What are new car prices doing? Are they way up for the few that arrive at a forecourt?

List prices aren’t particularly up, but the days of getting big discounts are gone.

Never seen so much stock on the forecourt! Couldn’t even get to park it in the usual customer parking bays. So something doesn’t seem right there…

I’ve noticed the same. Also when I’ve looked on the gov website to see when the tax was cashed in, many of them have been on the forecourt for several months. Maybe they betting things will take off again in the New Year.

Things are improving.

Finally have a build date for my new car – April with May delivery. It had been indefinitely postponed since just after I ordered in late August.

Cars coming off leases can be extended, so that means a lot of drivers (like me) simply extend their existing til their next car is actually available.

As a result, I don’t thik used prices will be dropping any time soon.

My Octy estate will be 3 years old in Jan, when the original lease expires. They’ve let me keep it on til the new Audi arrives in May.

So, if you’re still looking then, I can let you know what they are likely to do with the Octavia 😉

Octavia is a bit on the small side for my needs unfortunately. The current lead times do seem to vary between manufacturers and even models. The merc garage thought I could get a new e-class estate in March if I ordered now which surprised me. Volvo didn’t seem to know when I could get a v90, but thought it would be 6months or more.

Used cars are through the roof at the moment as they can’t make many new cars due to a chip shortage. This won’t get any better till they get the chips to make the new ones !

I think chip supply is improving, with most of the tier1s signing supply agreements with the semiconductor companies, so at least they are getting priority over what is produced.

Surely that will make used cars hold their value? Less people buying new.

Yeah, I guess so in time, but I imagine 90%+ of the 2-3yr old cars are lease cars which will come onto the market when the contracts expire so will take a few years for that to take effect.

He’s just noticed the absence of the badges and has decided they prove a series of events to do with damage (which he can’t see) a repair (which he can’t see) and a respray (which he can’t see).

I didn’t say that.

Paint runs, overspray on lights, fisheyes in the paint, masking lines. The Bodyshop I took it too were shaking their heads and laughing about generally shoddiness of the repair. More worryingly uneven panel gaps on the tailgate suggesting possible distortion. Also bumper badly resprayed, straight over parking sensors. Pin holes, suggesting evidence of filler etc. wouldn’t care so much if it was a cheap car, but when you are paying 20K+ from a franchised dealer on a premium car, I’d expect better.

Last week’s newspaper behind the filler? 🙂 Actually, curious how you know?

Rear badges missing from the tailgate (would need removing for the respray) – I guess they didn’t want to pay the £80-90 for new ones. However I found a cached version of the advert showing the badges in place, so the damage must have happened while the car was in their possession.

After a bit of googling, looks like you have 30 days to reject and the dealer has to collect the car, plus I don’t need to take my old car back👍

I checked with the DVLA and it looks like my car will rack up another owner if I have it back. My car is 10yr/100K+ miles so they won’t retail it.

It is annoying they assured me it was fine knowing full well they’d done a really budget repair on it. Issue is that it is a 2.5hr drive to get back there, maybe I could push for them to collect it from me. In this age of social media and online review I don’t understand why a big main dealer would try and pull a fast one like that.

Personally I think omicron will turn out to be the same severity as delta.

I really hope you are wrong😬

Looks like bojo hasn’t got the balls to throw the brakes on yet, we’ll have to wait for the hospitals to break before that happens.

With a 2 day doubling time, even if restrictions can cut transmission to zero it’s around 2 weeks for exposure/incubation/illness/serious illness/hospital to filter through. 14 days = 7 doubling times = 128 times worse from the point brakes are put on.

Think it could get very ugly in the next few weeks.

So in what actual way would this have affected you?

Not much other than tying NHS beds up, delaying cancer treatments and helping keep COVID infection rates high.

https://theconversation.com/your-unvaccinated-friend-is-roughly-20-times-more-likely-to-give-you-covid-170448

Hopefully a troll, rather than a wilful criminal.

Have you ever driven on a motorway? Not unusual for a third to half of the cars to be doing that kind speed in good conditions and a small amount doing 3 figures, though it does seem to vary between motorways.

As I said I usually try and leave extra time so I can relax but if you are trying to get a colleague back to the airport to catch a flight sometimes you need to put your foot down.

Out of interest what happens if the super chargers are fully occupied, is there a queuing etiquette or can the app handle that for you?

You may claim it’s not a big deal but it is, in ways you’re apparently unaware of.

For the record my preference is to leave a bit earlier and have a more relaxed drive, but sometimes unexpected hold ups mean you have to go a bit faster to avoid missing a meeting. Yes, I know it uses more fuel but you should still be able to get 40mpg+ in a diesel at those speeds, but I think the efficiency drops off a lot faster in an EV with increasing speed.

Straight to the police station hopefully..

Not really a big deal doing 85-90mph in a modern car in good condition on a fairly clear motorway. The point being whenever I see Teslas on the motorway they are often slip streaming lorries at 55mph.

Regularly do 500 mile round trips in a day and honestly now glad I got it for the ease of the charger network.

@sidders34, and other Tesla owners – what is the real life range like going at a decent speed on the motorway.

Tesla quote 360 miles for the M3 long range, but how far would it go at 90mph? Furthest I have to drive with work is 280miles (one way) – I’d ideally want to be able to bash that out in one go, then have a bit of range left over to get to a charger on the way back.

If you have a definite line after 15mins then you are positive. LFTs aren’t great at ruling out infection but they are 99.9% at ruling it in, if you get a positive within 30mins, so you should have stayed at home.

The testing company is either incompetent or corrupt, or both.

I started this thread as I was asking about the relevance of an extremely faint line AFTER 30mins and have now taken 2x PCRs which were both negative to rule out infection.

I’m in Amsterdam at the moment. I didn’t really expect to be here, because when I did my ‘Fit to Fly’ Flowflex LFT, I got a faint red line after the 15 minutes. The company I used didn’t ask you to report a result, just to upload a photo which they would assess and issue a certificate accordingly. So I uploaded a picture of my test, with faint line clearly shown, and while waiting for the result contacted my traveling companions to start revising our plans. While deep in the discussion (this wasn’t about a holiday, a positive test was seriously inconvenient) my email pinged – “your test is negative, here’s your certificate”.

So here I am. I’ve since done 2 more of the NHS nose and throat LFTs both of which have been negative. I have another Flowflex test waiting at home for my Day 2 – be interesting to see what happens with that.

Sounds like you were positive – you shouldn’t have got on a plane!

The flow flex tests are more sensitive, when my son had pcr confirmed covid I dropped some of the solution on a flow flex and the older style tests and the flow flex had a more definite line.

Now his real dilemma comes when he gets negative on PCR and runs another LF just to be sure – and it is weak positive within the time limit!

Oh dear, well that has pretty much happened!

Negative PCR back this morning, just did another LFT and there is the very slightest hint of a line at 30mins (when looking closely using phone light)

To be fair I think most people would glance at it and say negative so maybe I am ok.

45 mins later and the second LFT is completely clear, maybe I’ve already scraped all the covid particles out of my nose on the previous tests🤣

Hopefully will get the PCR result tomorrow

The test is the latest one that you read between 15-30mins.

Well, I’ve just done another one. So far at 15mins it’s completely clear.

Our kits say ignore anything after XX mins (can’t recall what XX is).

Yes, it says ignore after 30mins, but the point being is I never had a line appear on old tests before and I do feel a bit rough

@mudmucher – would you be prepared to extend that levy for overweight people, smokers, excessive alcohol drinkers, people who participate in DIY, sports….. and mountain bikers who can end up in A&E from time to time too?

@lamp – we already have a levy for smokers and excessive alcohol consumers with billions of extra tax on fags and booze which more than covers the cost of their NHS treatment. Not sure where we are with the sugar tax, but I think we are going down the same road with overweight people too. Sports/MTBing have a net positive health benefit and save the NHS money despite the odd accident.

To avoid more people leaving the NHS wouldn’t it be smarter to bring out vaccine passports to get into pubs, clubs, cinemas etc., and maybe also a 1p income tax levy on vaccine refusers to pay for the extra healthcare burden they are creating.

That way you’d likely get the bulk of the NHS staff who have dodged the vaccine to reconsider without risking more leaving, but also get the rest of the population not in the NHS jabbed.

8 days in hospital and I was discharged. My recovery is going very very slowly, back at work but finding it quite hard (was advised not to go back for another 2 weeks).
Physically I feel like I’m a 100 years old, lungs are fubared at the moment, I’m permanently knackered, breathless at just the lightest physical things, tired out all the time. My covid experience has absolutely boloxed my health.

Sounds rough! Were you doubled jabbed?

I also thought the LFT is calibrated to indicate if you are infectious with the virus, so could be used to check if OK to stop isolation, but the advice is you can’t do either LFT or PCR test for 90 days.

In the case of my son, I did an LFT a few times while he was ill, the first 2 were positive, though the line was very faint on 2nd as he was getting better. The third on day 9 of his isolation was negative and I assume he is no longer infectious. Based on that I assume an LFT doesn’t stay positive weeks after an infection in the same way a PCR does, do I’d probably avoid mixing if you are still positive on LFT

Alarming to see the double jabbed getting quite ill.

Can I ask the people who were jabbed how long was the gap between your last jab and infection and which vaccine did you have.

If you have caught it then your immune system will have been boosted

(double) Vaccination + infection produces the longest lasting immunity.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03696-9

Its possible that your vaccination is keeping any symptoms to a minimum & you have low levels of virus that aren’t being detected by lft, a PCR might confirm

Undoubtedly I will have breathed in thousands of covid particles over the week – so I guess technically infected, I was wondering about the scenario where my immunity/antibodies killed the virus I inhaled before it had the opportunity to replicate in any significant numbers, so I would be negative on PCR/LFT. I’m basically curious if that level of exposure is enough to boost your immunity or whether you need a full blown infection.

My 11yr old has been off school all week with covid and having to help him with his lessons it’s been pretty much impossible to isolate from him.

So I’ve been breathing in his covidy breath all week but have tested negative on LFT each day, I have felt a bit tired and headachy at times but assume this is my immune system firing up.

I’m wondering if this exposure is enough to act as a booster to the vaccine I had 4 months ago, or do you actually need to get ill to boost your immunity?

I think many people who haven’t taken it have the mentality that they don’t need it/want it and it is their body etc., and don’t consider the consequences for everyone else – high infection levels, greater burden on the hospitals etc., which I why I like the idea of a penny on income tax as it would show them the wider impact and cost of their decision and the expectation they (not the rest of society) should pay for it.

I get the reason for strong opinion on this but its unethical to mandate a vaccine. Also it doesn’t work now we know the vaccine drops off after a few months. Someone could be double jabbed 12 months ago no booster and let into a club but an unvaccinated couldn’t. High level it makes sense but not when you really look at it.

Yes, I agree you shouldn’t force people to take a vaccine, but it’s clear the level of vaccination we have won’t be enough to keep the infection levels to a manageable level so we need extra incentives to get people jabbed.

I think the evidence is that although vaccine immunity wanes it still keeps people out of hospital for a considerable time. France is one of the most vaccine hesitant countries in Europe, but their vaccine passport scheme needed to get into clubs and bars has resulted in a higher vaccination level than us and lower infection rates.

Thanks for the recommendations but I would really like to keep the spend south of £250. No thoughts on the Ibanez?

Ibanez are pretty good. I had a higher end one that played really well but didn’t get on with the thin tone on the D/G string. There are a few places doing the TRBX174 under £200 and that would probably be my first choice at your budget.

I think it’s time to clamp down on the unvaccinated.

60% of covid hospital admissions are in the unvaccinated, in addition the unvaccinated are likely to have a higher viral load for longer and contribute to the ongoing high levels of infection.

We raise billions of pounds from cigarette tax to help pay the NHS bill for the self inflicted healthcare burden smokers create, so why not do the same for people who refuse the vaccine?

If I was in charge, I’d change the tax codes of vaccine refusers to add an extra penny to their income tax.

You won’t go wrong with a budget Yamaha, either the trbx304 or the BB234. I personally prefer the tone of the BBs but there are plenty of sound clips on YouTube

https://bazar.bg/obiava-31891615/velosiped-active-comfort-sprick

Those handlebars are the future

My 27.5 Anthem is the one with 130mm front / 110mm rear travel and a 67.5 degree head angle so less of a race and more of a general XC/Trail.

Ah, in that case I would have thought it wouldn’t be hugely different to the Izzo. Mine is the old 29er with 71deg HA and 100mm F/R.

I’ve got a 29er anthem and was also looking at the spur/Izzo. The YT shop in surrey lent me one for the afternoon and I took it to Swinley for a blast. The Izzo was slower on the flat and uphills, but felt better going down and on the jumps. If you can get down and book a test ride for half a day that will give you a good idea.

It’s a nice bike, but then so is the anthem and in the end I couldn’t quite justify spending 4K on the Izzo when most of my local riding is probably better suited to the anthem.

I’d check if the crankcase ventilation is clear before dumping a tin of snake oil in an engine. If the crankcase breather is blocked due to modern long oil change intervals then it’ll push oil out of crank/camshaft/rocker instead.

That’s a pretty good shout RNP and I did go out first thing to check that, but the back of the engine where the breather runs is packed under the bulkhead and I was struggling to remove the trim and in a fit of annoyance I grabbed the Wynns oil stop which arrived yesterday and poured it in😬. Will report back on whether it works when I’ve driven it a bit.

Fix it. Cars require maintenance from time to time and the older they get the more maintenance they need nd the running costs increase.

But I’m a bit of a tight arse that enjoys shedding! If it was 2 or 3 years old I’d be getting it fixed properly, so in some ways older cars can be cheaper to maintain as you feel less precious about them.

Is it a timing end or gearbox end seal?

It’s at the back, so gearbox end. It’s not really possible to see where it’s coming out without taking out a load of bits including the valance.

Daft question, you didn’t ‘spill’ any did you when changing the oil.

That was my thought initially but it was a good 3-4 months ago now so any spillage would have burnt off.

You could just live with it. Pretend it’s the 70s and your driving anything made by British Leyland.

I’d live with it if it wasn’t for that fact it fills the cabin a horrible burnt oil smell which I can’t imagine is good for you.

Did you change the oil filter too? If so, my money is on the oil filter not being correctly fitted. Sometimes the rubber O-ring on the old filter sticks to the oil pump. When you fit the new filter, the new O-ring fits on top of the old one. They will always leak. I would try removing the oil filter and checking everything carefully.

I did change the filter, but I think there was only an large o-ring on the plastic filter cover which I changed – I just put the new filter in the cover and screwed it on. If there was supposed to be a smaller o-ring on the filter I didn’t see it, though I guess it’s the larger filter cover o-ring that stops the leaking externally – I did check round the filter and it appeared to be ok.

The seal swelling additives are part of normal seal “conditioning” additives in a few types of automotive oils

Interesting, can’t be that harmful then?

New oil could be thinner – did you use 0-30 or 5-30? In a car with a 100k I would not use the 0w unless I lived somewhere very cold

Used 5-30