harrylime

Does the key actually turn in the ignition or just feels locked, if it won't turn, or feels jammed then the steering lock may have gone on, give the steering wheel a little gentle wrestle about with the key in the ignition, it should unlock and then work normal.

The wheel will meet you as soon as the key goes into the ignition, the mirrors will also unfold if they are set to stow away when key removed.

If it isn't the steering lock and the key turns but no start or click, i can't say what it may be.

The mirrors don't stow on the mk 4 ls400 do they? I dont think mine do

Spare a thought for motorcyclists, it is no picnic for them

The police probably won't want to know, which is just wrong. If someone mugged you for £400 in cash, they would take an interest. I would be fuming and it would take me days if not weeks to calm down about that. If I caught someone doing it, I'd probably end up in court. What may be worth a try is if you have any local Facebook community sites, you could ask if anyone saw anything. I would also ask if I could put a notice up in the store. Obviously nobody would note a registration number, but they could potentially notice a sign written van, or even recognise the person. Also, I would definitely contact the police, are there any cctv cameras near the store? You have a description of the van presumably.

I've seen a 1998 LS which supposedly has voice activated satnav. Mine is a 99 so should my car have this, and if so how does it operate?

Does the sunroof not have a fabric sliding panel underneath, like the LS 400? I would suggest one of those foil reflector thingies, for the windscreen, as the screen on the LS is quite sharply raked, letting a lot of sunshine into the car. They do help. The remote window opening feature also helps a bit when opening up

I saw an L reg 400 in Barnsley yesterday, in dark blue. It was having a couple of new tyres fitted and looked good. I did a double take as it's such a rare sight. That said, I live in quite a small pit village and there is another one local to mine

James May has a new show called Building Cars with Kate Humble. Talk about adding a pointless, vacuous piece of fluff. They just can't resist it. In my humble opinion she is awful. Definitely sounds like one to miss

I'm quite envious. Llanelli boy now living in Yorkshire, I still love the Tenby area, Laugharne etc. and hope to get there later in the year

Going to put the cat amongst the pigeons here - although he was a complete buffoon at times, I liked Clarkson for the fact that he says things how he sees them and being around the same age I can relate to his humour - aside from the odd racist comment that is, which I do not condone.

As for Mr Evans, he has a nice collection of cars is all I can really say.

As to possible co presenters, I'll miss May and Hammond but not sure about possible female contenders. Jody Kidd was a square peg in a round hole on the Classic Car show she did with Quentin Wilson. Suzie Perry would get my vote as would Vicky Butler-Henderson and Suzy Schmidtz.

Will be interesting to see how things pan out.

Agree with all those choices. I disagree with the earlier post about old vs young. I am no spring chicken but I like Chris Evans. he is enthusiastic and clearly very intelligent. His TV programmes to date happened to be aimed at younger viewers but his style may be dictated by the content, which for Top Gear will be different. CE is no spring chicken himself and you may be surprised at how interesting he makes the programme. As for radio 2, it is indistinguishable from radio 1 and plays utter crap and fluff most of the time. Steve Wright mostly plays disco music from the 70s, Ken Bruce is brilliant, Jeremy Vine is good (apart from the occasional stupid question - like asking that old Spitfire pilot what it was like baling out with an ejector seat) . Terry Wogan is still very good, as is Graham Norton but I suspect they are told what music to play. God knows what their intended demographic is. Elaine Paige probably gets her choice of show tunes on a Sunday but she is utterly unbearable. I have largely stopped listening to radio 2 as I am sick of the inane, homogeneous crap they insist on playing

Having been brought up on a diet of John Peel (under the bed covers listener back in 1971), Bob Harrison, Mark & Lard to name a few, the radio these days is utter tripe, with the few nuggets of gold in there. Quite like Dermot O'Leary on saturdays, and used to like Zane Lowe, but he seems to have gone off the boil (and talks more than all other DJ's put together)

I do sometime listen to Chris Evans on the way to work, when I have had enough of John Humphries acting like a petulant terrier.

But I have found myself more and more using the CD player in the car, as at least I only have myself to blame if the music is rubbish.

Actually just had a thought (crazy one) how about getting Marc and Lard to present Top Gear, with Lisa Tarbuck as the token member of the other s*x, that would be something different to see.

I agree, the more modern crop cannot hold a candle to John Peel and Whispering Bob Harris

Sycophants is the wrong word, that means brown nosing in order to gain advantage. There is no advantage in postulating a positive opinion of someone. Perhaps you mean acolyte? I happen to believe he is intelligent and very professional and that the show will get positive feedback, although it will inevitably take time. Everyone thought that Have I Got News for You would not survive without Angus Daeyton

Going to put the cat amongst the pigeons here - although he was a complete buffoon at times, I liked Clarkson for the fact that he says things how he sees them and being around the same age I can relate to his humour - aside from the odd racist comment that is, which I do not condone.

As for Mr Evans, he has a nice collection of cars is all I can really say.

As to possible co presenters, I'll miss May and Hammond but not sure about possible female contenders. Jody Kidd was a square peg in a round hole on the Classic Car show she did with Quentin Wilson. Suzie Perry would get my vote as would Vicky Butler-Henderson and Suzy Schmidtz.

Will be interesting to see how things pan out.

Agree with all those choices. I disagree with the earlier post about old vs young. I am no spring chicken but I like Chris Evans. he is enthusiastic and clearly very intelligent. His TV programmes to date happened to be aimed at younger viewers but his style may be dictated by the content, which for Top Gear will be different. CE is no spring chicken himself and you may be surprised at how interesting he makes the programme. As for radio 2, it is indistinguishable from radio 1 and plays utter crap and fluff most of the time. Steve Wright mostly plays disco music from the 70s, Ken Bruce is brilliant, Jeremy Vine is good (apart from the occasional stupid question - like asking that old Spitfire pilot what it was like baling out with an ejector seat) . Terry Wogan is still very good, as is Graham Norton but I suspect they are told what music to play. God knows what their intended demographic is. Elaine Paige probably gets her choice of show tunes on a Sunday but she is utterly unbearable. I have largely stopped listening to radio 2 as I am sick of the inane, homogeneous crap they insist on playing

I went on the Noise Abatement Society looking for quiet extractor fans for the house ( Yes I am that anal), and noticed that there is a category for cars. I went in to it and there are only two cars which have been awarded the Quiet mark, the Lexus CT and the lexus RX. No idea how it works but I did wonder why the LS is not listed, it being the top of the range

Wardrivers with a new gismo? While waiting to crack a wifi code, why not destroy the value of the car on the drive with a few button pushes?

................................

Guaranteed useful info; or would have been fifty years ago:

Back in my telecomm days, many of us worked in emerging African countries to assist in their rapid transformation to the modern world of top decision making by egos in important looking uniforms.

My boss had a Land Rover whilst in Kenya. One day the speedo failed, so the main dealer was asked to fit a new one & advance the new speedo to the old one's mileage reading.

(I think you all know what is coming?) - When he went to collect, the car was on the wheel free, engine racing, back wheels spinning. The new speedo had only got to 12 miles, with another 40,000 odd to go.

Nope, did not see that coming

Chris Evans has been confirmed as the new TG presenter. It's good news in my view, as he is the perfect choice. Whatever you think of him, he is incredibly good at what he does. I predict a different feel to the show, which will retain a lot of humour and fun and will be a success. Evans is also a genuine petrol head and probably a MUCH nicer and more genuine person than Jeremy Clarkson.

Before you rush to defend Clarkson just put yourself in the place of that producer he attacked. Forget the physical assault, he was subjected to a long, continual verbal abuse in front of everyone. I would have punched his lights out. Clarkson is an arrogant kn**head and deserves to slip into obscurity.

It'll be interesting to see who co presents. Please God not Jodie Kidd or any other vacuous piece of fluff. Suzie Perry would be great. I imagine May and Hammond may regret their misplaced loyalty, notwithstanding any lucrative deal they get on Sky

was the 400 the first production car to be fitted with a s/s exhaust system?

If you want evidence of unreliability just take a look at the Jag forums (and I'm a fan, I have a 1965 Mk 2 3.4)

It's all down to your mileage really IMO. Getting less than 20mpg locally sometimes bothers me a little, but mid 20s to 30 on a longish run is better. I've been looking at changing mine for a large BMW, Merc or Jag diesel but having been on all their forums some of the expensive, and frequent issue they get puts me off. Just one example, some owners with two year old XJ jags have serious corrosion on the sunroof pods of their cars. There seem to be many recurring design faults with some cars for which the owners get no help from the manufacturers. The LS forum is often very quiet, particularly when it comes to problems. The later 400s seem to be incredibly reliable. My 1999 car is ready for a pair of bonnet struts (easy and pretty cheap to fix)and the washer fluid light stays on due to a sticking switch ( a forum member has described an easy fix for that). Mine is a 16 year old car I would jump in tomorrow and drive to the south of France without any worries. It is a sublime car to drive, more relaxing than any I have ever had

Looks like the LS400's ugly long lost brother.

The one the other lexus's don't talk about

the back end is beyond ugly imo

I just watched an old Dutch car programme comparing the Citroen CX with an Audi/Fiat and Merc.

They actually TESTED the cars in those days. Lots of tests, acceleration, braking, braking in half-wet/half-dry/shalom/headroom in rear........

But it isn't 'entertainment', I guess?

Leave poor old Jodie alone. Some idiots in production will have laid out the premise of the programme (a bit like W1A?) including the 'hilarious?' concept of being in a 'secret lair' etc, plus having to read out the 'banter' from an autocue!

She IS a car fan after all and can drive.

But agree re Butler-Henderson, but has she retired to be a mum, etc, now?

I love W1a. The idea that they need weekly damage limitation meetings. I bet they had one after the Clarkson affair. I bet working at the beeb is not too far off what they portray, although the fact that they screen W1a shows that someone has a sense of humour

thanks Mike

I went out yesterday, to IKEA sadly, and my screen went blank. No radio, no satnav, no access to climate controls, although I could adjust the separate temperature controls. Just the screen went black. I was not aware of issues with the MK 4? My daughter was thrilled because I could not play Bob Dylan. I pulled in, switched everything off , started up again and the screen was back to normal. Anyone experienced this? as I say I was not aware of problems on the mk 4

I used ATS.via a special offer with amazon local. They were OK. However, I had it done twice last year and last month had no air con. The system was obviously losing refrigerant so I asked my specialist ( a Porsche Indi) to change all accessible seals and regas. They have done this , I think 6 seals were changed, so hopefully should be Ok

Nick and Ed can still console themselves with 70K a year as MPs

If the BBC meetings are anything like those on the BBC series W1A, anything is possible. I like Guy Martin - ay? ay? but that's it. Jodie Kidd would be a disaster. Remember Kate Humble? they wouldn't even let her on screen unaccompanied. Philip Glenister, I may be totally out of order here, but he exudes an air of arrogance that I took an instant dislike to. 1 out of 3 will not be enough for me to watch it. I did try to watch the classic car show as I love my old cars, but even fast forwarding in parts I could not bear to watch any more so deleted the entire series.

HoW hard can it be !!! ??? to paraphrase someone