Colin P

Well the guys at Hofmann's had a very good SOR offering, but also an extremely fair offer to buy it outright. I decided to take the sticking plaster approach (and rip it off quickly) and just got back from dropping the car off with the cash in the bank. A sad day, but the right decision.

Rather indicates the level of intelligence of their target audience when they feel the need to include an explanation of what infertile means (which presumably means that the author had to look it up).

because otherwise you could not follow it with "very very frightening me galileo..." and that would be a tragedy

No, it's nonsense. We are one country and we should be governed by one government. All that devolution is producing is duplication of cost, confusion, creation of a divisive culture and some really poor decisions being made locally just so that they can "prove" a need for different local actions and thus demonstrate their worth, when in reality they are just being contrary for the sake of it. This is particularly true of Evil Kranky and her predecessor. But this is reacting to a small majority of people within the devolved nations. The question needs to be determined by the country as a whole - not elements of it. What the people of the UK as a whole want is not (I would suggest) devolution.

I think you really ought to be meeting him in Zum Wilden Hirschen

@C8RKH It's already off the list. I'm very much leaning toward replacing the main car with a Giulia at the moment and keeping the JCW as the second. There are benefits in keeping the wife happy.

Does No 28 apply to the reorganisation of the Topic listings on our favourite online Forum?

Not me, but I lived in Stoneleigh until 18 months ago. Not aware of another local.

You’ll probably get more gif the Arona than you paid. Got a mate that was just looking at one. Bugger all at £12k. More like £18k.

@C8RKH Agree on the Seat. Of course the daily is the Leon FR ST and as you say does everything you need very nicely. Agree also on the Giulia Veloce. That is what I was looking at. I think 250-300 bhp is a sweet spot for a road car.

@C8RKH That is probably the biggest regret that both of us would have. I have after all had an Evora for the best part of 10 years and it's time for a change. That said we'd probably have something half presentable and try and join you (in the evenings) anyway, if you'd have us. SWMBO has agreed that if I let the Lotus go and we can agree on something "for the weekend" she will agree to let the Mini go too. Problem is she has (in her usual car choosing style) already discounted an SLC43 and Abarth 124 Spyder because the bonnets are too long (to be fair she may have a point with the Merc) and the only thing she didn't discount is the TT (I know, I know). So I'm thinking that the sensible/practical car may need to be a Giulia. I need 5 seats and if not an estate, a roof rack for the "sensible" car. I've not ruled out an Emira once they come onto the second hand market. I'll probably have that itch again then.

This is what the dealer expected to be handing over to me. I'd probably put it up at £55K

Sounds like, sounds like - you know me better than that @Bibs

£44K I got some numbers from a dealer a few months back. If anything they should have gone up a touch and it was a lot more than that to buy outright and £50+ expected SOR.

Would be interested in your thoughts. Basically, Aside from the kids cars, we need 1 car (the practical one), but nice to have a second. We have 3. The Evora just isn't being used, the wife will kill me if I sell the JCW and I have been thinking of selling one or other of them a while. Finally made the decision that I will be parting ways with the Evora. It should be attractive as a one owner, Hethel Edition Auto with 24K on it, which other than a single bit of kerb rash on one wheel is pretty much spotless. Here's the rub - which is best. Private Sale - obviously potential for best price - but how on earth do you take payment for this sort of money >£50K and be certain that the money cannot be recalled and how would you do test drives? I've seen some private sales sit around (appreciating people like to deal with a dealer). Would advertising it privately affect the appetite for a dealer to take it on? Sale to Dealer - the easiest and safest, but obviously it results in the least return (on the plus side, the band aid approach!) SOR - Mid option. I am concerned though (given current climate) as to what protections I'd have if between the sale and the money being paid to me the dealership should do bust. Has anyone done this and know what protections would/should reasonably be in place. Finally, my plate E17ORA. Private sale I'd be inclined to leave it on as a bonus for the buyer, but for trade in/SOR remove it and sell separately. Thoughts? Thanks

A total key failure at 6 months old is the only thing that has ever left me stranded in either of my Evoras. Totally kaput - new key provided under warranty. The only reason I didn't end up on the back of a recovery truck is due to a certain @Bibs contacting the factory and obtaining the manual deactivation code for my car from them. (Try getting that sort of service from Porsche)

By my experience, it needs the business experts and the IT experts to work together. Unfortunately even when everything is explained, demonstrated and gone through what then happens is that the IT developers then put it into a specification for approval which is written in Geek so that when they build what they want to rather than what is asked for they can then refer back to it and say it was built as desired, yet clearly doesn’t fit the spec that was originally written in English. to put in NHS analogy. The patient can tell you their leg hurts. You can find out that it’s broken, but in my experience the IT function will then put their arm in plaster as they had a preformed cast that fit and present you with the specification written in a language only they speak that explains that you asked them to fix your arm.

And for balance I know of a lot of IT professionals that won’t listen to the users and as such deliver something that completely missed the point.

The hired ones are insured for a start, as well as the technical controls on them. 40mph is nothing, there are claims of these thing modified to motorway speeds. I think it is clear that at some point they will be made legal along with regulation. At present the hire schemes are being used to understand the risks and issues so that as and when they become legalised there is a fully developed and understood plan. The govt have/are consulting on it and are engaged with, inter alia, the insurance industry about the issue. They clearly form part of the greater transport plan, but it looks like there will be compulsory insurance (but currently no market for it). What they clearly don’t want is a free for all that then cannot be pulled back.

Or looking at it another way, still only 1/3rd of "Normal" absence levels: The number of staff days lost to Covid across the NHS in England hit 124,855 last week, a 38% jump on the 90,277 seen the week before, according to the latest “winter sitreps” data published by NHS England. The total number of staff absences for any medical reason – such as a cold, flu or mental health problem – also increased, though less steeply, from 416,995 to 457,135, a rise of 10%.

I did the MY12 cables on my N/A in 2015 and they were £2.5K then. If you replace just the cables on a like for like basis on the pre 2012 cars it is a lot cheaper and woudl be around the £1K mark, but if you want the full MY12 gear change you need to replace the handbrake/gear leaver mechanisms and they are expensive. In fact IIRC there were 4 nuts that go on the gear box end of the MY12 cables that alone were over £100.

I don't need to look at the reviews, I'm aware that some of their stuff (not all) is very good indeed (last trip was for Christmas wine and olives) and it won't stop me from using them, but it doesn't excuse what is a deliberate ploy to replicate brand identities. Why copy and pretend you are something you are not - especially if you don't have to. Besides, for obvious reasons I'd rather they were all called Cuthbert the caterpillar anyway....

FTFY

Apartheid is not something you could opt out of by taking a vaccine and being black does not increase the risk of illness or death to those around you. COVID vaccines are optional and lack of a vaccine does increase the risk to those around you. As elsewhere stated I do not advocate compulsory vaccination, but as with all things in life there are consequences to decisions that one makes and if that means that for the safety of others you are prevented from attending densely populated events, or have to prove a negative test status to do so then I can live with that. As I said this is where our opinions will diverge and I understand why you feel that way, but I don't think using apartheid to try and make the point is proportional.

This is a comment that should never, ever, be posted by a fella on a UK motoring forum