Ekona

I've just been out in it again, in the pissing rain this time. And guess what? It's still sh*t! The windscreen wipers don't move nearly quick enough to shift the water needed, which means driving in a Florida summer storm is a case of looking at where the green stuff is either side of the road and using that as a guide, 'cos you sure as hell can't see where the road is!

Ooh good point, I just checked and they have so that explains that. Horrible systems. Ah but you'd expect nothing less from a Chevy I'd actually have preferred a genuinely rubbish car instead as at least you know it's going to be a bit poor and you can have some fun with that. This is a premium Ford product and it really shouldn't be this bad.

For years now whenever people have popped up on this (and other) forums inquiring about what sub-£5K runaround non-fun car they should get, I've always given the same answer: Get a Ford Focus. I owned a first generation car and it was worthy of all the praise it got from both press and public alike, as it did everything so brilliantly as well as being mechanically sound and (whisper it) bloody good fun to drive if the urge took you. The second-gen cars were equally as good, albeit a little uglier, but still the default family car to buy even ahead of it's premium rivals. The third generation is now out, and to my delight I was offered one as my current rental car out here in the US. My delight didn't last long. It's sh*t. Gone is the wonderful seating position and instead we have a hard fabric-covered lump that's offset to the steering and pedals, leading to an 80's-Italian-supercar-style slouch not suitable for distance driving. They've thrown out the delightfully simple and clear dials & controls and instead we now have the single-most confused dash layout ever, with various colours and tough plasticky buttons and the most retarded place for an intermittent rear wiper switch in the history of the entire world. Honestly, it's a complete mess, and Ford really need to get someone in to re-design their menu structure for the various displays as it's all over the place. I'd forgive this if it was a decent drive. It's not. It's a big ball of guff. Okay so it's the poverty spec 2L petrol mated to a slushbox, but Ford should still be capable of making something that could pull the skin off a rice pudding and that doesn't need seven attempts at finding the right ratio to be in. That said, it makes no difference what gear you're in as there is zero change in acceleration regardless. That's okay though because the fuel consumption is great, right? WRONG. 250 miles out of a 45L tank is shockingly bad, especially when 95% of the mileage I'm doing out here is highway stuff. That wonderfully direct steering has seemingly been replaced by a big marshmallow ball, although there's no torque steer at all: I'm putting this down to there BEING ALMOST NO POWER THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. A bit of torque steer might be nice actually, at least I'd know that the front wheels are connected to the engine! It doesn't even ride well, it's all wishy-washy and jumpy where it shouldn't be and the tyre roar is awful. The remote control is proper pony. Two pushes to double lock the car is the norm, but why do I have to push the button with. Two. Huge. Gaps. Inbetween. Or else it doesn't register? My record so far is 14 presses for one double lock. Strangely this doesn't apply to the boot unlock, which flies open at the merest hint of having pushed the button twice. Anything good about it? Umm, I guess the brakes are okay. Ish. And the stereo has a surprising amount of bass, although you'll never find a volume that it's comfortable at (Volume level 4 is far too quiet and volume level 5 IS MILES TOO LOUD). I am now officially retiring my default response of "Get a Focus" now, or at least adding the get out clause of "As long as it's a mk1 or mk2". Ford, I am dissapoint.

This was my reason for going DSLR. Worst comes to the worst I've got a very expensive but very capable point and shoot camera, best case I've saved myself £400. If you like photography (or even just want to get into it, this was why I started down the route) and can afford it, then even the entry level Canon/Nikon/Sony is the place to start IMHO. Bodies are the cheap bit of any camera, it's the lenses that start to cost a bit!

No worries, just be really careful as the grip is significantly reduced between VUS and PS2, although there's more feel so that's the trade off. I love the VUS on the Zed but the M3 is another step up the performance ladder.

Why would you want less grip? Personally I wouldn't run cheapy tyres on an M3 anyway, but I'll spare srobrien my usual rant

What? Of course you would, once the shutter is going (and as long as the transfer speed of the memory card is of a sufficient speed) it can carry on all day if it likes, but the initial lag following the autofocus and processor think-time will still be there. If it does do instant-shot just like an SLR then that's great and is a real step forward, but I've never found a single camera that wasn't an SLR that did that. As Sparky said, even the Lumix range (which is superb for a compact) can't do that.

Very much depends on the shoulder of the tyre. I suspect that the VUS don't have the excellent rim protection that the PS2s do IIRC, so there probably won't be anything in it in terms of the VUS touching the arches on maximum compression if the PS2s don't already. I reckon you'll be okay.

That's not what were talking about, it's the time from the second you press the button to the time it takes the shutter to open and close. On an SLR it's instant, on a compact/bridge there's a delay which can make you lose the shot. All very well saying that you could just press the button earlier and get multiple shots, but that's not practical for many things.

Do it then.

^^^ This. I've had a few digital cameras over the years but was always irritated by their lack of instant shot, as you'd push the button, the camera would auto-focus, then it would stop and have a cup of tea, then a biscuit, then finally it might get round to taking the actual photo eventually. Not a huge issue if you're only ever taking shots of still things, but for anything moving they're utterly useless and you get by on luck alone. My missus has one still and it's fine for her but it does my head in, and for that reason alone my DSLR purchase has more than justified itself over the last few years.

India is a bit different though, as we give them a few million in aid and they give British companies loads of work as they've got a developing economy. It may seem stupid, but giving those few million out creates a shedload of wealth in this country.

I'm not. That's nature's way of curtailing an exploding population, and perhaps if they stopped breeding like rabbits they wouldn't have such an issue with a lack of water and food. You're absolutely right fella, we should be looking after our own, but you're labelled as racialist if you dare to suggest that. We've been giving billions to developing countries over the years and they're still screwed.

If he'd have wanted cheap then why do it on a BMW? I'm guessing all the other parts on the car weren't cheap either. You're right though, he should just have bought an M3.

I read a fair amount of the small print but not all, you're correct. That said, that's my own fault if I've missed something fairly important like auto-renewal, and I certainly wouldn't start complaining for something that was my own fault. If they put it there why should they highlight the obvious for the lazy? As long as it is clearly stated and legible it can be in any print they like. @Husky: REIS don't, neither do many of the smaller specialist insurers.

I actually far prefer auto-renewal, as it vastly decreases the risk of driving without insurance. That said, I know exactly when mine is due so wouldn't be daft enough to leave it until the last minute anyway If you don't like auto-renewal, don't sign the contract in the first place. Common sense really, no use bleating about it afterwards.

Good to see that these wheels and tyres are still getting used as they were intended, such a shame I never really had a chance to put the tyres through the thrashing they desperately wanted

Half the trouble with punishment from the courts isn't that they don't have the powers to dish out the appropriate curtailment on social freedoms, but because of a general erosion of the average sentence. Going back to my A-level law days now, I believe that the judges can be overruled or censured by the head of the judiciary if the sentences they give are too harsh. They don't want the ballache of the paperwork involved if this happens (lawyer appeals on the behalf of the guilty, sentence gets reviewed, sentence gets lessened, judge gets told off, if it happens too often they get struck off) so they just dish out an average sentence. Of course, this might be the higher end of average and still ripe for review, so they give out a punishment at the lower end of the scale. Over time, this means the average punishment is reduced. In one aspect it's a good thing, as it means you get consistent sentencing. On the other hand it gives the impression of a weakening legal system. It sucks either way really, and is why there are some very strong calls for judicial review in this country still: We just don't have the money to fund it right now.

Why go to that effort when you could drop one of BMW's own wonderful and far more musical straight-sixs in there with much less hassle? Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

I would go with the Nikon out of that lot, but then I do love my D90 Go and have a play with the cameras first and see which one feels 'right' to you in use. I had a choice between the D90 and the equivalent Canon (god knows which one it was now) and I plumped for the Canon purely because I found the controls far easier to use, and since there was technically nothing between the two bodies it made the choice fairly simple. Don't get hung-up on the video aspect: It's a nice gimmick to have, but if it's video you want to shoot then get a specialised video camera. I can count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times I've videoed anything on my camera.

Chaps, if this was an isolated incident then I can promise you that there would be a large degree of sympathy towards Lee as we all know that we have lives outside of the Zed scene. Sadly, this is far from an isolated case which is why I personally have zero sympathy.

To be fair, he's only been bailed because the magistrate courts don't have the powers to sentence him properly, that's why he's off to crown court. Be interesting to see what happens from there though. As a teacher though, he might very well find his career choices incredibly limited now, which can only be a good thing.

None of which is an excuse for poor service. If you're too busy then you don't offer that service, full stop. Not contacting people when they've paid you good money is completely inexcusable. I don't know Lee, and I've never dealt with him at all, but I've heard more than enough to ensure that he would never see a penny of my money ever. There's a lot of good guys on here who really make an effort with regards to sales, and sometimes they don't get enough of the praise they deserve.

You know what? I'm sick of all this crap. If these idiots feel that there is no hope for them and that nothing good will ever come out their lives (talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!) then let's leave them to it. Build a nice big wall around them, get all the nice folks out who want to make a good life for themselves, then lock the gates and leave them to it. I can't be arsed to try and help these scum any more, they clearly don't deserve any help or sympathy.

Jesus titty-f*cking christ, where on earth do I start with that??!! Bankers haven't stolen a single penny, if they had they'd be in jail. Go look up 'economics' for how finance works, and just why things are the way they are. About 0.1% of bankers launder money, and far more goes through legitimate businesses than banks as it's a hell of a lot easier. The world is suffering financially right now, true, but do you really think that makes a single thug right?! Please take your Guardian-reading liberal hippy nonsense elsewhere thanks, because it's attitudes like that that have put us where we are today. Bad sh*t happens in life, get over it.