Safety Engineer

Local dual carraigeway with traffic lights, next too me is chav boy in his clio, revving up, lights go green I pull away smoothly and leave him standing. Next set of lights I get "Fucking sorted mate, what is it?" Told him Citroen C4 2litre... diesel. Watched his mouth drop. lol.

Would never replace Michelin with Michelin given the choice, Have had them on a few cars. Driven sensibly they have all lasted very well (best was 56,000 on one pair) BUT have never been that good in the wet. I have changed them for: Continentals - Good all round tyres, use high silica mix compounds Unriroyal - 'The rain tyre' and yes very good, owned by Continental BF Goodrich - Again good all rounders, owned by Michelin but they use different compounds including high silica mixes Avon - Very good all round tyres. All have given typically 5,000 less miles less wear than the Michelin but would happily sacrifice that the better overal ride and grip and all have been cheaper than the Michelins. Anyone in Essex want a good tyre fitter, Supertyres in Maldon are well worth a look.

Have used the same people as C4VTS for my Brodit mounts, pricey yes but they look smart in the car and once the mount is fitted you can swap bits over easily.

Would personally go for the Garmin Nuvi 310 D from Halfords, it has full euro mapping, traffic sensor (has a full lifetime subscription to traffic master, so no monthly fees), bluetooth, will also intergrate the phone book nad text mesaages from your mobile. Garmin have a very good speed cam database £40-00 per annum (data supplied by cyclops). All for 299-99. And best of all if you any tech queries, Garmin are very good and only a phone call away. Have had mine for about 4 months, 6,500 miles and found to be very good, it has the latest SiRF III reciever in it so will work through the heat reflecting screen without any additional arials.

Would recommend the Garmin speed camera database. it's on three months free trial (with unlimited updates during that three months) when you register the unit and get a 'My Garmin' account, you can select the amount of spam they send you from all promotions to just map and unit update information (have just got the unit update for patches and software updates. Have tried Pocket GPS World's database and despite having gone over to charging (£2-00 a month or £20-00 a year rather than Garmins at 50-00 a year) it hasn't improved a great deal (certianly not in Essex), where as Garmin get thier database from the makers of the Cyclops speed camera detectors. Am happier paying Garmin for IMO a better database. Also I have a bundle of free Points of Interest if you want them for all sorts (shops, restuarants, campsites, LUL stations etc, etc), PM with your e-mail or e-mail me direct (can you get my e-mail from this forum?).

On all the time, it's great for winter as it helps demisting.

hertsnminds if your not fussed about the widescreen of the 610 or actually hearing the street names, then Halfords might be worth a look they are doing a Nuvi 310 Deluxe it has bluetooth hands free capability, traffic reciever and full european mapping for a penny under £300 quid. A very pleased with mine. PS also has the text message facilty and phonebook intergration.

Have a Garmin Nuvi 310 with the SIRF III chipset and it gets lock and hold the signal fine, I've had 15ft accuracy from it before (which is about as good as you'll get on a civilian set up).

And don't forget, increase your gap, the 2 second rule equals 4 seconds in the wet and 10 seconds in snow and ice !!!

Theres been quit a lot of talk about these in the motoring press. When they first went in there where no signs indicating the barriers or change of road use (some of these were roads that cars could use). All in all a balls up, they local authority are under scrutiny for H&S offences, bearing in mind that these devices are supposed to 'fail to safe' and some bits have been left out on cost grounds !!

Z3M noticed you mentioned Harlow, if you are in the Essex area, I can recommend Supertyres in Maldon http://www.super-tyres.co.uk/supertyres.html Have used them for quite a few years and have always been good.

The 'teardrop' shape wing mirrors look great but taper down where you need most visibility in a mirror. How about stylish mirrors that give good visibility as well??? The C4 Picasso seems to have them... :D

One big problem with the Focus, the centre line of the seat doesn't match the centre line of the steering wheel so all the time you are driving your twisting your back slightly. I worked on the original Focus where this was a problem and Ford knew it, but the budget had run out, talking to former collegues involved in the new Focus, they still haven't resolved it.

Am religious about pushing the button in, but mine still knackered (it sort of hangs part way out) (the key that is before you get any ideas), have taken a vw one apart and a had a look at the citroen fob, one of my collegues has broken his, the quality of the internals on the vw fob was far better quality and more durable than the Citroens. Shame because a couple of metal parts and it would have lasted a lot longer at little extra cost.

Gotta add my vote for the C4 !!

Have got the black panel function on my VTR+ it turns off the rev counter, climate control and radio displays - no lights or info, it also removes all info with the exception of speedo on the main central display (other exception is cruise control or speed limiter) annoyingly it also removes the illumination for the steering wheel buttons (a little too much of a good thing). I like it especially on unlit roads as it cuts down the glare considerably when combined with the dimmer. Just touch the button and it springs back on again or any radio control or climate control button. Nice ;)

Had a similar problem with my Xsara when I first got it, (though it had already done 24,000) and was told by my local dealer that it sounded like the ECU, they got it in told me that it was only a stuffed battery, wanted to know if I wanted an 'original' citroen battery at 90 quid, siad no thank I'll get from Halfords. Got the car home and opened it up to check what battery I needed, and there is an almost brand spanking new Citroen Heavy duty battery. Being the honest person I am (my friends said mug) I called my local dealer tols them that they have left thier test battery in the car, they insisted that they hadn't made a mistake and were quite indignant about it. Who was I to argue???

Yes, the upside of a company car - 1 phone call to say it's broken and they do all the work. Has a lot to be said for it.

Just having a moan, some F*!?wit in an Audi TT drove into me friday, he was cutting a corner on the wrong side of the road, he's stuffed the front bumper and the right wing has popped off it's retaining clips. Upside it made a right mess of his headlights B) Downside, have now got a Vauxhall Astra for a week or so :P

I tend to top mine up every four weeks or so, compared to other tyres I've had I've always found Michelin a little on the porus side and not one of the best for pressure retention.

Yes they do have to be on a staright road, some camera partnerships have had cameras set up to catch drivers entering/leaving a roundabout but when challenged they haven't been upheld, so a good reason to challenge the ticket, also as the car is travelling around the roundabout the reading (assuming a laser camera is more prone to the 'slip effect' where the camera overreads the speed). Over the 10% + 2mph is quoted as the prosecution threshold by ACPO, however, it is guidance NOT law and as such the camera partnerships can enforce at 1mph over the limit if they wish. Is it all a scam and a money making exercise?? To right it's a scam.

Yes they do have to be on a staright road, some camera partnerships have had cameras set up to catch drivers entering/leaving a roundabout but when challenged they haven't been upheld, so a good reason to challenge the ticket, also as the car is travelling around the roundabout the reading (assuming a laser camera is more prone to the 'slip effect' where the camera overreads the speed). Over the 10% + 2mph is quoted as the prosecution threshold by ACPO, however, it is guidance NOT law and as such the camera partnerships can enforce at 1mph over the limit if they wish. Is it all a scam and a money making exercise?? To right it's a scam.

Got my C4 back from the bodyshop, they did a good job on the front wing but left some bits of filler on the rear wing paintwork, :angry: . Fleet company are not worried as it is only a little bit of muck and are happy to write it off. I might have a go at scraping it off gently with a scalpel to get the thick off and give it a touch up. Spent most of this weekend driving around, oh the joy of having a car that responds and you can feel what the steering is doing.

Prior to the C4 I had a Xsara 1.9d started on 24,500 miles and sold it at 138,000 miles. Always run on Tesco's diesel (never used additives) mostly m-way and dc. Only change was the air filter to a K&N 'High Efficiency' filter Always passed emissions well within spec. Bearing in mind once a manufacturer produces over a certain quantity ALL fuel sold must meet the relevant BS/EN Standard. The only exception are the small biodiesel producers, but a lot of them do often get BS standard accredititation.

I've used Tesco's fuel (mostly diesel) for quite a while and haven't found any problems with it, by have also tried running it with Millers diesel additive on each fill, have found that I get better mpg, have also tried BP Ultimate diesel again with better mpg than the basic Tesco's. On along term basis I've now gone for the Tesco's with Millers, it gives nearly the same mpg as the BP but even at £7 quid a bottle it still works out out cheaper in pence per litre than the Ultimate. These guys are really into thier fuels and additive, with one poster working in the fuel industry, worth a look: http://www.dervhead.com/xmb/