The new news 24 thread

[Hawkeyethenoo]

Breaking News. Subaru Brataroo 9500 Turbo drives on water and at the Bathhurst, awesome! 

 

[andy18s]

6 hours ago, IronStar said:

Oh Serbian DVLA equivalent, why is it so hard for you to make models make any sense in our official documents? 

Both cars are Alfa 155 1.8 Twin Sparks. 

What the fuck, and how did you manage to mess it up this badly? Sincerely, everyone.

 

Bulgaria are now considering doing away with having to spend a few uncomfortable hours sitting in a Notary office whenever a vehicle is bought or sold.  

[IronStar]

14 minutes ago, andy18s said:

Bulgaria are now considering doing away with having to spend a few uncomfortable hours sitting in a Notary office whenever a vehicle is bought or sold.  

So judging by how far behind we are, I expect we do away with it by 2060 at the soonest. 
At least it’s fairly fast, in and out job here. 

Do you also pay sales tax every time a car changes hands? 

[andy18s]

Yes,and the Notary fees are currently worked out as percentage of the value ...which they set themselves 😁 

Tbh now the Bg government have twigged just how much of a cash cow the car driver is,a lot more separate departments are being absorbed into 1 big mashup 

[Brigsy]

I needed a custom turbo oil feed making up for my new turbo setup, so popped down Global Hydraulics today (formerly northern hose and hydraulics).

Excellent service as usual, £35 made in ten mins whilst waiting. Recommended if needing custom hoses in Teesside area. 

-4an one end (7/16jic??) with bsp to metric adaptor at the other end. The oem had a metric banjo made of unobtanium so this should be the solution.

[comfortablynumb]

10 hours ago, Brigsy said:

I needed a custom turbo oil feed making up for my new turbo setup, so popped down Global Hydraulics today (formerly northern hose and hydraulics).

Excellent service as usual, £35 made in ten mins whilst waiting. Recommended if needing custom hoses in Teesside area. 

-4an one end (7/16jic??) with bsp to metric adaptor at the other end. The oem had a metric banjo made of unobtanium so this should be the solution.

Like that, sort of thing I need for my VNT installation for my 200tdi.

Shame I'm in Norfolk 😕

[cort1977]

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

Like that, sort of thing I need for my VNT installation for my 200tdi.

Shame I'm in Norfolk 😕

Years ago when clutch hoses for Mk 2 Cortinas were unobtainable (or i couldn't find them) I got a similar hose made up at a hydraulics place. There's a fair few companies that can make them, they're just not in the automotive market so you have to track them down a bit. Pirtek were the lot I used.

[richardmorris]

On 16/12/2025 at 22:46, Schaefft said:

I'm not aware of any loop holes that would have allowed any of them to sell anything non-electric before today's news.

Not a loophole really, just a fine for each car sold. 

[andy18s]

3 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Not a loophole really, just a fine for each car sold. 

Iirc companies could buy unused Carbon Credits from others,and use them to cover the lack of ev's offered by themselves.

I know Tesla made a good few billion selling off unused credits.

[Mat.T]

We have a Carmargue in at work, the marmite of Rolls-Royce's!

[EyesWeldedShut]

6 minutes ago, Mat.T said:

Carmargue

Rocking horse poo too?
I remember them being lauded and bitched about when they first got launched - I've never, ever see one in the flesh (and if you did, then you'd remember) - are the twin (Lucas?) underslung rear foglights factory fitted for the UK market ? Proper quality like....

 

[stuboy]

On 17/12/2025 at 15:03, stuboy said:

Hot date booked for tomorrow.. gonna make sure i take a rubber...

Tried to carefully remove the spare wheel cover to find the zips are seized so with my mighty mouse strength I ripped the fabric off, to be greeted by a saggy flat tyre, was gonna get it repaired but after see 3 holes.. few slices... I thought best go get a new one.. which is booked for tomorrow...

 

More money and too think was gonna put my private plate on the hondurex

£110 later...

[Schaefft]

6 hours ago, andy18s said:

Iirc companies could buy unused Carbon Credits from others,and use them to cover the lack of ev's offered by themselves.

I know Tesla made a good few billion selling off unused credits.

 

10 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Not a loophole really, just a fine for each car sold. 

That's the situation now where manufacturers need to meet fleet CO2 standards or risk heavy fines. EV-only manufacturers can sell credits to other manufacturers to balance out their numbers. However as far as I understand the ban in 2035 was a ban, not a reduction of emissions to 100% (which indeed wouldn't mean that they have to stop selling ICE cars).

[Mat.T]

21 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Rocking horse poo too?
I remember them being lauded and bitched about when they first got launched - I've never, ever see one in the flesh (and if you did, then you'd remember) - are the twin (Lucas?) underslung rear foglights factory fitted for the UK market ? Proper quality like....

 

Definitely Rocking horse poo, about 530 made most are left hand drive. I've been fixing RR's for 15 years and only worked on 2.

I think the rear fogs are Bosch (Lucas on the front!) standard fit.

[stuboy]

Dodgy tyre off now as spares...

And tempory [ permant ] repaired the spare wheel cover, and hopefully the 'honda' stays horizontal..

[chaseracer]

19 hours ago, Mat.T said:

We have a Carmargue in at work, the marmite of Rolls-Royce's!

I like Marmite, and Camargues...

[HMC]

Jag dailying has a more chilled soundtrack now it has a normal length of exhaust and a more discrete burble when you want to be discrete …

[lesapandre]

On 18/12/2025 at 20:09, Mat.T said:

We have a Carmargue in at work, the marmite of Rolls-Royce's!

There are a number of cars that don't photograph well - the Studebaker Avanti is another. They look and feel better in the metal in this case - the Carmarge is beautiful close up and the interior amazing. The dash is a work of art.

[lesapandre]

More spin and rinse motoring fuckwittery.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/dec/20/fuel-theft-row-banned-petrol-stations-cash

All computer systems have bugs and all are subject to mistakes either human, software or hardware.

For the operator to claim to the contrary is disingenuous.

Advice - always either pay by card or keep a receipt if paying cash. I'd do both asking for a receipt. Photograph the receipt so not to lose it folks.

[Popsicle]

MOT day for the couriering Caddy. Only 76668 miles since the last one 🤣.

Well happy with another pass, but it's been an expensive year for it with a £4453 spend.

The advisories are a tad disappointing, particularly the rear anti roll bar bushes, I only changed the buggers 309k miles ago, back in 2021, nothing's built to last these days.....

As for the shocks and top mounts, they were changed back in August, 34k miles ago, that really is shit, Monroe ones too, not cheap stuff.

Ah well I'll ignore it all for now, time to put my feet up till January, when I've been warned it's going to be stupidly busy.

[artdjones]

30 minutes ago, Popsicle said:

MOT day for the couriering Caddy. Only 76668 miles since the last one 🤣.

Well happy with another pass, but it's been an expensive year for it with a £4453 spend.

The advisories are a tad disappointing, particularly the rear anti roll bar bushes, I only changed the buggers 309k miles ago, back in 2021, nothing's built to last these days.....

As for the shocks and top mounts, they were changed back in August, 34k miles ago, that really is shit, Monroe ones too, not cheap stuff.

Ah well I'll ignore it all for now, time to put my feet up till January, when I've been warned it's going to be stupidly busy.

Monroe aren't great anymore. If you can get Bilstein or OE they might last a couple of years, and the labour is the same, anyway.

 

[Popsicle]

2 hours ago, artdjones said:

Monroe aren't great anymore. If you can get Bilstein or OE they might last a couple of years, and the labour is the same, anyway.

 

It did ok with the first set of Monroe shocks I fitted, went on at 140k miles, replaced earlier this year at 425k miles, so they lasted for 285k miles. 

I'll have shufty over Christmas, see how bad it looks. I suppose it could be dodgy shocks, I did get them from Autodoc, it was a kit with sleeves, bump stops and top mounts.

[comfortablynumb]

You'll need January to be busy @Popsicle pay the upkeep 😁

[Popsicle]

4 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

You'll need January to be busy @Popsicle pay the upkeep 😁

It'll be bread wi no jam for the kids.

I normally have a leisurely January, they should know me by now, I only like driving during the long hot summer months 😎. Mind you it's the shortest day soon, it not be long till we have some lovely light nights again.

I know I moan about van running costs a lot, but in the overall scheme of things it's a pittance compared to what income the van generates.

[comfortablynumb]

I nearly wrote something about reliability, but thought better of it! 🥺

[Popsicle]

4 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

I nearly wrote something about reliability, but thought better of it! 🥺

 

[BorniteIdentity]

14 hours ago, Popsicle said:

 

it not be long till we have some lovely light nights again.

 

Can I bore you shitless? Mostly because I love a tangent and most people don’t know this.

The evenings actually stopped drawing in over a week ago. The days only continue to get shorter because dawn becomes later between the 12th and 21st.

Nerds will explain why if you’re really interested but it’s the orbit speed and the tilt of the planet.

So things have actually already been getting better for a week now. 

And today’s the shortest day anyway, so I bring good news all round. 

I’m like a fat bald messiah.

Joyous Yule 

[richardmorris]

Ascot this morning. 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Took our modern* family car down to the workshop, for a service and pre-MoT check. Everything went fine, until I poked a suspicious-looking area of the nearside sill... *CRUNCH* !

The car is worth £500 on a good day, so a quick-and-dirty repair was all it was going to get. I cut the rot out, fished a bit of an old VW Polo sill panel out of my "rubbish that may come in handy one day" bin, hammered it roughly into shape and lap welded it in place. No pictures, as I was working outdoors and wanted to get it done before rain stopped play.

* By AS standards, so only 20 years old.

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

The evenings actually stopped drawing in over a week ago. The days only continue to get shorter because dawn becomes later between the 12th and 21st.

I didn't know that. Interesting, and am looking forward to longer lit days.