On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 11:35:00 +0000, Glenn Richards
wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

Why give money to the government in tax if you don't have to?
If you have to ask, then you're not a driver............

The 1.9 TDI is a great engine for everyday use. Bags of low-end torque,
masses of acceleration. Sure, it doesn't go as fast as a petrol engine,
but it does a lot more MPG. And it's got far more low end grunt than an
equivalent petrol engine.

As Clarkson himself said on Top Gear when comparing the 1.4 petrol and
diesel Lupo... sure, the petrol goes 0-60 faster, but the diesel goes
60-100 [1] faster. And in the real world, who (apart from a few boy
racers) does 0-60 on a regular basis?

Everybody, but not necessarily trying to set a record.

[1] Can't remember the exact figures he mentioned (I'm not that anal!)
but you get the point.

The point is that it's not usually true - petrols do everything faster
if you use the revs, diesels are just about that big slug of thrust
from 2-4000.

To use Clarkson's comments on a comparison of VW Lupos as an argument,
rather makes the point.....

Now, if you were to talk about the BMW 535 or Audi A4 3.0 diesels, or
even the VW Touareg 5.0 V-10, that might be different.

There again, Wooton-under-Edge is hardly the hard-driving capital of
the world, more like lazy picnics with lots of cider, moi luvver. :-)

Wouldn't know, never heard of it. Wotton-Under-Edge (correctly spelt)
though is one of those places where you're probably related to everyone
either through blood or marriage.

I never said I could type.....

Having said that... I've lived in Wotton on and off all my life, but my
parents weren't from around here. So no danger of inbreeding round these
parts!

Now, on the other hand... leave the town to the north-east on the B4058,
right onto the A4135, left again back onto the B4058, nice fast twisty
roads... then take a left on a sharp bend on an unclassified road that
links the B4058 and B4066... and if you're any good you should be able
to hit the ton in a couple of places down there. Probably one of my
favourite bits of road to drive.

Group 18. My insurance is coming up for renewal, best so far is my
existing Esure renewal offer of £293. It's good to be old!

Ick. I paid £900 this year for the A4. That was the cheapest quote I got
(from Admiral). Age counts against me it would appear...

Yup, that was indeed a cheap shot. I remember walking into my
insurance brokers, at age 24, and telling him I'd just bought a
Reliant Scimitar Coupe 3.0. He literally laughed in my face. It cost
me £110 to insure, which was about 10% of my salary in 1972......

OTOH, this car insurance stuff is all supposed to be terribly
scientific and based on careful actuarial calculations, but if I go to
Confused.com and get thirty-odd quotes, there's a near 3:1 ratio from
cheapest to dearest. What's that about?

Cos they all specialise in different types of driver, it would appear.

I remember getting a quote from Ensleigh a while back (different car,
lower group) on their web site which came out £300 more than the
cheapest quote (MoreThan, £600-ish). Some woman from Ensleigh then
called me back and spent 20 minutes trying to convince me why their
policy was the best, even though it was half as much again as the
cheapest quote.

I've never bothered getting a quote from Ensleigh since, as they insist
on calling you back and are very persistent.

I've never understood why people like that are so braindead that they
really believe they can persuade you to pay 50% over the odds for
something which is a commodity item.

[RS4]
Gotta have one - may have to sell the wife!

Good idea. The RS4 won't let you down. Can't say the same about the wife
(not yours personally of course, just women in general... DON'T get me
started! I seem to have a history of attracting psychopaths...)

Really? Quelle surprise...... :-)

--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering