gullyg

In car systems have the advantage that they can take over the audio much better, often have bigger screens and in the case of the MK3 octavia can put instructions in the instrument cluster, on the new car we're expecting soon it'll project the directions onto the windscreen using the HUD. We have admundsen in the Octavia currently and generally use it even though the data isn't so up to date as google/apple.

Similar chip to mine i5-3470t, although I'm using win server 2012r2 and hyperv. The microserver is a lovely bit of kit although I do worry the next gen will have no ilo which will be a total no no for me. They've just replaced the gen8 ml10 with the gen9 and removed ilo which is mental. The biggest issue I have with both is they're not really rack mountable. I've been looking at the DL20 or DL320 but they're no cheap and only 1u (need short depth due to cabinet size) so are pretty limited expansion wise.

I've been using Goodyear Ultragrip 8s in edinburgh on 225/40/R18 wheels (vRS standard Gemini's) for the last 3 winters (since 2013) and they're excellent in snow/ice and I've not certainly noticed any issues on wet roads (I'm really not a gentle driver). The only thing I'd say about them is you really notice the drop in performance at over about 10degC - but I've been told that's the norm for winter tyres. Just remember to reset the TPMS when you change your wheels over.

I always thought it was because the tdi vRS is based on the GTD rather than the GTi but Skoda cut costs by only using 1 bumper.

I used the dealer as it wasn't me paying. Iirc it was £350 a wheel.

The AA were kind enough to kerb every single wheel on the car when they recovered it due to water pump related over heating. After much shouting at Skoda (didn't want involved - despite it being Skoda assistance) and the AA they bought me 4 new alloys and let me keep the old ones which I use to winters.

I use a set of geminis (18") ith Goodyear ultragrip 8s on - kerbed but it doesn't matter too much on winters. The problem with winter wheels rather than just tyres is they're a right pain in the a55 storage wise. Far more than just tyres. Changing the car in the next few weeks but don't know if I'll be bothering again.

Citigo. 1.0l 3 cylinder engine - my heart sank when I got one as a courtesy car from the dealership, but they're fantastic and in same ways far more fun that the vRS. The other one is the new Astra diesel. Got one for 2 days as a hire car for work. Was supposed to get a golf but the clutch was slipping, used to hate astras but the new one is just a small insignia - brilliant on the motorway etc.

It's not just commercial. The council round here tried to charge me for the pickup of 2 sofas, despite allowing 1 free pickup of large items per year. Their logic was a pile of wood and leather and stuffing was one item but two sofas was two items and they'd like ~£100+vat for the second one. I told them to stick it where the sun don't shine and pointed out that if they continued with this they're promoting fly tipping. The guys who came to pickup the sofas at least saw the sense and marked it as 1 pickup.

Well I may be wrong but as far as I'm aware only Octavia and Fabia mk1 and 2 have born the vRS badge. I thought the mk1 Fabia vRS was a pretty good success but they ruined it with the mk2. No diesel, no manual and lots of horror stories about exploding engines. No wonder the mk2 didn't do well. On the other hand the Octy in the uk has petrol and diesel, auto and manual and even did 4x4 until it was pulled (I would suspect because it wasn't that popular because it was auto and diesel only). Had ŠKODA done a 4x4 Octy vRS in manual I may well have been changing the current one for it, despite the myriad of build quality issues. Instead I'm off to BMW.

Took the car in for it's first MOT at the work's garage. Passed with only an advisory for rusty discs at the back (scored), the dealer had suggested replacing them before MOT but the car stops fine.

Skoda - west end Skoda up in sighthill. They're fantastic service wise but their sales left a bit to be desired (I bought from Simpsons preston after west end wouldn't sort out a test drive). Arnold shark (Seafield) wanted £15 for a "courtesy car" and were generally living up to their moniker of Arnold shark. Volvo - used Murray sighthill once and were dreadful so switched to clelands in Galashiels who were excellent (5 or 6 years ago). We were in both Murray and clelands looking at the xc60 and got the same feeling about both so was definitely going to buy from clelands until SWMBO took a shine to the X3. The X3 is on order through western (peter vardy on Seafield wouldn't give us a price unless we wanted to buy that day), but only had sales experiance although I've heard 1 good reference for western and 1 bad for peter vardy from friends.

Was that Volvo UK or your dealer? We've had two volvos (850 and s40) over the years and only had dealing with dealers as they were out of warranty and they were excellent in Gala - the Edinburgh one isn't so good. One of the major reasons I'm leaving Skoda is SUK sucking rather than the local dealer who are very good. As for the service costs Volvo do fix price servicing for new/nearly new cars. I can't remember what it was for the XC60 when I looked but it wasn't too bad.

Whilst the Volvo is a bit dated it's a much better quality offering in my book. The 5 cylinder D5 engine really is a beauty, although I'd have to get the r design as the se rolls too much - others however complain the ride is too hard in the r design. If you've not had a test drive it's worth getting a shot. We were planning on replacing the vRS with a 2016 r design lux nav d5 awd geartronic but have now decided on a X3. Also if you speak to a friendly Volvo dealer (highly recommend David from clelands Volvo in Galashiels if you're in the borders/Edinburgh) they can source you a ex-Volvo car with very low mileage with almost exactly what you're after.

Reid really didn't show well last series in my book. Too busy trying to fluff Evans. Chris Harris is good though.

There goes most of TGs chances in season two http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37470962 Hopefully they can find a replacement for Evans that has enough personality to make up for Matt the blanks lack of.

My experiance (3 hr test drive out and about in Edinburgh) would track with this. We were given the top of the range 6 with 19" wheels and it just glided over bumps and was lovely and quiet and was silky smooth even though it's a diesel. After the rather agricultural vRS diesel and aweful tire roar from the 18" wheels it was like night and day. No where near as involving though.

Google puts the 320d touring msport 0-100kph at 7.6s over 7.9 for the Tdi vRS manual. Ok neither are the fastest cars in the world but they're hardly slow so a 330d (I'd have loved one but the x3 20d was a better fit - too pricey for the 30d :( ) might not be needed. I'm not sure the 3 series is quite as roomy as the Octy but it depends on how important that it.

Same for us - after two Skoda and a number of friends buying them the octy3 has killed the brand for me (6 year old mk1 Fabia vRS was so much less hassle than the brand new Octy 3). We looked at the Mazda 6 as a replacement to the Octy as it's about the same size, v40 and Mazda 3 will be tiny in comparison, but it was just too dull - lovely to look at and beautifully screwed together but I'd hate it within a week after the vRS. Looked at the v60 but they're front wheel drive and I'm sick of it (wanted rwd or 4wd) so was looking at the xc60 which is lovely but I'm not a fan of the interior of any of the volvos except the xc90 as the millions of tiny buttons design doesn't do it for me. Ended up putting down on a BMW X3. Pricey but head and shoulders above everything else we looked at in my book especially the auto box which is so much nicer than DSGs. If you don't like SUV type what about the 3 series touring? I know a couple of people driving them and love them. The only issue with BMW is the image in my book.

And everyone's throwing up.

Indirect tpms doesn't exactly measure circumference as far as I know, rather relative velocity against the other wheels and known values (hence the reset). It does work - caught a slow puncture the other day before I could but is no where near as good, or expensive as direct tpms which has wireless pressure sensors in the wheels.

As the infomatainment system runs far more than just audio/satnav (car settings etc) I'd guess the screen is just off and there's a lot of features still running whenever the ignition is on. At a guess VAG deemed it important enough that it override the drivers settings to alert you of certain alerts from the radio traffic update system.

Are you sure you don't have a slow puncture? The other issue that springs to mind is a bent alloy - I know the golfs were having that issue a while back.

On call for work (15min response) so can't do too much. Tonight going round to swmbos cousins for a meal and drinks (coke for me ;( ). Tomorrow / Sunday - got to cat sit my mother's evil mog. But might be able to get at least a couple of hours cycling as long as I'm in phone signal and not too far from the house.

So if drivers have to give roadworkers 1.2m distance when passing - potentially at 70+ as the roadworkers will either be stationary or moving slowly or even against traffic and the police are saying give cyclists that should be moving at their own speed but in the same direction as the traffic 1.5m.... does that mean cyclists are work 25% more than roadworkers?