Laurie61

It sounds to me as though they are saying you cannot just look at the pad and think it is all consumable material, so just cause they look only half worn does not mean that is the case. A new way off parting the unwary from their cash with techno babble I would say.

This has been going on for a while, I think the first car I noticed was pug 206 models with the strange bulge running along the front wing to try and hide the extra bulk. It almost looks like two different cars joined at the front door/ wing with the windscreen base much higher than the side windows. Another annoying design feature becoming more common is the short bonnet with bumper moulding extending up between the lights to meet it. This leaves an unsightly shut line across the bonnet , although I dare say it knocks half a group off the insurance rating as its a bit easier to repair.

Not bad again tonight, Ferrari/ McLaren made to look a bit daft with their car testing rules. V12 Ferrari mmmmm. Peugeot will not be happy as they have been telling anybody who would listen they are going back to the good old days and making decent cars again. Yet no mention of the latest Peugeot models tonight.

I am watching it, the episodes have always been a bit hit and miss. Last weeks was a better one although I thought they might make more of the dam climbing stunt. It's a pity fifth gear feels the need to copy them, when they are on, as we could have an in depth car test prog and TG, which would be nice. :sun:

Why does that not surprise me... :sun:

I had a similar incident 5-6 yrs ago, on M6 between lake district and Scottish boarders. My road angle said 78 and my speedo 82-83 mph. I spotted a van parked over the road at around half a mile but there was nothing else on the road for a mile or so in-front of or behind me. Did not brake, just eased off the gas, I did not get anything through the post. It was around 11:30 in the morning and sunny so no reason for them not to see me.

It looks like Glass's trying to create a bit of free advertising for it's own publication to me. :sun: If Honda are not careful they will be going the same way as Subaru ? If I had to pick an 'IT' brand today it would probably be Tesla.

This has been happening on and off for a year or more now, the assistance level seems to reduce at random. It is more common in cold/ damp conditions, it does not make the car un-drivable but roughly doubles the effort needed to turn the wheel. The steering will not self centre very well when the assistance is less. As far as I am aware there is no option to set the steering weight on this model so it's not jumping between different settings ? The car is due a service end of the month so I can inform garage but as it does not do it all the time would it appear as a fault code. Has anybody come across this before ?

If I walk around sideways will I be lighter ?

After the large diesel uptake and subsequent fuel cost rises it appears that the motoring public are not so keen on switching again ? There was no need for government incentives for diesel but LPG has low tax and electric cars get a subsidy. http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/electric-car-grant-extended-2017-thanks-new-funding

Cameras can't see plates when you'r sideways. :sun:

Interesting to see that vag uk is a member of ICS :sun: http://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/5943/List-of-member-organisations.html#Automotive

Something else to consider is traffic volumes on M ways. Going by my local roads, where cameras have been installed in 30 mph zones, traffic speeds have fallen from 30-35 mph to around 24-26 mph. On these roads you might argue it makes little difference to journey times or road capacity. If the same happens on M ways it will reduce per hour totals and reduce or reverse the benefits of a variable limit .So gov will have invested millions of our money, alienated many drivers and done nothing to improve congestion.

I think, getting back to the OP's point, that cameras on motorways could be considered new in respect to using them 24/7. If we cast our minds back to the introduction of cameras in the UK we were told they would be targeted specifically at accident black spots and outside schools if necessary. M-ways, being the safest roads in the country, would be free from these devices. As we know now this did not happen and cameras were installed all over the road network, quite often after A-B roads had been re rated at reduced speeds. M-ways did escape though for many years until used for reduced limits through road works. We were then told that cameras would be part of the new managed motorway schemes and used to enforce the lower limits at peak times, to guaranty compliance. Today we find that some police forces are using these managed motorway cameras as general speed cameras. So doing what the Gov said would not happen or needed to happen based on accident statistics. We also perhaps need to remember that this is all going on whilst UK road accident numbers have been falling year on year for decades, without this level of enforcement being necessary. The 85 percentile rule is used by Gov as a way of keeping the majority of the population on side with acceptance of the laws and police-able. The Gov is aware of speeds on various roads and averages attained by different classes of vehicle and these figures are published, they do show that for passenger cars the average speed is well above 70 mph on motorways and has been for years. So in the face of falling accident rates and being told initially that cameras would not be needed on motorways why is it that they are being used now ? You can, I think, see why they are viewed purely as cash raising devices as opposed to being needed to drive down accident rates when statistics show they are not needed. :sun:

You mean the BBC is wrong ! I presume you have not ventured out onto a motorway yet yourself then. :sun:

Another option is stay off M-ways, not always possible but sat nav is your friend. I have switched from jumping on my local M6 and just driving 2-3 junctions, for convenience, to travelling across country. In the past higher speed made up for longer distances as the M-way option was never the shortest route. My fuel economy has not changed or journey times and the scenery is much better. :sun:

I started with a mk1 fiesta 1.0L, four speed, no PAS or much of anything else from what I remember, instructor replaced this with a Chrysler Horizon 1.1 but I gave up with the instructor and bought my own car which I passed my test in, that was a Chrysler Alpine 1.3. Oh and I also have a forklift certificate and did have a go at truck driving 14t cargo.

It looks like if you have snow/cold weather tyres now might be a good time to fit them. From the Met office - UK Outlook for Monday 19 Jan 2015 to Wednesday 28 Jan 2015: Dry, cold and clear for much of central Britain on Monday and Tuesday with showers affecting many coastal counties away from the south, readily falling as sleet and snow. There will be a widespread frost overnight and some localised patches of freezing fog which may be slow to clear through the day. Through the rest of next week, the general cold conditions will persist bringing an ongoing risk of snow, more especially in northern and eastern areas. Temperatures will be generally below average with overnight frosts, locally severe.

A V6, that's sacrilege. Looks nice :love: and hopefully a bigger tank than the last one.

Would have to be my 99 T plate Subaru Impreza with standard 215 hp. Nice balance of weight, grip and go.

They have never appealed to me although I like the idea of a hill hold function, if they could provide this with a conventional hand brake that would do me :sun: My brother in law has it fitted to his passat and it malfunctioned leaving the warning bong going all the way from Scotland down to me, 3.5 hrs. He was not a happy bunny when he arrived :peek:

It's an interesting comparison, styling aside the Superb has largest boot, smallest turning circle and is the lightest. It also has two year service option, the ford looks to have an electric park brake which is an instant fail for me. I quite like the sound of Mazda's 2.2 motor though.

Thanks for the reply's :sun: Did not know about the bonnet needing to be closed, will check.

Hi, I had the washer bottle warning light come on a few days ago so re filled the bottle and now the washer and wipers have become inactive, the rear wiper/ washer still works. Has anybody got any ideas about the cause.

Interesting, is there any down side to this regards emissions and MOT. I guess the engine would be a bit dirtier at the exhaust depending on when (rpm, engine load) the exhaust was mixed with fuel/ air.