keystonedriving

I have a DAB clock radio next to the bed, it's great because the clock resets after a power outage (not unusual when there's a thunderstorm). In the car I have the standard FM/AM/CD unit. I rarely listen to the radion as I prefer to concentrate on my driving. I have no intention of spending a large amount of money to replace it. Our TV reception is much less reliable since we went digital, and we are only about 5 miles line-of-sight from the transmitter. Presumably DAB will represent a similar improvement.

The course is administered by NDORS and the presentation used should be identical in its content wherever it is being delivered. We do get 'mystery shopped' by NDORS to ensure that we are sticking to the laid down format. It is, however, presented by experienced people who are not reading from a script but adding their own experience and style of presentation. They will also be responding to individual questions from clients. I think it unlikely that any presenter would routinely suggest using 2nd gear to keep to 30, but might suggest it as a means of controlling speed when descending a particularly steep hill (maybe in response to a very specific question). My own view is that if a client asks a question which is not covered by the course, but could be of interest to other course members, I will try to give a brief answer. It is the clients' course, not mine, they have paid good money for it and are entitled to get good value from it. That is the main reason that we will eject those people who are being disruptive if it is necessary. Generally a quiet word in the ear has the desired effect but, if that doesn't work then out you go. The course fee actually depends on the police force / camera partnership for which it is being run, and is probably set in line with what they think the local population will accept. The various courses offered (Speed Awareness, Driver Alertness, What's Driving Us, Driving For Change) are intended to try and turn the negative event which brought them onto the course into a positive educational experience (including the acceptance that they have made an error). There are some studies being carried out around the country looking at the effectiveness of the courses; initial results tend to suggest that people who have attended the courses are less likely to re-offend than those who have been taken through the fixed penalty / court route. You can describe the courses in many ways, but the expression 'half-arsed' shows a total lack of understanding of what the courses are about. It may be that the standard of presentation in the South West is superior to other parts of the country as they were invented here more than 20 years ago. Many of those who were involved with the courses in the beginning are still going strong, those of us who have come on board more recently (in my case 9 years ago) have learned from them.

I always use Bosch as well, they outlast anything else.

It doesn't matter whether it is the first or the tenth time you have been caught, if you meet the criteria for being offered the course in that area then it will be offered. However, if he turns up with that attitude and behaves in a disruptive manner then he can be thrown off the course and will get the penalty and points as well as he will have failed to complete the course. We can, and do, remove people from courses for this reason.

My understanding was that the estates were banned after Volvo's first season as the longer roof line increased rear downforce. Mind you, what the are proposing to use looks even uglier than the hatch!

One of the prime requirements of a city car is good all round visibility. If you are spending all your time in heavy traffic it is essential. Looking at all of the pillars on this one, the all round view doesn't look too great. It looks better than the IQ in that respect, so I don't expect it to join the list of vehicles which are too dangerous to be used for a driving test but I'll still pass. Just because most other vehicles place visibility at the bottom of the list of priorities doesn't make it a good idea. Or am I just being a boring old f**t for wanting to be able to see what I am doing?

Yes, you will find that the Fabia has identical wheels to the Roomster.

Mine used to start a lot quicker than that............

Only thing is, if the wheel/tyre combination is not homologated for your vehicle does that not mean that legally it is unroadworthy? It will certainly be interesting to see what your insurance company has to say.

Think we might have a bit of a typo here, that would entail setting a new land speed record as well!

33% I've already got my coat on, could somebody kindly open the door for me........

Devon & Cornwall had a fair number of Mk2 Octy vRS both marked and unmarked from around 2007. They have mainly gone now but I did see a full Battenburg one the other day. I believe that Wiltshire had Mk1 Superbs as Motorway patrol cars (and allegedly the first car they pulled on the M4 was a 911 - nice story whether it's true or not). An Octy vRS Estate seems to be standard issue for first responder paramedics in this area, too.

One problem we have is that used car prices down here are somewhat higher than the rest of the country (like a lot of things).

I ran a Mk1 Fabia for 135k, then passed it on to my elder daughter who took it to 210k. I had front suspension problems (probably due to speed humps) one side was fixed under guarantee (that was under the 3 years unlimited scheme) the other side I had to pay for, but it was't too bad. It didn't have any other significant problems in all of that time. My Roomster is a 1.4TDi which is just coming up to 75k (of which I have done 60k) with a panoramic roof but without roof rails. I have had no real problems with it. Do you really need roof rails? I can get my bike inside quite easily and it certainly holds a lot of stuff. The roof rails will probably have some effect on fuel economy. If you do have them, it'll be a bit of a lift to get things up! I have averaged about 52mpg overall, we have a lot of hills in Cornwall which really don't help. On a touring holiday to North Wales It returned about 59mpg overall. I do tend to cruise at around the 60 mark as that seems to be the sweet spot for economy. Going to 70 increases it by around 15%. For the journeys I routinely make a slightly lower speed is not an issue, the increase in journey time is not that much. If you are looking for a Motorway cruiser then something like an Octy estate will probably save you fuel The Roomster may not be perfect, but from my standpoint it's less imperfect than the competition.

A couple of things which haven't been mentioned... A full sized spare wheel and a piece of wood about a foot square in case you need to jack the car up on soft ground. The full sized spare is important because a space saver good for 50 miles at 50mph is no earthly use if you are 150 miles from home at 8:30pm.

And the best Screenwash is from Lidl. Used neat it's good down to -60, never found anything else to touch it. (Got some yesterday so it's available at the moment). I dilute it about 3 to 1 in the winter and about 10 to 1 in the summer.

I believe that if you unlock / lock three times using the key in the lock this re-boots the computer. It might be worth a try. Certainly that always fixed the Polo when it decided that the window controls operated the opposite window.

Provided that you stick to a wheel/tyre combination which has been homologated for your vehicle there should be no problems. One insurance company asked me to advise them when I changed, another didn't worry.

I bought a set of VW alloys (cheap) from a forum member here three years ago and had them fitted with a set of Kumho winters. I went for the Kumhos because looking on the ADAC site showed that they did not have the wet road braking problems that a lot of winter tyres do. Realistically we probably spend more time in the wet than the snow, so I felt they would be a better choice. They are sitting in the garage waiting to do their third winter. It will be their last, though, as the treads will be too worn after another year. I've certainly felt that they ahve done a good job, even though there hasn't really been snow to cope with.

A Roomster will take a full size spare, I wouldn't buy a car unless it did. It's all very well having a spare which is good for 50 miles at 50mph but what happens if you get a puncture at 9pm when you're 150 miles from home. That's likely to be a hotel job. The Seat wheel and tyre probably will fit, give it a try!

I had the same problem with a 1.9 SDi engine on my Polo and that was down to the free-wheel mechanism on the alternator having gone solid. Once the pulley was replaced there were no more problems. I wonder if they might have re-used the original pulley when the alternator was replaced? It is also possible that a new pulley could fail. Rob.

I have had a Nuvi for about three years. I bought a lifetime map update card via e-bay (from a Toyota dealer, it turned out) for about £45, it's about £75 if you get it from Garmin. I get 4 map updates a year for as long as I have the satnav. It takes about 2 to 3 hours to do a full UK/Europe update. For the price I reckon it's good value. You may need to put a micro sd card in the slot as sometimes the new maps are bigger. I had a gash 8gb card I put into mine and that's fine. I also put a bit of tape over the slot after I put the card in, just in case.

The rule in California is that if your wipers are on more than intermittent you must have your headlights on, that seems reasonable to me. If the wipers are only on intermittent there is almost certainly no need for lights. I have a real problem with DRL's however. In normal UK conditions they have no real advantage. They were designed to be used in low traffic density where the sun is low in the sky a lot. They also work well in hot climates with a lot of heat haze. We don't really get much in the way of heat haze and our traffic density tends to be pretty high. When it is busy, particularly in town, the DRL 'bling' lights are very good at masking vulnerable road users - pedestrians and bicycles mainly. I certainly would agree with the sentiment that if you need front lights, you must need rear lights as well. Now if we could just educate a few of the morons to understand that fog lights are designed to be used instead of headlights, not in addition to them, we might be getting somewhere. As to busses driving round with lights on all the time, in this area with Worst Group I believe it's mainly to stop them running into one another.

The engines are my biggest gripe. We had a diesel Scenic on which just about everything electric failed at one time or another, we could never get the thing to run properly and the final straw was that, due to a design defect the auxiliary drive belt used to shred. Not a huge problem in itself but there was no guard cover on the fan belt so when the auxiliary belt shredded for the third time it took out the cam belt as well. Even at mates rates that was an £800 rebuild. It was only at that point that we were told about the modification to the auxiliary belt pullies which cured the basic problem. My other gripe is that Renault design to ensure that routine jobs are as difficult (and therefore expensive) as possible. I do not accept that the first step in replacing a headlamp bulb is to jack the car up and remove the front wheel (Megane). VAG products tend to have less of these nonsenses built into them, I've had Fabia / Polo / Roomster and there has never been a bulb I couldn't replace in under 10 minutes, the offside headlight bulb on the Polo was the worst as it required moving the fuel filter (3 bolts). Any European built Nissan is just a Renault in disguise, so I would steer well clear of them as well (although I appreciate that they screw them together better in Sunderland than they do in France). Japanese built Nissans still seem to have some design autonomy which has to be a good thing. It's interesting how many people have really big problems with Renault. They aren't always rock bottom of customer satisfaction surveys for no reason. You get good and bad examples of all makes, in part it comes down to how good the dealers are at dealing with problems. and my experience of Renault dealers has not been good. You may say that Renault are better than they used to be, that would not be difficult. Despite that, it is a road I have absolutely no intention of going down again and if I can provide a public service by helping others to experience the same grief I will do so.

Renault underpinnings = trouble. Older Renault underpinnings = BIG trouble. Comments involving barge poles would be in order........