative is an entirely separate housing with a drum somewhere on the rear axle.

That's why the Americans call it an emergency brake, as they don't use it for parking.

everyone parked on a hill in San Francisco (they also kerb the wheels. SF is hilly.)

I just bought a new car [..] It's an Audi A3 1.8 T [..] Mechanically it all seems very sound, which is the main thing. So yeah: 'tis good. Makes me feel a dick for spending so much on the Civic like I did.

Morons don't. Expecting the transmission to hold the weight of the car in place on its own isn't wise.

(note: I am not calling Mrs G a moron)

I disagree anyway - The parking pawl will not let the car move, a flaky handbrake often will. It's not wise to use just the transmission brake on a very steep hill though, as you might have trouble getting it to disengage - so I use both in that case (subject the handbrake working). But the rest of the time, not a problem, bang it into park.

I have light to shed here, the parking pawl has a safety system to stop it being ripped off, I know this because I put an auto into park while doing about 20mph once by accident. What happened was a loud clicking noise and thereafter it was business as usual. thinking about it that means that if you parked on a steep hill in park E-brake off and then someone leaned on it or something then force 'x' overcomes the park safety mech and BOOM, its Traffic Panic at the intersection.

No, that's not how it works, it's that the shape of the pawl and the weak spring pressure to engage it is such that it won't if the gear is turning, it just bounces over the top. Once the pawl does go in it ain't coming out again by itself.
That's how it is on the one I took to bits anyway, disclaimer

Changing the subject slightly - I just bought a new car, after 5 months of borrowing my brother's poor old Celica ST.

It's an Audi A3 1.8 T-Sport, so turbocharged and easily the quickest car I've ever had. It's an S-reg, so 14 years old, but in immaculate condition (seriously, it's probably in better nick than the '56-plate Civic I had was when I sold that) and has 128,000 miles on the clock, so a lot, but since I only paid £1050 for it (plus it's taxed till June and MOT'd till September), I'm pretty happy.

There's a few minor niggles, the most pressing of which is that the coolant temp gauge doesn't work, so will need to get that sorted. Also the radio has an annoying glitch with the volume control which appears to have plagued all Audis of that vintage, but it's hardly a major issue. Mechanically it all seems very sound, which is the main thing. So yeah: 'tis good. Makes me feel a dick for spending so much on the Civic like I did.

Morons don't. Expecting the transmission to hold the weight of the car in place on its own isn't wise.

I'm sure Chinny would post this if he was here:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C271758

Oddly enough, a mate picked me up from the train station in his new M3 last night.
Bugger me, it was a bit cramped
I know I'm a big bugger, but even so...

Less cramped than, for example, my car though, I'd assume?

Electric power steering doesn't have to be shit. The GT86 has it and apparently handles bloody superbly.

I like it.

They're turning it into the 911 cabrio, though.

It's got a bit of a fat bum.