Vauxhall is wholly owned by Opel, and most cars are re-badged Opels - but a few Opels are re-badged Vauxhalls in return. From memory the Astra's a wholly UK-based design, and so is the new 4-seater convertible I can't remember the name of. The Adam as well?

Er, where did you go to buy this stuff? Have a look on ebay, there are plenty of 'hood scoops' for under $10. We get a lot of this kind of tat in 99p stores. The big Tesco down the road just got in a bunch of stupid wheel trims for about ten quid for a set of four.

Not quite. I'm pretty sure there is a Charles Mosley amongst the grandkids. But yes, I should have noticed the different spelling. In my defence, you spell it the normal way.

I realised what you meant. I was just tickled by the idea of combining Lamborghini and Maserati build quality. For some reason my mind immediately sprang to picking the worst bits of both. Can't imagine why.

I hadn't heard about that, but it makes sense. Fuel cells and so on? I'm not terribly well up on solar stuff, being based in the UK - not much call for it here except for subsidy junkies.

Hydrogen has advantages, but one massive disadvantage in this context: we already have a petrol distribution network, and hundreds of millions of petrol-powered vehicles. We have to modify or replace all of that to switch to hydrogen. Even if there's a small loss in converting hydrogen to petrol, there'd be the huge…

"our issues with petrol and fossil fuels is not so much a "fuel" problem as it is an "energy" problem"

It's nothing like as efficient as burning petrol directly. But it's about energy storage, not energy production. If instead of batteries and electric cars we can simply turn electricity into petrol, we don't need to replace all the cars and all the infrastructure.

"(Where are you, anyway?) "

A Maserati Miura? ;)

I agree with you on most of it, but I'd point out that 328s are only about a quarter or third more expensive, not double in price. I think you'll be very hard pressed to find a good 308 for much under $45k, although your definition of a good one may be less strict than mine.

Have you seen the prices? Starting to pick up again, but I'd say unloved doesn't begin to describe the pit they were in.

I don't know why the Mondial has that reputation. It's not particularly good or bad looking (for a Ferrari), it's one of the most reliable and easiest to work on Ferraris you can get, and they tend to be cheap. The handling and performance, particularly of the QV and on, is excellent.

I was having a quick look if 308s are cheaper than 328s - they are, a little bit - and I ran across this:

550 Barchetta - the only truly beautiful car Ferrari have made in twenty or thirty years.

What kind of pleb washes a car anyway?

You could try next-to, not on-top-of, for a start.

Well done, very Adrian Mole :)

Are you sure you don't have the car ownership the wrong way around, Jalop?

It wouldn't be a measuring bias, but a difference in how you drove. Not saying that's the answer, but it's worth considering. If you're sure about the ethanol, then that's more likely.