New Honda Civic

The hideous blue backlightings been around for quite some time.

Well, mine has blue backlighting on just about everything. It's not hideous and doesn't reflect anywhere. Much better than green and orange anyway.

We had a W plate KA from new...

here goes....

7k - piston ring goes - fixed under warranty 12k - discs and pads 14k - door handle snaps inside the door due to rust 14k - passenger speaker dies 18k - front shock mounting bushes go 24k - rust on bottom of passenger door and sill, rust on windscreen A pillar, petrol tank v v rusty 24.001k Sold!

Bought a Polo, which we should have done in the first place.

As for the Focus - I've had a number of these as hire cars. The 2.0 petrol I thought was excellent, a more recent hire (05) of a 1.6 petrol I thought was the worst car I'd had for ages, both in handling and performance. I now have a Leon 1.9Tdi and think this is a much better car, handling wise I'd have to try a more recent 2.0 Focus for comparison.

I hope that 2.0 Focus (roughly 01) has better suspension (it was a Zetec) than the 05 1.6 because I was expecting a lot better..

Mike Dodd ( snipped-for-privacy@dsl.pipex.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It would seem that the answer is "plenty" - electric park brakes are becoming the rule rather than the exception. IIRC the S-Type was about the first.

In news:Xns97095424EC5EFadrianachapmanfreeis@80.5.182.99, Adrian decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Handles bloody well though...

The message from snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) contains these words:

My aged eyes don't focus blue terribly well.

That's not a car, it's a Winnebago.

Wonder if all that red incites aggression? Completely unscientific casual observation suggests that new shape Passats seem to have a more than average tendency to be involved in tailgating, dangerous overtaking manoeuvres etc. Are they the new BMWs?

Nah, truth is, most Passats are diesels, and the reps that drive 'em have to prove that they're "really quite quick for a diesel"...