Do all Ford Focus's consume dipped headlight bulbs voraciously, or is it just mine. I seem to be getting through each side bulb every 3 - 6 months?? Mine is a 2002 (new front) 1.6 Zetec. Read more

Citroen are hard-selling these at the moment, and as a by-product of this sales drive got my hands on one for a couple of hours yesterday evening.

In often crawling Friday evening pre-bank holiday London traffic it behaved impeccably and was easy to drive and position. A 1.6 HDI110 example, it went extremely well once on the move with terrific acceleration. This example also had huge wheels with low-profile tyres, so felt very firm for a Citroen, but lolloped over speed bumps with beatifully quiet 1,700 miles old suspension.

I wd have liked to get it on the road, but couldn't, although a bit of urban motorway enabled me to fiddle with the characteristically-surging cruise control.

It must be terrible if all those pretty lcd screens go out though. And the central rearview mirror encroached strangely on the view through the screen. And there was a bit of roughness or vibration in initial clutch bite. Lovely motor though, as it ought to be for a posted 16.5k. Read more

Just been reading a web site about cctv and privacy. I read of one guy who has an issue with ANPR. He's a van driver and above his number plate, which is mounted on the door, he has an additional black on yellow plate which reads "H4M PER" and below the number plate, again in black on yellow, "ANPR"

Would it hamper ANPR? And is this illegal? Read more

I spent a frustrating evening on thursday, westbound on the A57 from the A1 to Sheffield, where some lowlife has spray-painted the signs on the roundabouts west of the M1, obliterating all mention of the Sheffield or A57. Nowhere nearby to stop and check the map, or to turn after having done so, so all I could do complete circuits of the roundabouts to guess the correct exit. Not legal, not fun, but best of a bad set of options :(

Then, to add the fun, here was a diversion, the signs for which abandoned me at another roundabout (they are big on roundabouts in thse parts), leading to a half hour of guessing my way around backroads with the help of my inadequate road atlas.

Finally made it to my destination, and then got lost three times at 11pm trying to get out of Sheffield.

So I decided that it's satnav time, and after reading the reviews and having taken advice here, it'll have to be a TomTom ONE.

I got mine for £219 from PC World, but if you don't mind waiting a few days for delivery you can order them online this weekend for £204 from The Link (with free delivery): see www.find-uk-deals.co.uk/sat_nav.htm. (Note that when you enter the discount code, it isn't enough to press enter - you need to click the update button for it to register the £15 discount)

I spent an hour last night testing it out around the edges of town, and my initial reaction is that it is a brilliant gadget.

Usefully slimmer than a TomTom ONE, it doesn't seem to be missing any features I need, and it was up and running within four minutes of walking out the door of the shop. The only downside so far is that it is yet another piece of kit to carry around with me :( Read more

My car is due to reach its third anniversary soon and therefore due to have its first MOT. Few questions therefore that I would like to ask:

1. MOT's can be booked 28 days before they expire. Can I also book the car 28 days before its third anniversary?
2. In people's personal experience, are the nationwide garages like KwikFit ok for MOT tests?
3. Any tips for when I take the car in? e.g. I was told in the past that it is a good idea to warm the engine up properly so that the CAT can work better.
4. I also have some blue sidelights, foglights and main lights that I DIY installed. When I say blue, I mean that they look blue but their light is a bit whiter than the yellow OEM bulbs. Now do they look at things like that in an MOT (i.e. do I have to replace with the OEM bulbs before the MOT)?

Thanks. Read more