Captain Duff

Does anyone else like this show? I know its been running for a decade or so now, but I still find it fascinating - less so from the Mike Brewer 'dealer' side of it (not least because with labour added they'd never make a penny), but the way you're shown how things work and how they can be fixed/replaced in a very easy to understand but non-patronising way by Edd China. Personally I think it should be shown in schools to encourage more kids into engineering/mechanic directions as it shows how skilled interesting and intelligent the work can be when done properly!

The Aero is car of the day over on detailing world, although most of the discussion is the old nonsense about power and why don't you just get a hot hatch. Have tried telling them its because most hot hatches are bland and boring! http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=354407

Now available on the Ford UK website: http://www.ford.co.uk/ConfigureyourCar?emailid=email-fob1505179-mustangjanuaryupdateemail-prelaunch-prelaunch-mustang-central-jan2015-uk-nwp-jan15-configureyourmustang# 2.3 Eco £29k and 5l V8 £33k Anyone else planning a test drive just to have a nosey?!

Same here, love the concept, love the price (you can get a V8 Mustang AND a GT86 for the same price as an M4 V8), but realy think I will hate the size...

Problem is so are ours!

Would love to but it's a bit of a trek for me. Lovely area though, had a couple of PGL adventure holidays there when I was in primary school (and so strong memories of the smell of sick on the school coach for that particular journey!).

Great price - I'd not think twice about grabbing them myself if you lived a bit closer. And if I didn't already have a set of Yoko winters on a spare set of OEM rims come to think of it

Great article, and I find it great that Toyota UK are positively welcoming modding through things like this.

Plus the internal cabin volume is very small, so it doesn't take much breathing when sat in it to really increase the moisture content of the air inside. I find I use the air-con all the time in the winter, but much less in the summer when I like an open window (unless on a M-way)...

Talking of Halfords, they currently have a very 'quiet' clearance of Wonder Wheels products, most for £1 (which equates to a 80-90% discount), lots of stuff available (although I cleared out a lot of my local branch today!) - shampoo, quick detailer, gloss protection, carpet cleaners and fabric guards, deodorizers, alloy wax sealants, tyre black sprays etc. etc. Just put wonder wheels in the search box on their site and see what's left in your local branch but be very quick!

Looks fantastic to me, particularly like the new 86 side stripes - are they available separately as a dealer retro-fit option Richard?

Depends on the dealer, many of us on this site are lucky to have a main dealer like RRG we can use and who will happily supply and fit a lot of things, but with something like the whiteline it would be easy to get yourself and get any local garage with a ramp to fit it for you - unless any future issue is directly linked to it then it won't void your warranty.

there you go - http://www.fensport.co.uk/Parts/Model_108/Category_2/4196 http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_detail4.php?part_number=KDT926

Thankfully I only had problems when very cold in getting into 1st, but 2nd was always fine (and it is 2nd that is the problem for a lot of the boxes, but by no means all). Since getting the very cheap Whiteline positive shift bracket fitted in September at my first service this has now disappeared completely and it is now the smoothest gear box I've ever had the pleasure to use I'm glad to say. RRG also swapped under warranty to the newer stick design and that also no longer buzzes at high revs. I would say that if anyone with a MT hasn't got the Whiteline, for £40 it has the be the best bang for buck mod you can get for this car. But for the OP, there is plenty of discussion on the '2nd gear issue' on other forums and there have been some successful solutions in terms of adjustments and gear box oil changes that have helped greatly. Get as much of this info as you can and return to your own dealer with some suggestions for them

So if I've got this right, if you are just a daily driver with no track use then the OEM brakes and pads are fantastic, last ages and hard to beat; if you are a daily driver and go on track runs for up to 10 mins then the OEM brakes and pads are fantastic, last ages and hard to better; but if you drive on a track for 11 minutes or more you may wish to upgrade either pads, brakes or both? Glad that's sorted

I think the leather looks great, but aside from the price to have them as an option (and not withstanding possible increased resale value), what really put me off was that I had leather seats in my previous car and regardless of air-con and the like I just found them a bit too 'moist' on longer journeys and in warmer weather. Much happier with cloth now, although I would never say never when it comes to future options...

I stand corrected, all Shell fuel now does seem to be 5% ethanol, which for V-Power is a recent change. That said, I would still be wary of Tesco 99 as while the ethanol may now be similar, 99 also has high levels of other industrial alcohol related ingredients (to boost the ron) that are absent from V-Power - http://www.tescopfs.com/our-fuel/specifications this is a useful summary of the ethanol situation, although while the page appears to have been updated last month I can't vouch for its current accuracy: http://www.groups.tr-register.co.uk/wessex/ethanol-update.html

Agree re V-Power, although a couple of my nearest garages have changed brands and are no longer Shell so often I have to go out of my way to get it which is not always possible time-wise with work etc. so I'll get the highest ron I can with the others. Most UK petrol is actually identical in that it comes from the same few refineries and is then just rebadged, so for 95 ron use the supermarkets. But higher ron can also come with different additives (engine cleaners) so the brands may start to differ (but I'm not convinced they always do). There are two exceptions to all this sameness - V Power and Tesco 99. On paper Tesco looks better, but the ron is as Lauren says not the whole story. Tesco 99 has a very high ethanol content compared to the rest and it is that which gives it the better ron, but ethanol is not necessarily good for engines (it is corrosive), and there is a school of thought (in the US, where all their fuel is high ethanol) that it has not helped with things like the HPFP 'chirp' issue (although again I'm not convinced). On the other hand V-Power is never rebadged refinery standard fuel but unique to Shell, gets delivered in separate lorries and does well in tests for increased mpg and horses. It also appears to have the best cleaning additives.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29728087 Have to say, I find slow drivers a real hazard on motorways and particularly on slip roads. Only the other week I got stuck behind a muppet like that one on a sliproad who seemed to think that going at 40mph with nothing in front of him and when about to join a busy motorway was perfectly fine. I was starting to panic in terms of not being able to get to the speed of the lorries to slip in the gaps but luckily one of them saw what was happening and braked to allow us in, but you get this sort of stuff more and more these days and often you find you can't avoid the snails whatever you do.

I was converted to winters years ago after going down an ungritted side road with an incline (in my old Octy vRS) and suddenly realising it had black ice on it and being able to do nothing as I slid down and onto the busy A-road at the end of it (which luckily had been gritted which allowed some very startled drivers to slam on and stop in time). This wasn't snow, just a cold week and a bit of unsighted ice. In the years since when using winters I've never had any problems and have always felt an awful lot safer, so if you have somewhere to store them (or a local garage/dealer that will for you) then swapping over each winter makes perfect sense and after the one-off cost of a spare set of rims it doesn't end up costing any more as you save on the summers wear for the 4 months or so that they'll be on. As to which ones to use there is thankfully a lot of choice now and the prices have also fallen as a result in recent years. Some are better suited to snowy European conditions, while others are less good in the snow but much better for the cold/ice risks that we face more often in the UK, but just about any softer compound winter will be better than the best summer tyre when you need it.

I'm not sure I get these. No, scrub that, I am sure I don't get these. What is the big problem with using a bonnet stay? It's simple, lightweight, unlikely to ever break or fail and it works a treat. Or am I missing something?!

I've always thought the sticker thing with some insurance policies is bizarre. I'm guessing it's either a very cynical way of refusing claims (which given most of them don't have fathers wouldn't surprise me), or a very stupid way of determining a driver who poses extra risks due to a love of go-faster stripes or whatever. Thing is though I reckon that these days it's mainly the 'older' driver who slaps on a sticker. One of my old boy neighbours for example has a large one on his Micra showing a witch on a broomstick with the tagline 'Pendle witches do it on broomsticks' underneath. I keep meaning to warn him that Saga might void his policy as a result

I think you've been plagarised steeps! http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/oct/03/tax-discs-pretty-taxing-peter-blake-matthew-barney-sarah-lucas

Yep, good work steeps, the top one is very good I think. Leaving my brushed alu holder on for now pending other logo/permit uses, but also as I'm an old-fashioned type who rather liked tax disks I'm leaving my last of its kind in too given its still got 11 months left on it

It looks like one of those clown cars, do the doors drop off when you hit the start button?