Evening Star

Some of us aren't lucky enough to live in a house with a garage large enough to hold 4 cars! (A VW Passat, A Land Rover or VW Transporter, A VW Golf + A Skoda Octavia!) So guess who's car sits on the road in all weathers.

Oh no, you really must try them when you're deicing the car on a frosty morning waiting for the screen to clear, or when it peeing down with sit there in the warm & snug. Oh I forgot to add MDI & Ipod connection.

If I were going to specify a vRS at the moment I'd choose a 170CR for economy with: 1/ DSG box - A personal choice because of arthritis in my left leg, love the smooth almost imperceptible changes, however a nightmare in the snow! 2/ Maxidot - Worth every penny for the flexibility it brings. 3/ Xenons - Had them on 3 cars now & wouldn't be without them, lighting to a new level. 4/ Spare Wheel - You might never need it, however if the side wall of your tyre goes, the can of gunk is about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. 5/ Bluetooth/MFSW - Hands free calling, no chance of getting a £60 + 3pts with this setup. 6/ Heated Seats - Lovely on those icy cold mornings. 7/ Parking Sensors - Cheaper than a new bumper. 8/ Auto Lights - Nice to be shown the path home at night & for when you're driving in the rain. I wouldn't have: 1/ Columbus Sat Nav - Expensive & doesn't accept full UK postcodes, you can get either a Tom Tom, Garmin, Navman or Navigon for £1200 less & it does the same thing. 2/ Metallic Paint - Easily spoilt by those who hate to see people with nice things, bushes on country lanes & it costly to repair should it get scratched.

Try an orthopaedic seat wedge. According to the spiel: The Orthopaedic seat cushion helps relieve everything from back ache to numbness. It has a cutaway section which eases pressure on the tailbone which helps your spine to relax and the wedge shape restores the spine's natural "S" shaped curve. It can be used in our outdoors and is ideal for use in the office, car, home, church, train, boating, fishing, camping and picnics. It has a built in handle for portability and has a water/ stain resistant side which can simply wipe clean. The seat has furniture-grade foam for support and comfort and the breathable fabric side keeps you cool and comfortable.

I usually put mine into N within 20 sec of coming to a stand at lights or in a long queue, that way should my foot slip of the brake I don't rear end someone, also I don't blind the person in rear by my brake lights.

That's tempting fate that is.

Oh yeah forgot about the wet & dry bit!

My 1,8 TSi is a DSG-7, I was told that when I was choosing my car, that if I went to TDI it would be a DSG-6. So apart from 1-ratio less, they should (in theory) be the same, with a little bit of tweaking with the software to allow for the difference in engine type.

It's an excellent car. You get a lot for your money. I'd also say away from a Sports Bike, a good way to lose your licence too, very quick with up to 200bhp on tap it has excellent handling too; It's liked by a lot of motoring magazines too. You can tune it up as well.

Personally I'd divorce her...

Before I had a 2,0 TDi (140) VW Golf and it was better than this 1,8 for performance & economy, hence the thought of going back to diesel, especially as trips from Surrey to West Somerset/Devon are becoming more common.

Strange you like the TSi for its smoothness & "torque", whilst I find its smooth, I find that it really lacks the torque of a diesel which I really like, so if I do decide to stay with Skoda, then I'll be going for a CR diesel next time.

Anyone taking bets on how long it takes for the red ring of death appears? I just got rid of my PS3, because I was bored of it, I've considered a XBOX 360, but I don't think I'll bother as it's expensive & I don't think I'll find it entertaining or reliable.

So how do you work that out then? A 16Gb SD card can only hold 3,000 tracks at 320kbps, if you're lucky.

I don't care. As long as it accepts an Ipod.

Having just seen a picture of the upcoming A-Class Merc, makes me think time to start saving those pennies...

I'll try playing a Jean-Michel Jarre album on my system and see what happens, as they're mostly gapless.

Try updating the Ipods firmware via Itunes.

Maxidot is worth every penny of its cost IMO, it allows access to so much information & settings that would otherwise be hidden. Although saying that it really should be standard equipment now rather than an option.

Hey, unless SUK do something about it (Bolero) then in about 18 months when I change the car, I'll be looking elsewhere, I'm not loyal to a brand of car.

I don't need to worry about the bitrate, I've got a 64Gb Ipod attached + 160Gb Ipod classic as backup, so I can have a bitrate of my choice, not have to worry about a SD card & stupid playlists for a Bolero to use. I just use the Ipod shuffle function and it does what the damned Bolero should do without any hassles.

More expensive, Yes! But far easier if you have 2,900+ tracks of music from 1,204 different artists, in 3,001 folders, which would play continuously 6,9 days, without repeating.

Anyone tried this one: EZCam Speed Camera Detector http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.whitecat.speedcam You can use numerous databases for it.

At the end of the day the Bolero is the biggest pile of dung going. If you genuinely want to play loads of music, then get the MDI installed + Ipod lead & Ipod, simple easy, no stupid playlists required.

You can get a sim-free HTC for around £389,00 now & you're not tied into a contract, you can get a £20pcm - 30day contract with Vodafone that's got 300mins, 3000 txts & 500Mb of Internet use.