lapford34102

Thank you for that RonRonRon, all becomes somewhat clearer with the logo. All roads lead to London. No idea if this apparent London centric approach is significant or not. Having seen the good photo's that clearly showing the tiger stripes so on reflection now feel my earlier jibe of looking cheap may be unwarranted. Perhaps subtle would now be more appropriate, though so subtle you've got to be closer than 20ft. What it's going to do to your eyeballs passing at some speed 10ft away time will tell. Sadly every time I see it the phrase "kitchen appliance" comes to mind. Hopefully with time I'll come to appreciate and love it. Stu

Neither did I,the things covered in them. And there was I calling it cheap.... Think The Stationmaster has a point about going with what's in fashion rather than something that might stand time's test. Perhaps there'll be a new scheme for the spring collection. Still baffled by the logo. Stu

Using an extractor, if not get a suitable respirator and use it. Places like Screwfix do them Get some old cereal boxes, free newspapers, redundant models, anything in fact you don't mind ending up in the bin and practice. Do you have a paint preference ? Most Enamels seem pretty happy with white spirit when it comes to thinning, "Acrylics" somewhat less flexible. There's a lot on here about this side of things. Something to mix you paint in and something to mix it with. I use an ancient dremel and have some small plastic pots I got from Lord knows where. Perhaps someone has some advice on these. You'll have disaster and accidents, we all have but persevere. Questions pop 'em on here, someone will have an idea. HTH Stu

At least Dapol are ahead of the game getting the warning panel yellow right. Stu Which naughty step was it again ?...................................

Me to. Perhaps the designwr(s) should have stepped outside and checked with a few random members of the public, or perhaps they did Stu

Yes, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear............ Someone been looking for inspiration in a kitchen showroom then ? I have no idea if SWR management read this but for what it's worth my humble opinion is that it looks cheap, not cheap and cheerful or cheap and simple, just cheap. Yours etc, Stu P.S. Black is a sod to keep clean, ask anyone with a black car.

Some interesting posts recently. I'm oddly reassured by reading that even the branded guys foul up occasionally, shows everyone human I suppose. How about this. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/abarth/595 njee20, if your happy with your present fuel fine but why not check it out for yourself. Set up a spreadsheet to work out the mpg every time you fill, half a dozen or so from s'market, then a few, 3 seems to be a reasonable amount, from branded. See what comes out. Just a thought. Stu

Civic I'll let that pass as you don't know them. What's the first thing virtually every garage does on a service/repair, plug in the computer and download the fault codes. Then probably look up what they're supposed to do next. You hope, well I do at least, that they take an holistic approach to things and don't simply follow the script blindly. Modern cars are very complex and there's a lot of black box technology involved. You would assume engine re-tuners would have a clear understanding of how the various engine systems behave and interact but what about adaptive cruise control, bluetooth, satnav etc. Whether your "average" technician has a complete grasp on all of these is an interesting question. You can go and buy a dongle and software and get all this info on your smartphone. The AA doing it and VW are giving them away though the aforementioned cynic in me thought "Big Bother". Like all technology there an certain double edged sword element here and I'm awaiting the first case of someone poking around on their phone and getting wrong. As for people using it for unscrupulous purposes............. Stu

LOL, rather walked into that one didn"t I..... :-) Cheers Stu

jjb1970, I appreciate a lot of what you've said there but a question I should have posed ages back is is there a regular testing regime for fuels, i.e. is it all tested before it gets to the pumps. I've no idea but perhaps someone has. Logically put njee20 but I'm old and getting very cynical in my old age :-) Having just shelled out x thousand for the car I figure a few extra quid on the fuel bill that might save me a bit of trouble later is worth it. Hell, my next car might well be an electric mobility scooter and what would I have to argue about then ? The fact that hard facts on the subject are difficult to find makes me wonder but then I am old and cynical...... As regards standard vs premium was told not worth it as improvement would be marginal. Cheers Stu

No, not for a moment but but look at it from the other way in that using branded fuels may well, and I accept it's not a proven fact, be better for a modern turbo petrol engine in the longer term. If it's a company car or a PCP deal when the car is kept for 3 years or so then what goes in is probably irrelevant, any possible problems will show up later. My caveat back in #25 specifically said "any length of time". Car problems can be as much age issues as they are mileage. I've taken the view that s'market fuel can vary in quaility, see post #38 and as we usually keep a car for 7 years or so decided to take may garages advice and use branded. Our previous car, a TDI Altea was 7 1/2 years old and nearly 80k on the clock but a 2nd new cam belt needed and electrics getting flaky so changed. We kept a s/sheet on fuel/mileage/mpg for the whole time we had it. It was almost totally run on s'market fuel. There are a handful of out of normal range anomalies in the mpg figures. Evidence, hardly; curious, yes. As someone has pointed out it's all really anecdotal at the moment and a matter of personal choice. Regarding the VAG diese issuel our daughter has a TDI Ibiza which has been back to have it's engine corrected or whatever, appeared to be simply an ECU update. She has noticed that it drives a little differently since then. She's joined one of the class actions, largely on principle I think as I do wonder if there will be any compensation award here. Cheers Stu

Ah no. We've been doing our own version of the Waterloo rebuild - sorting out and totally redecorating two spare bedrooms. A fair ways still to go Did manage to get a rake of 3 MKA's weathered over the weekend whilst waiting for paint to dry. Stu

Hi, The pink is going to most likely be FGW pink, Precision paints do it The "silver" colour is much harder to match I know. You'll probably have to mix your own, from menory silver+light grey. Do you have a pic or link to one youre trting to do? Stu

Well gents, it's been fun and informative and some of us will just have to agree to have different views. I'm going to try and get a bit of modelling done this evening on my new layoutthough I may have seen enough of paint today. I'll leave you with this, not recent but makes interesting reading https://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?1515-Petrol-Quality Cheers Stu P.S. Interesting observation in the 4th post...

Well this is providing a welcome interlude to that traditional Bank Holiday pursuit of decorating.... :-) Conspiracy theories, well I'll leave that for a moment. I never used any word like damaged, simply that the plugs were badly coked up and needed sorting, cleaning, replacing whatever. The car in question is well known to the garage, a 1.2TSI, i.e. turbocharged petrol though no idea if it was an EA111 or EA211 engine. The car, low on fuel was filled at a supermarket then had a long run home. At some point a problem occurred, EPC light perhaps, and it was put into the garage. Their belief was that it was fuel quality related as they had seen similar before. When I next see matt and the boys II'll get the full SP and let everyone know. Quite right about VAG's top end TSI's which I think may have to live on 98RON or better, perhaps someone who has one can clarify. VAG's track record with these engines is not spotless, there was (is ?) a twin turbo 1.4TSI that was rather flaky. Personally I'd dearly love a Golf GTI, contributions welcome :-) Conspiracy theories. Well I sat up and watch them land and walk on the Moon, sat appalled at the coverage of 9/11, have no idea where Lord Lucan or Shergar ended up. This is completely OT but as for chemtrails that has touched a nerve. I was brought up in Weymouth and was there in the period covered. http://www.nr23.net/govt/spray_dorset.htm Stu

Well I did say this subject was a can of worms didn't I ? If you think it's "tosh" then fine, that's your view but why my VW garage who I've used since 82 (and don't sell fuel) should shoot me a line is beyond me. I think think there's a major point being missed here. The technological difference between your Punto's engine and say the newer FIAT twin-air engine is going to be considerable driven by the demand for better mpg and lower emissions. Cheers Stu

Something we should know Andy ? Stu

I did say a can of worms.......... I understand from what I can find on the subject that the additives are commonly added when the fuel is pumped into the tanker cells so the mix is in one cell may be different to what's in another so what's delivered to one garage may be different to that delivered to another. This is a subject which if you research it becomes very difficult to separate myth from fact. Economy isn't the primary issue here, it's whether modern highly stressed petrol engines are better served by "quality" fuels than cheaper supermarket when it comes to the additive issue. Older engines are a great deal more forgiving in the long run. As an example at my VW garage recently I was shown the badly coked spark plugs of a 15 plate 1.2tsi polo. The car had been regularly maintained but on a longish trip away had to fill up at a certain supermarket as there was no alternative. Stu

Tragic events on the M1 today may well put a different perspective on this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41060244 Stu

That's fine, you'll end up with the same result. You can do the same for petrol. The problem is a lot of people seem unaware that there is a potential issue. micklner - do you put "super" unleaded in your 150PS. When I test drove the Oct it was pointed it needs something better than 95RON. Cheers Stu

Nearly bought the hatchbackversion but in end went for Golf 1.4TSI, 125PS and a nadges slower to 60. Get 49mpg on along run, that's based on fuel in/miles covered. A tuning company rolling road tested a variety of VAG turbo-petrols and found they were all conservatively rated PS wise. My only caveat - if you intend to keep a modern turbo-petrol for a length of time then best to feed it a diet of branded petrol from the big 3 rather than supermarket stuff that can be variable in quality - another can of worms though this. Stu

Hi, As the one who started this with a "Crossrail 4" comment which was meant to be very tongue in cheek I'm slightly dismayed at events. Hopefully those involved can at least agree to disagree.... :-) Doing a bit of reading around did note the link wasn't successful partly due to the LSWR and SER not agreeing on how it should be run/financed/etc and the subsequent building of the Waterloo and City. My thoughts were something along the lines of Basing-Ashford direct though quite why I'm not sure when all you need to do is get off at the East and walk over to the main to achieve the same. It was partly due to SouthEastern "downgrading" the Ashford-CharingX service to virtually a stopper in favour of the Ashford-St Pancras service. As someone who been traveling Broadstairs - Weymouth for the past 40 odd years having now to cross London by tube to get the best service is a bit of a pain so it's largely a bit of selfish daydreaming. Still miffed at SWR's intention of reducing the Weymouth - Waterloo direct service to one an hour though perhaps it'll be fast from Soton like the good old days....... Stu

Crossrail 4 anybody ? Sorry. too much time on my hands..... Stu

Somewhat getting off the original subject but following on your post. My late father, a Weymouth driver who started on the GWR never referred to virtually any GW loco apart from it's number; 49's, 14's, etc etc. The only one I ever heard him refer to otherwise was the ROD's which he detested. The Hymeks were referred to as Hymeks or D 7 thousands interchangeably, they were the only were the only diesels they signed for about 5 years apart from the "drewry's". There were Merchants and West Counties ( irrespective of whether it was a WC or a BoB), Standards were number named apart from Nine Elms's 73000 5mt's which were oddly called "cockney standards"..... Cromptons were Cromptons unless they were push-pull fitted in which case they were TC Cromptons. When the SR got it's handful of of Type 4 diesels in 67 they were simply called "Brush". When the Brush Type 2's turned up in the early 70's they thought they'd gone back to the stone age. Cheers Stu

If a 45/6 had turned up at Weymouth everyone would have shouted "Peak". Ah, the wonder of railway's regional linguistics :-) Anyhow wondering if the OP has been back to check yet. Stu