I have a 2021 MK4 Skoda Octavia Estate 150TDi DSG. Can get 60mpg easily if sticking to speed limits.  Have had close to 80 mpg driving like miss Daisy and hypermiling trucks.  No petrol has ever come close to that for me. Diesels do have their place but you have to do a decent mileage but it’s not as high as people say to break even especially if you’re buying second hand. I always use Shell V power so that may inflate the figures a bit. Also the onboard mpg may inflate figures a bit. It’s a very good car mechanically but let down massively by  the worst in car infotainment of any car I’ve ever had.  I will never ever have another VW group car ever again. It’s that bad.

I haven’t read the whole thread so forgive me if this has been covered but have you checked the brakes. A slightly dragging brake will kill your fuel economy. Take it for a run then coast to a stop and feel the callipers and alloys for any excessive heat generated. Can you get the wheels off the ground and check to see how freely they are turning?

We went through a similar scenario. 17 yr old son passed his test whilst doing his A levels. We told him we would save up and help him buy a decent car when he left Uni. He’s now 20 and on his final year. It just didn’t make sense to buy him a car at that age when he would be spending the next 3yrs back and forward on the train and the parking is a nightmare at his student digs anyway. He just chips in for petrol with his mates and they seem more than happy and he never has to drive. When he is home we pay for temp insurance if he needs it but we mainly act as his taxi anyway. When he leaves Uni he’ll be 21 a bit more mature hopefully and ready to own his own car and pay for the up keep.

The person or persons that realises that they can now set up meetings using MS Office and invite far too many people all of the time to sort out minor problems that should take minutes to sort out but take hours because too many people are involved. An excellent way of filling your day with non productive rubbish. So now it’s a case of if you can’t sort the problem out then by all means give me a knock when you’re all there and I’ll pop down to the conference room but never ever invite me again by email.

Oh and the word reconvene means you’ve just wasted your time and nothing has been achieved or sorted out!

In the great Singletrack tradition of recommending what you have.

Whyte Friston V4 2022 £1850 ish.

SRAM Apex, 11 speed, dropper post, tubeless ready, slackish geometry. Very comfy. Rides like a mountain bike which is why I like it.

I live in Belmont, it was only meant to be a stop gap but it’s so convenient for Durham and the A1 that we have found it hard to move. An easy 10mins 2 mile potter into the city centre by bike. Durham has the highest number of disused rail tracks turned into cycleways in the UK. You can virtually get to anywhere in the county by cycleway and bridleway. Shincliffe is megabucks but High Shincliffe might be okay. Hett village is quirky, Lanchester is nice but try and stay as far from Burnhope as you can. The dogs go round in pairs up there for protection. Claypath and The Sands may be a good shout. Tudhoe village is a little gem. You’re never far from some really pitmatic villages where ever you end up. It is County Durham after all. For riding Houghhall and Croxdale have some good little trails and Esh woods for more spicy stuff, then there is Hamsterley and the surrounding countryside. North York Moors just down the road.

Use a trusted Indy BMW specialist for my X1.
Gives me a price using genuine BMW parts vs generic parts. Labour is always the same. About 1/2 dealer rates. He is superb and I wouldn’t use any body else. Knows more than the dealers about faults and problems. I’ve tried sourcing the parts cheaper than he can, not a chance. I would be paying the same for generic parts as he does for genuine.

Specialized have a fitting service for saddles I believe. I’ve always had a specialized saddle, currently using an avatar with the channel or groove in the middle. I will buy another one to replace it at some point.

Find somebody competent with a tig welder.

Build out with a filler rod or tack a small bolt on it then you can get a purchase on it.
Extractors are crap, that grub screw and Allen key will be toughened and it will split or crack before it comes out. My worry is it will damage the thread it’s in. The only drill hard enough to drill a hex Allen key is a carbide drill. It’s too brittle unless it’s held in a chuck or collet in a milling machine. It’ll more than likely snap if doing by hand.

Use an old Cannondale 29er SL 2015 to ride during the winter and a Whyte Friston Gravel bike when the tracks are drier. Broke a couple of ribs at Kildale and realised I don’t bounce as well as I used to. It was a gradual progression really. I ride from the door most days so the gravel bike makes sense. It allows me to get to the tracks faster and cover more ground.

As above. Everybody goes through this, it’s quite normal. You will cope, you will be fine, yes you’ll have less money. You will wonder how you can love and dislike something so much, often minutes apart. You will laugh and cry again often minutes apart. What you put in you will get out. This is especially true when you start feeding solids. Good luck.

I would say I’m an ex MTB’er that still rides a MTB (in the winter) but I ride it for fitness, to get out of the house and into the hills and woods. To forget about work for a few hrs. Also ride a gravel bike in the summertime so I can ride further and faster but the primary reason is to see the countryside from a cycle way, gravel track, bridleway and the occasional quiet country road. I don’t feel as though I have to blast downhill anymore as I don’t bounce as well as I used to. Leave that to the youngsters.

If the prop isn’t turning, doubtful at 60mph. I would be looking at bearings particularly the diff bearings. I’ve had several cars at higher mileage with noisy diffs. Maybe one of them has had a knock when the prop was removed.

These are Front wheel drive normally aren’t they? At that speed the prop won’t be turning will it? The prop will only engage when the front wheels loose traction. It’s quite a basic 4×4 system on the Panda.

Can I suggest before your ribs start knitting back together that you hang a piece of rope from the ceiling above your bed so you can pull yourself out of bed in the morning.

No I’m not joking it’s that painful.

I’m 52 now and my downhill days are definitely over in the main. I don’t bounce as well as I used to. These days I mainly link up cycle ways, bridle paths, old 3 ply tarmac and the odd sneaky bit of public footpath. I used to mainly ride a 29er with semi slicks but now I’ve got a gravel bike and it’s better for the type of riding I do. Probably only 10-15% road out of a 40-50 mile loop. When I’m on the road I always have a front light on flash and a rear even in full daylight and I generally have a white helmet (somebody told me white is the most visible colour in Nature to get yourself seen/noticed! This could be complete b@llocks but every little helps!)

You’re right I didn’t. Must get a bigger screen on the next phone. Good engine, I had the 2.0 Tdi 185bhp Leon 65 plate but with a 6sp manual. Traded it in as it needed a cambelt change after 5 yrs. Wanted an auto for my wife so went for a X1 diesel.

He did and that’s irresponsible. Nothing to do with the Australian open though is it. If this is a thread about everything wrong with Novak then fair enough. I could go on at length about his tennis shenanigans but maybe that is for a different thread.

“The Exemption Certificate also recorded that … the date of the first positive COVID PCR test was recorded on 16 December 2021, it had now been 14 days, and Mr Djokovic had not had a fever or respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 72 hours.”

He didn’t travel to Australia for two weeks did he? It wasn’t the day after. The exemption certificate was from the event organisers to compete in the tournament. You may not agree with the sentiment behind his actions or his anti vax stance but I don’t think he’s done anything illegal regarding competing.

Im sure the lawyers will sort it out one way or another.

I was talking about travelling and competing in the tournament as well you know. Not getting vaccinated is a separate issue. If he has fixed his Covid test we’ll never know. The organisers of the tournament wanted him to play, he’s a big draw. As soon as things hot up they change their tune. It’s a big mess of their own making.

Haven’t read entire thread. Did you go for the petrol or diesel?

I don’t think Novak has done anything wrong.
He was allowed to compete by the organisers because he’d had Covid previously. The Government originally said it was up to the organisers and the State to decide if he could play. They say yes it’s fine. He then travels to Australia, all hell then kicks off. Government then says nothing to do with us, Organisers then throw him under the Bus once the publicity gets a bit feisty.

They could have just said No you can’t compete unless you have had the vaccine.

Do yourself a favour and hand it back. If it’s anything to do with the EGR or DPF it’s the start of a world of pain. Plenty more cars out there.

I’ve got Maxxis Ramblers 700 x 40c on my Whyte Friston. They set up tubeless pretty easily.
They will cope with most types of trail and not bad rolling on the road but they are primarily a trail/gravel tyre. It should have come with 45C tyres and I think I would have preferred them at a bigger volume.

To be honest whether Max or Lewis wins, the majority of races this season have been incredibly dull. DRS is the stupidest F1 invention ever. When you have to introduce DRS to spice up the racing you know something is not right. I’ve been watching Michael Fassbender Road to Le Mans. Knocks F1 into a cocked hat. However I want Lewis to win just to see Horner’s face. What an incredibly unpleasant team boss he is.

Looking on Autotrader the availability of cars is increasing month on month. They estimate the market is going to get back to normal sometime early 2022.

This taken from Volkswizard

Autotrader now on 428,000 cars which is not a shortage, we were sub 400k a few weeks ago and on 413k just 2 weeks ago. 14,830 cars ready to be pumped into the market by BCA too. Retail demand has dropped off a cliff so wonder which way this will go?

Restore an old Classic.
Polish it on the weekend, take it to a few shows over the year. Turn the central heating off to compensate.

I wear mine with an extra pair of walking socks, so probably a half size up.

What are peoples opinions on Hydrogen powered cars. The new Toyota Miria seems to get incredible mileage 1003 KM’s from a few Kg’s of Hydrogen that takes 5mins to fill. Surely it’s in the interests of the service stations to push this fuel rather than have their forecourt’s blocked with loads of vehicles getting a quick top up 30mins plus to get to the next charge point. Lots of car manufacturers are pushing this technology in the background BMW and Merc, KIA and Hyundai. I know they are expensive at the minute but as the take up increases as with electric the cost will come down, 5 mins to fill up and a 1000 km range. I can’t help but think that electric cars are nothing more than a stop gap.
Not to mention no disposal and expensive recycling of the batteries, I know they can be repurposed but surely the raw materials could be put to better use or not used at all for battery production.

Lots of trails around Scaling Dam and Kildale.
Well documented routes all over that area.

2nd Jab AZ in May caught Covid on 8th October. Aches and pains neck back and hips. Hot and cold sweats and coughing. No headaches fortunately. General lethargy etc. Back to work on the 19th, unfortunately I had to work from Home during my isolation as it ripped through our Company and people were a lot worse than me. Several not jabbed. (Flat Earthers !!!!). Still have a tight chest although the coughing has subsided. I will be walking for the foreseeable until I’m sure the old lungs are up to it. With the Delta variant it will not trigger a LFT until you have full on symptoms by then you’ve infected everybody in your proximity.

Another Muck boot user here. First pair lasted 6 yrs. They pump air around the inside as you walk, keeps feet warm but ventilated. Now on a pair of Muck boot Wetland’s. Cost about £80ish. They are simply the best you can get for walking through slop and wet grass, snow and ice.

I thought I had the same turned out to be Covid. My wife who works for the NHS contacted her test and trace department at her trust and was told that one issue with the Delta Variant is that it doesn’t always show on a test until you have full on symptoms. So maybe worth checking again that it’s not just this cold bug and something more nasty.

530D Tourer Auto if I had the money.
Skoda Superb Estate 2.0 TDi if I couldn’t get the Bimmer.

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/why-ive-given-up-fixing-my-soul-destroying-mk1-audi-tt-bam/

Experienced car journo used to fixing and repairing old cars for a job gives up on soul destroying mk1 TT!

There are better cars out there.

Temp gauge is on info cluster between the clocks. Menu No 7 I think from memory. As others have said new rad and any hard to reach perished hoses should be replaced.

You’re trying to train out an instinctive attribute of the breed. Simply keep her on a lead near roads and acknowledge that she loves to do this and it’s completely normal.

How long have you had it? 2 weeks!
Erm thanks but I’ve just remembered I’ve left the kettle on.

It’s just new car insecurity. Once you’ve had it a year or so you’ll feel more confident in it. You’ve had it checked and it appears all is ok. If you’re a bit unsure about the software update get the box and engine mapped by somebody reputable like Darkside Developments. If you sell it now unless you buy something dull your back into the unknown.

Had a 2015 Seat Leon ST 185 FR Tech pack. Excellent car, nippy very easy to drive, loads of torque, great economy. I had the manual version. Less flashy than the Golf GTD but better looking I think. Only got rid because Mrs Inbred never got over our Yeti and wanted a 4WD SUV. Estates are better in every way in my opinion.

Internet says Service intervals on Mercedes Auto gearbox is every 36-40k miles. That seems a low mileage to me so unless it’s in the service history that it’s been done that would be my first port of call. How old is the gearbox fluid and how many miles has it done?