Service time again...

I can't believe it's 18 years since he was running the SEC!

That failure sounds very familiar to me given I'm married to an owner of a Panda! Small Fiats seem to be good at wearing out their suspension components.

Does your wife slow down for speed bumps and the like? Mine tends to treat them as an assault course, with predictable consequences.

She was rather miffed that the front suspension needed replacing after on 21k miles, but I had to point out that not all 21k miles are equal, and here we are talking 21k's worth of urban speed bump-infested miles over seven years.

Sounds like a smooth and efficient process, you're not taking it to a John Clark outpost.
Does the fact it's an M car qualify you for a courtesy car, last time I tried Grassicks in Perth I got offered a lift into town, nothing more? 

Likewise Battersea BMW normally just offers a lift to the nearest tube station, which is a fast line into the City and works fine for me as I can just do the drop off and pick up on my way too and from work. Not had a courtesy car in years. However, the car's going in for a service and wheel change next Friday and I must admit that I realise that out of habit I completely forgot to think about asking for a courtesy car, even though this time it would have been very handy since I have to then go back home, which is not an easy route by public transport.

Haven't you got a pushbike you can put in the boot before you head to the garage?

You what?

I've been commuting by bicycle in London for nearly a decade. I refuse to accept that it is particularly dangerous for anyone who is paying attention and cycling in a safe manner. If you ride prudently (which means keeping both eyes out for potential risks), then you will be fine save for those exceptional occasions that prove the rule. The only time (touch wood) I've had a crash was when a fat Polish builder stepped out in front of me without looking on High Holborn one morning. But that could have happened anywhere.

And I assure you I see many, many more incidences of other cyclists riding badly or having zero road sense, than I do of drivers driving badly or having zero road sense. 

You get cyclists who:

1. cycle erratically or down the middle of the road;
2. Weave through slower heavy traffic;
3. Ride at dusk or in the dark without lights or reflectors, and/or wearing dark clothing;
4. Ride with headphones in or while talking on the phone;
5. Don't look or signal before changing direction or turning;
6. Jump traffic lights and don't stop at pedestrian crossings;
7. Cycle faster than the posted speed limit; and/or
8. Quite clearly have not even a passing acquaintanceship with the Highway Code.

I could go on. I've seen some extra-special muppets do all or nearly all of the above at the same time.

So I am very worried about the government encouraging hordes more novice cyclists onto the streets of London and elsewhere, without any training or oversight. I think that's deeply irresponsible.

That will be much more interesting than the usual 116i.

I didn’t bother with courtesy cars when I had the 535d, always waited for it as they had food facilities to work from and provided you with either a bacon or sausage sandwich if you took it in first thing or a sandwich in the afternoon as there was a Bike dealership with cafe on the same site.

It was different with the 750, I was told by the service manager they had the authority to do a lot more and they always gave me something from the demo fleet.  It started badly with an X4 but after that I had 2 x well specced X5’s and a facelift led 740d.  One was given to me when the hour they told me it would take was going to be 3 hours and I had the option of keeping it overnight if I preferred. 

It’s even better as I never paid them a penny, thanks to the service pack and warranty.

Just got my car back after it had a software update under recall. All my radio stations have gone, my seat memory is lost (this is a big one given the amount of adjustment and the time it took me to get it right, together with steering wheel position etc), it doesn't recognise my phone and every other setting such as head up display position and brightness, seat and steering wheel heating and cooling all need to be reset.

Surely there must be a way to download all the settings before completely over-writing everything. Strangely my M1 and M2 button settings are intact.

You'd think the garage might warn you that was going to happen and suggest you saved your settings. Or, heaven forbid, they decided to do a bot of proper customer service and they could save them for you.

I feared that all my settings would be lost when I had the Jag battery changed, but apart from the sat nav history being wiped, everything else was still there.    

Just got my car back too - it went in today for its 4yr/32k mile service. This turns out to be a "big" one so I am over £500 lighter as a result.

Still, they found no faults with it which is good, and also it's now got its winter wheels on. And no problems with the settings for me.

The one I had didn't have satnav or folding mirrors either and that was exactly my thought too. I can understand it on a One or even a Cooper but the Cooper S should have a lot more thrown in even if it means the list price is £1K higher.

The Cooper S always needed the Chilli pack to have the spec you’d expect. I think it’s more complicated than that with multiple packs, fine for when you’re buying new, but does mean there will be strange spec used cars.