Nigel R Slack

Don't know why people find SDis too slow. I did 501 miles from Skye to home during the day yesterday. Just two cars passed me and I re-passed one of them. The other left the motorway about 200 yards ahead of me about 20 miles later. I overtook plenty of cars on the Highland roads. It's low running costs and lasts well (I'm on 326k miles now).

Rochefort 10, a Trappist beer from Belgium has fabulous flavour. It's strong (12% alcohol) and pricey over here but well worth trying.

I also really enjoy Dunvegan to Neist Point (Skye), again unclassified, and the B6270 through Swaledale - both fantastically scenic.

Unclassified Glen Lyon (Fortingall)to Killin (Glen Lockay)is fabulous. The road linking the two glens is not marked on all road maps, or is just shown as a track, but is actually tarmaced (although a bit rough).

It was free.

I gave a lift to someone hitching near Dingle in Ireland last week. When he got in I realized he was totally drunk. He wouldn't get out when I got to the village I was going to, and started waving his bus pass at me saying I was denying him the right to go to where the bus was supposed to go! After about 20 minutes of trying to persuade him to get out a real bus came along and he decided to try for that (even though it was going the wrong way). I nipped off quick.

I was reading yesterday that people not looking properly (presumably mainly at junctions) is the commonest cause of fatal accidents (followed by people misjudging the road conditions - traveling too fast, but often not exceeding the speed limit). Is it best to drive a yellow car, as this is said to be the colour that is most easily noticed?

No, I'm on the original clutch. The plastic box on the clutch pedal has been repaired, but that's all. Now on 313k miles.

I've changed mine (X reg SDi) every 70k to 80k miles (about every 2.5 years) and am now on 312k. I change the oil and filter at 5k intervals.

Drive slowly on longer trips for good fuel consumption (+ensure oil filter is clean and tyres are well inflated). My average is 56.4mpg over 311723 miles (I've recorded all fuel usage). Total cost per mile (excluding parking charges which I keep to a minimum) is 17.1p.

To my mind the people being vastly overpaid are in the private sector - look at the top people in banks and the London traders. Why should they get multi-billion pound bonuses for 'managing' other peoples money - generated by true hard graft?

The teachers and lecturers I know work very long hours. My wife stays up to 4/5am at least 4 nights per week working, and always takes loads of work with her on holiday. Her colleagues are similar in their hours - one stops in the department all night once a week to get through his workload. Even the PhD students are normally leaving about 8/9pm whilst I'm waiting for my wife. Every teacher I know comes down with some form of illness or other at term end - my sister-in-law is 'expected' to go into school for about 2/3rds of her weekends (with no extra pay) to cover additional activities.

'Spain also once you get a little way in has no tolls, just miles of empty roads that the EU ( WE !!!!!) have paid for' - I suspect Germany has paid far more than the UK, as the current economic powerhouse of Europe!

My SDi has cost 16.9p/mile for all expenses except parking charges (which aren't much for me) - seems pretty good compared to average costs published by the AA.

I'm on 306k miles with my Fabia Sdi, but 'Fat Bloke' has more than 1.4 million miles - 'omg stop talking about the bss engine i have one of these ive done 1450628 miles ssshhhhhh no more talk about oil pumps please'

I've averaged about 56.3 in mine. Varies from high 40s to high 70s depending on winter/summer and driving hard/economically.

That's an impressive mileage! You'll be catching up with the Volvo in the States for a world record.

My last tank was 701. The fuel low warning light had just come on, but that's the best it's been since the autumn.

I now use a pump to remove the oil, having drained from the plug about 15 times - it's much quicker and less messy, and I get at least as much out, probably slightly more. I got a Pela pump from ebay for about £30/40. If draining from the plug I would echo what Oet says - be wary of stripping the thread when refitting. I often found the star key screws for the undertray would be missing, so I now secure it with parcel ties - just punch some small holes in the plastic moulding to thread them. They're more reliable than the screws. The top of the filter housing should be easy to remove with an extension arm and socket - if it's tight it might be a bit awkward with molegrips.

When going to Skye nowadays (past Roy Bridge) from Derbyshire I almost always take the A9 to Dalwhinnie then head West. I always find it slow via Loch Lomond, except in the ealry hours of the morning.

I had to have my gearbox reconditioned when some bolts loosened and the oil drained out - expensive. That was at 247k miles. My total costs from new have been 16.7p/mile (not counting parking charges and potential interest on capital), which is pretty good judging by the AA - average for a lower end diesel doing 30k/year during the time I've had my car being over 22p/mile.

I had 935 miles from one tank in my Fabia SDi. That was mainly doing between 50 and 70 on roads in the Highlands in the summer with 2 people in the car.

As mentioned above, I find a big difference between summer and winter mpg - the fuel mix plus far more use of lights, heating etc really takes it down. Overall I've averaged 56.6, varying from about 46 in winter with a heavy right foot to 80 in summer driving economically in the Highlands.

How many miles have these cars done to be needing clutch replacements? I've done 299600 in my 10 year old SDi, with a lot of that in heavy stop/start traffic in Manchester/Liverpool, and the clutch is fine - the only thing that's gone wrong was the plastic box on the clutch pedal breaking.

There's a 1966 volvo that's done 2.6 million miles with one owner. I guess it's better to keep a car going with occasional parts being replaced than scrapping the whole car.