Cotswold Pete

The future has to be a nuclear fusion powered car, might need a big trailer to contain the chamber. The trick as I understand it is energy storage density, with fossil fuels benig very dense (they have had several million years to be compressed), and all other options less so, meaning more space required for batteries, hydrogen tanks etc. to achieve same output for same length of time. I think the future will be driving will just get more expensive and we will all learn to commute less. The production of energy takes energy, so I still think our race to utilise more energy consuming devices (cars, dish washers, etc) is a bit of a challenge until fusion is sorted (maybe)

Useful links EE Mast Maps Vodafone Mast Maps O2 Mast Maps 3 Mast Maps if you go to these it will show you where the cell masts are, and if you click on a green dot (mast), it will show you how the cell radiators beam. It is not totally accurate, but I use it at work to gauge where to point 4G routers aerials towards. We had one client near the M5, and only half mile from the mast, but this site showed me that the mast in question was beaming up and down M5, not across it, so we ended up point the 4G across the river Severn to Lydney and got a better signal.

I assume that if your mobile contract does not allow tethering, then this would not work. Being a cheapskate my contract does not support tethering even though my phone does.

Update. Thumb lock works a treat, no more filthy fingers (or language). Just screw the lock onto end of pump and locks on tight as you like, and tyre inflated like the good old days. No need to over inflate. Going to buy a lock each for the missus and my son, save them faffing about. Finger tight fit means you can take off the hose if you need to store inside the tight fit pump case. Thank heavens for e-bay

So it seems to me if your car is noisy you either get an old g*t like me to test it, or a youngster who appreciates a bit of noise (and some of them may even like a Fiesta fart-cannon. Though seems to be 50cc beasties are the main problem around where I live

Totally agree always check with proper digital meter, been doing so for last 20 years, makes a big difference to handling having all 4 corners correct

How about super punative tax for any off-roader, on the basis roads will be so bad only thanks would survive. Thereby meaning us mere mortals would not risk wrecking our cars, we would end up working and shopping locally, and the government then hammer us with a boot tax. Hey presto money to waste on any pet project. Only problem is can inter city rail handle all the goods, and maybe need a lot more stations that we can hire a tank to drive to so we can pick up our orders from Amazon

To encourage people to buy EVs they need tax breaks, but to get everyone to drive EVs you have to tax electricity to the same degree as petrol. Problem is electricity cannot be divided into super-expensive to the car and less expensive for the home lighting etc. In the past we moved to Lead Free with incentive so aggressive it made no sense to use leaded, same principle no matter how painful would surely apply to encouraging EVs - which are not carbon zero or non-polluting, just differently damaging the planet.

74db is permitted as okay, anything more and it is a fail. I assume this is from 1meter away, from end of pipe. A conversation is typically 60dB and truck is 70dB (that is the noise of the truck engine, rattles and bangs (not it's exhaust) 80db is a freight train at 100yards. So 74dB not that loud in the scheme of things, but sure as heck hear many a car/bike exceeding that. There are ideas that speed cameras for the future would listen to noise, but given they are not at ground level not sure how that would work

Totally agree. On my wifes car the screw-on looses about 1PSI where as on LS it is about 3 to 4PSI Going to try an adaptor and see it it helps. It does mean the cable will not store as neat, but heck, plenty of space in the spare well (where pump is kept) to not worry about that

So getting really annoyed with these screw on tyre inflators, just spend 30 minutes wasting my time by inflating the tyre (just one) and then finding while unscrewing I loose as much as as put in. Tried over-inflating to compensate, but that was no use. Should have kept my old but slow inflator with thumb lock So looking at using one of these little beasties - Ebay - thumb lock Has anyone tried them, cannot see how the the valve core gets pressed down to open up the valve. Any thoughts

Have a mate who is a fireman, he tells me that when EVs catch fire they have to either let them burn out or lift them into skip and fill the skip up (I cannot recall whether he said water [dodgy IMHO] or earth). Did not get into a discussion about age of cars he deals with - Liverpool area, but I think newer models the batteries are better at not catching fire, but I assume once a EV or hybrid is on fire lots of toxic gunk floating in the air

Had a dipped beam HID bulb blow after 7 years (not too shabby a life then). So was preparing to spend £70 (or so) on two new bulbs. Still uming and aahing about 4300k or 6000K or maybe 5000K However came across this site https://xenons4u.co.uk/hid-d2r-xenon-bulbs.html with cheap as chips for a pair, well almost cheaper than chips Anyone ever had any experience of Lumor, almost seems worth trying even if they only lasted one year.

Today I will be moaning about managers who cut you off at the legs just as you are about to get the client over the last hurdle

Satnav disc holder is the black box. Water ingress unlikely to be the cause of it whining, but sounds like something not quite right. When I got my motor the boot had more water than Tom Daleys practice pool, and had been that way for a while, but the Nav was (and is) fine I assume your satnav works, but maybe it will fail at some point if the fault goes seriously yuck. Only other thought is aerial is whining, but that usually stops after 15 seconds of doing its 'thing'.

That is well looked after Mk4. But must have internal aerial, as not seeing anything at the trunk end.

Cold not usually a problem, though if your garage dropped below -10 then maybe some of the fluids would de-homogenise (for want of a better word), or have a slightly shortened life. Usually time is the enemy of waxes and foams Only thing is making sure micro-fibres etc, are dry as can be before leaving in shed (or in my case cellar). Photos of your foaming nozzles (now that might be worth a peek)😵

Well is that how a Lexus tractor engine might sound

So in 20 years time dealers will no doubt be much diminished, but I wonder if the only ones around will be the specialists, whether that be the ones only selling those good old fossil fuel classic cars, and the ones who have an audience that want to be pampered to death while wandering around a marbled hall in Knightsbridge in their cheap as chips Loake brogues. Mind you if I had money I might feel paying the extra to be pampered once in a while. Having been a user of the Internet since day 1, of the first web browser still feel the need to touch and feel, though my kids less inclined they just do hours of internet research. BUT strangely enough got me and the wife to go with them to suss out cars in the flesh, even though one of them lives 200 miles away. I would add that having driven many a car, test driving a range of cars for the kids was illuminating in that some cars were just plain awful once you drove them even for a 100 yards, and others were plain awful once you let the dealer go back to his hut so you could have a real good poke about (or poking through the rust)

I would always miss that V8 roar when putting your foot down Though maybe if I could afford a chauffer it would be a choice for those trips to the supermarket, and I guess if I could afford that then a grill re-build would be an option. But my Mk4 would be for me to drive Time to check last weeks lottery ticket!!

Looks like it just came out of the factory. I dare not show my boot, had water ingress from the seal, and from rear arch rot. However as I do not keep my sandwiches in the boot, I am okay with my 'messy trunk'

V8s once tried never forgotten. I know they are gas guzzlers, but with my (maybe retirement) in a few years, to me it makes sense to keep my 400 going as I will not be doing that much driving when retired, but a car that can do 400+ miles on a tank will mean I can get to Dundee in comfort and silence. Not quite sure about hybrids, been in a few, Honda and Lexus, just seems to me not so good when milege is low and you are lugging around a lot of battery. If I had to leave Lexus it would have to be another Jap car, or possibly Volvo but 13 years of LS driving is hard to give up.

Is also possible someone has perked up their WiFi, when we did this at work it created merry hell with my Mk4. I did find with the WiFi keeping anything metal (keys, screwdrivers etc) out of the middle compartment usually helped. Had my car in a garage car park for a week just recently, well away from any possible WiFI, and not a squeak out of the alarm.

My thoughts exactly

Under headphones I can hear what sounds like hiss, with a very (very) slight break-in from an actual FM channel. The hiss implies the Pioneer is seeing an FM signal but nothing to really tune into so it just plays noise. It could be the modulator is at fault, but without a scope not too easy to know. Maybe try the modulator on the Home stereo tuner which will be a bit of a pain because of different connectors and 12volt. What DAB unit are you using, I use a Sonichi S100 (but not sure if it is Dab+) it was useless via casette adaptor, but fine via it's own FM transmitter with external aerial. (Make sure you have a high quality USB adpator in the cigarette lighter - some inject noise into the FM system)