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Tags: cameras, cars, via ljapp

Look at this and wonder why so much manufacturing is screwed up:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1837641

Tags: cars
Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Fish - Songs From The Mirror - Apeman

Bentley came back from Bentley Essex in Colchester yesterday -- they had fixed a few niggly items, including a dicky pressure sensor in the turbo section. this was generating occasional spiky readings causing the engine ECU to shut down everything into safe mode. Still, an unturbocharged 6.75 litre V8 isnt exactly slow, though it pales into insignificance compared to the on-boost warp factor 10 performance of the car when it is on song.

I hadnt managed to get to grips with the fully integrated factory fitted GSM handsfree phone system. Based on the Motorola 2500 handset and base unit, there is a handset in the front cubbyhole. And a unit in the boot which takes the sim. And the rear armrest has a mounting point in it, and a socket into which you can plug the front handset or an extra one.

I tried the large sim out of mum's old motorola startac phone, but that didnt work -- seemed that it didnt like 1800mhz Orange. So I picked up a Tesco PAYG sim last night while out shopping, and plonked it in the Bentley this morning. Worked immediately.

Hah! And it is fully integrated into the car -- the hifi quickly fades to nothing, the system beeps and autoanswers after 3 rings.

All I needed for the maximum swank factor was to find a spare handset to go in the rear armrest. Isnt ebay wonderful? £9.99 later on a one-click accident, and the handset will be here tomorrow. I do like rounding things off properly :-)

Tags: cars
Current Mood: silly
Current Music: John Tavener - Byzantia - The Protecting Veil

So this is Clarkson's annual xmas offering -- his hour and a bit dvd of car fun.

And this years is a dog. Tired, formulaic, boring, staid, repetitive, and verging on the offensive.

Buying a 4k7 cheap car, brand new, and then proceeding to sledgehammer it in full view of the dealership is nothing short of crap television. That car could have revolutionised someone's life -- instead we get it used as the object of scorn for someone who is fresh out of ideas and is reduced to swaggering incoherently at his lager-fueled audience.

Production values are minimal -- looks like it was filmed a the Top Gear test track in a couple of afternoons during the autumn.

And at 14 quid, it is dreadful value for money. Watch a few repeats of top gear after a saturday night kebab and 6 pints of lager, and get the same effect.

Tags: cars
Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Alan Parsons Project - Try Anything Once - The Three Of Me

So the RT has this hooooooooooge center armrest box between the front seats.

It current contains:

a) full-size alpine CD autochanger
b) Motorola old-stylee GMS phone complete with full-size handset on a long coily cord (which you can put in the armrest of the rear seat if you wish)

And there is still room for a couple of bottles of Bollinger in there.

So what do I do? Investigate getting a little "cocktail requisites" upgrade? Fit a fridge? Both?

Is it legal to get pulled over by the plod, and have a half-full cocktail glass in your right hand?

Tags: cars
Current Mood: silly
Current Music: Blood Of Eden (Radio Edit)

TopGear last night had the piece on the Bugatti Veyron. What a machine -- pity that TG insists on presenting everything using a "hoody yoof" style. Ah well.

If I had the money...

Tags: cars
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Solsbury Hill