wrote in message
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On 17 Jul, 07:19, "DervMan" wrote:
"DanB" wrote in message

...

wrote in message
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On 16 Jul, 22:02, Elder wrote:

I think this is actually, discounting the rising cost of fuel aside,
just another case of you getting itchy car feet and making the excuses
you need to make to justify a change to yourself.
************************************************** ***

Win.

I'm thinking the same too.

Thing is, I'm the same really. Not as bad as I used to be (1), but I
still get the urge to change for the sake of it from time to time.

Being tied into something on finance and facing having to cough up a
big lump to offload / change the car normally helps null this sort of
behaviour IME. ;-)

Moral of the story? If you want something beyond what you've stashed
away for a rainy day, get a loan from the bank to pay for it rather
than HP unless you're *really* confident this is the car you've been
waiting for all your life... the sumptuous thick pile dash, the twenty
damped cupholders

Incidentally, the temperature gauge decided it didn't want to work on
the Passat last night - definitely enough coolant in it, the heater
was running hot and it was driving as well as ever, so yet again it's
going to have to go back to the dealers this week with suspected body
computer issues.

It looked to me when it came back from them last time that they'd not
done as suggested following on from water getting into the car, as in
lifting the carpet to dry everything out properly and clean the
contacts on the unit itself and the multiplug that goes into it, so
I'll be insisting they do this this time, assuming it's not proven to
just be down to something as simple as a dead coolant temperature
sensor.

Pains me to say it, but I'm seriously beginning to rue the day I sold
the KA - much as it wasn't that practical for a family of four, at
least if you wanted to go on holiday or even expected to get a weeks
shopping in the boot, that thing never went wrong, was comfy, cost
**** all to run and was quite fun to drive as well.

No matter, I went to a meeting at work yesterday where they outlined
the impending restructure of IT within the company and I've been told
I've been earmarked for one of the higher up roles, (1) so all being
well I should be able to screw the company for a company car in the
near future and leave all this kind of crap behind. :-)

Oh, and no idea what list they have, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able
to quietly make my mind up what to have off of it without entering
into a very public and lengthy period of self torture over which one
to have.

If I end up being given the pool Astra I currently seem to use more
than the Passat, then so be it - like most latter day Vauxhalls the
dash is decidedly hard to the touch and it has to be said there's not
a cupholder in sight, but it never seems to break, is comfy, fun on
twisties and at the end of the day it's just a tool for work that,
assuming I do end up with it, I'd happen to have the use of when not
'hard at it' and which would apparently cost me around a massive £70 a
month in tax - horrendous compared to the £291 I pay just on the
finance for the Passat at present, never mind the servicing /
insurance / VED costs. :-)

However I don't want to lose my NCB, so it'll be ideal excuse to get
another 106 GTi or an MX5 as 'something for the weekend Sir'. :-D

This post has been brought to you by the letters 'A', 'R', 'S' and
'E', the number 42, and in association with the 'perhaps on reflection
I should have ****ed off to whatcar.com before waffling on'isti.

1) Yes, I feel quite smug right now. ;-)


*****

Heheheh. I will automatically duck out of any company car scheme when one
of the following happen:

* they restrict the model, doors, engine, transmission, colour or
specification.

:-)

This way I get to run what I want to run and, yeah, pay for it...

I still miss my Ka. But then I guess everybody knows that. Most of all I
miss the excitement. Yesterday I put around 230 miles onto the Saab. 230
boring miles as it happened, totally forgettable. If I were in Kermy, I'm
sure I'd have some giant-conquering or roundabout-oversteery tale when I
came home via the B1225, even if only to myself. Instead the most
interesting aspect of the trip was that on the approach to RAF Scampton, the
Red Arrows put on a display for me. ;-)

Plus I've long said that being a petrolhead* has nothing to do with what you
run, but everything to do with what you *want* to run. It means planning
the next car in a near-perpetual state. I'm still in the honeymoon period
with the 9-3 SS as I am not planning the next car yet.

*or dieselhead, or car nut, or whatever.

--
The DervMan
www.dervman.com