S3, £30k (probably £35k when you add in a few options), nice, but for around half that or less you could get a second hand B5 or B7 RS4 Avant that’s been well looked after and would leave the S3 for absolute dust (even with a full load of bikes, dogs or a wardrobe in the back). Plus with the RS4 you wouldn’t have to worry about the depreciation?

I might be taking a wild shot in the dark here, but I thing you guys are all taking the Pistorious!

Who and where is this Jedi you speak of?

Can’t beat Great Kathmandu, consistently good Nepalese (and Indian) curry. Used to go to Akbars lots years ago, but last visit recently the curry was greasy and disapointing – seems like they are not making the effort they used to. Wont be going back that’s for sure.

This has future classic written all over it :)

Designed by Chris Bangle.
Coachbuilt by Pininfarina (not Fiat).
Fairly rare car even when in production.
5 Cylinder Turbocharged Engine.
Great owners club over at FCCUK for buying advice.
Values now as low as they will ever be.
Perfect as a powerful mile munching car for touring Europe.
Very reliable if looked after properly.
Cheap servicing at knowledgeable, specialist garages.

Fiat Coupe fits the bill, surprisingly reliable, surprisingly practical, 220bhp, fastest FWD production car for many years after launch, gorgeous Italian styling, amazing interior, bags of character etc. Or what about a Volvo 850 T5, not quite as fast as the Fiat but also has a creamy 5 Cylinder engine, built like a breeze block, a bit more practicality if you get the estate. The police used them for a reason. Hardy ever see either of these on the road any more – becoming rare as hens teeth. Both should be around 2k for a good average example. Both are now on the verge of Classic car status and values should start going up soon.

Or get it weighed at the check in desk and add another couple of items before you reach the special oversize baggage scanner?

I have found Easyjet very helpful and pleasant in my recent dealings with them. Because the service has been so good then I’ll be flying with them more often. You don’t get the feeling that they are trying to catch you out (unlike Ryanair). I shipped a bike to Tenerife and filled the bag up to the weight limit with accessories, clothes etc. No problems outbound or inbound.

We desperately need good and fast transport links between the major cities of the north (Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield).

Getting between all 4 is currently an absolute pain in the arse.

Top of the absolute farce list is the link between Manchester and Sheffield. You can either get the train, which meanders through the peaks at no great speed, stopping frequently . . .

. . . or you can start off on the M67, a fast, modern, 3 lane motorway which after about 4 miles drops down to 2 lanes, and after another couple of miles ends in a roundabout. If this isn’t bad enough it then drops down to a single lane and a 30mph limit, passes right through a housing estate and gets properly snarled up by a set of traffic lights at a crossroads junction. Who ever planned this needs dragging outside and shooting!

Wow thanks for all the responses. As much as Scotland appeals, it’s just too far from family, and current work commitments, plus I’d have a real job in convincing the other half that the climate would be bearable (she really feels the cold). So will have to be just holidays up there I guess. Thought Edinburgh and Glasgow had a really nice vibe to them though when I’ve visited.

Similarly looking more at the N.East, it seems pretty remote from the rest of the UK, but then I’ve never been there so I’m just making assumptions really by looking at the map and could be totally wrong. South Wales doesn’t appeal to be honest as a place to live, Pembrokeshire is stunning but I’ve been tarnished by a couple of friends stag nights out in Cardiff/Swansea that I’d rather forget to be honest.

So that leaves North Wales, Bristol Area, The Lakes (Kendal/Keswick) or somewhere like Exeter or Barnstaple/Braunton as strong contenders. Appreciate that everywhere is a compromise to some degree so it’s just weighing up the plus and minus points of each now I guess?

But only in “your book” which is an complete load of bollocks developed from watching too much Clarkson, reading the Mail and listening to your mate Dave down the Dog and Duck who say we’re all been overrun by them foreigners who drive on the wrong side of the road.
Show me the numbers that support your arguments please, were is this link between not moving left and some consequence worse than we know is caused by the actions you think are ok?

Now you’ve really lost it. Hopefully you’re just trolling, but, if you actually re-read what you’ve just written and still think it makes sense, then it’s possible the following old adage could have been a better option for you: “best stay quiet and have everyone else think you’re a fool, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt”

Googling this there seems to be no specific offence of ‘undertaking’ – however ‘undertaking’ is against the rules of the highway code. If you get caught ‘undertaking’ then the police could consider that you were either driving carelessly or driving dangerously, both of which are a driving offence. The definitions of these are:

The definition of ‘careless driving’ is this:
“. . . when the accused’s driving falls below the standard expected of a reasonable, prudent and competent driver in all the circumstances of the case”

Dangerous driving’ is as follows:
“A person drives dangerously when:
The way he drives falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver
AND
It would be obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that way would be dangerous”

So ‘undertaking’ although not a defined offence, could easily see you falling foul of one of the above two catagories, particularly if your general standard of driving prior/during/after the undertake was poor.

It seems that the more likely scenario though if pulled over for ‘undertaking’ would be a stern talking to or a caution, since proving a case of careless or dangerous driving would often be more difficult (unlike an offence like speeding where proof is easy).

Hope that clears it up?

If it vexes you sufficiently to post on a cycling forum perhaps operating a car is not something you should be doing.

Thanks Ian, but not sure I should be taking advise on my driving ability from someone who posts on a cycling forum about ‘Strictly’ :wink:

Anyway back to the point in hand. Yes there are many other offences. People can speed, people can use their phones in the car – all of these are against the law. You could argue though that often speeding is a conscious choice made by an otherwise competent and fully aware driver. Answering a phone call, whilst certainly a distraction, does not mean that the driver is fundamentally unskilled or ignorant.

But – people who have so little awareness that they are not even sure which lane to be in, or are completely oblivious to a car directly behind them trying to pass – well that’s a whole new level of danger in my book.

Were they? What were they going to charge him with?

I don’t know – it was on in the background so I wasn’t fully paying attention. I just heard ‘undertaking’ mentioned by the commentator as the reason he’d been pulled, which was when my ears pricked up and I looked at the telly.

Once again, which law am I breaking by overtaking on the left?

Funnily enough, Police Interceptors is on Channel 5 right now in the background. The police have just pulled someone who blatantly undertook a truck on the motorway on the left. He was about to get some points for the offence until they found out he was already a banned driver, a far more serious offence.

Agent 007, I refer you to the part of my post you didn’t quote for context on the part you did.
Look on the bright side this is only a problem in the UK and whilst your study shows it’s getting worse the consequence is your “progress” was marginally slowed which is no big deal is it?

It’s quite a big deal. Sticking to the right hand lane shows a fundamental lack of awareness, lack of courtesy, lack of observation and lack of knowledge of one of the very most basic of road rules here in the UK. If they’re not aware of this then what else are they unaware of?

Highway code says:

137

On a two-lane dual carriageway you should stay in the left-hand lane. Use the right-hand lane for overtaking or turning right. After overtaking, move back to the left-hand lane when it is safe to do so.

163

Only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so.

Stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left.

So there you go – apart from in the situations mentioned above, overtaking on the left does not seem to be legal.

Why not just get past them and forget about?

Because here in the UK we keep left unless overtaking for a very good reason, yet this problem seems to be getting more and more common, plus the only way I can get past them is to break the law myself by undertaking. I’d rather not have to do this but sometimes it’s the only option remaining if you are to make progress.

Fair enough if it’s quiet, drive in the outside lane if you must, but use your rear view mirrors at the same time. Then, when you see someone coming up at you from behind, pull over to the left lane in good time so that you don’t impede their progress. It’s pro-active driving, good awareness and common courtesy surely!

Wow, amazed at the replies so far – plenty to get on Googling with.

As much as I love the sound of Scotland, with most of my clients in London, the distance would just make things very difficult work wise. Have never been a fan of the Swansea/Cardiff area although once you’re West of there and into Pembrokeshire it’s lovely.

Guess I’m going to have to compromise a little. N.Wales sounds like a good option as is the South Lakes and I already know both quite well. Bristol also looking good although appreciate I’d still have to drive to get most places.

Does Bristol attract a lot of Outdoors type people rather than just ‘townies’. Are there plenty of outdoor type clubs and events where it would be easy to meet like minded people.

What about Bath? Seems closer to Bristol but a lot smaller with potentially less traffic issues?

Interesting, so Bristol seems to be topping the list. Scotland also has potential, although it can be a might cold in the water that far north.

I know North Wales well, and yes I agree it puts up a very strong case.

Interesting that no one has so far mentioned Manchester or the Kendal/Stavely area of the Lakes – wonder why? Also no mention of Exeter?

So Bristol seems to have featured a bit on here? Must be a reason for that?

Dales_rider – Member

*Looks out of window*
3 crags, lots of hills and can nearly see the coast, can walk to the train station, with a direct train to London. Its quiet and yet has a very good MTB scene, can ride to my local trail centres.
Where ? well I’m not telling I want to keep it this way dont want any Townies here

Come on – spill the beans, or at least a clue?

Barnstaple – anyone live there?

Can highly recommend Polzeath. Oystercatcher is a very good pub (still not quite The Thatch though), and a night out to Padstow via the foot ferry is easily done. Polzeath beach is great, better than Croyde I’d say although it can get busy in July/august and you’ll have to go on a dawn or evening patrol to get it to yourself.

Also anyone who owns more than one house.

Absolutely – with the current shortage, surely people with more than one house, unless it’s rented out long term, should be taxed until it hurts. After all who really needs more than one house?

The tax level set should be a real deterrent to second home ownership and maybe in the case of people buying homes in places like Cornwall, where locals can’t afford to live in the towns they grew up in (due to the influx of second homers), maybe the tax should be put into a local fund that will pay for ‘affordable’ homes to be built for local people.

Oh but wait . . . don’t most MP’s have second homes? Guess that’ll never happen then.

And whilst we’re on the subject of UK house prices . . .

Here’s what you could buy instead

molgrips – Member

We don’t celebrate when the price of petrol goes up do we? Why should housing costs be any different?

Lol because petrol is a consumable, houses are not.

It’d be great if I could fill up my tank, keep it there for a few years and sell it on at a profit. But I can’t.

Yes but unless you’re significantly downsizing or upping sticks to a less desireable area you sell your house at a profit only to find out the house you’re buying has also rocketed in value too – so where’s the benefit, apart from to the banks who will be rubbing their hands at even more mortgage interest coming their way?

Sorry but I can’t understand why there’s this obsession with ever rising house prices to be honest – you’ll only ever gain from it if you’re a landlord/developer or you don’t need to live in the house (or any house) any more.

Silly high prices are screwing over the aspirations of the younger generation currently renting, screwing the fluidity in the housing market and screwing the whole economy in general (as has been proved by the debt we’re currently in as a nation, lack of disposable income by overstretched borrowers and the whole credit crunch thing).

We don’t celebrate when the price of petrol goes up do we? Why should housing costs be any different?

If you want her back then don’t buy her flowers. Move out, take it like it isn’t a problem and show her you’re strong. Keep in touch on a friendly basis but start becoming busy. Socialise with other people like mad, take up new hobbies, make new friends. You’ll become interesting to her again and if she can see you’re confident, making a success of things then her interest in you will probably reignite. And if it doesn’t then you’ll still be all the better for it. Trust me, this is the ONLY way, you have to let her go for a bit and prove you can survive just fine without her to get her back. Don’t show any weakness to her whatever you do. Good luck :)

Rhino is your friend. I have one, great quality, tough, made in UK, fits perfectly.

F1 Should really take a look at Moto GP for how to run an exciting race. I used to be an avid F1 fan but switched off years ago due to the boredom of processional races with very little actual racing. The problems are:

These days all the cars look the same = boring.

Because the cars are similar it’s easy for a good driver/team (Vettel) to dominate = boring (technology advances quicker than driver talent so if it was more down to car technology than the driver as it often was years ago then leads would be swapped much more frequently = exciting).

The drivers no longer womanise, party or show much character like they did in the 70’s = boring.

There’s too much meddling with the rules every year = confusing to watch.

Rarely does anyone get killed or hurt (which, like it or not, rightly or wrongly means the danger and excitement element is no longer there) = boring.

Even my dad loved the slopestyle and the commentary and he’s 70 and never been near a snowboard in his life. Commentary made it in my opinion, added some real excitement and enthusiasm to an already exciting event and fitted the youthful image snowboarding appeals to. Why shouldn’t Tim, Edd and Aimee get excited about Jenny’s run and a competitors misfortune – they are all good friends with Jenny in any case and were just saying what the rest if us were thinking.

Wow that guy really spanked the Monkey!

So has anyone on here actually bought or ridden an Empire? The costs of their trail bike seem not too far off the mark when you compare to some other high end bikes. PDF magazine reviews (the ones on their website) look favourable and personally I love the engineered look of the thing. I’d also rather buy British than from abroad. Anyone here taken the plunge?

Edit – double post :)

Have you tried or been offered hydrodilatation as an alternative to surgery? Worked wonders for my frozen shoulder and avoids the need for an operation.

Great to see someone pushing the boundary’s of what’s possible and I think the Empire bikes look pretty cool. Never actually seen one out on the trails though – wonder how many bikes they have sold so far?

Have tried both and friends have tried both. General consensus is that skiing is great fun most of the time, however for those days when fresh snow arrives then a board will be so much more fun than skiing can ever dream of being. The instructors I know who do both generally ski when the piste is hard packed, but when powder arrives then out come the snowboards and the real playtime begins.

Keep your S3 – a much more special car than a boggo 1.8t Quattro. S3’s still look fresh, that 1.8 looks really dated. Spend a grand or so freshening it up and it will be a different car. Also bear in mind with the 1.8t that a 14 year old car that’s only done 35k miles and been sat around most of it’s life will almost certainly need money spent when it’s pressed into regular service.

Looks 100% like AC separation to me. I’ve had a grade 3 one from snowboarding and had a lot of physio before it felt right – in fact it was 2 years before it was completely back to normal with no pain. Completely fine now, no problems whatsoever, apart from a slightly raised lump above one shoulder.

Word of caution, it will probably take a good 2-3 months before it stops constantly hurting. Don’t do what I did and assume that because it’s stopped hurting then it must be fully okay. As soon as mine stopped hurting 3 months in, I picked up a plasma telly and managed to re-injure the same joint resulting in a nice long setback, more time off the bike and lots more pain.

You’re forgetting the most important factor (of middle-class Britain) – keeping up with the Joneses.

Very sad isn’t it and says a lot about some of these shallow people and their priorities. Still shouldn’t complain, as these people are funding the depreciation on the bargain second hand motor that I’ll pick up a few years later for around 1/3 of it’s original price.

I’d always rather buy a car second hand from a private sale. There are so many dodgy dealers around these days, and at least by meeting the owner you can assess them and how they are likely to have looked after the car – just as important as assessing the car. Plus a private owner is less practiced at ‘stretching the truth’ than a dealer who will be well practiced at pulling the wool over peoples eyes. With a dealer car it will have been bought cheap at auction, you’ll never know who has owned it before, and you often just take pot luck really.

The BMW 320 is good car, but for similar or less monthly loan payments you could get a really special car that’s just a few years older?

If you choose well depreciation won’t be much of an issue and if you only do £6k miles a year then your fuel and servicing bills will be small even with a fuel guzzling sports car. Plus you’ll own the thing so won’t have to worry about going over your mileage allowance (if circumstances change).

People get over worried about big bills on older cars. The reality is though that most cars these days should easily do well over 100k miles without any serious issues. To say otherwise is complete scaremongering.

I’ve never owned a car that’s newer than 4 years old and in 17 years of older car ownership (all performance cars) I’ve never once had an unexpected ‘shock’ bill or catastrophic failure. Yet the best thing is I’m not loosing £100’s a month in depreciation. A friend traded in his 18month old 3 series last year that he’d had since new and he was down £11k in 18 months. That’s a hit of £600 per month – owch!

I’d say go older, unless driving a NEW car is more important to you than driving a GREAT car, or the lease deal is absolutely out of this world.

Have to admire this guy for having the courage to do this sort of stuff. Certainly brightens up life for the rest of us.

Really don’t get people on here having a go at him. Live and let live and all that? So what if he breaks a few rules. How dull would life be if everyone stuck to the same path?

Selfish, possibly but isn’t everyone to some degree? The only certainty in life is death and once you get your head round that then it’s just a matter of how you go.

We are all a very slight margin from death every single day. A fraction too close to that fast moving truck, a simple trip high up on Crib Gochs knife edge ridge, or a small mosquito bite in the tropics.

Whether you fall from a crane in a blaze of what others perceive as recklessness/selfishness or die early from chronic heart disease after a lifetime of TV watching and burdoning the NHS with obesity issues, what does it matter?