Andy P

Engine: Petrol Size: 2.0 Turbo Model: 1998 Volvo S40 - Somewhat modified Driving Conditions: France trip average (mostly 75-80mph motorway with trips up mountians 1000m above sea level with sharp inclines and windy roads) Combined MPG: Amazingly I was getting 500 miles to a tank of 60 litres (only using 55 litres of that gives me 41mpg!!!) Comments: Also map not finished!! I was trying to get the best fuel consuption but I did occasionally floor it. Andy

Wahey I'm back from 2 weeks in the south of france!! Drove the S40 down there and clocked the journey home - 880 miles! Had plenty of issues with the car of course but not too bad considering it had done a whole 150 miles after it had been built before taking it to the spanish boarder. Most weekend dates are ok with me, location - the closer the better of course! Andy

Has anyone else seen a programme called Sheer Genius? "Theo Leaf" "Joe Maher" Andy

Are we still chasing engagement points? In my mind, there is only one winner - and I use it. Andy P

Nice bike, needs weed killer though. Andy

Filled in the front page but it wouldn't accept my email address so I gave up! I'll still have that 20 quid though Matt!! See you soon.

Little did know all those years ago when I met some dude in london with glasses and a bag on his back, challenging me to the "shell gap", that he'd turn out to be one of the most epic UK street riders. Rowan, you're actually awesome Thanks for that video, it's inspired me to ride again (although I'll probably get home, take one look at the bike and then crawl back under the Volvo ) Andy

Respect to that guy! Bikes looking pretty awesome too. His brakes are the wrong way round though... Sorry couldn't resist... again Andy

Haha! definately not - especially with epic fuel leak I found last night! Yeah, it would definately be possible but to be perfectly honest I'm not bothered at the moment! I'm due to take the car to the south of France next month - about 1000 miles each way so I'll probably be able to see how fuel efficient it can be burning an entire tank at 70mph. Hoping for my wallets sake its surprisingly good! Andy

If you want I could post up a datalog of my journey home from Tesco the other night complete with realtime rpm, throttle position, air/fuel ratio, coil dwell time, exhaust gas temp, coolant temp, engine temp, air intake temp, fuel pressure, manifold atmospheric pressure, ignition advance, injector duty cycle, pulse width, battery voltage readings. Couldn't tell you what MPG i was getting though! Andy

I can General combined town/motorway driving I see 23% throttle. Andy P

Ahh poor Ash!! I'm paying £200 fully comp on the 1.4 Volvo 340 WITHOUT using any of my NCB As everyone has already said, there's no "best" company. A price comparison site and a load of telephone calls is your best bet. Either that or get a different car. Andy

where have you been for the past 3 (or there abouts) years?? Andy P RIP Janson

Can I be the first to say hes got his brake levers on the wrong way round! Looks great! Andy P

As good a place as any to ask you Lee (as its only Si's birthday thread ) A guy at work today asked me if I knew you. His name is Ben Lane. Andy. ...I said I've never heard of you...

I heard through the grape vine that the civic failed its MOT. Unlucky Si. For those that are interested, it failed on "excessive exterior imitation carbon vinyl"

Well done you've made it. Now get a turbo

Yeah I was going to do it angled but as I say it was on MS Paint which dosent like anything but right angles lol. Couldn't be arsed to open corel draw on this dinosaur of a pc... Andy

If you're going to use "heatsinkbikes" as the crankarm, why not use the www..com as the pedal? Quick 5 second MS paint job as I'm at work just to show you what I mean... Of course with better font etc.. Andy

I want to be in him Again.... Nice nipples.

Ahh, yeah I guessed it was something to do with Devon County Council. I did have a quick search to see if it had already been mentioned but I've clearly missed it. Feel free to delete. Andy

Just strolled past a bus stop on my lunch break and there was a big picture of a trials rider. On closer inspection it was André! Didn't stop to read what it was about because I didn't want to waste my short break on staring at a bus stop but if I go past it tomorrow I'll grab a picture of it. Nice one mate Andy P

Ahh young gun, Happy Birthday mate!!

As has already been said, in Skandinavia its law to have DRL's (day running lights). Not all Volvos have them (my '89 340 dosent) but after a certain date they all do. You might see some newer Volvos with their lights off - this dosen't mean that its an undercover police car. Most of the cars have the option to turn this feature off (my '98 S40 doesn't but my friends '00 S40 does) with a sequence of IGN on > pull back highbeam stalk > IGN off > release stalk. Even in bright daylight it makes you more visable to other road users (those that disagree, go down the motorway during the day and you'll be able to spot the cars that have their lights on without having to look for them. Obviously if everyone did it, it would reduce the effectiveness). I quite like it, I don't have to actively turn my lights on in the dark, or turn them off when I leave the car. I do often get the idiot that thinks I don't know my lights are on and proceeds to blind me by flashing their main beams. I usually greet them with a finger or a wave, depending on my mood. Andy P

I had a heart problem for about 2-3 years before I bothered to mention it to my parents who proptly booked me in to see the GP. Turns out I got SVT. Symptoms were pain in the chest, light headedness, raging pulse (could see my heartbeat through my top/hoodie) which could last anywhere between a few mins to an hour. Usually triggered by a scare (near faceplant, chain skip etc). Could sometimes stop it with a deep sharp intake of breath but I usually had to just laydown til it finished doing its thing. Told its fairly common and that I'm unlikely to die from it lol. They said if it happens again try and get in ASAP so they can get me on a heart monitor so they can record it. Its happened a handful of times since then and I've not bothered. Not really related but thought it was worth a mention. Andy P