Ekona

I was looking forward to Thief, until I read the reviews I'll pick it up in a few months, I think.

:lol: Don't worry, you'll have real friends one day mate

Ah, okay. Didn't catch that, seeing as how someone had done that joke earlier in the thread

Will never be an E36, they're three generations old now!

If you can live with a bit of rattle at idle, then there is no downside at all. Car will feel more responsive and more eager at any gear at any speed, plus in theory it's a fuel saver as well as you've less rotational mass to shift. One to sell to the missus, I think

Which just pushes the cost of insurance up for the rest of us. Frustrating, because in the OPs position I wouldn't want to be inconvenienced by something that wasn't my fault either, but then neither would I want to be part of the reason that premiums keep going up. No win scenario, really.

Breakdowns.

Gearboxes very rarely have issues, they're strong units. We've seen more engines go pop than 'boxes on here.

I'm just grateful for anything. I usually go for something I've never driven before, so I've had all manner of different things from an Aygo to a C220 to a Freelander.

Do it. Absolute no-brainer, given just how much better the car is to drive with a lightweight flywheel on and the negligible cost increase.

I bet, a 5.1L engine in a 3-series must be amazing!!!

Good link, clears it all up nicely. At just 5% extra for going monthly over annually, that's a no brainer to me.

And yes, you should always fill the filter if possible. Some engines have them on the side or the top which obviously makes that impossible, but if you can pre-fill then by all means do.

Not really, no. If a filter does the job then I see no need to increase the size unless you're doing plenty of track work. If you are, then 3k miles is a good idea. If not, and it's just fast road driving with the odd trackday, then tbh 10k miles is plenty. The one that came on the Impreza was huge, so I swapped it for a smaller one then went and thraped it round Spa.

Most oil filters for Jap cars fit each other, just down to how much oil you want to run through the filter really. I've swapped Impreza, Zed, MR2 and Accord filters around with impunity. Very handy, when you realise you don't have the right one...

I would imagine 14 days, if I had to guess. Or maybe none, and you have to sort before collecting.

I don't think anyone knows what the monthly cost will be yet. I certainly wouldn't expect it to be cheaper though! I can live with paying a couple of quid more, tbh. VED is the cheapest part of car ownership, for the vast majority of people.

Plenty of berks in Essex. Cheap, too.

That's not the same thing. That's them guesstimating what you'll be using, and is down to the individual to sort. The VED system is not even comparable. It's the same as paying for your TV licence by DD. Or a magazine subscription. Or anything else, basically.

You mean, like you are with DD when you can cancel at any time without penalty, and have a bucketload of law weighed heavily in your favour in case of a ****-up?

But yeah, I guess they expect most people to just do it monthly via DD from now on. I mean, why wouldn't you?

"If you have been paying your tax annually or every 6 months, you will get a refund for any full calendar months left on the tax period when you tell DVLA you no longer require tax" Is that not it?

Most expensive part of the car is the engine, available for about a grand now. Put that £900 in the bank, after one year you're already even and after two you're quids in.

Actually makes a lot of sense. No more ambiguity, no more wondering if you've git a dodgy disc (it does happen), just a plain rule that keys everyone know where they stand. Paying monthly is a boost too, if you're rubbish at saving.

If you want it Humpy, consider it yours