I have an older passat with 108000 miles, and it's a great car. There's a vw forum with great advice from vag trained mechanics, www.vwforum.co.uk.

I recently looked at postings about the new shape passat 3C I think, anyway this bloke crasher who has a business that deals with vws, says to avoid the early ones, 05 reg I think, because they are the ones that have the most of all the horror stories, the electronic handbrake is one that comes up regularly, the calipers are expensive, and the injectors are a fortune too.

I would go for the VW, I've had 2 without any major problems, good to drive on long journeys and good on diesel. One thing I've always been told, even though it may be complete rubbish as I'm a mechanical half wit, is to let it tick over for a couple of minutes to let the turbo cool down a bit.

Thanks Chris, meeting at the cafe and then off for a ride sounds great, although I'm pretty slow these days so I'll meet you where ever we're going.

The people buying my house want us to move out by the end of March. so providing we don't hit any problems I should be there for the spring.

Wow

People are stunning?? Some of them are just plain crazy

Now that's a plus point, thanks peejay

Bought a house in Grantham today, I'm having to relocate because of work. I'm absolutely terrified, being out of my comfort zone, can anyone calm me down? Have I done the right thing?

Just a quick point about instructors(being an ex instructor, gave up it drove me mad)if you can't get a recommendation, which as others have pointed out is the best way, ask them when their last check test was, and what mark did they achieve. Unless they've changed it they mark 1 to 6, 6 being the best mark.

The bit about same sex instructors is a bit insulting, the majority of my pupils were girls(which I preferred because they listened to me and didn't try to tell me how to drive unlike the lads)and I didn't spend the hour trying to get in their knickers.

I'm ashamed to say none

As with all my old school reports, 'Must try harder'

Thanks.

Love the card

I think you may have to wait a while to recoup that much!

I'd be pretty pissed off too about the pension.

Probably replying too late, but I've had a Halvasson jacket now for a couple of years I think it's great value for money.

Warm enough although I only do 12 miles to work, it's also been waterproof but again it's only for 20 to 25 minutes.

One criticism I do have is the zip puller things break quite easily, having said that the dealer has replaced them each time without any arguments.

So for the price I paid, I think about £180, pretty good.

Washed it, cleaned and lubed the chain, checked the tyre pressures, put the optimate on it.

Oh yes, another day of my life in the fast lane!

This year I'm with MCE, as Carole Nash was not prepared to match the deal offered, only later after I'd committed to MCE to say that they could have done better, which was irritating.

I then found out that MCE had forgot to mention that I was not covered for commuting and the breakdown was the absolute basic stuff, so after making alterations to my policy it ended up costing me more!!

I've certainly learned a valuable lesson to ask more questions instead of assuming I was covered for everything.