Stubbylee Blog

If all the vehicles displaying Motorway Maintenance stickers were banned from the roads there would be no traffic congestion.

Why is it that so many people can afford to drive expensive Mercedes & BMW’s but can’t afford a hands free headset for their mobile.

Beware of cars driven by people wearing head gear. These fall into 4 categories.:

1. Women in headscarves or hats (in some cases both) who will spend more time talking to their passenger - invariably another woman similarly attired - rather than getting on with driving.

2. Elderly men in flat caps trundling along in the middle lane at 50mph because that’s fast enough for them and should be for everyone else

3. Baseball cap wearers either boy racers or middle aged men determined to let no one past

4. People wearing baseball caps back to front - Sorry but if you can’t even put a cap on the right way round she shouldn’t be let anywhere near a steering wheel.

Traffic matricees lie. They tell you what the road conditions were like 2 hours ago or will be like tomorrow but any relation to what they are now is purely coincidental.

Travel news informing you of massive delays will come on the radio 30 seconds after you’ve passed the junction to avoid the hold up. By the way why is there so little travel news at weekend - doesn’t our journey to do something interesting matter? During the week when you are only trying to get to work the damn bulletins interrupt every 2 minutes

After the second time that my car had to be jump started in 4 days it was off to get a new battery fitted. As its a lease car everything has to be approved, signed for, written down in triplicate, authorisation codes approved, information given so the whole process takes three times as long as you could do it yourself.  Its back in the garage tomorrow for repairs - I flashed my lights when some moron in a van cut me up on a roundabout and the indicator arm broke off, leaving me waving it around.  As I was near London at the time I had to drive back sticking my finger inside the steering wheel sheath to move the stub of the arm up or down to indicate. Occassionally I’d forget & try to press the indicators where it used to be my hand flapping hopelessly next in thin air.

There’s just been an advert on TV for Vauxhall Astra - Fall in love with driving again. Yep - that will be the day when I’m finally shut of the lump of junk

It was a hectic week last week with the build up to the Championship show last Sunday., compounded by a lot going on at work that took me away a couple of times during the week. The week before a show, particularly the Champ show is taken up with final preparations, making sure everything is available and in order. It was even more important this show, as it was our first time at the venue we were likely to have a Field Officer’s visit.

Dog food specials arrived from Royal Canin so the hall and downstairs loo were filled with bags and cases of dog food, like a Berlin Wall partitioning the house. Then there are the catalogues, prize cards, rosettes, CC’s, all the show paperwork and other paraphernalia – all of it to be transported to the show. With the dogs to take we have 2 cars full of things and even more I could take if I had a bigger car – perhaps we should have a trailer as well.

It all seemed likely to be doom and gloom in advance of the show, the weather forecast threatened heavy snow showers and the entry was average in numbers. In the run up to the show I don’t think I’ve ever had so many people ringing to check what dogs they’ve entered.  The show itself went pretty well, despite the weather there were very few absentees. People seemed to like the venue and enjoy the day, its really nice at the end of the day to have people thank you for a good show. There’s a time as secretary when you wonder why you do the job but days like that make it worthwhile.

I should be doing the wrap up work for the show but instead I’m away again for a couple of days for work (I’m sat in a hotel near Heathrow writing this – isn’t life glamorous NOT!! ). With Scottish Hound at the weekend, and going out on Sunday there’s going to be a lot of catching up to do hopefully it should be finished by the weekend then its on with AGM preparation still, its not as if I’m missing anything interesting on TV.

My company decided four years ago to change their company car scheme from Ford to Vauxhall so when my beloved Galaxy was due to be replaced I had a difficult decison what to choose. The Zafira seemed the logical choice but looking at onethere is absolutely no comparison between the 2 despite what Vauxhall’s marketing may think. So I decided o take a cheaper alternative and use the money saved to buy our own Galaxy to transport our dogs.

I decided on a Vauxhall Astra and as I drive over 100 miles per day went for the LPG option. This restricted my choice of body style and engine size so I finished up with a 1.4 SXI 5 door hatchback.

BIG MISTAKE

Firstly the 1.4 engine is pathetic it has all the performance of an arthritic tortoise, its embarrassing being beaten away from traffic lights by lorries, buses even people with Zimmer frames seem to move faster. Then there’s the LPG system. It looks a really neat system with a switch on the right of the dashboard to chage between petrol & gas. The single fuel gauge serves both systems showing the fuel reserves for whichever system you are running on. When on LPG there’s a flashing indicator on the fuel switch to let you know when its running on petrol. Due to the superb ergonomics of the car its impossible to see this switch from your normal driving position so a couple of times I’ve actually run out of fuel as I hadn’t realised its switched over to petrol. The conversion itself was pretty poor; firstly the LPG just wouldn’t fill at some pumps so the car spent about a week in the garage before that was fixed. Then it kept knocking itself onto petrol and generally running badly on LPG. It spent over a month in the garage on and off whilst they failed to find the problem. The Vauxhall dealers for all their best efforts had no idea how to deal with LPG having to refer to millbrook for advice. No wonder Vauxhall no longer offer an LPG option

Don’t let me give the impression I don’t like LPG I do. Our Galaxy has been converted and I’d gladly convert our next car - just make sure you choose a decent garage who know what they are doing.

Externally the paintwork is terrible - no other word for it - even after only 50000 miles it had all chips all over, not just on the bonnet but wings, doors even the roof. I’ve never seen as poor a quality finishg on a modern car. Inside the car is cheap and plasticy - they’ve tried to make it look flash but failed abysmally it would have been a lot better if they’d just kept it simple. Pseudo brushed aluminium looks exactly like cheap plastic intended to look like brushed aluminium; the centre console in its stylish silvery grey plastic compliments - well nothing at all really. It would also be nice if the build quality was good but it isn’t. The worst thing though are the seats - the most uncomfortable place to sit I’ve experienced even church pews are better. On a long drive after around 100 miles I have to stop to rest and if I have to drive home from London the next day I’m aching and exhausted. This car is to luxury and comfort what motorway services are to Michelin Star cuisine. 

To be fair to the car it does have its good points, the handling and cornering are very good altough it doesn’t have the get up and go to get into any real difficulties, the panoramic sunroof (fitted as an optional extra) is really good making the car feel nice and airy and the glove box is Tardis like seeming bigger than the rest of the car.

How would I sum up the car? - simply its the worst car I’ve had in the last 20 years - and people who know us will remember some pretty dodgy motors.