Aha, right. I see what you’re saying now. You’re not saying that people buy a diesel for how they drive but that they should do, because that’s the only real argument for having one.

Sorry, I disagree. Diesels are bought for their economy and perceived reliability by the vast majority of people. The torque curves make for a good towing vehicle and diesels are now so refined it’s hard to tell the difference when you’re in the cabin. However, they’ve gone from reliable, tractor-like oil-burners to…

You folks have got a much better deal than us over the VW TDIs. This is generally the case with major faults with any manufacturer - Volvo, BMW and Mercedes (amongst many others) have all granted extended warranties on manufacturing faults that they then turn around and deny exist in Europe. Differing legislation,…

Sadly, you also get the problems associated with EGRs, DPFs, dual mass flywheels, injector failures and all the problems that come with modern diesels.

I’m inclined to agree. Whilst there’s still a possibility that something amazing will be pulled out of the hat, it does come across as a sulky, multi-million dollar finger to the BBC rather than the best that could be achieved. It looks fantastic, the sound design is amazing but it feels a bit like ordering the most…

Whilst I consider myself a reasonably well-educated chap, I had to look up George Bataille. And Of Montreal. They’re a bit late on for me to have actually had some influence - the 1980s were my era and the Cure, Smiths, Souxsie et.al. were something a bit different to the permed, power-pop... nothingness.. that was…

Having watched the Grand Tour and been slightly underwhelmed by it, having been assaulted in all senses by the Evan’s series of TG there is clearly one obvious course of action:

I married a Finnish goth girl in the mid 90s. We met at a Cure concert in Helsinki and I think I was the only person there with a short back and sides. It was also a long while before I realised she was actually a redhead...

I’m sure those will come, but I’m with you completely. It was a competent episode of ‘Not Top Gear’ and nothing more. Quite where all the millions were spent eludes me but the first show was never going to live up to the hype and hysteria surrounding it.

The ‘oddly’ references the French stereotype of quirky and unreliable when their diesel engines are neither.

Interestingly, a slew of problems with this engine seems to have occurred due to Mazda dealers not updating the engine management system so it knows a service has been performed.

Yup, and it’s pre-EGR, pre-DPF, free from all of the emissions systems both physical and electronic that seem to be rendering the current generation of diesels into scrap at comparitively low mileages.

Yup - I read it the same way you did in that they’re using some kind of heated metallic element (the catalyser) that’s downstream of the headers, but the DPF and EGRs will still be in place. They’ve basically managed to fit something that doesn’t strangle performance but complies with more stringent US environmental…

This guy is selling 3% of the UK’s remaining Renault 18s.

Hmmm... this particular engine has had a lot of problems in Europe. It’s fitted to the Mazda6 amongst others and, in the hands of someone who regularly (i.e. weekly) checks their engine fluid levels, it won’t catch you out but if you don’t....

Somewhere in my distant posting past is a comment owning up to bribing my neighbour’s little girl to change the bulbs on my wife’s V70 when they fail.

The original UK show was Scrapheap Challenge and quite a few of the series are available on our Channel 4's website - 4od.com. Unusually, it’s not geo-locked, but you do have to grab an account before you can watch. Worth the effort.

Ed: This is a nice, simple little job that anyone can do....

I’ll add a rusty Defender to your list as well, but this wasn’t a couple of kids driving about in an odd little car; this was a group of ultra-rich trust fund babies taking the piss out of how poor the East Germans were. Guffawing Thatcherism at it’s finest...

Well, I’m neither a professional historian or a naval architect, but the American claim that it was scuttled was made quite a long time ago. I think the general, professional concensus was that it would have sunk anyway, but scuttling speeded it up.