XLBaconDoubleCheese

You lucky bugger! Pictures and an update when you finish having fun it it!

Oh yeah I get that, for reps and people who drive all day yeah, diesel will always win but it's the average Joe who does a 10 mile commute each day and buys a diesel because 'it's cheaper to run' who then gets a shock when it's saving him nothing and things start to go wrong.

Our BMW sounds nice enough, my Fabia sounded good with an exhaust, some of the V6 diesels sound fantastic and I enjoy how they drive. The costs cant be ignored though. They're more to buy in the first place, diesel isnt cheaper than petrol like it once was, and if you do a normal length commute then you'll undoubtedly be better off with a petrol now, they've improved a fair bit economy wise. Yes, if you do lots of long trips then you'll recoup some money, but the average commute will see a diesel being turned off before it's even hot. The sweet spot has passed I think, there's too many additional bits added to get them 'clean' enough for emissions tests which firstly only work when they get properly hot and secondly, cost a fortune to replace. My Fabia wouldnt get properly hot on a 15 min trip to work and managed 40 mpg or so. It only got away with it because it had the EGR removed and no DPF, plus I would drive it spiritedly fairly often to save anything else getting coked up. My uncle has had a range of fairly new diesels thinking they're the cheapest to run for the commute. He's had issues with the EGR valves, issues with Turbos coking up, issues with DPFs not regenerating and on top of all that, it doesn't return much more MPG than a equivalent petrol would. I currently use a Panda with a 1.4 Fire engine in, donkeys years old design, not especially efficient but still does 40mpg the same as the Fabia did. If you're doing the trips, then you can make them pay but in reality the majority of people just dont do the miles.

Oh I totally agree. Had a mate go on about wanting a Golf GTD for months, I told him he does nowhere near the miles to warrant it, wouldn't listen when I said a GTI would be quicker & cheaper.

It's the last 20 years of governments that have told everyone diesel is the best way to go thats the issue. Now it's becoming clear it isnt all that good for the environment and they're getting the bad press etc.

I can feel another budget adjustment coming on

I've just realised the 7.5 gets Virtual Cockpit standard! Hummmmmm

If you want to keep your current plate you need to put it on retention now, the car will get assigned another generic plate that will be removed when you put the newly purchased one on. If you mean you just want to put the newly bought plate on and dont want/need to keep the current plate then you'll get the cert for the new plate when you buy it, normally after a couple of days at the most, then you can go online and transfer it onto the car instantly. So once you order it go get some plates made up from an online company so they're here the same time as the certificate and you'll have them on the car within a week of buying.

I dont think it's the better car for me though :( I certainly wont be buying from the VW dealer I visited though!

Good old Motech!

Good thinking

I'm looking at nearly new, I'm fairly sure what car I want so I'm thinking I'll just find one online then phone them for a check on details before going to view/buy it. I'm not bothering with trading the Panda in, they'll offer me £500, I can get £2000 give or take private sale.

Went to do some window shopping last week, the differences between dealers were worlds apart, I wont name and shame but thought I'd share my experiences. First up was a BMW dealer, popped in, had a look about and had a chat with a sales guy. Explained that we were not looking to buy for a month or two yet but were narrowing down the shortlist. They had a model of interest at the showroom, although it wasnt a demo we were told, it did have someones shirt/protein shaker/gym kit in the back Anyway, they were happy for us to take it out, took a copy of DL and told us to take it for half hour or so. We went out for about 20 minutes, majority spent in KFC car park playing with the headunit/nav etc. Dropped it back, no hassle and were told to give them a shout when ready to buy. Perfect balance of helpfulness without being overly pushy. Next up was a VW dealer, their website showed four of the models of interest, each in a different colour. Great, we could check out a few colours while there, one had an upgraded nav too. Arrived and found a black one parked on the forecourt, I asked about the other three to be told the black one was the only one they had. Not ideal. Had a look around it anyway, asked about a test drive to be told to come back when ready to buy and that was it basically. Nice! So we made our way out, only to find the other three cars sat in the overflow parking! I can see this car shopping being a long, not so enjoyable experience! Tell me the second one was just bad luck?

I'm in the market for a new BBQ too! I'm after gas though, I find it still tastes as good, just less faff, cleaning and waiting. Also I used it far more because I would fire it up to cook a couple of burgers for me and the mrs, whereas I wouldn't do that with charcoal. I you want it a bit more authentic you can just burn it and it tastes more or less the same as charcoal. I'm liking the Weber Q series at the moment.

Decent race, Vettel would have done better to hold his hands up and apologise than play dumb and stand his ground. I've spent all season ripping Stroll but be held his nerve on a track that was pretty tricky, fair play to him. I'm still not sure he's all that but hat off to him. Force India really are punching above their weight, considering that their main sponsor has been grounded for the past few year and their owner/boss has been deported Shame they keep dropping the ball.

My mates dad calls it an 'Oc-tarrrrrrr-via' and has been know on at least one occasion to call it an 'Oc-ta-vay-a'

It'd be good to see just how quick the Macca would be with a Merc engine in.

This strong and stable thing seems to be going well

Also, sorry for taking this post way off topic! :(

I think the majority of these car thieves want in and out without being detected, so I'd expect/hope they'd want to know 100% the house they're going into is the right house for the car. Driving down a row of terraced houses with a short supply of unallocated on street parking, any car could belong to any house. If I were them, I'd spend another 15 minutes driving about for one sat on a driveway. Thats how I'm trying to rationalise it in my head anyway. If they really want the car they'll have it, BUT I'm hoping that if you make it hard enough they'll find an easier target, especially with something common and mass produced. In answer to the other posts, Golfs and S3s seem to be particular targets in the UK, either for export or for bank jobs pretty much.

Yeah, without tempting fate most of the thefts seem to be in and around big cities, Birmingham, London, Liverpool, Manchester etc. It'd be parked on the road too so less chance of them knowing the house they need to get in. Plus, as you say, when I look about there are lots of nice cars about, every time I see a R I really like the look of them so I think I need to go for it if I really want one.

I was just looking at this on auto trader Anyone know if any shops are stocking it? I tried my local WH Smiths but couldnt see it

:(

Decent leader? I reckon a massive amount of Labour votes were BECAUSE of JC! Really, the question is imagine how much better Labour and JC would have done with equal unbiased media coverage, as oppose to the trash all over the Scum's front page yesterday. I voted Labour, mainly because of Corbyn. He is the first Politician for a while that is in it to genuinely do some good, not to line his own pockets, not to shaft anyone, but to genuinely make the country a better place for everyone. The bloke listens to people, he treats people and talks to people on a level with them and he connects and communicates like no other party leader I've known, he actually seems to be a normal guy. I agree with the majority of Labours manifesto but the biggest pull for me was the man himself.

That's good to know, that was/is my choice colour for that reason, try and blend it in a bit. The Grey seems to be the rarest colour second hand. My biggest worry is someone nicking it.