I love doing things that conventional wisdom clealry indicates I shouldn't. Two things happened to the bus of doom recently. First of all, the exhaust rusted right through at a weld between the downpipe and the cat. Cleaned it all up with the wire brush in the grinder (top tool) and fizzed it all back together with my 30 year old Clarke 160E mig and pub co2 gas.

What's so hard with the maintenance of these vehicles? I'm starting to get sick and tired of finding the reason I've been stuck in traffic for an hour is due to a broken down lorry. It's all I every hear on the traffic report."Delays due to a broken down lorry". T Raymond

Had two of the above last weekend for a wedding- wanted both the same colour and spec, so ended up with a 1.8 and 1.9 cdti 130 in SE spec. Good - Interior trim, comfort, seats, stereo and climate control. Steered well if numbly with virtually no feedback through the steering. Very quiet at speed and the wing mirrors were actually usuable (see "bad"). 1.9 cdti has plenty of go, even for the...

Merc=broken. Rental company chucks me a 2.0CDTI Astra SRI. Good bits? Engine. Quite perky. Nice dials on the dash. Nice interior illumination. Lots of grip. Looks nice on 18s. Bad bits? Seat base too high. Steering lightness ruins handling. Can't feel changes in road surfact through steering. Monster torquesteer in second. Gearbox still as slow and sloppy as astras always have been. Lots of...

Firstly because I have bought a French hot hatch (of sorts) - a Citroen Xsara VTS. Quite pokey, handles nicely and in a fetching shade of yellow. Secondly because tomorrow I leave for a trip in the TVR to find some nice driving roads round our beloved country. Plan is to hop into Wales along the motorways to visit a friend near Newport. Then tomorrow midday-ish hop across the Brecon...

The thread says 3CV, what's that then? Wikipedia wasn't much help. By Jeebus, this is ugly. http://www.barryboys.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33640

Lane 1 packed with shopping trolley hatches and people carriers, lane 2 clear, Me in the Saab, Guards red air cooled 911 turbo, and a V-Spec R34 GT-r. Using 2 and where there was one 3rd lane to full value. The sound of 3 turbo cars spooling up and taking turns to slipstream then blast past is awesome. And yes if either of them had been really going for it I would have been left for dead,...

No car news from me but I just bought a VFR800 SteveH's bike of choice for a long time. He was actually right about something. I like it. Still waiting for it to burst into flames or rust like an Alfa. -- Fraser

I'm going to give the Saab a service shortly, and that involves removing the fuel distributor head in one unit to do the air filter. I know that one of the 21 year fuel lines will crack/break from being flexed so figure I might as well get some new lines/banjo bolts/crush washers ready. I know VAG, Porsche and Ford fitted K-Jet and the VAG/Porsche ones are braided in some cases, instead of...

When you're using these ELM327 devices, do you need to have your engine turned on or should they still work with it off?

After this season of top gear. It gets faster and faster each lap. -- Carl Robson Get cashback on your purchases Topcashback http://www.TopCashBack.co.uk/skraggy_uk/ref/index.htm Greasypalm http://www.greasypalm.co.uk/r/?l=1006553

New leads got rid of the arcing, refitting a vac hose sorted the idle/boost gauge. Made a battery heat shield out of an old baking tray and some silicon trivets (2 layers) that are rated at 400f so should help it not kill the battery on a long run. Swapped the old Sony radio cassette for the Lidl bluetooth CD/MP3/USB/SD headunit I had in the old 9000. I must be on a lucky streak because I...

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=61851 And thanks to a little ropey condition (but recently MOT'd), a bargain. Anybody want 235bhp for £1300. For those who don't know, built by a former resident of this parish. -- Carl Robson Get cashback on your purchases

What can I get as my next car? I have a Megane2 1.6 3dr (115) at the moment. The insurance renewal is around £650. I want to get something that is faster, but where the insurance is cheaper and car tax no more expensive. I have minor accident 3 years ago where I dinted the wheel arch. 1 speeding infraction 2 years ago. sb or sp30 or something like that? Are there any options? I don't want a...

Good idea? I need to have a sensible car on standby as having just the SD1 and Chim is getting silly. I like the look of it - 143bhp, RWD and decent economy. Plus the one I'm looking at has had a few suspension goodies fitted so should handle ok. Opinions...? Ta

A repairers courtesy car loaned to me this very morn whilst said repairer gets on with sorting out the mess of a repair they inflicted upon the Golf recently, with a mere 200 miles on the clock... FOOLS! I love the dash, but then I was always a perv for the digital instruments that were in the Mk2 Astra GTEs and MG Maestro 1.6 I had in times gone by. Handling good... ride, as expected, a touch...

Is white cool again for cars? I've seen quite a lot of new white cars recently... VW Scirrocco(sp?), Seats, Hondas, Mercs, all sorts really. This is the iPod generation so I'm just wondering if white is cool again for cars?

Lookout for KC52 YRY It is a blue Lexus. He is a car vandal and smokes spliff while driving. He drives around Enfield Island Village every morning. http://asbcommlogicxnet.myblogtoolbar.com//exe

With the beast. Looks like the auction photos were taken a while back as it was shiny then but slightly oxidised and dirty now. Bad points. Paint flat and dirty. Headlining bad at the back but only a little loose at the front. Tailgate actually holed under the spoiler so will probably hunt a replacement one (will gaffer tape for now and for MOT). Boost gauge not working (but turbo definitely...

While drunken browsing the other night, and doing an insurance quote, stupid me stuck snipe bid in my sniping software for a motor. Totally forgot about it, until it bonged to say bid placed. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220625796912 Well, I got my load lugger now don't I. Good job I like them. --