Red Diesels Thoughts At Tea Time

[Red diesel]

Today at tea time red diesel has been thinking

Got my 3 assignments done - - i got a bit carried away with one of them however and alas i bought my own knowledge into the discussion

- so i am hoping that good levels of knowledge won't be confused with the horrible P word (plagerism). I have not plagerised - all information i got from books and other sources for this assignment is fully referenced as required. Anything thats not referenced is my own original work based on my own existing knowledge of the subject(s) being covered.

However when i explained this to lecturer on handing up assignment - he said yeah thats fine - but in a way that suggested he wasn't really paying attention to what i was saying. I really can't be doing for example with the idea of referencing the fact that a Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDI without a turbo produces 68 bhp wheras one with a turbo produces between 90 bhp and 130 bhp (some late Mk 1 Octavias had the 1.9 PD 130 in 03/04) when as a car enthusiast i knew this information long before doing this assignment. i did put in brackets how i knew the information - ie that i was a car enthusiast for that particular gem.

The information was very relevant for what was being discussed at that section of the article - but alas how am i supposed to go searching for a reference for something i already knew (i already tried for other information that would have pushed the boundaries too much - internal industry knowledge that by rights i shouldn't know lol and failed so it got left out lol). If that was the case sure - just get a selection of books and quote to high heaven. At the end of the day one needs to bring existing knowledge into these assignments - otherwise its too academically biased. I had the same situation last semester but with a different lecturer - but she actually listened and bought into the idea that i knew lots of err stuff before college and that thus some of this knowledge would appear in an assignment but without a reference because

it was based on what i knew already so that piece of the relevant assignment was my own original work . And that really is the potential sticking ground - the bit about the Octavia was my own original work for this assingment because it was something i knew already - i didn't get the information out of a book for this assignment - i already knew it but the alternative viewpoint is that the information had to come from somewhere. And it did - from magazine reading some years ago and the fact that i am constantly reading about cars - but if we go down that road and say the Datsun Stanza 1.8 hatchback was :censor: (in my bizzare world i don't agree but lol) we would have to prove that we actually drove one and didn't just assume that a whatMotorautodream machine magazine road test was actually correct lol.

Its a tough life having opinions and ideas on stuff - College doesn't reward radical changing the world ideas - we were doing innovation - so the idea of being creative came into play. But alas we were required to refer to one Mr Gary Hamel in our assignment - but alas i happen to think the guy is a bit of an idiot, i know i know i display tendancies along those line myself but lol this Mr Hamel is supposed to be an expert. I can get over the fact that he once reckoned Enron was great, but we are told by (inspite of being asked to believe his theory was the best) our lecturer that lots of people disagree with him. Now believing enron was a good example of how to do things - is fine (no ones perfect)

having lots of people disagree is fine (im still amazed that the Toyota Owners club complaints dept hasn't being on to me yet about the crap i write ) but to have both againsed your name is one black mark too many lol.

I suppose i should go off and be a good boy and do as im told lol - and stop giving out

Red diesel

[Red diesel]

So today red diesel is thinking....

The car needs a polish asap lol - on another forum i saw pictures of an e38 (94 to 02) 7 Series BMW

prior to and after clean up. My oh my what a difference, unfortunately im now going to have day dreams of owning a 7 series

BMW. But what the heck - its good to dream .

Alex Ferguson is some man like him or not - he really has achieved something amazing at Man utd.

3 year old Vectra with 170 000 miles in amazing condition thats like the sort of thing id buy - the thing looked amazing and

appearently drives beautifully. Unfortunately ive being spending too much time thinking about Saab 9 5s (the just replaced 97 to 2010 model)

i mean i know they are GM machines underneath - but just how bad could a cheap one at 1000 euros be. I know about the issue of oil starvation due to crankcase breather (i think) getting blocked and the T chain snapping as a result. But id be off the view (im sure someone working in a

Saab dealer will be along to correct my mistaken viewpoint ) that if the car is running fine that the damage isn't done (yet) and that thus its a case of simply changing the crankcase breather. Of course people think that its only a cheap machine so why would you do that work

to it. But my thinking is that if you get am immaculate one with leather and all the toys - even with a little work needed (crankcase breather preventative maintenance) you could (potentially) have nice comfy motoring for the next 4 or 5 years at a small purchase price.

Probably not the most amazing car in the world to drive - but right now im motoring in a 2.0 normally aspirated diesel that most people

would find bores them to tears and am happy (easily amused me lol). So the Saab should be fine - these have a 2.0 turbo so have some decent

amount of power (with other manufacturers id have to go to a 2.5 or 6 to get the same power lol). Not the most amazing handling im sure - but

ive never being into firing cars around bends. What im more into is some decent comfort. Of course like most idle thoughts of mine it may never

happen - if i bought every car i ever thought of buying - id need an aircraft hangar to store them all (and be having crisis meetings with the bank manater every 15 minutes). Seeing that our local council insist on brown PVC windows (every bit as horrible looking as they sound ) for houses im sure they would welcome a planning permission

for a big heated shed to house 30 Bluebirds 10 Sierras, 2 LS 400s and about 40 other wierd and wonderful things like Renault 11 1.6 diesel

vans and Datsun Stanza 1.6 GLs (did i mention that i have wierd taste in cars ) with great enthusiasm lol.

Sure the local shrink will probably even be wanting an emergency meeting to discuss the fact that i have potentially owned up to the

fact that i might actually like Stanzas (and not the poem variety either) on a public forum . Could be worse i suppose lol.

The other thing ive being wondering about is how debit cards work - my dearly beloved bank have switched my normal ATM card for one that is also

a debit card. How do these work - i know how credit cards work but what can i use a debit card for. I assume i don't have the same usability as

a credit card because (i imagine since its a debit card) that the money comes out of my account and i can only spend what i have in the bank.

red diesel (the man who is far too found of an opinion and with wierd taste in cars)

[Red diesel]

Today at tea time red diesel is thinking

Saabs - i know i shouldn't - but, the damn blighters are ridiculously cheap, especially since they often come with toys like

leather and climate. My bank manager will be pleased to know that some of the scare stories on GM 900s and Mk 1 93s would drive one to drink. You think modern Toyotas are bad lol. Try looking up some Saab forums may have to face the bullet and face into a Peugeot 406 high

spec HDI at some point to quinch my thirst for a european saloon (i am reluctantly arriving at the conclusion that the 9 5 maybe just a little too big).

Car has passed NCT today - yee haw, two more years motoring

Car manufacturer mergers are a bad thing - see Saab and Nissan reliability reviews post take over by a certain big american outfit (GM) and a certain french outfit (Renault) . If (unlikely i know but) someone from GM or Renault is reading this - could you perhaps explain why

it never occoured to you to get Saab to produce a new chassis for use in Opels and Vauxhalls rather than making Saab use crap GM technology. And why Nissan had to use crappy french cheap bits and sacrifice reliability . I wonder if Saabs battle for survival would have had

a more positive outcome a number of years ago if they were still joined up with Scania. Afterall that was the era they were making petrol cars

that would do 300 k miles without sweat at a time when with other makes 100 k miles was an amazing achievements. Can't beat the old classic (pre GM 900s and the old 9000s. Almost as good as a 2.0 diesel Corolla IDI in saying all of this however the new 9 5 looks very promising now that Saab have addressed early press criticism (Autocar only gave the saloon 2 stars - but have now given the estate 4 stars and

the Saloon is getting the revisions made to the estate that have led to the extra stars) and hopefully the new 9 3 will be good. I think

the industry needs an independant Saab.

Better go i have an exam on soon

Red diesel