Heebee

If you're buying a TT, you wouldn't want to get the V6: you'd want to get the 1.8 with a hairdryer fitted to it :P

You cannot whack the power delivery of a V8. Turbos are all very well, but a well set-up V8 is so much smoother than a 4-pot. V6s are OK, but V8s are so much nicer. My V8 doesn't put out much power on paper, but in reality, it pulls like a train at all speeds, and does so in a lovely, smooth way. Big engines also tend to be less stressed, so they should last longer.

Isn't part of the problem that women can't drive as well as men? No offence...

As a policy maker, he lacked vision.

I'm delighted. Let's just hope he takes Blair with him.

That's not the same thing. It's one thing to take children into care who aren't being looked after properly: it's a very different matter to actually prosecute the mother for having the child in the first place.

It's wrong to get pregnant just to get a flat. But it's far more wrong to suggest that the state should interfere to the extent that they actually prosecute people for having children. We're not machines, and this isn't a factory. Surely it's a fundamental right to have children? Do you really want to live in a society which has that much control over its population?

Perhaps blonde hair and blue eyes should be a requirement of those who wish to breed? I'm sure that's what Hitler suggested, anyway. Do you stop those with disabilities, poor eyesight, bad taste in music, or those that wear clothes you disapprove of? Fortunately, there isn't a politician in the land that would support your idea.

Have you tried giving out toffee onions?? I bought a load of crap sweets from Lidl. I'm sure they'll be delighted.

You can't possibly make it illegal for certain people to breed. And to suggest that 'bad breeds bad' is over-simplistic in the extreme. The Mail seems keen on control-freakery and the government is hell-bent on nanny state-ism. I like living in a liberal country with a good social services infrastructure: it's comforting to know that there is a safety net to support us if things go wrong. There are a lot of people on disability benefit, and it may be that some are malingerers. But it certainly isn't the case for all of them: only the rotten apples make the headlines. Compared with the rest of Europe, we don't actually pay that much tax. It has gone up since Blair got into power, and a lot of the money has been wasted on beurocracy and wars. But that doesn't mean we should blame all our problems on people on benefits. For what it's worth, I think it should be possible to survive, but uncomfortable, to live on benefits. However, I would hate to see benefits and the NHS scrapped: it's far from perfect, but it's part of what makes us a civilised country.

How on earth do you know this? This whole thread seems to be slumping into lazy xenophobia.

Is that for legal reasons?

I wasn't slagging you off: I was just slagging off your overpriced, boring repmobile. Some people don't expect enough.

But you didn't buy it for its looks, did you? Mondeos handle well, and have some excellent engines. They're a really good buy second-hand. And they look just as interesting as an Audi... :P

No, I don't like it: the Mondeo is just as interesting to look at, which is 'not very'. It's not the sort of car that stands out at all, is it? The Fabia isn't striking either. But then, I bought it for the engineering under the skin: I love the combination of performance and economy, and the handling is...OK. And I thought the price was great. What wouldn't be OK would be to buy a very similar car (in mechanical terms) for a lot more money, just to get a different badge. Audi fall on the side of 'boring' rather than 'understated', to my eyes. There's something rather smug about their image, which I find completely distasteful. It's like wearing an expensive watch: it doesn't tell the time any better than a cheap one, but it lets people know that you can afford it.

I really don't get the obsession with Audis. Does anyone else think they look pretty dull? They're not exactly striking to look at, are they?

iTunes also allows you to record mp3 CDs. Change the setup in 'preferences'.

I suppose it helps to prevent people hiding the tell-tale signs of a clocked car.

You could get a garage to do a compression test (or you could buy a tool, and do it yourself). If it's worn rings, then you probably need a bottom end rebuild. If you do some of the work yourself, this shouldn't cost more than approx.

I can't remember the airmans badge. I did get to fly a Venture solo (have you thought of stuffing a scooby lump in one of those??) and I also went solo in a Piper Tomahawk. Kids at school took the mickey out of the uniforms and the marching, but were somewhat jealous of all the great stuff we got to do (helicopter trips, firing rifles and machine guns, trips to Cyprus/Gibraltar etc).