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Post by ChrisM on Dec 18, 2023 18:01:38 GMT
I wear my Smock on the way to the farm which is 5 minutes away along with wellies and waterproof leggings. I now have visions of a sort of waterproof Grayson Perry... Being older I envisaged a sort of waterproof Larry Grayson....
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 16, 2023 20:57:47 GMT
The battery in the Fiesta was dead when I came back from Germany; not enough power to activate the starter (push-button). This morning I tried with my little lithium booster thing and the same result. I was pleasantly surprised when the RAC turned up after only about 30 minutes and although the car then started with booster cables, I decided that as it was at only 7V initially and the electrics weren't fully functional after it was first stared, it was probably time for a new battery. Interestingly I wasn't pressured to buy a new battery from them and although it was a little steep (over £200), it was done there and then saving me the time and hassle of finding one in stock somewhere locally and either getting it fitted or me fitting it then having to dispose of the dead one. It was the original battery, dating from autumn 2015 when the car was built, so almost 8 1/2 years which these days doesn't seem so bad.
Start-stop is now working too, first time in quite a few years
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 15, 2023 21:50:01 GMT
I wear a jacket (more of an anorak-style thing really) rather than a "proper" coat, and will take it off if I'm travelling on a long journye, maybe over 40 minutes in the car. I think most people have their car heaters set far too hot
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 14, 2023 21:24:54 GMT
Ouch! Hopefully your wife will be OK but I doubt that she will sleep much tonight, the after-effect of shock tends to upset the body for a while. If she's in any doubt, get a doctor to check her over and keep notes of any appointments etc.
As to the car - is it on finance and are there any conditions in there about repairers? You should be able to choose the repairers as it's your car but I know from having renewed my insurance recently that you may have a financial penalty imposed if you choose your own repairers - in your case you should be able to claim this back from the guilty party if you're given the option to pay. The biggest concern with the car at this time of year is making sure you get a loan vehicle and the wait for parts and shop time to get your car repaired.
Did you have a working dashcam to help with providing evidence?
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 12, 2023 21:56:27 GMT
A short commute that doesn't really get the car dirty most days (even when the weather is bad) plus too much to do at home means that for the past year, I've not washed my cars anything like as frequently as I used to do. Maybe once every couple of months unless I do go on a journey that gets one of them dirty in which case it gets a wash on the following week-end.
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 9, 2023 22:49:14 GMT
Only one side of the Gate is "boarded over" and the boarding is too close to the structure to allow cleaning of the orange paint, so maybe it's in preparation for the New Year celebrations?
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 9, 2023 17:59:08 GMT
Having found out that there was a factory tour available during my stay last week, it seeemed rude not to pay the few quid and sign up for a factory tour of the BMW motorcycle factory in Berlin. Last year they produced more than 200,000 motorbikes on this site. They have a factory in China where the 2-cylinder engines are made but all other bike engines are made in Berlin and exported as necessary. In general terms if I recall correctly apart from the factory in China and an assembly plant in Brasil where CKD kits are assembled, all the bikes are made in Berlin on the one site where the proximity of other buildings means that expansion is not possible. There are 4 "lines" where a complete mix of bikes can be built and going round the line there was certainly a huge visible difference in the type/style of bikes going down the lines. No cameras and no photos were permitted under pain of having your phone's entire memory remotely wiped of all data (and your camera's memory card confiscated). Free lockers were provided at the start point at the main gate just next to the shop. The tour finished in the small on-site "museum" at another gate and we then had to walk 5 minutes back in the snow and ice to retrieve our bags (which contained hat, gloves etc.....). The visitor group was about 25-strong, somehow mainly Scots it seemed, and our guide was also a Scot who used to work there, appeared to be semi-retired and as well as giving the tours, he also arranges some of the factory-run tours in Germany for customers. With no particular reason to hurry the 90 minutes ran over to just about 2 hours and was a worthwhile item on my visit to Christmas Markets. My favourite purchase of the week is this metal "tankard" Probably not too many of them in the UK. For anyone who is a manufacturing engineer or a keen biker (and particularly if you have a BMW bike as you will get special parking in the factory if you arrive on it), I highly recommend the tour
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 9, 2023 11:08:14 GMT
This www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67647472may explain why I couldn't get anywhere near the Gate on Thursday. The entire area of Paritser Platz had been cordoned off from early in the morning with road closures all around and police presence by the dozen, or maybe hundreds. When I've had time to go through my photos I'll post what it looks like there as Christmas approaches. In my 6 days there the highest temperature was +1 degrees C. I think I'm just about thawed out now, but the Germans certainly know how to do Christmas Markets
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 2, 2023 8:28:43 GMT
Which bits have they left off? That's a disgracefully long wait. I wonder how many orders have been cancelled by people who couldn't wait
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Cardle
Dec 2, 2023 8:24:55 GMT
via mobile
Post by ChrisM on Dec 2, 2023 8:24:55 GMT
Very wrong with my first guess and very right with the second
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Post by ChrisM on Dec 1, 2023 21:35:42 GMT
I had Crossclimates fitted to the Fiesta in January and the ride is better plus the traction control light no longer comes on at one of the roundabouts close to home when I go round it.....
The Kuga now feels like I am driving a new car again. I had full 4-wheel alignment done and whilst they did not save a copy of the "before" measurements, they told me it was "a long way out" front and rear when I collected it. I could tell within a couple of hundred yards that the car was "different", and it goes to show what 6 years of driving on Surrey's potholed roads can do to a car. Most of the issues were probably casued by the dreadful commute to my previous job where not only was the road surface very poor but there were so many sets of roadworks and speedhumps and other issues that ruined the road surface.
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 30, 2023 7:12:23 GMT
There was no information available even from the Ford reps about pricing, dimensions or weights
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 29, 2023 22:04:13 GMT
I was trying to work out why GT15 and GT18 are £300 more than GT10. There is seeminly no logic to the DVLA pricing strategy. Plates with the year number starting with 1, eg 11, 21 tend to be more expensive that those starting with 5,6 or 7, eg 51, 61
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 28, 2023 22:49:38 GMT
There was areasonable amount of food and drink but I didn't touch any of it. As for the 2 switches for 4 windows and it being a VW thing, I saw an article after I got home that mentioned something about the Explorer being linked with VW design so maybe there are a number of VW bits on it?
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 28, 2023 22:45:50 GMT
Surely you need to have a plate with "GT 1" or "UP" in it ?? UP 01 YRS ? GT18 UPP
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 27, 2023 22:16:23 GMT
Test "poke" and sit, on my way home from work this evening (27th) courtesy of an invitation from Ford to attend an event at my local dealer (one of Ford's publicity photos too); For an electric car I suppose it's OK. It looks vast but no dimensions were available. It was a right-hand-drive version so there must be some pre-production models available in advance of launch although no launch date has apparently been scheduled yet. Touch controls for everything, including radio volume and HVAC. It also has just 2 buttons for electric windows on the driver's door with a toggle touchswitch to change from front to rear. It had a massive centre "console" running down the car making it impossible to slide across thre front seats, like so many modern cars. No spare wheel and apprently you cannot even have one as an option "to save weight". For an invitation-only event there was just me there, so it looks like car sales are definitely down, and although there were a number of Ford staff on hand it seems they had been told numerous times during the day that cars are simply getting too wide to put into private garages, and I'm not the only person who still uses a garage to keep a car in. How I hate modern car design!
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 27, 2023 22:05:28 GMT
Too wet by far to cut the grass darn sarth at the moment, even if it needs it.
I'd been toying with the thought of changing tyres on the Kuga. It may not get much use but at the start of this year, looking at the original Contis i thought I woulkd stick crossclimates on it for the winter. As it's spend the best part of 9 months off the road this year as it's too bg for most of my regular journeys and I have to takle a detour on the way to and fron work due to width restrictors I thought I might leave it until next year, but a quick check during last week showed that the fronts were getting close to the wear bars, plus the steering is a bit of a liability at the moment, I'm sure it's affected by the numerous potholes on the road. I started looking at the Black Friday offers.... for the size in question the typical retail prices are around £165 to £175 per tyre. I found some at just over £155 and 20% off for a set of 4, so just under £500 plus tracking which should be around another £40 for a set of Crossclimate2's. Being fitted (I hope) on Thursday afternoon just round the corner from where I work so I'll drop the car off at lunchtime and pick it up on my way home. Result (I hope)
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 27, 2023 21:51:14 GMT
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 26, 2023 18:17:43 GMT
To do list includes .... sorting out the shit numberplate Hong Kong 68 kilohertz. Comes form Hampshire, quite possibly sold by the garage chain bearing my name. Hopefully it's a low-mileage bargain
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 24, 2023 18:31:39 GMT
Just renewed the Kuga.... £265 last year, £400 for the next 12 months but but reducing the mileage to 3000 pa, "only" £330. The Captur, also due in early December had increased by a similar percentage and again my lowering the annual mileage I have managed to keep it more "reasonable". DIfferent insurance companies involved and they seem unbothered if you say you have found a cheaper quote, just telling me that they can't or won't match.
Much of the increase is supposed to be due to the higher costs of repairing electric cars (I don't have one) and the long time taken for repairs due to continuing parts supply problems, plus the associated high cost of providing a loan car for many weeks/months - in which case, why when I say I don't want a loan car does the premium not reduce at all? Time for an independent inquiry into car insurance pricing, I think
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 18, 2023 16:28:47 GMT
From that angle it doesn't look too bad although it needs a good clean. I still don't understand why BMW abandoned the "angel eyes" DRLs which were distinctive and IMHO a piece of good design
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 13, 2023 21:18:27 GMT
^ I was at the broker discussing renewal premiums on Saturday morning (I'v suffered the approx 60% rise too but can reduce it by tweaking the benefits/mileage etc); they told me they have a client with a Range Rover with a shattered windscreen that had been off the road waiting for a new screen to become available for 5 months and counting (too badly damaged to allow it to be driven)..... the cost of providing loan cars is making insurers write off more cars than they need to, as they then save on not having to provide a loan car. When I asked why, if I don't want a loan car my premium didn't reduce, they couldn't explain why....
JLR may be breathing a huge sigh of relief at all those flooded cars as if they are written off, it solves the wait for spares to fix them
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 10, 2023 20:08:35 GMT
This caught my eye on my latest visit: At first glance it looks like someone is going to try to drive the Peugeot into the back of the van, however the ramps were for loading trolleys from an exhibition hall just out of shot and I finaly got fairly close to "Molecular Man"
... and the vandalism done to the Brandenburg Gate by the Orange Paint Mob:
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 1, 2023 21:38:16 GMT
Sounds like you had better order its replacement now, then
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 31, 2023 20:59:58 GMT
I think it was on the Martin Lewis email earlier today that there was a mention that car insurance prices at the moment are running at just over 60% more than last year. If you have not already shopped round in previous years you may be able to cut your renewal price but for those of us who always do shop around, it could prove very expensive.
I also wonder how many people will be tempted not to bother with car insurance when they see their renewal premium.....
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 25, 2023 19:42:42 GMT
An F1 car on the motorway?
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 20, 2023 21:06:58 GMT
The Gran Tourer is one of the few non-SUV 7-seaters left although I believe that BMW stopped making them when the slightly smaller version was facelifted recently. Not sure if it's as big as an S-Max (which I believe is also no longer made)
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 16, 2023 18:55:15 GMT
Sad news indeed.
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 16, 2023 18:53:33 GMT
^ How did the C-Max get cerified under Construction and Use regulations etc? My C-Max (2015) had s/s and keyless start but I never tried the above. The Kuga is very similar being built on the older Focus platform and is keyless and has s/s but I knoiw from experience during lockldown that the engine will not run for more than about 25 minutes at idle before a computer automatically stops it, and it won't automatically re-start; also you cannot remotely lock the car if the ignition is on
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 15, 2023 20:48:43 GMT
Whilst in Germany on holiday last week, I saw in the twilight one of the "new" BMW 7-series. The bloated grille is outlined by lED lighting when the lights are on...... to some, it may look like a big fish with an illuminated mouth about to swallow something
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