rich1068

I thought it was 10 years or 100k miles? Or is that just the IS300?

BorgWarner. Bigger than a dog's head.

Very nice. I have a feeling an LS could well be on my future shopping list. No problem and welcome. You've posted in someone else's thread so ideally just start your own in this New Members Area or here. The Sportcross is rare, maybe put some pictures up?

About 4 and a half minutes but no longer. That is beyond even my abilities.

I can simplify that. Fit every new car with a tracker from the factory. If you walk around with a mobile phone you've got one in your pocket anyway so the snooping argument is moot. Your mobile provider has access to that information so the case against letting insurance companies have it too is also irrelevant. If you want to be off the grid then wear sheepskins and live in a cave. If you want to protect your £££££ vehicle then let it be tracked. Many vehicles already have this technology but at the moment we ask it to find the nearest supermarket. There. Sorted. If anyone wants me to look at Arab/Israeli two state solution or what we should do about the glaciers melting just give me a shout. I also find contributions from people who watch too much telly amusing too. The sort of physical violence you may experience in real life isn't reflected in TV drama. It's nasty, vicious and it hurts. And trust me, you're allowed to try and defend yourself regardless of what The Daily Mail may tell you. Battering someone unconscious because they try to steal your car is a different matter entirely.

Pretty much.

Excellent. Mileage? History? Any plans for it?

You think right. There's also a range of Logitech in-car phone holders that link to your Alexa account.

Another 300. Nicely done. :edit: As they say, pics or it didn't happen

Drove from Sheffield to Rayleigh in Essex to pick it up. I think it was even the next day in case he changed his mind.

I've only got experience of Volvo boxes which are rebadged Thule ones. One of these in fact. All I know is that it's strong, secure and an absolute godsend on family holidays. Would you believe we picked up the box and a pair of Thule Wing Bars off eBay for 50 quid? The guy had hardly used them and was just having a clearout.

I'd certainly be interested in hearing about future meets. My hands are a bit full with three kids atm but you never know! Hmm. I think mine are clipped in because one is moving slightly and water is getting underneath. I will investigate further.

Congratulations! I'm ashamed to say I missed my car's birthday. 15 years old on 13th December 2017.

Must happen to me half a dozen times a week. You even get to know some junctions and roads where it's most likely to happen, particular areas where you have to watch cars on your left or right like a hawk.

It only takes one. I'm self employed, worked all my life, worked hard for the nice stuff, yada yada. But I don't care what car it is, they can have it if the alternative is them putting a hand on my front door. The possible consequences of them coming into my house and waking my wife or children doesn't bear thinking about. If it was up to me and keyless entry thefts were becoming widespread I'd encourage insurance companies to make the option unaffordable. I've had it on two BMWs and just thought it was dumb.

I'll watch that later. No sound in my office. I'll have to keep an eye out for meets or shows but by how quiet this section of LOC is I guess age (of the cars) is against me. BTW anyone know how to remove the door sills/kick plates? I've seen it mentioned that they just pop off but that's broken trim territory for me.

Not sure if any of you follow Jalopnik as you trawl the t'interwebs getting your fix of motor related nonsense but this caught my eye https://jalopnik.com/you-dont-need-all-wheel-drive-in-the-snow-1821806245 I noticed a few weeks ago that one of their guys had just bought an IS300 Sportcross and now he's having fun in the aftermath of the "bomb cyclone". The reason for me posting this here is that absolutely none of that would be possible in my very similar (save the rear end) IS300 saloon. Absolutely none at all. Not bothering with winter rubber this year means that when we had about half an inch of snow the other week one of my neighbours offered to push me out of my parking space. Bambi on ice springs to mind. I'm well aware of the benefits of winter tyres having run them for a number of years but even I sat open mouthed watching the Jalopnik video.

I finally got around to swapping out the very poor boot light for an LED. Before Wrong LED After Much better.

After a £200 quote from Lexus I'll bet you were chuffed when you found that. Well done. I wonder if the dealer would have charged you that...?

I'm such an innocent. I always assume it's some teenage fantasist when these posts pop up. I had a bit of fun and was initially disappointed that it had gone as we know these threads can run and run. But inadvertently including a street name or whatever and the whole thing takes a nasty turn.

I can't point to just one car for for best and worse. As you say, it's not just how the car is screwed together, there's an emotional attachment too. Best in terms of (relative) reliability and owning just at the right time and right place was my '65 1200 Deluxe Beetle. My second car after a very rusty '73 1303, I never gave a thought to just jumping in it and driving half way across the country. Plus a kid with a Beetle will always be cool right? The car that took me most by surprise was an '03 Octavia RS. I fancied something with a bit of get up and go and this ticked all the boxes. Cheap and quick (more powerful and larger than the MKIV GTI it was based on) it was was also totally reliable, very practical and easily modded. In fact I loved it so much and got bitten by the modding bug so badly I bought it off the leasing company so I could do even sillier things to it. I'm also very keen on our XC90. It's noisy, thirsty and slow but it's huge, very safe, has loads of space for a family of five and will go just about anywhere. I'll be sad to see it go in a few months. Rather than replace it with something new I'm even considering one of the older petrol models. Worse? Again, I'm split between vehicles. Either a MKIV Golf that I was so excited to get but was the most unreliable, badly screwed together POS I've ever had or an A3 Quattro that I got to replace the Octavia and was just as dull as ditchwater.

You think? I'm sure it wasn't as rattly as that when I got it.

I got socks.

I've recently noticed that my car has become quite noisy at tickover with an obvious tappity noise which seems to be coming from the serpentine belt area. You can't hear it from inside but I'm sure the car was a damn site quieter than this when I got it! Any thoughts on this? Basically the car hasn't had a huge amount of use in its first 15 years (about 3-4k per year) but now it's very much my all weather daily driver.

Agreed. If it's these then I'd be straight on the phone. You've had your leg pulled there Phil. I used to have a thing for those rather nice 8 Ball dust caps on my VAG cars. They used to last about a week.