Yeah i know what you mean. I can't remember the last time i raced online tbh, probably about 6mths ago. My gaming tends to move in phases, i'll play a game religiously for months and months then not touch it for half a year or so, sometimes even longer. Then one night just decide to fire it up and i'm hooked all over again. It's almost like getting a new game. Problem is i never really get the chance to get really good at anything, except de-fraging my hard drives and backing up stuff onto DVD.

But luckily i've got the room to store all my unused "man stuff" (i.e all my junk) so i don't really need to throw anything away, unless it's broken or of literally no use to me at all. Think i've got an old pair of roller blades that have been at the back of a cupboard for ten years or so, if you're interested

Oh, and err, sorry for hijacking your thread.

Come on folks, surely someone wants a DFP and a Driving Force wheel and pedal set. At only 30 quid it's a steal.

Not interested in the wheel Kev, but thought i'd give the thread a little bump incase people missed it, and to ask a couple of questions.

So if you're selling your old wheel does this mean you've moved up to something better ? G25 perhaps ? or have the noobs forced you into retirement ?

And i've seen a few other people use it in posts, but what the blinking heck does kthxbai mean (flaming internet folk and their chuffin internet language leaving us internet dyslexics at a total internet loss whilst interneting the internet ??)

Quote from pine-fin :

ITS MEEE! Holy hell, i got 2nd best overall :O

Bloody Fins...

Well done dude

Quote from mcintyrej :

Only? 600 points is quite a lot you know.

Team Team got 853

What a bloody stupid name for a team..

btw, who the hell is Team Team ?, not got his name on the first page list.

Site has been updated.

We're still at the top in the sub-league competition but our lead has been cut. It's getting tight now. {edit} no, my mistake, was looking at the wrong list. We've actually extended our lead

Not a great race for me, only scored 605pts but only slipped one place to 10th, and only got 2 bets correct. Not much cash for next race

Quote from spookthehamster :

Thanks for the -ahem- advice, and the hijacking. Peugeots/Citroens get a bad rep, my Xantia cost me £130 and the only problem is a dead tacho. I think an MX-5 will probably win though

Oopsy, sorry bout the hijack. For once it was purely accidental

I've had two Frenchies in my time, a Renault Clio and a Citroen AX. And i'll admit they were both really fun little cars and both had bags of character, but they have been the most unreliable cars i've ever had and by some margin. My father had a Pug 406 which was unreliable too, although his last two cars have been Citroen Picasso's which have not had too many problems and he loves it for some bizarre reason (the onset of senile dementia is my guess).

Don't think you can go wrong with an MX5 tbh

Sorry for off topic again:-

Quote from tristancliffe :

I wonder how long Peter Sellers had had it for!
My Dad currently has a mildly tuned ~400hp Griffith sitting at home (a 1965 one), which is VERY quick, very dangerous, is likely to catch fire or have it's wheels fall off. I don't think I could cope with a second one in the family! But TVR is (was) my kind of car company generally, though the 'modern' interiors were horrid.

Don't think Peter Sellers had it for long, apparently he hated it too . I guess it's easy to fall in love with the looks and the tradition of the thing. But the owning experience never seems to live up to the dream.

The Griffith has always been a hairy chested brute of a car. But the S series was always classed as the everymans car, the easy one to live with. Yeah it's still a TVR so it smells of melting plastic, only points backwards in the wet and does prefer the workshop to the open road. But, the S series looks great, sounds great and these days is really cheap, and the interior looks so much better than the last generation of TVRs.

But go for an MX5 if you want, it's your money, your choice, your manhood in question

Quote from durbster :

One thing that crops up regularly with them is alignment, as even out of the Mazda factory they can be odd. A very badly aligned one feel be a bit scary, especially at motorway speeds.

Yeah, whats up with that ? I've been looking at a Mazda 5 people carrier recently and all the owners forums are full of people complaining about this. Some have had to change the tyres after only 6,000 miles. Such a shame when they seem to be getting everything else right but screw up on something as simple as wheel geometry.

@ Michael, But that means i'll have to go search the other threads and read em, and quite frankly i'm too much of a lazy git to do so.

Much better to question his personal hygiene. Much greater comedic mileage in that one.

Quote from Michael Denham :

Come on everyone, lets complain about P5YcHoM4N so he can feel more valued by people he doesn't even know

Hey P5YcHoM4N your feet really stink, go take a bath or something dude.

Can someone open a window or something, it's getting really stuffy in here.

Final result Maserati's 1st, 2nd and 4th not that anyone seems bothered...

Last edited by Mazz4200, Mon 4 Aug 2008, 01:35.

Quote from tristancliffe :

A colleauge of mine is a huge fan of Triumphs, and makes me drive as many as he can. I've yet to like one. Plus, it's a little too close for comfort to the MG Midget my brother had his accident in... Wouldn't go down too well with the parents.

Yeah, i remember you mentioning this a few years back. And in light of some of the recent threads in this place, probably best to not take that any further

Quote from tristancliffe :

Having said that, I did pick up a Morgan the other day, and I found... a redeeming feature! Whilst the ride, handling, steering feel, brakes, control positions, dash layout, pedal layout were absolutely terrible, the engine (merely 190hp from some huge [in English terms, not US terms] lump of iron) was actually quite nice.

An uncle of mine bought a Morgan from Peter Sellers non-the-less. Said it was the worst car he ever had for the same reasons you mention. He sold it after a couple of weeks.

Think i'm right in saying the engine would have been Ye Olde Land Rover V8. So lets look down that route. How about a TVR S2/3. Made when TVR built cars that actually worked, didn't catch fire, and didn't try to kill you at every corner. http://search.autotrader.co.uk ... -4294966998/search.action

Quote from tristancliffe :

Insurance cover is already a perk of the job, so I don't have to worry about that Fully comp on anything

Git..


{Edit} Couple of Mk2 MX5's in Norfolk, both reasonably low mileage and both surprisingly cheap
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/283030.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/528363.htm

Last edited by Mazz4200, Sun 3 Aug 2008, 01:14.

Can't remember if it's in Hammonds book, been a while since i read it. But it is in "May On Motors", so it's not a new game...

Anyway, how about you go for a real mans car, a little Spity perhaps ? http://pictures.autotrader.co. ... ervlet/media?id=749981226

[edit] Just a bit more info about that Spitfire. Not sure how to link directly to the little pop-up Autotrader window, so will have to write out the spec here:-

41,150 miles. genuine with many mots to prove, Immaculate show room condition, Service history with service passport. Moted till April 09 and road taxed till Nov 08. Full stainless steel exhaust including manifold, New adjustable shock absorbers, New braided brake pipes, Broquet fuel catalyst in fuel tank to enable the use of unleaded fuel and other benefits, lasts 250,000 miles, Kept garaged and meticulously maintained by Triumph enthusiasts. Viewing essential £3,295

Don't be put off by classic Triumphs, properly maintained they should be just as reliable as most modern cars (err, yeah) But, don't forget that if the car was built in 1973 or earlier then you don't have to pay road tax, and, you'll be able to get classic car insurance on it too, so it'll be next to nothing. It's a pukka little British Sportscar too, national pride and all that..

You could go for a really nice TR6, or even a Stag, again both real propah mens motors, but, they can be a bit pricey for a decent runner, so the Spitfire might not be such a bad choice.

Last edited by Mazz4200, Sat 2 Aug 2008, 23:38.

Yeah, perhaps i should explain. I'm not interested in the slightest where Tristan actually lives. But after this post

Quote from tristancliffe :

Damn you! I'm now checking Autotrader to see how much I'd need to save up to get a Mk2 to replace my Mk1. Damn you! I'm trying to save money...

Edit: Damn you!

I'm simply following the rules of this game

[quote James May] "
As I'm sure regular readers will know, Richard Hammond and I once invented a game called Airport Shopping Dare.
In case you're not familiar with it, this is how it works: Richard Hammond (for example) will be looking at sunglasses in Heathrow Terminal Four. I wait until he tries on a really idiotic pair that make him look like a school matron on holiday, and then say something like, "Hmm, yes, those somehow suit the shape of your face" in such a compassionate and caring way that he buys them.
The instant the transaction is completed, I am free to say, "Hammond, those sunglasses make you look like a cock." An hour later, he wreaks revenge by convincing me that I look cool in a really shiny leather coat. So I buy it and then can't understand why he keeps whistling the Minder theme tune at me.
It's a great game, but it can get out of hand. Last year, the rules were relaxed to include the car showroom and a new player, Jeremy Clarkson. It didn't take much to convince him that he wanted, and looked good in, a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. He didn't"

So, that car posted above is quite frankly THE car that would make Tristan look a complete and utter cock. Just happened to be in Sudbury, that's all, didn't even know where Sudbury was tbh.

Go on Tristan, you know you'll look cool in it, go take it for a test drive, only 60 miles from you, practically on your doorstep.

Quote from Jakg :

Why - out of interest?

Thats where this car is http://pictures.autotrader.co. ... ervlet/media?id=755002157

Think we can try to persuade Tristan to buy it ?

lol Tristan

Have you ever heard of a little game called Airport Shopping Dare as devised by James May and Richard Hammond of Top Gear fame ? He reveals the rules in his latest column

This could be fun

Try page 3 of the Autotrader site i linked too, 4th one down. You anywhere near Sudbury ?

Hmm, to be honest 2 grand ain't a lot. If i was gonna buy a drop top for that sort of cash i wouldn't look anywhere outside of Japan or Germany. Peugeot's are pretty unreliable even when they're brand new, so what they're gonna be like at that sort of price is quite frankly, a bit scary.

Here's a list of all the MX5's under 2K in Autotrader http://search.autotrader.co.uk ... -4294967256/search.action
at the moment, just to give you some sort of idea of what you'll be getting for your money.

And here's the 306's http://search.autotrader.co.uk ... -4294967204/search.action

Best of luck finding something.

What a bizarre little thread.

I expect this will be closed for exactly the same reason as the other two threads, just as soon as Sam gets back from the pub.

Oh and +1 to GFresh

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Mmm there's a nice ginger beer about.

Ginger beer ...aye aye...

Where the hell is Spankmeyer when you need a good quality punchline...

Not easy, but done.

Score of 277, and only 20 levels for me too Zee

Quote from zeugnimod :

Is Hill that bad?

I always liked him in interviews.

No not at all, he comes across as a really nice bloke tbh.

It's just, he's not a seasoned pro like Brundle, so he can be a bit ponderous at times, and has a tendency to waffle on occasions. But at least when he is talking James Allen can't be heard.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Just to chip on the speeding thing, I recently did a long drive (13 hour round trip) in my car, sitting at 80-85mph most of the time. I was one of the faster cars on the motorway, which did surprise me tbh (I'm still a fairly 'new' driver), and I was rarely in the inside lane for more than a couple of minutes.

Just to buck the trend here slightly. The key phrase in that sentence is "i'm still a fairly new driver" If we're all being honest, when we all jump into a car or on bike for the first time it's such an adrenaline rush, it's all to easy and perhaps a little understandable we wanna gun it a bit. If you don't drive that often, or the bike's just a Sunday thrill, the same applies. You can get a real kick out of driving quickly, especially on a country road that you know well. (slight aside directed at Bob, you've got some of the best roads in the UK not a stones throw away bud. Go take a drive in Northumberland. Especially between Warkworth and Alnwick, a personal favourite of mine, and also between Alnwick and Rothbury. The A697 is pretty special too )

Anyway, i reckon i must have driven something approaching half a million miles since passing my test (yeah, i'm that old ) And after a while that need for speed usually goes, and you actually start to enjoy the journey even more when you're not in such a rush. You feel less stressed out and are able too make better judgement calls on any given situation. Yeah accidents still happen, but you certainly lessen the risk when driving slower and it gives you just a few more vital seconds to read the road. However there are always exceptions to the rule..

Quote from Bob Smith :

The few cars that were driving faster often drove like nutters though, were right up my arse from out of nowhere, and then have their foot back to the floor when I'm only half way back into the middle lane. I don't see how you can be so impatient about someone else slowing you down when they're speeding already.

Probably sales reps or delivery drivers trying to meet a deadline. Just do what Becky suggests and give them a wide birth.

A few years ago i was driving back from London late one night and came across a guy in a Mondeo who was obviously falling asleep, he was all over the road. I then thought, well, i could just slip past him and be on my way and not try to worry how many people he might kill, or try to do something to help. So, being such a nice chap , i held back, put my hazards on till some cars behind drew up and sussed what was going on. Then slowly moved up beside him and give a few short blasts of my horn then a few long ones until he woke up, which he did, thankfully. Realising he was a danger he moved to the inside lane and gave me the thumbs up and a thank you. Luckily there was a service station only a mile or so up the road, so i tailed him to the slip road just incase he needed waking up again. But managed to get there without any problems. Then just carried on my way home. Wasn't looking for a medal or anything, just perhaps if i was in that same situation another driver might do the same for me.

Roads filled with big heavy metal cars are bloody dangerous places, and if drivers treat each other with a bit of courtesy and respect i'm sure the accidents and deaths tolls wouldn't be so high.

Wimper level 24 and 25

Stuck on 8 now..

Damn you Mr Watkins, damn you to hell

Stuck on level 2

This is rather weirdly satisfying

Quote from modelmotorracing :

I was always an ardent map-user, maps were my thing since I was at school, but earlier this year decided to take up a special offer on a Tom Tom ONE as I had a lot of solo driving to unfamiliar places coming up. I have to say I don't regret getting one, although I still keep a paper map handy just in case, I rarely need to pull over to read it, I just go where John Cleese tells me. I found a better route locally using a "B" road to somewhere I go regularly that I hadn't even considered; the Tom Tom said it was quickest and it certainly beat my original just using "A" roads by several minutes. I also have the traffic receiver which can be useful if it finds a valid delay on your route, and the speed camera add-on which is pretty much a must-have, along with the "nag" sound for when you are going faster than the speed limit. My only gripes are that it only remembers favourite destinations, not routes, it would be quicker if you could ask it do give you the same route it gave you last week rather than recalculating. A lot of the road speed limits are wrong so you get nagged over 30 in a 60 limit for example. And I'd like to see a "most economical" route option in these days of costly petrol. Some of the Tom Toms now have this "smart routes" feature that will give you a different route at different times of day to avoid traffic though, which is a step in the right direction. All in all pretty good.

Very interesting post

I still love ye olde paper maps too. Wanted to be a cartographer 400yrs ago when i left school, but was utterly hopeless at maths and didn't pass the entrance exam . But, i'm busy house hunting at the moment in a part of the country i'm not overly familiar with so something like this sat nav would be ideal. Sure beats trying to follow directions like "At the 3rd telegraph pole turn left and then hang a right at the first sheep then another right at the old farmers barn that isn't there anymore"

Anyway, I've heard really mixed reviews of Tom Toms traffic re-routing service. It seems as though it's pot luck as to if you'll get the service at all. The coverage seems really patchy at the moment, and largely depends on which part of the country you're in. It sounds as though it's great in Western Europe and North America. But quite pathetic in dear old Blighty...typical.

Had a look for extra voices on the website and the John Cleese one does sound funny, and it really is him too, not some jumped up half arsed impersonator. Quite fancy the Dennis Hopper one, although i'd give my right leg for a Suzy Perry voice over

Quote from tristancliffe :

And finally, the old adage "I've not had an accident so I must be okay" isn't a very clever way of defining who is good and who isn't.

I've had an accident, and it bloody well hurt too. As a result i rarely speed these days (not entirely sure my car can actually reach 90 tbh) Sometimes it's easy to get sucked along by the speed of the traffic on the motorway and find yourself in the 80's. But as Becky and Tristan have said, it's not the speed that's at fault it's inattentive, poorly skilled drivers.

But as Dajmin has said, sometimes you're at the mercy of the idiots who don't seem to have any concept that other people use the roods too. Just a couple of weeks ago a bloke was driving up the motorway near Durham in his Peugeot, not speeding, just minding his own business. When some pillock in a stolen 4x4 trying to get away from the police crashed into the central reservation, was flipped over it, and landed right on top of the this guy in the Pug, he stood no chance and died instantly (apparently). The jerk in the stolen car has uninjured.

Just wait till you're old enough to drive Sam, you'll soon find out (hopefully) that Britain's roads arn't your personal race track. And there's a heck of a lot more to learn about driving in the real world that a computer simulator will never teach you.

Last edited by Mazz4200, Fri 1 Aug 2008, 12:40. Reason : spelling, grammar, the usual stuff

Thanks for the replys guys.

Just spent the last hour or so looking at loads of reviews and youtube clips, and it definitely seems the TomTom One V3 and the Garmin 200/250 are the best at this price range.

The Tom Tom seems to have more features including this mapshare thing, and an extra port so you can fit an aerial to get live traffic updates and re-routing. And perhaps most importantly, it has a better voice (read sexier) .

But the Garmin looks to have the better interface and a much clearer map (the tomtom seems a bit cluttered to me) + a card slot for adding extra maps. And it seems the smaller of the two, so should slip into a pocket when not in the car.

Think i'll go find a local shop this weekend so i can have a bit of a hands on play with them both, but it looks like the TomTom is slightly ahead at the mo.

Cheers

Ok chaps, i've decided it's about time i joined the 21st century, and being a typical blokes bloke i'm genetically engineered to never ever stop and ask for directions, so, i'm looking for a bit of advice on the best portable in-car sat nav system.

I'm looking to spend around £150 but obviously the cheaper the better. I've had a scan around the net and it seems as though the TomTom One and the Garmin 200 or 250 are the most popular. But are they any good ?

What about the RAC and Navman ones, they seem to be a bit cheaper, but...?

So can anyone recommend a good one ? Or even a good website with lots of user reviews ?

Cheers