TheXUDfiles

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Several years ago, when I did much more car servicing than I do now, I looked after a Polo, belonging to the local fish & chip owner. He freely admitted to running it on old cooking oil, with no ill-effects whatsoever. I made a point of ALWAYS changing the fuel filter, even if the mileage didn't really warrant it, and the smell was quite hunger inducing! There seemed to be little pieces of batter floating in the bottom of the filter casing too, which I spent some time "fishing" (ahem!) out. The car's still running around Barnet, so the proof of the pudding's in the eating (sorry about the food related puns, lockdown fever is beginning....) 

That's what I used to think as well, but I asked an engineer if it was worth using, and that was the answer he gave me. Apparently some of the heat generated by the engine can cause this to happen, meaning you can lose a very small amount of fuel before reaches the combustion chamber. 
We're probably talking very, very tiny amounts but I tend to err on the side of caution. 
I assume this is true, as I've noticed a small increase in MPG on most of my cars cars. 
What was the additive that Shell used back then? I'd love to read about that!

"she was commissioned for a tv advert but never used! "
What were they advertising, magic mushrooms??

"she was commissioned for a tv advert but never used! "
What were they advertising, magic mushrooms??

"she was commissioned for a tv advert but never used! "
What were they advertising, magic mushrooms??

"she was commissioned for a tv advert but never used! "
What were they advertising, magic mushrooms??

"she was commissioned for a tv advert but never used! "
What were they advertising, magic mushrooms??

"she was commissioned for a tv advert but never used! "
What were they advertising, magic mushrooms??

"she was commissioned for a tv advert but never used! "
What were they advertising, magic mushrooms??

I had a Laguna with one "Uniglory" tyre once. No info was around online at the time, or any reviews, making me wonder if I was the first to survive them.

I had a Laguna with one "Uniglory" tyre once. No info was around online at the time, or any reviews, making me wonder if I was the first to survive them.

I could never run a car on veg because the smell would constantly make me hungry. It was bad enough when I got wafts of steak frying from the pub over the road.

I could never run a car on veg because the smell would constantly make me hungry. It was bad enough when I got wafts of steak frying from the pub over the road.

It was a ‘special’ mix they developed and launched to a massive fanfare. No idea what was in it but they spent a fortune repainting the whole place with it’s logo. It was called Shell advanced I think. It started causing problems really quickly and was withdrawn after a short time but when the story broke we were sat with an empty forecourt and the BP on the other side of the A52 was rammed. On the plus side I got a load of free shell T shirts and didn’t buy a pen for years!