Haha! Nice, wonder if he’s managed to get the DRS system working for releasing the potential of that 1.2 on the straights

That’s good to know on the aftercare, thanks tthew.

Aye – that looks like a good one and HD screen. Seem to be ranging from £300-400 online so trying to work out what is different about them.. must be slight model differences I can’t quite fathom.

Totally agree Tony – The new (3rd) DRS zone at Bahrain wasn’t really needed as there had already been plenty of overtakes there without it in the past.

Also on Vettel – I can absolutely see him having a total meltdown this year and losing his seat. He bottled a fair few high-pressure situations last year and like you say the context this year is even worse for him. Gone are the days of him disappearing into the sunset in his RB for 4 seasons in a row!

Hoping it finishes under SC for LeClerc

Absolutely gutted for LeClerc

Scary the way that front wing come off! Literally shook it off the car

Vettel: Bottler!

Looking forward to this mind! Really hoping LeClerc hands Vettel his arse at some point this season. I can see finger lad hoying his toys oot the pram if he does!

I’m hoping both the Ferraris and Mercs have good race pace today and it’s a close battle.

I started a similar thread a while back. Might be some useful stuff in there. I haven’t actually got round to getting anything sorted mind..

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/thule-backup-style-towbar-mounted-boxes/

Interesting thread. I am always amazed at how heavily subsidised driving is considering how harmful the collective impact of everyone driving everywhere is and the fact that is uses up a scarce resource doing so. The thing is I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority in having this point of view, I think the price of fuel is incredibly good value for money all things considered. I would love to know how far some peoples journeys are that sit in jams in rush hour every single day morning and night. I bet a fair few are less than 5 miles.

Great video. He is so passionate about the motors. Think I’d have that C126 AMG. As he says it’s the most gangster car ever. So menacing. But… the Renault 5 turbo 🤤

Ha – our microwave has started doing the exact same thing! Panasonic?

Phillips iron lasted until 2018 from 2005 I think… mind you the first 5 years of that I was a lazy little toad so it seen little proper regular use until 2010 maybe

My local towbar place did ours. Think it was £390 from memory for a witter removable swan neck one with 7 pin electrics fully fitted. Apparently there was a cut somewhere under the bumper but invisible from the outside. Not sure about vehicle specific vs universal wiring.. is there a way to find out? That’s on a 3 series in the North (fitting was a place in durham).

“I have 6 kids and I’ve worked errrr.. most.. of my life”

Sweet baby jesus and the orphans. Depressing clip that.

Dear me, the comments on that BBC article are absolutely terrifying. People have no idea, not a scooby do how big commercial enterprises in a regulated environment operate. People saying “ahh we’ll just import from USA/Australia” Christ alive how **** thick are people. We literally have information at our fingertips and people are so misinformed.

The level of ignorance is staggering. We’re doomed. I need to stop reading stuff like that as it makes me sad and angry.

Yep – always locked when in the house. Lad at work had both his and wifes car nicked this way. I’d been doing it for years prior to that mind.

Haway Hinge, have a word. We need to know what it is!?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201812233456153?advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=ne165hn&model=GLA%20CLASS&page=1&price-from=35000&make=MERCEDES-BENZ&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used

As above, you need to work on your shortlist a bit before going shopping. An XC90 is a very different proposition to an Evoque – I think running costs could be almost double. Few mates and family members have ran X5s, RRs, etc. for years and some of the costs are eye-watering, especially tyres!

I’ll come clean and say I’m very much in the anti-SUV camp.. especially the medium-small sized ones and especially especially the 2WD ones! For all those extra running costs what do you actually get? Smaller boot than a ‘posher’ estate, more body roll, poorer performance..

But, each to their own – my uncle got a new XC60 last year and it is a very nice place to be, it’s still a big motor, bigger than Quashqai/Evoque/Q3 etc. but not as massive as a proper RR or XC90.

What about the Merc GLA45 AMG – should get a good one in your price range, banzai performance from the 360bhp four banger turbo, excellent brakes, autobox and it’s a bit taller than the A45 and almost looks like an SUV if you squint a bit.. it’s also quite posh in my view.

Xora – where is this setting? I thought it was just text metadata not actual content?

Mike – hadn’t thought of geo location. Weirdly the guy whose son played it wasn’t his house or Xbox. It was another lads house and he had to download the game for the first time.. were friends on Xbox live which could be the link?

Drac – haven’t been into that thread much is it not just cookies and browsing history rather than texts?

FD – Apologies, I got my letters mixed up.. it’s definitely the B8 series.. not C8. The differences I mentioned are between the B8PLA/B8S and are still right. Not sure if it’s the same for the C8 series.

As above, driver behaviour could be linked to the headlight type.. My car has LED and my wife’s has Xenon and I can’t ever imagine reaching for high-beam at less than 30mph through an unlit village.. in fact they’re so good I rarely reach for them at all (i.e. unlit NSL back road). However, the sharp cut-off could be an issue if you’ve just jumped from a car with good halogen headlights. (both are automatically adjusted as is the law I think? No dials in either car for manual adjustment). For some reason I think headlight washers are a legal requirement for Xenons and not LED.. not sure why. I’m rambling now.. so I’ll stop.

I treated myself to the LG mentioned above (OLED55C8PLA) from Richer Sounds last week @ £1199. I’ve just come from what was a high-end plasma at the time (~15 year old Panasonic plasma) and I’m really impressed with the new set.. The plasma was always really good at portraying blacks so going to LED over OLED was never really an option for me as would feel like a step back (in one measure anyway).

I’ve never worried about burn-in on the old plasma and that’s with some serious hours put in on Forza motorsport (5,6,7, FH1,2,3 and 4) – there was never any hint of a permanent rev-counter in the corner of the screen. It was my Dad’s TV for about 7 years and mine for 8 after that but it must have had several hundred hours of Forza alone.. GTA 5 got a canny hammering as well!

Apparently there are some issues with the C8 series LG sets where near blacks “flash” – Can’t say I’ve noticed anything with mine.. but time will tell and apparently only affected some sets. I watched the Dark Knight films on Blu Ray over the weekend and it was exceptional! Forza Horizon 4 is pretty sweet as well although after speaking to a mate, I’m told the XBOX X will improve things further..

If you’re looking at the C8 series there’s a C8PLA and a C8S – same panel but subtle differences in speakers and the stand (I’m wall mounted and go via AV amp so don’t use either).

I’m a big XBox and driving game fan. I’ve got the S and having just plumped for a nice 55” OLED telly I can’t imagine there is a step change to the X.. I would love to be proved wrong but the games (Forza 7 and Horizon 4) I’ve played so far look absolutely stunning on the new telly. I’m sure it’s better but not sure how much better it can get! (I have just come from a ~15 year old Panasonic plasma though..)

Also re. the racing wheel/pedal set, I would only go for these if you can get a proper seat too.. I got the playseat challenge (fancy foldaway deck chair affair) but being comfortable is the key to getting the most out of the wheel/pedals.

Just my two-penny worth. If you like driving games you’ll love Forza Horizon 4. Although I tend to use the controller on Horizon titles as it just doesn’t seem to get on with the wheel no matter what settings I plug in.

Go on – go and buy one! You know you want to!

Haha, aye all the time. Normally via the pizza shop.. self preservation kicks in and I just **** off home with a lod of bait. I think it’s a good thing TBH! Obviously wouldn’t do it if only 3 or 4 of us out.

My most recent DPD experience couldn’t have been further from the one described above..

Ordered set of 4 winter tyres on Monday, specifically said in the note “DO NOT deliver to neighbour” (she is an elderly neighbour and I didn’t want her having to sign for 4 great big tyres for me. The online retailer said it would take up to 72 hours for the parcel to become active on the DPD tracker/app as the tyres come direct from reseller in Germany.

Fast forward from Monday to yesterday afternoon, still not active in the app, but when I get home there’s a slip that just says “37” (my neighbour). Low and behold she has two great big 255/35 19 inch tyres in her narrow hallway. Dickheads. They completely ignored the request, didn’t get a signature, didn’t activate the parcel to track and only delivered 2 of the 4 tyres! Poor show.

This thread just reminded of this photo ^^^ I took a while back.. Yes, that is the main pedestrian crossing right in the middle of Newcastle directly in front of central train station. Tosser

Had a taxi driver this morning at the airport whe I was dropping my wife off.. 100s or empty spaces but no he parks smack bang on the middle of the road. Bell end

Aye – ask for a courtesy car. Although, as noted above this will add time into the equation. My local BMW dealer make me laugh as it normally adds an additional 3 weeks into the first available slot for whatever work needs doing.. despite not being able to move for bloody cars every time I go.. they’re double parked, in disabled bays, on the verge, literally hundreds of BMW’s littered about the place but there’s none available for me to borrow for a few hours.

I’ve always sold privately as I want the maximum possible deposit for next car although the most recent one (Mini Cooper) was a bit painful.. I’ve always spent a bit of money sorting them out (couple hundred quid at my mate’s bodyshop tarting up alloys and body panels etc.) but this is on cars worth between £4-7K. As above for what you’ve describe I wouldn’t be spending much at all.

WBAC offered £2,300 for the Mini and I think I got £4,400 in the end so whilst it was a pain in the arse it was a good chunk of extra cash towards my wife’s new motor.

Thanks for the comments all.

Positive update: Dealer just called and said BMW approved the work to be carried out under warranty (new exhaust back box and new sun visor). Guess the Service Manager must have seen the error of his ways in taking out his post holiday blues on a customer simply asking for an update.. Shouldn’t have had to argue the toss with them mind.

After looking on the forums, it seems the exhaust issue is really common (even on the newer M140) and to do with the butterfly flap/valve system. You’d think after 3+ years of production of the model they’d have sorted it out but at least they’ve acknowledged it’s an issue.

Toyota next time… new Supra looks canny.

That’s a good shout Morts. I’ve got all the paperwork from the issue being reported, diagnosed and attempted fix within the warranty period. This is mine and my wife’s only ever brand new car and I don’t think we’ll be doing it again in a hurry.. buy second hand, take the risk and sort it out ourselves will be the plan for any future car purchases.

Garage were meant to call me yesterday which they didn’t (obviously). Called them today and before I’d even finished explaining what I was calling about the Claims/Warranty Manager (I assume) got really defensive and arsey about the fact that he’d just got back from a two week holiday, hadn’t got to it yet and was drowning in paperwork. So they haven’t even documented and sent the goodwill claim to the manufacturer for decision. Shitty customer service from the dealer. He said he’d get in touch with me “in a few days”… think I’ll give him until end of Thursday before I start booting off proper and contact customer service.

Good job I picked the car up on Friday morning.. they said I could leave it with them until they get a decision! Jokers. I could probably remove, silicone lube and refit the sun visor myself but it’s the bloody principal of the thing! Rant over.

Cheers both – the fact that they failed to fix it properly when under warranty is going to be basis of my argument. I’m expecting a call from them today so will be interesting to hear what the manufacturer come back with.

Haha flipping heck Kevs! Can’t believe they expected you to just pay a £5,000 bill upon picking up the motor! Chancers.

Need to get myself a “letter”..

Thank you Steve, that’s really useful info. I plan on kicking right off myself should the news be that I’m paying anything more than £0.. it’s funny how the tone of the dealer completely changes post warranty period.. Not sure if it’s by design to get me signed up to a new deal!

3 years warranty is pitiful really.

That run was **** spectacular!

He was a lucky boy there. Bike was aff!

Wow, those Planet X ones are cheap as chips! For a tenner it would be rude not to. Mind, those Maxxis Shorty’s look pretty robust too.. decisions decisions.

Thanks for the advice and links everyone. It is much appreciated.