Our young motoring correspondent AUBREY BAGGPUSS VEHICLE BLOG BOOK MAY 2012 Car manufacturer Skoda is to stream live video content directly from the Geneva Motor Show for those avid motorists and journalists who are unable to attend. There is only one problem with this. Any motorist who is keen enough on motoring to want to attend the Geneva Motor Show will certainly not in any way be interested in what Skoda are up to. MAR 2012 Car maker VW has chosen the ridiculous name of 'UP' for its latest piddling model. The base version of this supposed 'city' car is called 'Take UP' whilst better appointed ones are called 'Move UP' followed by the 'High UP' which has heated front seats, etc. VW has been struggling with its smaller models, so I wonder if the 'UP' range will do any better? Of course, if it flops, they will have to re-christen it the 'F**K UP'. FEB 2012 We all know that the price of petrol varies but some garages have been very slow to pass on falls in the international price of oil to their customers, so it pays to shop around. When in East Yorkshire, I suggest you give the TOTAL Filling Station at Willerby a miss. On a recent visit in February we found they were selling Super Unleaded at a whopping £154.9p a litre! This is an outrageous price. The same fuel in York, Hull and Leeds on the same date was just £142.9 per litre. So, the next time you are driving past the Willerby Total station, do just that....keep driving. JAN 2012 For those of you who love web browsing, you may be attracted to the website 'How Many Left' which purports to tell you how many cars of each make still exist today. Forget it. This website is absolutely USELESS. It says no cars called Gordon Keeble exist. Funny then that 2 were for sale on EBay recently. It also claims there are no cars called Gilbern Invader on the road. If the owner cannot do better he should shut this useless site down and go and buy himself one of the cars he says do not exist!. SEP 2011 Good to see that an MP is pressing for classic cars to be exempt from MOT testing. East Yorks MP Greg Knight wants all pre-1960 cars to be exempt. Let's hope the government listen to him. AUG 2011 This month I went for a drink at the 3 Cups public house at Stanford Bridge. I asked for a large glass of house wine and got charged £6!! This is dearer than wine bars in inner-city York and in view of their inflated prices, I won't be going back. The three cups?? In view of their charges, it aught to be named 'the half cup'. JULY 2011 Went for a short break in Dorset and saw a red Jensen C-V8 . This 'model' had a Mark 2 rear end (correct for year) but a Mark 3 front end and had the wrong bumpers for the year fitted!! What is this, a Jensen Kaliedescope model - or, more likely, a car that has been in one hell of a shunt? You'd think the owner would have restored it to its original spec, not some half-and-half job JUNE 2011 A few months ago I recommended the Duke of York public house at Gate Helmsley, near York, to a couple of business friends of mine as being a good pub for food and for business networking, as they had free Wi-Fi for the use of their customers. Well, guess what? Having started to attract new custom as a result of their Wi-Fi facility, the landlady at this pub has now taken the Wi-Fi out! So, my advice now to anyone is to give this backward-looking pub a complete miss and go somewhere else that has moved -and stayed- in the 21st Century! APRIL 2011 This month I initially thought I was reading an April fool item when I saw a 1965 Jaguar S-Type being advertised. The car looked OK but then I saw that the Lowestoft dealer was asking £55,000 for it. However, I discovered that it was not a prank at all but that this really was the asking price! Oh, I am still laughing at the preposterousness of it. According to Octane magazine, a respected motoring publication, a Jaguar S-Type in excellent condition is worth £17,000., with a good one being nearer to £10,000. Take my advice -only pay that sort of money for an old 'S' type if there is a suitcase with £40,000 cash in it in the car boot!
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MAR 2011 I went shopping at the Halfords store in Beverley, East Yorks this month. Having noticed that the oil on sale there cost more than at my local supermarket (surprising as Halfords specialise in motoring products) I just selected a small number of other items and went to the check-out. 'Do you want a bag, Sir? I was asked and replied 'yes.' It was only I looked at the till receipt that I saw they had had the cheek to charge me 2p for the cheap and flimsy carrier bag that was plastered with their own self-advertising -without telling me! What a rip off. I handed the bag back and demanded a refund of the 2p. In view of this sharp practice and their inflated prices, I will certainly not be going back. To top it all, Halfords have a sign in their window which reads: 'We Will Not Be Beaten On Price.' Good. If you are stupid enough to visit a Halfords store, tell them most shops give carrier bags away for nothing and then challenge them to match that! FEB 2011 Every half-term in February I used to visit Javea (sometimes spelled Xabia) on the Costa Blanca in Spain for my holidays. What a great place it was - but no more. The town has been completely ruined by the construction of a plethora of viscious and unnecessary speed humps, all painted a hideous red and white colour! Further, unlike the UK, these are not just on quiet side roads to make them safer for kids, but are on all the main roads through the town. It seems as if the local Mayor and his idiot councillors are trying to get Javea awarded the title as 'the speed hump capital of the E.U.' What is worse there appears to be no 'speed hump standard' in Spain, so whilst they are all viscious, some are far worse than others. I am amazed at the residents putting up with it. I certainly won't be going back there. Take a tip: Steer clear of Javea -unless you want broken car suspension - and a broken back. JAN 2011 When I went for a drink at the Wellington Inn at Lund in East Yorkshire I soon regretted it.. I ordered a large glass of wine for my mate and a whisky for me. I was told curtly by the woman serving "We only serve small glasses of wine." When I expressed mild surprise by saying "Oh", I was astonished when this woman added: "We only serve small glasses of wine in the bar. If you go into our restaurant you can have a large glass in there." What possible logic can there be for refusing a customer a large glass of wine in the bar -which obviously gives them more profit than a small one- but agreeing to serve one if the customer goes into another room? So much for the customer is always right. What pomposity from a piddling rural village pub! Take a tip: Avoid the Wellington public house at Lund. Many pubs are struggling these days, so support one of those rather than these pompous prats. If my experience is anything to go by, the staff behave like they are doing YOU a favour. DEC 2010 They Have No Petrol -again. If, like me, you use super unleaded fuel, you can cut your fuel bill by NOT going to the garage on the Leven by-pass in East Yorkshire, because the odds are they probably won't have any. For the fifth time in the last 12 months they have run out of super unleaded petrol -and on 5th December 2010 they even ran out of all other fuel as well. It seems this garage is totally incapable of ordering enough fuel to supply the demand of their own customers. Take my advice and give Winters Filling Station a miss until they can work out how to order their own fuel supplies properly. * * * Well done the Mayor of London for cancelling a freebie for Sepp Blatter and the discredited Fifa team, following their world cup football decision in favour of Russia.. Personally, I don't care if Septic Blather never comes to Britain again. What this whole debacle shows is that Shifty Bladder and his team are not to be trusted. Indeed, how can anyone trust a character with the ridiculous name of Sip Bleeder! * * *
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