MarkyMarkD

The article's pretty misleading. For starters the quote: is all wrong. It's not a re-introduction of a surcharge for Euro IV-compliant models, it's the removal of a dispensation for Euro IV-compliant models from the surcharge which used to apply to all diesel cars (and will, once again, from 2006/07).But anyway, diesel car emissions are so much lower than for petrol equivalents that even with the 3% surcharge, drivers will be better off with the diesel. And if they are paying for the fuel, they save at the pumps; if they are not, their company benefits and will likely incentivise them to opt for diesel if they are offered a choice. E.g. Mondeo 1.8 is in 23% tax band; Mondeo 2.0 TDCI 115 is in 17% tax band in 2005/06 and 20% tax band in 2006/07. I think that now that the fleet market has grown aware that modern TD cars are good to drive, as well as cheaper to run, there will be no turning back.

My 55 plater has had this problem from new and I haven't bothered to get it sorted ... it can wait until the 1st year service along with the creaking driver's seat. :(

We can easily enough travel around with one baby and stuff in the Fab, but it does mean having the seats split and down to take suitcases as well as the pushchair. We've managed without the pushchair on some trips - she's not too heavy to carry in a sling right now for a few hours max - but that obviously isn't going to last. It does look like the old Laguna is going to come into its own, regrettably, consigning the Fab to my journeys to/from work and weekend day out trips without any luggage. Reminds me that I always wished there was a Fab vRS estate which would make a lot of sense. Or maybe I'll start justifying a nice new Octy Estate?

We have the Graco seat with bases in each of the Fab vRS and the Laguna and it's an excellent easy system to use. I can't believe anyone buys the sort of seat which has to have the seatbelt threaded through it every single time they remove it from the car. That said, you could probably buy two cheaper seats for the price of a Graco seat + 2 bases, so that's an equally credible alternative. We will be looking for seats for >6mths soon - anyone suggest anything good? I've not seen any larger sized seats with the separate base idea - doesn't that happen on the larger seats? In which case, we'd have to buy 2 and we don't want them too expensive.

I am still struggling to get to 50mpg but have only done 3.5k miles in the first 6 months ... most of the journeys are poxy 6.5 miles each way to/from work (and hilly at that). Even on a long run down to South Wales and back, with tedious compliance with speed limits, it didn't go over about 52. I'm hoping it's going to get a lot better as it loosens up more. It certainly doesn't like hills - mpg drops like anything as soon as the going gets anything steeper than a completely flat road. :(

It does show you how Top Gear, and the motoring programmes which have followed (imitated?) it, have gone downhill since the late 1980s - as postmanpat says, when did you last see a proper review of a car which actually looked at it from the viewpoint of a real potential owner?

Nice vids, Jason ... and that white car was seriously asking to be hit!

Bank transfer is a fine and safe method of sending funds, as long as you trust the person you are sending them to. Often people selling on eBay want the funds sending via bank transfer, to avoid PayPal fees, but this is a risk business as if they fail to supply the goods, you are likely to find it virtually impossible to retrieve the funds.

We had our Laguna MOT'd at the Skoda garage, as we won a free MOT in a dealership opening competition!

I'm in our local group, and there's tons of stuff going through there every day. Nearly always snapped up quickly, so great for clearing your (almost) junk. On that subject, does anyone in South Wales (preferably Rhondda) have a useable spare PC for a low-income family I know? Just on the off chance ...

You can't reject the car if you bought it privately, so I'd ignore that bit of JMK2's advice :(

No, but I work for a bank and I can tell you that the relative increases in LIBOR, compared to bank base rate, have cost us a fortune over the last year. Over the medium to long term, it shouldn't be any better or worse to have a LIBOR-based, than bank base rate based, mortgage IMHO, if that was what you were wondering!

Way to go on the job ... we knew you could do it! Enthusiasm counts for a huge deal, and I'm sure that's what has swung it for you. Hope it all goes well. MMD

I also don't understand why Skoda UK are washing their hands of the matter ... they are within their rights to challenge the Scottish dealer's diagnosis, but at the end of the day they should bang the London dealer's head together and get this sorted. Small claims court is very easy indeed and minimal up-front expense ... so if you had to go this way, I wouldn't be afraid of the hassle. There's no way a London dealer would bother defending a case in Scotland for £200, so they would give in way before court IMHO.

You don't need the DVLA reminder, or the number on the reminder. I know this as my reminder didn't refer to online taxing, or include the reference. As long as you have your Reg Doc number, and your Reg number, you can do it online anyway. The MOT centres are already linked to DVLA (or at least some of them are) - if you have a new-style A4 MOT certificate you can use the online taxing thingy. Works very nicely.

Done

Surely you mean employers' organisations? I think you're being a bit harsh to a new members, Kentish ... and I hope that E-E is benefitting from other people's advice.

Well done on this interview, E-E ... fingers crossed that it proves successful.

Makefish - you're not wrong! My wife said "I hope that girl's not as young as she looks in the picture"!

I expect so - my S110L got through three engines before I gave up on it!

Re the bank staff recording comments about you, I would say it's incredibly unlikely as anything recorded on the bank's systems would be accessible by you if you requested access to the data under the Data Protection Act's requirements. My employer has very strict policies against recording judgemental/derogatory information about customers for this very reason.

Can't find one of me instantly so one of Naomi Elizabeth will have to suffice. 3 months old this week.

Welcome, Emily Elizabeth ... we used to have an old dirty Favorit too, but it got written off by a mad old woman driver :'( Hope you enjoy it here. MMD

Mine creaks like anything and is very annoying ... just can't be a***ed to take it back to the dealer for that alone. Might suffer it until the 1st year's service.

I've just had a quote from More Than who insure the Mrs' Laguna at a very good premium. They now want TWICE the premium they wanted from me 8 months ago - identical standard Fab vRS, identical drivers, still full NCD, no additional claims or convictions etc. etc. This doesn't bode well at all! (Premium's gone from £340 to £680, btw).