rabbitstew

I would say she was in the wrong as per Ekona. But.... im my experience insurance is a funny game. I had a car pull out directly in front of me once when I was on my motorbike. I hit the side of the car as I had no where to go. The woman driver immediately apologies says its her fault and she didnt see me. Witnesses also say they couldn't believe the woman pulled out in front of me. So a clear case you`d think. But no... my insurance company took so long to speak to the witnesses that by the time they did, the witnesses didnt know what day of the week it was, let alone details of an accident 8 months earlier. The woman driver also changed her tune and claimed that I was speeding through traffic and so it was my fault etc. etc. So, in the end the insurance companies settled on a 50/50 liability, meaning I loose a lot of my NCB and only get 50% of the value of the repairs to the motorbike.

Well my mate went back to the main dealer and the service manager treated him like something he had stepped in. The guy said the service he had booked didnt actually include the air filter, even though the receptionist had told my mate it did. That was classed as an extra, he said the oil had been changed even tho it was black and admitted that the pollen filter hadnt been done and so they changed that there & then for them. That was it. No compensation or apology or anything. Apparently the guy was quite rude and even pointed out how old my mates car was as if that had any relevance to it. So, having no joy there, I suggested my mate emailed a complaint to the companies complaint department. He did this, they spoke to the dealership and immediately offered my mate £40 compensation for the hassle. So my mates quite pleased with this, we still dont know if the oil was actually changed, but a new air filter is only £5 on ebay incl delivery and that leaves him with some money towards his next service with me.

Nice!!!

Better than Eastenders - i cant wait to see the next update on this one! Maybe it will drag out until Christmas when they`ll be a murder and a big who-done-it?

My missus did the speed awareness course the other year and she enjoyed it - it taught her so much more about the roads, speed limits, safety etc. etc.

Thats the one... Amazing!!!!

Most of my friends & family bring me their cars for servicing & any mechanical repairs as they know im into that kind of thing. Anyway, a mate of mine has just bought a new second hand car and rather than bring it to me for a service like he normally does, he decided to take it to the local main dealer for that make of car (not a Nissan i add) and have them service it and give it the once over. So he books in for a FULL service at a cost of £160. They flag up that the brake pads are getting low at the same time and because they wanted £250 to replace them, he comes to me and asks if i can do it. No problem, I get some new pads for 11quid a set, and even after he`s bought me a drink, he saves a small fortune. Anyway, whilst I had his car in my workshop, I thought id check the oil level and noticed it was black as the ace of spades. Strange I think, as its just been serviced. So, I then check the pollen filter and its also black and looks so old it must have been on the car for 3 years. I then check the air filter and thats also extremely dirty and theres leaves / straw and even a fag butt in the airbox! So, it looks like the main dealer didnt even open the bonnet on his car when they "serviced" it. Ive heard of this sort of thing happening, but I was quite shocked that a main dealer would happily take £160 off someone and not even open the bonnet on the car. Makes you wonder how many other times they have done this on customers cars. My mates livid about it and is going to have a word with the dealer this morning and in the future he`ll stick with having me service his cars as at least he knows its been done properly! I for one will certainly be marking my air filter etc.. when I take my new beemer in for its first service now after seeing this! Anyone else had any experiences like this?!

Isnt the scooby & the evo both 4 door family cars? 35k is a reasonable budget, are there any bmw`s you like the look of? 3 series coupe`s? BMW tends to give a lot of their senior management company cars which get changed over every 6 months and then re-sold on through dealerships - you can often get a good deal on these. I bought my 123d M-Sport Coupe earlier in the year - list price was over 32grand for this particular car and I got 25% knocked off that for the car being an ex management car. 6 months old, only 3000 miles on the clock, so still had 2.5 years warranty on it. BMW also throw in free breakdown cover and the cars first 2 MOT`s for free on these cars. I use mine for a 90mile a day commute and its turned my commute into something I really enjoy now.

doh! I remember seeing it and being extremely impressed!

"Our claims statistics show that drivers who have committed a speeding offence could be a higher risk than drivers who do not commit speeding offences." Once again, the insurance companies jack up their prices for their perceived increased risk, but they seldom consider reducing their premiums for things which lower risks.....

I recall someone posting a picture once of their mountain bike inside their zed, so it might be worth having a bit of a search!

Yep, i love my 123d M-Sport Coupe. Currently seems to be giving me the best of both worlds. 0-60 in 6.5seconds and im getting 50mpg on my daily commute... not to mention the handling.... awesome! I did toy with the idea of the 335d coupe, but what swung it for me was the size of the cars. BMW`s like a lot of cars seem to get bigger & bigger each year. The 1 series coupe is the same size as an old 3 series used to be back around 1990, and the 3 series of today is the same size as a 5 series used to be! Personally I prefer smaller cars as I feel more confident throwing them about.

Spotted ginger (or gold, depending on what you want to call it!) 350z Coupe, private plate R* CNF around the Castle Park / Castle Hill area of Cambridge this morning at around 10am. Driver looked a bit lost!

Nissan replaced the passenger side electric window motor for us this week under warranty - looks like it was the whole motor failure rather than just a connector. They still havent fixed the airbox though, despite me telling them twice about it. Not really impressed with this particular Nissan garage at all. Every time they say they will ring you back they never do. If they do then its just a 1 ring then hang up so you have to call them back. For example, they never phoned us to tell us the part was in. We had to check with them. Then after they fitted it they never phoned us to tell us the car was ready even though they said they would. Resulting in us wasting hours walking about some shopping centre waiting for them to call.

Funny thread this one! At the end of the day its all about personal preference isnt it. Ive had turbo nutter boost cars in the past and sure enough, when you floor them you get a massive surge of power which makes them feel quick. I love em! The zed on the other hand, or at least my 313 did, has a much more smoother power delivery. If I floored it in 2nd for example, the powers there, you are thrown back in your seat and the power keeps on coming to the 7500rpm. It was surprisingly responsive. And on the road, very often I was surprised at just how quick it was compared to other much more expensive cars which had more power. Im not sure why anyone is comparing an Evo to a Zed. The Zed is in the same category as a boxster (zed is quicker than a boxster on paper unless its the 3.2), the z4 or even the z4m. When I first got my zed I remember having loads of fun against a guy in his z4m and being very satisfied that my zed had the same performance on the road and yet probably cost a lot less than his car. Im also amazed that anyone would actually go out, buy a car without first finding out some facts on it. Such as the performance, the fuel economy, how much it is to insure & tax. Do people really rush out, buy a car then go "ooh, its slower than i thought?!!!"

indeed!!!

On the subject of M5`s... http://www.worldcarfans.com/112042043607/bmw-m5-crashes-in-germany-at-300-kmh-186-mph

+1 I very nearly got one of these instead of my 123d as they were cheaper! But figured I may as well have kept my zed if I was going to get another gas guzzler. Amazing cars for the money.. the engine noise, the power... esp when you think how much they cost new!!!

The fact that its only doing it when you rmoving would lead me to suggest the engines fine, its something vibrating at that particular rpm. Ive had similar problems before and they are a nightmare to try and identify!!! So good luck!!

+1.... My 123d comes with run flats as standard and the whole chasis / suspension as been designed to work best with them. ...and it's still hard a fook . Has the Zed gone Stew or are you a multicar owner? lol!!! yeah its certainly a "firm" ride, but I find my 123d seems to actually handle better than my zed did. I certainly feel a lot more confident in it. Yep, the zed`s gone mate. It was killing me in running costs / depreciation, so I part ex`d it for a 6 month old 123d M-Sport Coupe. Whilst its no zed its still good fun. 0-60 in 6.5 seconds, over 200bhp and 300lb/ft torque (which is the same torque as an e92 M3) as standard and you can remap it up to 270bhp and 400lb/ft. Im getting nearly 50mpg out of it, so thats twice the mpg I was getting out of the zed!

And ive done exactly that! Back when I was more reckless I was coming home from work once on my R1 and there was this car cruising along at 70mph in lane 4 on a 4 lane motorway. The inside 3 lanes were perfectly empty. After sitting behind this guy for a while I undertook him at err... a very reasonable speed... and on the back wheel. Sure enough all the lights and sirens came on and it was a unmarked cop car. He was not impressed. So im now parked up on the hard shoulder sitting in his car listening to him rant and rave at me thinking im looking at a sure ban here, when he gets an emergency call come through on his radio and tells me its my lucky day as he has to go to this emergency. Certainly taught me to look out more for unmarked cops and be a bit more patient at lane hoggers.

Boxster was on the list when I bought my zed, it was a boxster, a Z3 or the 350z. But unless you went for the 3.2 boxster then the other boxsters were slower than the 313 zed. I also wanted something a bit rarer. All depends really on what sort of thing you want. So much choice out there these days depending on if you want a saloon, sporty, 4x4, soft top... and with prices of 2nd hand cars dropping quickly, more is now affordable.

Judging by your rug & cushions, your missus must have the same kind of taste as mine!!!

+1, i am religious about sticking to the speed limits. Many times ive been sitting there doing 30 in a 30 with some idiot tailgating me as if im holding him up.... then as soon as it changes from 30 to 60mph I floor it and leave them in a cloud of dust....

I have a server in the house which has 6TB of space in it, i store all my documents, photos, media etc.. on there and it then has the added benefit I can access it from any media device I want (except the missus`s ipad 3 which was a nightmare trying to get it to see the thing, let alone play any videos etc). For backup, anything "important" is automatically sync`d with the google cloud, so again, i can access it from anywhere. I found google to be the cheapest, although i also use dropbox for a few things.