Be Excellent To Each Other

Currently being driven across Europe by an ex-cop called Kowalski?

Jesus Christ, man. I hope they've given you a courtesy car.

Golf Bluemotion. Massive mpg in a golf body. Low company car tax as well, apparently.

Nope. Not that I've given them a penny yet, mind.

can't find a pic but the Police in the midlands have a hgv in Police markings. So they can look in cabs on the motorway, was on the news last night.

Suspect they are too new for my budget. + I want a diesel and something with a little poke if possible.

Golf TDi's are supposed to be good so it might be one of those.

I'd like to imagine that there are train chases along the lines of X-Treme Express

It's the same PS as a Golf TDi.....

It's not lacking in 70-90mph speed, nor for overtaking, as most of the time, it's off boost.

60% of the cars on my street are silver.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8310900.stm

found it.. no pics though

People. Advice please!

I've just viewed a tidy Audi A3 2 litre diesel. However two of the tyres have been replaced and rather than have something decnet on there they are "Hankook" tyres made in Korea.

If I buy the car am I liable to end up in a ditch? I've read some right horror stories about cheap Far Eastern tyres.

It's a decent car. 50k, semi auto gearbox (not sure if this is a good or bad thing) and seems in general tidy nick for an 05 plate.

Off to test drive Golfs now.

Hankook do quite good competition tyres, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Cheers.

Car is £10,095 which is higher than the valuation here. They'll give me £1.5k for the Golf which seems reasonable for a 120 S reg 1.6 that has fucked aircon (shhhhh!) and needs 4 new tyres and new bushes (shhhhh!).

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-pric ... 3&plate=78

*BUT* the prices on Parkers have no relation to what the local Audi dealer is charging for second hand cars. In fact it seems to me that you'll only get Parkers prices for trade or private if you live up t'north.

Right, off to VW!

No, you won't end up in a ditch.

People complaining about ending up in a ditch "because of the tyres" can't drive for toffee.

He will end up in a ditch... lol

I threw the Mundano into a field the other week whilst having top arse-out action in the wet.
It's pretty good off road, all things considered.

Not so. There are a number of Chinese companies that manufacture and sell "tyres" in this country. I put tyres in quotes for a bloody good reason, they're fucking terrible. When a car dealership offers to stick new rubber on each corner when you buy a car off them, chances are it'll be shitty Chinese tyres.

Korean tyres are better, and as said Hankook make decent tyres, as do Kumho.

Ah the Tokyo motor show is about to begin and Toyota finally unveil their Lexus LF-A supercar. I know it's been in gestation for bloody ages, but was it really necessary to invent a new way of weaving carbon fibre.

HOW MUCH

That'll never sell surely?
New Supra

You can pick up a used Impreza for £2k now. That's dangerously close to "whoops, look what I bought" territory. As is the 4.6l Range Rover P38...

A fucking V10 that fucking revs to fucking 9000 fucking rpm.

Yikes

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-t ... 9395.story

When Toyotas Attack.

You could probably buy an F1 car from about 4 years ago with a v10 that revs to 19000 rpm for THREE HUNDRED AND 25 FUCKING GRAND!

Yikes indeed

All cars, I don't care how fucking posh, should have a simple and obvious method of cutting power from the battery and alternator. Mostly, that's done by switching the keys off.
In my Mundano, you have to hold the 'power' button for 1 second if the car is moving. But I had to look that up - it needs to be clearer.
And electronic handbrakes should be illegal.

Indeed. I've never owned a car without a good old fashioned key and the occasions I've hired then have usually left me pretty annoyed and irritated with the whole concept (quite apart from the safety aspect).

That said, I have had two runaways where turning the (real) key off *didn't help anyway*.

Were they in electric or internal combustion cars? Diesels are worst, because if they are revving high you can't fucking stop them.

Ignoring the safety aspect, I think smart key fobs (whatever you want to call them) are lovely. If I want to take the Mundano out I just stick the key in my pocket (or in my bag) as I walk out of the house, and it stays there until I get back home again.

They are lovely. I want one for the house as well.

Ford 1.8 Turbo diesels. Not entirely sure how it happens but I suspect oil from the turbo bearing starts leaking, fueling the engine. The first time it happened was going up a hill, at 70 on full pedal, and it suddenly took off like a drag racer.

It really caught me by surprise and I can believe how people wouldn't be able to think quickly enough to react sensibly, especially on cars with enormous engines like in that story.

I don't understand why RFID scanners aren't used more in the home.

They totally erode your civil liberties man

Screw the new Lexus Supra type, I want to know about the FT-86 new Celica concept

And hey, it only needs £4k tyres, a new engine and gearbox every 300 miles and a ready source of race fuel!

More importantly, please point to the beer stowage in an F1 car.

Back from VW.

2 hours 40 minutes I was in there! Got there at 11, left at 1.40!

Looked at cars, none grabbed me. Wanted something that felt nice to sit in. Then the salesman showed me a Golf GT on a 55 plate that had just come in. Hadn't even been cleaned up. Which was good really as it gave me chance to look at how it would be in real life.

Sat in it, liked it, drove it, liked it. It then took forever to cut a deal. VW wanted to palm me off with £800 for the Golf which I told them to get knotted on.

After 45 minutes of haggling I got them to give me pretty near the £1500 the other garage offered. VW claimed the dent the removal men put in reduces the value. I told them the woman at the other garage noted it all down and offered £1500.

They still had to give me £800 for the car but they knocked £500 off the price of the GT so it ended up at £1300. And to be fair they don't know that the Golf needs a new aircon compressor + work costing £500. And new tyres, and new bushes. Getting back into my Golf from the GT made me realise that it was really feeling its age.

Picture to follow.

I was in the dentist a few weeks back and I was reading a car magazine where they tested several types of tyres in controlled conditions. Their conclusion were that although strictly speaking the Chinese ones were legal, they would not use them for anything other than pottering around town. Once above 40mph the differences in performance was staggering between them and even budgets like Firestones.

Also when I was looking at tyres for the Golf (before they swapped front to back for me) one garage wanted to sell me Chinese ditch eaters for the same price as my local garage wanted to flog me Firestones for.

I thought Firestones were a performance tyre rather than a budget.

The Golf GT Sport 2.0 TDI we had in Italy was pretty good, spoiled by the combination of diesel and silly auto gearbox. They didn't seem to have been matched at all. Comfortable and pretty fast though.

Firestones are in the "flaming balls of fiery, rolling death" category, aren't they?

They do cheap ones, too, starting at about £30 a corner.

Firestone is the budget, Bridgestone is the performance IIRC.

I used to put Firestones on my little Fiesta and my first Golf.

Ah right, that's it. Bridgestone.

Firestone do reasonable performance tyres, too.
They're owned by Bridgestone (or the other way around, but I don't think so).

The car felt good to drive. Really firm with very little turbo lag. It has 6 gears (fuck knows how that works). Interior isn't as nice as the mk4 but better than the standard cars.

I do feel abit dull going for another Golf but I don't plan to keep this one as long. What I really likes about the GT was that it's terribly understated. Apart from the fogs you wouldn't be able to tell it apart from any other Golf until it goes roaring past you.

The Audi was a nice car but it was an automatic and the servicing could be horrendous. VW costs are bad enough frankly but common problems are easily fixed at normal garages for a fraction of the price because Golfs are so common.

you sure tehy came as standard on my vectra, not a performance car... only 110BHP of Herse!!

Most modern cars have 6 gears don't they?

Tyres are the most important thing, yes. End of. Don't ever get cheap ones.

When you run out of go in fifth, change up? How do you think it works?

I suppose. I'm old enough to remember when we got a van with 5th gear in it. My grandfather refused to use it!

I guess the gears are slightly shorter ranged and you'd probably only use 6th at 70mph. I learned to drive in a 4 gear car as well.

If you've stopped accelerating, you should generally be in top gear, whether that's at 40 or 90.

*Unless you're maneuvering, of course.

@Chinny

I had a MkV Golf GT TDI (possibly the 140 PD) it was lovely, I really enjoyed driving it. It was a company car and it replaced my MkIV Golf GT TDI. At the time the cars to choose from were BMW 1 Series/A3 TDI/Golf GT TDI and having deliberated for weeks I know I made the right choice.

I would snap one up again if I had the chance. I had the A3 2.0 TDI Sport for a short while but preferred the Golf. The rain sensing washer were a pain in the chuffer though, everything else was perfect.