They weren’t brown when I put them on

at that price I could afford to glue two together.

VOILA! INSTANT HEX-GLIDE !

Did he emerge from the enormous crack betwixt wall & floor?

That’s a line of brown floor grout.

Non-believers will burn in the volcano’s. No redemption for their souls

Never harms when they are also easy on the eye

Brian Molko

Well.. I went and bought* a bloody Polo GT today didn’t I

Local dealer caved and offered to match a great drive the deal price that came out of the blue on a phone call. got 3k off the list price plus metallic paint, auto lights/wipers and arm rest. Essentially, paid the same price for a Polo GT that I would’ve paid for the Fiesta.
Totally seduced by the cute little thing. Hoping the 150bhp will keep me entertained whilst the blue motion sips fuel during motor way mileage.

FunkyD – wasn’t quite as low as £160pcm but It would depend over how many months the term was set, and how much deposit you were laying down.
Hope I have a better experience of the Polo than you did..

*leased. Nice to pretend though.

Forgot to mention, inexperienced sales lady in Ford dealership asked if I wanted a list of options/pricing on the Fiesta, and proceeded to print me out a document containing the above, along with dealer margins on every model of Fiesta and every single option (!)

So I am in fortunate position of knowing exactly how much their cars cost them to purchase from Ford. Margin isn’t as big as you might imagine!

Test drove the Swift Sport today – dealer was busy so was fortunate enough to be accompanied by the dealership valet, who when asked if he minded if I give it some beans, responded “mate, take it to the red line and spank it, I really don’t mind”

Cue best test drive I’ve ever had 🙂

Car is gutless under 4K, at which point it comes alive. Stay in the power band and skip through the gear box and it just points and goes wherever you want. A couple of large roundabouts taken at ludicrous speeds (empty roads) and a lovely bit of lift off oversteer to keep things going in the right direction. Brilliant little chassis, great tyres. Loved it.

Won’t buy one though. I’d revert to hooligan mode every single drive and get through a set of tyres every month.. Would be skint before I lost my licence!

Still grinning from ear to ear though

I almost forgot my old local in Chelmsford – Wok-U-Like?

So many gems already, but if Call me Halal is genuine.. I’m probably willing to forgive their choice of butchery

I enjoy the slow burn. The dialogue is really excellent, the camera shots and colour pallette are fantastic and Bob Odenkirk was born to play this character – he’s so damn likeable.

Yep. on left hand side.

‘completed listings’
‘sold items’

man these are great

ha! brilliant.
I love my greasy food with a dose of shame smothering comedy

Took the Zetec S 140ps out for a spin today. Makes a satisfying noise and is very nippy from a standing start. Wasn’t sure how i’d take to switching back to a 5sp box but in reality it has decent ratios and never seems to get stressed.
Cornering is indeed lovely, cabin plastics not so lovely.

Dealer was happy to knock the price right down to ‘drive the deal/carwow’ levels so the Fiesta is comfortably coming in as cheapest option at the moment – Including metallic paint and a few toys like SatNav, auto lights.

So in a bit of a quandary now. Original brief was for economy motoring. Which whilst im never really going to save the planet in a 140ps motor – it is at least cheap to insure, tax, and perhaps more importantly, to purchase. Plus, fun to drive?..

Polo R-Line 110 still appeals. Comes in around £20-£30pcm more expensive over 3 years.

I’m shit at making my mind up.

His Cliff Tumble is impeccable

C’mon man, this is grade ‘A’ baby gravy we got here.

Stop bustin my balls man

Still waiting for her to text.

Don’t buy one or you’ll be made a mokkary

Dude, I’ll take one for the team. Send me her number..

NS eccentric Cromo is a lovely ride.

Loving the look of the new P7

I once pulled a huge chunk of wax out of my ear at school. It was brown and almost the size of a marble. I squeezed it and something sharp inside it cut my finger and made it bleed.

Weird but cool

Butter tastes great
Butter lubricates
A sandwich without butter is a joyless slap in the face of God

Next you’ll be putting skimmed milk in your tea.
Freaks.

Snot smells of unfulfilled ambition and shattered dreams

GifGaff has been brilliant since I went sim only, costs me £12pcm for 3gb and more minutes and texts than I’ll ever use.

Buying a handset sim-free always works out cheaper than going contract. It’s a no brainier if value for money is your key driver.

Right then, drove the polo today, although an R-Line it was the lesser powered model (90hp). Lovely refinement, easily the classiest car of all I’ve driven, but I couldn’t live with the lower power output so would need to be at least the 110bhp version.
Slightly worried by the centre console proximity to left leg, would mean needing to lean left shin on it pretty much permanently. The mini definitely has been the most spacious and comfortable fit so far.

Also went and sat in a Swift Sport. Fit is ok, quality slightly better than expected. Slightly impeded on RHS as door feels a bit close. Had some good banter with sales manager based on asking him straight up if he could compete with dealers on auto-trader that are selling delivery mileage models for 12k (-2k under RRP). Essentially, the answer is yes.
Main issue with the Swift is the lack of first years free insurance (1 year free with VW) , and road tax at £140. This makes it instantly £500 more expensive in the first year, and £120pa more each subsequent year.
Surprisingly, the monthly repayments were almost identical compared to the polo, probably due to lower residual value. Albeit, 42mths on polo and 36 on swift.

Swings and roundabouts. Driving Swift next week but will need to knock my socks off to compete I think.

/\ chicken dinner

It’s astounding to me that some people can display such clear hostility to the acquisition of knowledge

This is so true.
Part of the staggering wonder of the human mind is its individuality. I for one would not like every single one of us to be wired the same way, so I simply applaud the inquisitive free thinking minds, and accept the unimaginative dullards as an unfortunate mere quirk in the human condition.

Capitalism is a fantastic tool for strangling creativity. The concept of money has probably held back scientific progress by decades (which is astonishing when you consider the progress we have made in that time). The sooner ‘we’ get over ourselves and learn that there is much more to life than Audi’s and wrist watches, the sooner we will continue to evolve as a species.

/\ get a grip

I know on good authority that Dr Alban once did it with Wigfield

Was it a Saturday night?

I only just learned of their conscious coupling.. I’m still in a weird state of confusion

He kind of vanished up his own arse

someone name me one thing, that has proven a good thing to mankind, that has come from space travel/exploration

Peaceful collaboration between many nations.

And the Uranus Experiment 1, 2 & 3

non. mange tout.

was the the latest Fiesta model you had? If so, thats a very scathing (but interesting) opinion when comparing to glowing praise from elsewhere.

Im hoping the test drives I am yet to take will yield an obvious winner.

Budget permitting I dont think I could turn down a mini. However, having reviewed my current annual mileage (18k), I think I may be about to price myself out of a few finance deals.

The plan was ititially to pay off and own, but as the prospect of PCP has settled on me, the idea of changing every 2 or 3 years and remaining within warranty/MOT period has grown on me.

So with increased depreciation, you effectively pay more over the period of payment plan, as your potential asset is worth less than the agreed final value?

£99 extra for satnav pack 🙂

Thanks for the heads up, ive just seen the Zetec S in my prefered colour as follows:

FORD FIESTA HATCHBACK
Description
1.0 EcoBoost 140 Zetec S Navigation 3dr
Options
Privacy glass, Cloth – Charcoal black, Metallic – Deep impact blue
Price : £13,305.20

Theres currently an offer of just £99 for SatNav pask on Fiestas. Nice.

So, you just order straight through the website??

One thing I would warn is that I’ve heard less than great reliability stories from Mini owners – that could however be completely different with the new ones.

I’ve read horror stories too. Reason I went to look was I figure that if I am completely smitten by one (and can afford it), I would indeed be covered by warranty until I change it in 2 / 3 years.

Almost can’t believe i’m sasying this, but for £13k I’m starting to think the Fiesta is the best option. Test drives next week will obviously help make my mind up.

So lunch break today was a Fiesta and Mini adventure.

Humble pie time – Regarding the ST and Zetec-S models, The Fiesta is just great up close. I liked the interior WAY more than I thought I would and the ergonomics were fine.
Although, the Recaro’s in the ST were way too pumped up and obtrusive for me. I was perched on top as opposed to sat inside it. Which is a real shame as the ST had up to that point become a very strong contender even prior to test drive.

However! The Zetec S (red edition, bit too bright) right next to it had virtually all the looks, with a much more comfortable sport seat. So, ive booked a test drive for next week.
If nit-picking, I dont like the rear drums specced on the Zetec S, i’d much rather see discs poking through the large alloy wheels (like on the ST).
It ‘only’ has 140bhp too, but in reality, the better economy over the ST is closer to my original brief.

Next up, the Mini Cooper. Oh my, what a little cracker that is inside. I’m not sure i’ve ever prefered an interior of any car as much as this one. Stunning quality, great ergonomics, bags of room, lovely switches and materials. This new model really is a step up in class.
Test driving booked for monday and have spoken about sourcing a 15 Reg bargain which they seem keen on, im just not sure I can quite get hold of one at the monthly figure im comfortable with.

As things stand its probably level pegging between Polo R-Line/GT, Mini Cooper and Fiest Zetec-S.

If the Feista drives as stonkingly well as its alleged, and with its rock bottom pricing (CarWow offering at £13,500), its suddenly hard to look past it!

Mini Cooper. How do we feel about them?

Dude, the signs were there..