Mazda 3. Big enough, doesn’t have a “silly downsized engine”,  reliable if you go for the petrol not the diesel and drives great .

Will easily take a bike with the rear seats folded.

Nice  manual gearbox too.

I work for a Constuction products manufacturer so spend a lot of time visiting sites but I’m also in London a lot and walking or getting the tube between visits . What’s a good safety shoe that is also comfortable to walk in?

I use Turtle wax hydrophobic spray that normally gets used on the car. Often on offer at ECP.

1) Printers……. Enough said I think……

2) And car parks that use parking apps other than Ringo or PayByPhone.

Which then inevitably leads to downloading yet another app , setting up a new account , new payment details just as the mobile signal fails…..

Arghhhhh!!

I’m also using Continental Contact Speed. They only have a file pattern tread but are quick yet still work on gravel .

My gravel bike is a Pinnacle  Lithium  bought off eBay for £150.

Its essentially a rigid 29er currently wearing slicks but I do all the stuff that must would choose a gravel bike for. I was going to swap it for an Arkose buts it’s such a versatile bike , it’s ended up being my most used bike.

I was looking at these when I considered my current car. At the time I was coming from a Mini Clubman Cooper Sd so was looking at the 2.0 litre rather than the 1.8 as I didn’t want to sacrifice too much performance .

The 2 litre has a smaller boot than the 1.8 so that was a negative ,and I didn’t really want the estate , I  wasn’t sure about the CVT , and the infotainment (sat nav, radio, Bluetooth integration ) wasn’t great. Important to me as I spend a lot of time in the car.

I ended up going with a Mazda3 2.0 Skyactiv X instead , as it was a more involving drive ,had more comprehensive kit , was a fair bit cheaper for the one year old cars I was looking at and I still love a manual gearbox, even more so when it’s as good as the Mazda’s.

The Corolla was revised last year and the new 1.8 lite is meant to be much improved with more power and I believe the clunky infotainment has been improved so these may no longer be valid.

The new Honda Civic is meant to be very good but they are now quite expensive.

I’m 100kg and run in Saucony Rides . They are a good all rounder and a neutral shoe.

I have an old Pinnacle lithium. Being just an in house Evan’s brand it doesn’t have the thief appeal of the big name brands but rides very well and they can often be picked up cheap on eBay.

I’d stick a post on the PistonHeads forum in the regional area section for a recommendation.

Agree this would be a good solution. Definitely take up any felt or ply if or where water has penetrated. You don’t want to trap any moisture beneath the new covering as this could lead to blistering.

Most reinforced liquids will take foot traffic for occasional maintenance access.
They are more robust than felt or single ply.

Where in the country are you Corroded?

I’d go for decent felt or a good reinforced liquid applied system over single ply.

As with all roofs , the correct specification, detailing and installation are arguably more important than the choice of material.

Last year we bought a 2010 Fieata for my partner for £1350. Its

just passed its mot with no advisories and is probably still worth what we paid for it.

Small cars are always easy to sell on.

Something similar could be an option?

We have a double ninja air fryer with grill and use it nearly every day.

Very fortunate to have a son who is in a year’s work placement with Ninja so we were able to use his staff discount but it’s been so useful , and saves so much time I think it would be worth it anyway.

As per some others here I didn’t get on with the Decathlon 2 in 1 shorts.
Their outer only shorts however are excellent.

I follow this guy on YouTube and found this latest video quote interesting regarding how increasing weight of cars is going against the increases being found by electrification.

https://youtu.be/dg6fqqylQ9E?si=hP_gQvhtsWW7iTdo

I’ve always found the Honest John website “real world mpg “ to be pretty accurate when making assessments for new car purchases.

I use the Fuelly app to monitor my fuel usage for work so to give you so some real figures to work with here’s some examples of long term figures my last 4 cars.

1) 2022 Mazda 3 2.0 Skyactiv X – 43 mpg

2) 2020 Mazda 3 2.0 Skyactiv X – 42 mpg

3) 2018 Mini Clubman Cooper SD – 47mpg

4) 2017 Golf GTD -48 mpg

those are averages over the ownership period of each car. I typically cover 20-25k more a year and my mileage is split 70% urban/30% motorway.

As you can see my Mazdas are petrol and not far behind the diesels that I had before and factoring in fuel prices which are in favour of petrol the cost to fuel the petrol cars isn’t too far off.

The Mazda will easily achieve 50mpg plus on a motorway run.

If you’re considering ICE have you considered a Mazda CX 30 with the Skyactiv X petrol?

I have a 3 with the same engine.

I get mid 40s mpg and 50 on a run. With the cost of petrol now I’m almost on leith on fuel costs with the diesels I had before.

They are lovely to drive too , refined, classy interior and you get a great spec for the money plus greater reliability than the VAG alternatives.

They aren’t the roomiest but I think you said you were looking for a compact SUV?

I considered EV but I don’t have access to home charging and do 20k miles a year ,often  to different sites everyday so didn’t feel ready to make the transition to EV just yet.

I hired a BBA to take a carbon road bike to Portugal.

No issues at all.

Have you checked the outside wall for cracks , missing mortar, etc? Also could there be anything above causing an issue? For instance could  blocked rainwater gutters overflowing or a missing connection allowing water to run down the face of the brickwork?

My son’s car is on 145k miles. My partner’s car is on 122k miles. Just ensure it’s been serviced and looked after.

Recently sold a 2003 Focus that had terminal rust in the sills to WBAC for £300.

Mazda 2 or Suzuki Swift.

I recently made a similar decision with my GF’s 2003 Focus. It had been really good but the number of advisoriees was stacking up and rust was going to be an issue on this year’s MOT.

I got £290 from WBAC and we have bought her a 2010 Fiesta from a friend which cost £1300 to replace it.

A set of car trim removal tools.

Have recently travelled into London on strike days from Stanmore and west Drayton.

They could be another possibility?

For Stanmore I used someone’s driveway just across form the station via the just park app, (safe) and for west Drayton a local NCP car park which was £10 a day. (Not so safe…)

Download the JustPark app and see what’s available in the locality?

I have Mazda assistance breakdown cover as part of an extended Mazda warranty.

The cover is contracted out to local providers. I have found the quality of response very much depends on the individual contractor providing the cover but most have been excellent.

Only issue is when you break down outside of one contractor’s area and they won’t recover you to anywhere outside their area. Worth checking the small print to find out what happens in that eventuality.

I think this would be the case with most.

I assume that most providers have some sort of performance targets they need to satisfy to go on a list.

I have always run in Saucony Ride which is a neutral shoe. They have always worked for me.

The Brooks ghost is well liked amongst my many running buddies and get universal praise.

You did well. stealth ad alert!! If you’re stuck for transport while it’s being fixed we have a scruffy 2002 Focus 1.6 that we are selling for £450 with MOT left until December

Based in Portishead so not too far…..

Think I’ve been here since around 2008 but I’m not a very prolific poster as I dip in and out of my love for cycling , since starting running.

I have 2 years left on a 5 year fixed @1.7%.
Hoping to sell by then and get a place with my partner and 2 kids will be finishing Uni by then too so hopefully savings there that will offset the increase plus my mortgage isn’t that big.

About 13 years ago I wanted to try triathlon but was a poor swimmer.

I could mange a length or two front crawl but my technique was shocking.

I signed up for a beginner short course triathlon with a local club and that came with some free swim tuition.

That helped massively then I signed up to an “improvers “ course at my local pool where they picked the main strokes apart and we were given various drills.

Once you master the stroke , the biggest difference for me was to learn how to breathe and then work out how often to turn my head up.

Once that clicked it got much easier.

Once you spilt it into the various parts it makes a lot more sense and then you just need to combine them for each stroke.

I then joined a swimming club where we did drills every  week.

I’m still not a great swimmer but could go to the the pool and do 80 lengths.

I hope you can find somewhere suitable.

With the increased interest in open water there are quite a few lakes offering open water beginners sessions so that might be something you could explore?

I had some step through frame hand me down with rod operated brakes as one of my first bikes. Frame snapped but the rods kept the two halves together!

Then I had a Red and blue Raleigh Jeep with sturmey archer 3 speed hub gears.

All my mates had new Grifters , Strikas and tomahawks which I was envious of.

Then I had a series of steel framed road bikes. Normally had hand me down frames inherited from my older brothers which I’d strip down do rattle can re spray and reassemble with new bits.

First bike I bought new when I was 13 was a Carlton Criterium, which I bought with my paper round money.

I loved that bike.

I love my Pinnacle Lithium. All Pinnacle bikes just seemto get the basics right and I lie t ht they always seem to get the full shimano group set .
I’d also say that the Lifeline range from Wiggle and pretty much all the Decathlon stuff is great value.

The new Battersea development is well worth a look.

It’s amazing how they have refreshed the area and while you’re there try the Lift 109 visitor experience within one of the original towers ,which gives the history of the site plus some pretty good vistas of London.

It says I chose a name related to the fact that used to ride a cheap and cheerful ,Green(ish) Giant XTC when I joined this forum.

My eldest has worked on a pub as kitchen porter, worked on building sites doing labouring and last year worked all summer putting up tepees for an events company.
Middle child has worked at stables , helped out at summer kids club, done baby sitting and has taken on her older brother’s kitchen job now he’s gone to Uni.
Youngest is only 16 so is limited to what she can do but has helped out at stables and dies babysitting.
Pretty pleased that they earn their own money and as a result have respect for it and are careful with it.

I currently have a 2020 Mazda 3 and really rate it so much so I’m looking to replace it with another.
I have previously had VAG cars . Used to like them but the Mk7 Golf GTD I had did have quite a number of faults even if I did like the way it drove.
My brother had a 6 and had no issues with it, and he bought that on experience with a 323F.