Chappers.

Even if I take the wife's car in at the same time as mine, we still don't have enough wheels to fit all of those!

Sidelights (unless used to illuminate a vehicle which is parked overnight) are a complete waste of time and (IMO) should be disabled when the vehicle is moving. If the weather necessitates an increase in visibility then dipped beam everytime. I have to admit that I am not a great fan of DRL's. They just add to the light pollution and this will only increase as more & more vehicles appear on the road with them fitted. It is a case of legislation being imposed to try and negate the impact of those with below par driving skills & training. I can see why the legislation has been imposed, however it is not a substitute for increased driver training before people are let loose in a vehicle. The amount of people out there that see a car as a mobile sofa with no idea on safety and maintenance is shocking. Unfortunately, car manufacturers now see this as another marketing strategy - the latest Nissan Note (maybe another model from them) is being advertised on TV as coming with a "Safety Shield" Safety Shield technology, Around View Monitor and NissanConnect multimedia and satellite navigation system, makes every journey safer, more connected and completely carefree. The biggest contribution to safety is the person behind the wheel - relying more & more on gadgets & technology is making roads more dangerous, not safer. The biggest contribution to the reduction is road deaths/serious injuries is in the structural integrity of the vehicles themselves. Unfortunately, every time a new piece of technology is introduced, drivers become reliant on it - hence many people wondering why, even though their car has ABS fitted, they have just driven into the car in front of them that they had been following literally inches behind. Or why, even though they have Traction Control, it won't go up a snow & ice covered incline. Now the colder weather is coming, I'm going to try and stop myself from going on about the dangerous out there that insist on only clearing apost box sized slit of ice from their windscreen before driving off. At this point I will stop the rant & rave, as I could go on until this post wins the title of longest rant on Briskoda!

From checking today I have to ask if you were round my house measuring the depth last night? O/S is just over 4mm but the N/S is just under, so not very impressive really. Best start looking at potential replacements as they'll need swapping before the really bad weather comes - although I don't bother with winter tyres I refuse to struggle through slush & snow with worn summers on.

Mine does that.

If you hit the throttle straight away it can be a bit jerky - I put this down to the DSG not allowing the clutch to slip enough to smooth out the initial take up of drive. I caught mine out the other day when I had slowed for a roundabout and at the last moment saw a gap that I went for by mashing the throttle - nearly gave myself whiplash!

I've got a D90 and love it, however being a DSLR you have to work at getting a good picture from it. The Panasonic bridging camera that I have in it's "Intelligent Auto" mode is brilliant and will produce a decent, impressive picture 98% of the time from just letting the camera do the work. That said, when you do manage to great shot with a DSLR it takes the finished image into a different league altogether.

Thank god it's not just me that ends up more confused then! I know I don't do a massive mileage, but I'll soon be the only Blackline owner around here still running the original tyres at this rate. I'll have to get my little measuring stick out to them tomorrow, but they don't look too bad (that said they've only done 7k).

The two can't really be compared as they were designed for two separate purposes. Is your Blackline a wast after 12,000 miles in a year? Mine has only just done 7k but almost 4k of those were at the hands of the wife before I got her a Citroen C1 (she tried that Citigo/Mii after I insisted and hated it). 12k is about the national average. Most of my journeys are short town journeys commuting to work - and for that I use a 125cc twist & go scooter because I can park. The wife has a 9 mile journey each way which is almost exclusively town use and so the C1 is perfect for her. The Octy gets used for everything else - including the weekly shop. Would I contemplate selling the Octy (it is arguably surplus to requirements)? Absolutely not - the wife's car is better suited for town but one trip along the bypass shows which vehicle is better suited to life on a faster road (that's not to say the C1 cannot do it or is uncomfortable). Would we sell the C1 if the wife had to travel further distances out of town? Probably. The fact that we have the Octy shows which vehicle would I rather spend my time in whilst stuck in slow moving traffic. As it's been said, try an extended test drive in a Citigo and see how you honestly feel about living with it on a daily basis. It works for some, and not for others.

The forum is Land Rover Owners (LRO) - as per the magazine (mods please feel free to remove if mentioning this is against the rules). It's little more family friendly than some - I like it but there are plenty of others out there to suit all tastes. When I said that enthusiasts do not buy new vehicles, I was generalising. There will always by the handful that have the funds available to buy a new Defender/Discovery etc, however the majority of people who would call themselves enthusiasts are generally buying and using much older vehicles. There is such a plethora of suppliers for spare parts out there that often then last place that most would go to for any replacement parts would be a LR dealer - and many vehicles are of an age that they are no longer supported by the manufacturer's supply chain anyway. There is a huge following for the brand out there, with a lot of businesses also specialising in the brand and associated products. Regarding the hand built process, obviously as much as possible has been automated, but with a basic bodyshell that was based on the Series 2 from the 1950's, a lot of the assembly is still having to be done by production workers actually using the automation to assist, rather then pressing a button and watching a robot do all the work for them. Skodanorman - out of interest, whereabouts in West Wales are you? The wife & my outlaws are all from there - it's somewhere people have only heard of if they've lived there - everyone else just knows it as North or South Wales.

I'm a moderator on a well known Land Rover forum (for Owners?) and the argument has been going on for years about how LR are committing a biblical scale sin by stopping production of the Defender. The fact is that they have done an awesome job of keeping it in production for as long as they have done - it should have been killed off years ago by rights, but they have managed to alter it's classification from a "car" to a utility/commercial vehicle to escape from various regs. They've also managed to shoehorn several replacement powerplants under the bonnet (hence the bulge on post 2007 vehicles) in order to keep it within emissions regs. While it is a great shame that it will soon cease production, the fact remains that the basic design harks back to the late 1940's, the cabin is cramped and uncomfortable, it is slow, horrible on tarmac, leaks like a sieve, falls apart and is hardly reliable. I love them because they are crammed with "character". Now, purely to economics. Enthusiasts do not buy new vehicles. They buy old vehicles that were made in the 1980's or 1990's and do all their own work maintaining and/or modifying them. They are not a source of income for Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR). There are many enthusiasts that still think that LR sold out to comfort when they ditched leaf springs in favour of coils. Their heads explode when anyone mentions ECU's or air-suspension as being progress and not the spawn of Satan. JLR have been losing sales against (mainly) Japanese 4x4's in the utility market for many years. I used to work for one of the electricity supply companies and their fleet used to compromise of mainly Defenders (based on the 130, with initially V8 petrols and then the Tdi/Td5 engines). Now you are hard pressed to find many JLR products - they use a lot of Mitsubishi/Isuzu etc - they are cheaper than the JLR product, arguably more comfortable for the user, and while they may not last as long as the Defender, due to being cheaper in the first place and spending less time in the workshops being repaired, they have a cheaper life-cost cycle so can be replaced more often. JLR have moved away from the utility market and moved into the luxury & lifestyle side of things - and are very, very successful at it. The Defender is still a mainly hand built vehicle and is very costly to produce - hence it's price premium over other utility offerings. Don't get me wrong, I'll be sad to see them stop being produced (and a part of me still wants to see Tata ship the production tooling over to India and re-import "knock down" kits back to the UK) but they've done an immense job of keeping the old warhorse going for as long as they have.

Knowing how much tyres lose grip/ability to disperse water as the tread depth decreases I usually change mine at about 2.5mm.

I'm sure that the Blacklines were delivered with two different map versions (some V3 & some V4). Mine has V3 so I'll be having a word with my dealer when it goes in for it's first service in a couple of weeks. Edit: I've managed to find the original thread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/268803-amundsen-sat-nav-sd-destinations/

That webpage is for the SatNav systems in the Octavia 3 - which also come with 3 years free map updates according to Skoda UK. I'm sure that there is a thread on here somewhere about the mapping version on the Amundsen+ units in the Blacklines - some came with V4 & some (mine included) came with V3. Mine is going in for it's first service in a couple of weeks so I'll have a word with the service manager when it goes in to see why this is and if 'm entitled to a free upgrade to the version it should have been supplied with. Edit: I've found the original thread - http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/268803-amundsen-sat-nav-sd-destinations/ This shows the two different mapping versions that were delivered on the Blacklines - especially annoying as mine was one of the last (of the original 500) to be delivered.

How can the insurance company say that if it is a 50/50 claim you will only have to pay half your excess? It sounds to me like they are trying to get you to settle for accepting part responsibility to make their job a lot easier (especially since they are already trying to discount your colleague as a witness). I would argue that with the damage, the photo's of the roundabout taken immediately after the collision & the witness being just behind you that you have a very good chance of claiming successfully from the other drivers insurance - don't let your insurance company try and fob you off.

The DSG in mine is a constant source of annoyance in it's need to be in the highest possible gear - the lack of flexibility due to the engine being off boost (actually off torque/power generally) really goes against almost everything I learnt regarding Roadcraft. Keep the revs over 2-2.5k and the car responds promptly and is more settled in bends and is a much, much nicer driving experience. Thankfully "S" or manual mode achieve this. There is an optimum rev/power band on every engine when it will prove to operate at it's most efficient - just over tickover is not it.

A lot is down to the wide, low profile tyres being extremely poor in snow/slush/ice. It's not just the vRS, my old A6 Avant (same width but on 17" wheels) was shockingly bad in snow. The police vehicles in Lincs aren't fitted with winter tyres and run summers all year but because they are running base spec models, the 195 section tyres can cut through snow slightly better. I was thinking of investing in a set of winters for the wife's C1, but the tyres are so narrow that I'll probably not bother.

Does the petrol have a DMF? It sounds like it could be the clutch pack that's faulty - seems to be known issue on some of the 7sp DSG. I think the replacement packs solve the issue but the sensation can be quite violent when pulling away.

It's got most of the important options listed which is always important on a BMW as they can be a bit sparsely equipped otherwise! I had a 120i prior to getting the Octy and it was awesome on the twisty bits although the ride on 18" wheels and runflat tyres can be very harsh at times (by that I mean most of the time). The other thing that used to wind me up is the stupid servicing regime that BMW employ. Designed to cut down on the amount of time spent in the workshop, it tells you what needs servicing and when - what this actually means is that they are always at the dealer as the oil change service needs doing at a different time to the front brakes, which are different to the back brakes, which are different to the main service, which is different to whatever else they can separate from a normal servicing routine. All regularly checked by the onboard computer which flashes up lights & buzzers should one of them go overdue Aaaaaggggghhhhh! The cars themselves are great to drive though.

I'd be surprised if Skoda do release a cabrio based on the Octy or Rapid. It would impact too heavily on sales from the VW & Audi brand and convertibles don't sell in great numbers in the first place (just my opinion of course). As it's been mentioned, a lot of convertible buyers are more interested in the looks and image of the car rather than its abilities - hence most manufacturers basing them on the more "trendy" models in the range (even the Astra FFS) and there is still a lot of brand snobbery against Skoda out there. Also, I think that Skoda sits in the wrong niche of the VAG line-up for the management to give them the go ahead to develop a cabrio. Audi is the premium brand (and plenty of drop-top models to suit all big budgets) VW is the more mainstream brand - Golf/Eos cabrio (or whatever the model is that it's based on) and the Beetle - for yummy mummy's? Seat are targetted at the younger end of the market Skoda are (generally) targeted at the older end of the market who don't want a cabrio as their false teeth & hairpieces would be blown out onto the road. Hell, if it wasn't for the vRS I wouldn't have bought an Octavia as the normal models look like they are designed for pensioners - they are the car equivalent of cream slip on loafers! Most cabrio's are not as practical as their normal brethren either - Skoda pride itself on it's practicality in it's models as well. Personally a cabrio version of a family car wouldn't interest me - but then if I was going to buy a drop-top I'd want it to be a proper 2 seater anyway. I honestly think it's going to be a trip to either the VW or Audi garage if you still want to stay with VAG.

My opinion (and it is just mine) is that Skoda UK may be using the 4 years time period as a money spinner, they may also be erring on the side of caution - however knowing people that have had cambelts fail in the past ( a surprisingly common occurrence) are you willing to take the risk? Okay, it's circa £350 I'd rather keep in my pocket given the choice but it's still a lot cheaper than a new engine should the cambelt fail. Should I still have the car at that age (and for want of any definitive answer otherwise) I'll be forking out for a new belt.

This sounds very similar to Mrs Chappers - except my wife sounds bl**dy horrible when she's wound up!

I would guess at the battery being past its best - especially if it's still on it's original battery. The control units are very sensitive to quite minor drops in voltages etc. If it was my car I'd be replacing the battery and see how I got on from there.

Exactly - and that is why I'm not sat here worrying about it or pulling my hair out (that and I have precious little hair left anyway!)

I've a feeling that the Columbus may well be the easier unit to get hold of - especially second hand. I've got the Amundsen+ in my Blackline and am very happy with it. After having a bit of a play with the Columbus that was fitted in the vehicle I took for a test drive I'm happier with the sound quality in mine as well (that said I only had a relatively quick play with the test unit). I'm not interested in having a DVD player etc either. The plus points for the Columbus are that I'm under the impression that it receives mapping updates a lot quicker and more regularly than the Amundsen+ receives them. My Amundsen+ only required the Bluetooth option enabling in VCDS and a mic fitting to enable full bluetooth/handsfree though.