Aspman

My Mrs JCW countryman has been making some unsettling knocking noises. Coming from nearside rear. We thought it was brakes as disks were looking pretty knarly like a bit of the pad had broken off so we've had them done (JCW part prices 😭). She's just phoned to say it's back although not as loud. It an odd one, of the car is sitting for a few days when she drives off it's like there is something in the wheel as it knocks in line with the speed of the car. Tap the brakes and it seems to go. Driver regularly it doesn't appear. No bearing like noises (it's low miles, no guarantee I know), and nothing looks untoward underneath. Just speculating but a dry cv joint or something like that?

Sounds good to me. What could possibly go wrong?

i'm not sure my lawn mower likes E10. It was chuntering a bit after a fresh tank. Need to try the bugger on Super.

It's only illegal if you get caught

Getting parts from Scuderia isn't quite so bad allegedly. But I was guessing not much worse than parts for an M5 anyway. I've been nearly £900 for brakes on the Mrs JCW countryman this year. Interesting things are expensive.

Maybe the majority who want an EV have one? And there is a lot of publicity fearmongering about battery lifetime. It doesn't really matter if that is nonsense or not if a majority belive that the battery in a used EV is about to fade like some cheap AAs. If the used prices drop because of the papers FUD headlines it'll drive up lease prices as well. A lot of public charging has gone from free to at cost as well. My neighbour has an EV and he relied on using the council funded chargers for the last few years.

As above if it doesn't have an SSD then putting one in can make quite a remarkable difference especially on a laptop. Laptops often came with 5400RPM drives which were a real bottleneck in the system. The SSD is hugely faster. You could see a laptop that took maybe a minute to boot with the spinning disk coming down to sub 10sec (have seen them boot less than 5sec) with an SSD. If the laptop will run W8 it will also run W10 although W10 is on its way out as well. Would still suggest a lightweight linux setup if you've time to do the learning.

FQ. The GTS V8 of that era can crack 190 and the newest Trofeo V8 model will top 202. Derv is more common because it was a cheapest version. But they are all fairly uncommon. I've never seen another on the road.

Needing a larger family car that would cope with long journeys I started digging around for something. I was mainly after something interesting. So after spotting a Maserati Quattroporte online I popped up to drive it and after a short and fruitful haggle I bought a Maserati Quattroporte V6d. It's fairly rapid (275hp), huge inside, and possibly the quietest car I've ever driven. The ICE is dated (probably dated when it was new) but does bluetooth and DAB and that's 95% of my needs. Some of the switchgear is a bit meh (Chrysler stock) other parts of the car are pure quality. Dash is walnut and leather. Dealer put on a full set of front disks and pads (OEM), two new front springs (caused a 6 week delay), oil and filter change, and a very good valet. Bought from the dealer owner who owns a GTS version and is clearly a Maserati fan himself, I'm guessing the previous owner was also very careful as it it mint. Already terrified of kerbing the alloys and it's a total PITA to park as it is over 5.2m long. But, just look at it....snaps knicker elastic at 100 yards.

Volvo is doing 0% finance again which is usually when they are having problems selling. So is Skoda. Something not adding up.

Someone clipped the bridge at St Madoes nr Perth today as well. St Madoes folk must be weeping they just got the overpass back after it was closed for 9 months after the last time. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23418475.a90-delays-machinery-falls-off-lorry-onto-carriageway/ Story says it fell off so they might have dodged it

there are many people out there that are no where near sane in their thinking and will send in 10 videos a day of their real or imagined infractions. some of these apps require a paid subscription before they will submit anything. And as others have said unless they are recorded to a court submissable quality is useless plus plod won’t bother looking at 99% of them.

'd agree with George there. Too much money tied up in metal and the trade won't just sell at any price. Stock will get hidden away to drive up prices, works for De Beers anyway. I'm sure prices will soften but 5-15% at most and only on undesirable stock, other stuff will get pushed even higher with inflation.

I bought a CTEK One to maintain the battery on a summer car. Cost a bleedin fortune but it does what it says on the tin. Just hook it up, anyway round you like, it sorts itself out.

I didn't know supercapcitors were working tech already. They always stood out as the thing that could be gamechanginf with ev charing rates. It's just how to deliver all that power without melting the cables.

The huge torque from an electric motor could really work with trucks and the saddlebag batteries could be made a great idea. I would hazard a guess that something similar could be done with buses. Truck stops could be built in areas that suit renewable energy the whole thing could almost go off grid. In Aus they could have battery stations next to big solar farms.

It might be worth raising a complaint with the insurance company. Appreciating the futility of this you will probably need to go through several rounds of the complaints process before they actually make an effort. As mentioned they should have had the car assessed properly before making such a statement. I would also phone the ombudsman they will probably be very helpful even if they cannot get involved yet. I would also consider writing to the local press, again I appreciate you only hav so much energy but unfortunately adverse press is the thing most likely to get things moving.

you still have the Consumer Rights Act 2015. It is not limited by warranty and you have up to 6 years to act. https://www.themotorombudsman.org/knowledge-base/what-is-the-consumer-rights-act

I've been waiting on car prices to collapse for 10yr

When I was in the showroom a few weeks ago I asked if they were busy. They were selling more than ever and even they thought the prices were stupid but no shortage of punters. the only prices I've seen drop are on formerly very expensive cars, Land Rover, Range rover, V8 BMWs, big diesels etc. Everything else is selling no problem.

Ooh reminded me I have a bag of Palm Pilot and Palm 105 PDAs plus a few odd WM6 mobiles phones (pre iPhone days). I've dumped so much interesting kit over the years. My Mrs keeps trying to get me to get rid of my big box of cables, but no way, I know I'll need that sony propriatory micro USB to firewire adapter one day.

Professional opinion I wouldn't touch anything made by Google if I can avoid it. It tracks and stores everything. TBH the apps they supply aren't very good either. My Mrs has awful problems getting GMail to behave itself. Might be a good time to explore the wonderful world of Linux. https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-laptop-and-netbook-25/best-linux-version-for-asus-eee-pc-r105-4175698521/ Linux needs a little bit of learning to start with but it's not as difficult as it used to be plus the best thing about Linux is - it does as it's bloody told. No wandering off to share your data or demanding you download an app or pushing ads on you.

I've always thought that was a sweet spot to buy a car as well. I'd add they often put out fully loaded cars at that stage so get a well sorted, well priced and fully specced car. In theory.

Bit sad, my Mazzer has been delayed. I'd agreed with the dealer that the would be inspected before handover and if discs/pads were under 50% they'd be changed. Dealer also offered to change oil. So brakes are getting renewed but they found a broken spring on the car and they are going to change the front pair. But Maserati springs are on back order, 2-4 weeks 😭

We're about to move up to 4 cars in the household between the Mrs and myself. We've 2 occasional cars (>1000 miles a year on each) and 2 daily cars (>3000 a year on these) but we're pretty low mileage. 3 of the cars will be in my name. The 3 we have now are all on seperate policies. What is most efficient way to insure these vehicles without getting into knots on NCB etc?