I’m giving you information to improve your business. If I don’t want to provide my phone number to you, you should not force me to by producing the error:
Please provide an answer to all questions before submitting.

Because:

• I’m doing you a favour by replying.
• I don’t want you to give me a call, about the average customer service.
• In any case, you already have my number (from the rental agreement).

Had the chance to take the Peugeot 308 for a spin the other day.

A basic no-frills bottom-of-the-range XS Peugeot 308.

And it wasn’t bad at all. 

At $26,990 list price, was it $8,000 better than a Nissan Tiida?

Well, no.

My biggest gripe was that the seat in this model doesn’t have any lumber adjustment, so it was like an S&M session, but without any of the pleasure.  A set of Recaro seats would fix that.  Or an upgrade to the XSE version, but that is $34,500 list.

My second gripe was the front screen pillar obscures your view going around right-hand bends.  It’s an annoyance when you are trying to proceed along at speed.

My final gripe is that the clutch pedal is far too close to the transmission tunnel.  And it leaves no place for your size 10-4E shoe to rest.

Things I liked were that performance and handling was good/great for a luxury shopping trolley (well that’s what it’ would be used for) and the gearbox was smooth.

On price alone, I wouldn’t buy a Peugeot 308.  And if I had $26,990 to spare, I’d probably buy a Subaru Impreza 5 door hatch (new) or a MGB V8 GT (used), instead.

as you hear people say.

I have an idea.

Fit cameras to unmarked cars, which members of the public drive.

When the driver sees a particularly horrible traffic offense, they hit the record button.  This causes the video camera to dump the last 60 seconds of (buffered) video to disk, and causes the camera to record for the next minute.

At the end of the day, the recorded offenses are uploaded to the camera office.  Then reviewed, and tickets issued.

I reckon it would sharpen up people’s driving skills pretty damn quick.  Or, at least, take the numpties off the road.

I see from the news, he’s picked up a Tony Award.

You can see a younger version of Geoff here, at the 2:57 mark.

Yes, some do.

You can feel this in how they behave.

Let’s speak of cars. I think the most reliable brand of car is Toyota.

But are their cars exciting??? NO!, they are as boring as dishwater.

The car I find most exciting is the HK GTS-327 Monaro. Which brings us onto the subject on museums.

I think it must be a dreary way to end your useful existence. Full of sound and fury one moment, gathering cobwebs the next.

I think static museums SUCK! A couple of hours on Sunday (long ago) were spent at the Tramway Museum, out at Bylands.

Now, gentle reader, I’m not a Gunzel, Roundhead or Foamer; but someone who is, explained the terms to me.

After handing over my 8 gold coins, I was offered a ride on a SW2 class tram. Once the air compressor had finished going “chokka chokka chokka”, we were off.

It was like riding a W tram in Melbourne, but surreal in the sense that you’re in middle of cattle country.

Now the old bloke who accompanied me must have been a foamer. “W2 644 was built in 1953, and was rebuilt as an SW2 in 19xy due to an accident…”

It was good to see someone so dedicated to their hobby. After the tram ride, I wandered the sheds, sighting one or two trams I remembered from when they were in service. Took some photos too, most of them suck. Conclusion: if you’re interested in trams, or photography, there’s plenty to see at TMSV. Website of the day: The Dome of Foam

Like the Falcon coupe, and the HQ Monaro, views out the rear window of the Valiant Charger were minimal.  Not that would be a factor in a car which had the fastest 1/4 mile time of it’s generation.

The RT-E38 small tank Charger was going for $35,000, in August 2004.

A similar (large tank) example went recently for $220,000.  Wouldn’t have been a bad investment.

I wonder how much the blue VJ E49 would go for these days?

Small Tank vs. Big Tank
The small tank had a 17.5 gallon capacity, where the, much rarer big tank, had a 35 gallon capacity.

No, I don’t know how many matchsticks are in it, but you can Google that for yourself. Yes, I do agree he should have gotten some "F1 Babes" to model.

IT being: publishing a post EVERY day, I sure as heck can’t do it. And thinking of things to write is difficult when you’re working 12 hour days.

But here goes today’s attempt…

Clarkson was right. People with cars with "flappy paddle" gearboxes have FLAPPY PADDLE heads.

I drove one such car yesterday.

The Mini Cooper Cabrio.
Cabrio is a ten dollar word for a "soft-top convertible".
Not, Pauline, a convertible in the Transformers sense, but rather that the roof folds down.

That is, if you can work out HOW to get the roof down. Took me and a helper 30 minutes to work it out. YES we read the supplied manual. You would think that a German car company would be able to get the owners manual understandable.

But NO. We had to ring the Mini dealer.
"Ah, soooo the parcel shelf in the boot (trunk for you North Americans) HAS TO BE IN PLACE" nothing in the owners manual about THAT.

Gear box, as you might guess, was one of those flappy paddle jobbies.
Hint here: READ the owner manual first.
The automatic gearbox has three modes:

• DRIVE
  - works like a normal automatic transmission
  - is CRAP
• SPORT DRIVE
  - works like a normal automatic transmission EXCEPT the car is a heck more responsive. Heck, in DRIVE, it felt like I was driving a lumpy cammed race car.
  Or a two-stroke motorcycle. All or nothing performance.
• STEPTRONIC mode aka Flappy Paddle mode.
  What are flappy paddles? They are the levers on the steering wheel which allow you to change gears up or down. I couldn’t work it out in a whole days worth of driving.
  The STEPTRONIC mode is a bit of a smart arse in that it won’t let you hold the car just below the red line, it will change up for you. I used the gearshift instead.

Using the manual gearshift made a medium difference. If I had the car for a week, I’d get used to it.

Handling was good and predictable. Predictable in a good way. The car would telegraph that, "Oi! I’m getting ready to slide out SO STOP BEING SILLY"
The significant other said "Is that squealing the tires on the corners?"
‘I know nothing dearest’, said me with a huge smile.

Performance, if you found the right gear, it was "pushed back in the seat" stuff. Oh I’ve driven quicker and faster cars, but the acceleration was fun.
Braking was excellent and you didn’t feel like you were squished against the seat belt to achieve.
Speed? Well I saw 150kph when passing someone …

The downsides?
No boot (trunk) space. 4 cartons of beer would be the carrying limit. Not allowed to drink drive these days, so that makes the boot useless.
If your children were pigmies, the Mini’s rear seats are ideal.

No vision out the back. In the words of Clarkson
"… but driving the Mini is like driving with a box on your head. For parking you need to use the force. And when pulling out of oblique junctions, might I suggest you get rubbing those rosaries. …"

Summary
More fun than the Astra, less pure sportiness than the Mazda MX-5.
I’d buy one.

Postscript
After speaking with someone who owns a Cooper S Hardtop, the Mini falls into the "toy" category. The only downside they’re noticed is that the (optional) traction control activates too soon.