Just Bliss!

This is really addressed to all those people out there that own a 4WD car and seem to forget that this makes their car better suited to being off the road than, say, a saloon. This lunch as I was driving down a pretty narrow country road in Kent, some Honda owner decides that despite the fact that the road was only wide enough for one-and-a-half cars and there was plenty of opportunity for them to move into the verge, they were going to force me off the road.

Now I KNOW that the CR-V has 4WD capabilities and a higher ground clearance than my car. Surely, given their commanding view of the road, they know this too. They bought the car after all. Your car is better suited to getting up on that verge whereas getting off the road because of your attitude is more likely to damage mine.

It would only have taken a few moments to move over, get on the verge and let me pass but NO. Perhaps feeling a sense of empowerment and self importance because of their vehicle’s size, I was essentially forced to get off the road and into the rough gutter and listen to an unhealthy metallic clunk as I did so.

What is the point in getting a car with off-road ability, nice chunky tires and high-clearance if you’re going to insist upon only driving on the tarmac all the time even at the expense of other people’s cars?! Surely the shcool run isn’t that perilous these days that you feel you need the extra assurance when dropping the kiddies off?

If you have a 4wd and a car on the same narrow bit of road doesn’t, do the decent thing and use it, please.

I’m well in excess of six foot tall so a little car like these isnt going to be at the top of my favourite cars list anyway, but they don’t help themselves. The Elise or its periguin counterpart are not exactly an all out race cars, but the damn thing is less than comfortable at most.

I find the interior is like sitting in one of those horrible plastic seats you used to get at primary school, you’re effectively sat on the floor of the car, with a canope wrapped over your head. Sure it feels rigid and stable, but I want that from a jet fighter, not a little sporty 2 seater, and does anyone have an explanation for the MASSIVE dashboard? Exposed metal, it all feels very tinny, to me it feels like alot for your money but some people prefer this type of car, a good friend of mine has his for daily driving (as long as its not wet, vicious little things in the wet.. that and he doesnt like it getting dirty).

I just cant imagine traveling to work every day in what effectively is a go-kart with large shell over it. Lotus might be comfier, but  who cares right?

What your interested in at the end of the day is the presence of the car. It’s all about the image the car portrays, the Lotus Elise (and the VX) is a sporty car, the ladies love them and lets face it they are more than capable cars which you could take straight onto a track day without needing much preperation, nearly every Lotus dealer has a range of models in stock these days, as well as the sportier Exige, go test drive one.

It might be the right car for you… Right?

Okay, so it would appear Toyota might have lost their backbone, their all out sports performance appeal but are targeting a more playful market..

This crazy advert for the Rav4 just cracks me up, there is another one where they’re spinning a car around with someone on top then stop suddenly sending him into a set of over sized bowling skittles, this one however, is far superior!

If Toyota have made the new Rav4 as fun as these videos portray then they might be onto a serious winner.

Couple this with the absolutely insane Yaris adverts, which are obviously not aimed at someone from the UK but quite cute never the less…

Who ever Toyota are employing for advertising must be seriously out of their heads, to come up with things like human bowling and jousting ontop of cars. Perhaps just one too many episodes of Dirty Sanchez before an important advertising meeting. They’re from Newcastle right?

I expect to be greeted by a sales person at what ever Toyota dealer I walk into, but they have to be dressed in a coat of arms and tin helmet for authenticity. Or a sieve like in the advert, yeah that’d do.

Friday afternoon, winding down now towards 5pm, listening to the Dire Straits.. Who I’ve never really paid much attention to before, but what can you do? (leave a song on repeat and not realise, that’s how chilled out we are at the moment)

Xbox360 Modding Gone Mad

These are something I stumbled upon earlier in the week, but figured I should probably bookmark them to share at a later date, whilst I dont always use my 360 for a lot of gaming, it does prove to be a rather useful, if excessively loud DVD player. I used to mod PC cases all the time. Oh yes I love my dremel. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, they’re both equally temperamental, will break down on you when you’re least expecting it, absolute money pits, that we cant help but adore.

Some women may look at that as an insult, don’t. You might not be much use at carrying paving slabs in your rear end back from the nearest DIY shop, but you make us happier when the car is having one of its “things”.

Although, both need regular fluid changes, and a good servicing every now and then. I guess women and cars have more in common than I originally thought.

An awesome clip from Blackadder I just remembered, “Treat your woman like you treat your kite…”

Yeah okay so its not the best of links, but you feel better for watching it now right?  If you haven’t already guessed it, my trusty daily drive broke down on me yesterday, leaving me stranded and 2 hours late for work. So much for a reliable daily drive. I still have no idea whats wrong with it, so Ive had to resort to taking my drift car to work, which is great apart from it’s built for the track. Harsh roads + hard suspension and a bucket seat is not the way to travel in comfort.

To Scrappage or not to Scrappage

So what is there to do now, the Omega (the failmobile which broke down on me) is over ten years old so it qualifies for the scrappage incentive scheme. Whilst strictly it isn’t my car, I do use it more than its owner and therefor I think I get a say in what should replace it. The amount of new and used car dealers near me is unreal, Canterbury, Ashford, Maidstone, all the big towns are saturated in them. You can’t drive for 40 seconds without seeing a forecourt, so the question is not where to buy from, it’s what to buy? Volvo, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lotus, Abarth? Shall I go on?

£2000 trade-in allowance is what you get with the scrappage scheme, I’m not sure the car is worth £2000 so that could work out in my favour, and with new cars you don’t need MOT’s for the first year do you?

Hmmm, choices choices, a sensible, Eco loving, low tax Volvo, or a sporty little number like a 500 Abarth… No no, be sensible you already have a sports car.

I guess I should pick which ever one is least like a woman (I’d hope the Volvo) I guess?

I have a problem, I’m quite average.

By that I mean that in real life I’m a horrible shot, I can’t snowboard to save my life, and the list goes on… In fact the list of things that I can’t do beyond a mundane level is much longer than the list of things that I can. This is why project natal, microsoft’s latest announcement for the xbox360 worries me. The concept is amazing, don’t get me wrong, hell it’s made me decide to buy an xbox…

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m a new blogger on this site so thought it would be a good idea to give you some background…
My name is Tobin Taylor, and I lead an interesting life. I’m currently a weather man, as well as being a field engineer and spy for a crack military team. I’m also a Ranger, a web streaming guru, and a member of the SAS. When I’m not doing that, I’m one of the few survivors of a horrendous plague, as well as being the drumer in a major band, and believe it or not I’m pretty lazy and I do not have multiple personalities. Read the rest of this entry »

Well it’s been a busy busy week here at JustBliss Towers, the heavens have just opened and we are experiencing a nice tropical storm, in the South of England, lovely.

To explain the lack of updates would be a good idea so here we go…

AllUPlay Gaming Blog

This was a little puppy of mine from years back, something I began to work on and then had to put on the bench to ferment and grow into a more mature cheddar, or something to that effect. Anyway the important thing is it now has posts, it has reasons to have posts, and there will be another site like this coming soon. The site is powered by gamers, real gamers blogging about games, hardware and accessories, not reviewers or journalists. A true gaming blog.

Read the rest of this entry »

Valve have announced that Left 4 Dead is returning from.. well It didnt have time to go anywhere but at least it looks like some more content is coming, hopefully it’ll be a little more fun than the fad it has generated.

All I ask for is that they take into account the Zombie Mod which was so successful on CS:S with the movable objects to create your own blockades and holding areas to try and distance yourself from the on coming horde.

• New Survivors
• New Boss Zombies
• New Weapons
• Meelee Weapons
• New Items

If its coming out on the Xbox360 or the PC or both hasn’t been confirmed as far as I can see, but hears to hearing some updated hellish zombie screams down our headsets in the future.

Speaking of which, the Astro mix amp is a hefty bit of kit, but well worth the money and could prove to be useful if your wondering how to use xbox 360 headsets with left 4 dead, as apparently it seperates the voice and the game channels and gives you choice over which dominates! Only place you can get these in the UK is from Lime so check it out.

Original Source http://www.gamershell.com/news_77318.html

Watch the trailer: http://www.gamershell.com/download_46036.shtml

Subaru used to be kings when it came to the sportswagon game, the old Impreza’s and Legacys were a class of their own with performance and masses of usable space, a mans car.

It used to be a case of “Want a mans car? Go find a Subaru for sale, job done”. But these days where are they? Not at the Subaru dealers it seems…

So whats left for the Sportswagons

Well the only real players in this market that seem to know what they are doing are Volvo and surprisingly the mysterious Alfa Romeo, I have to admit, for an estate car these really look the part.

You should choose, but the two I’ve picked are: 

• Volvo V50 Sportswagon
• Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon

Both gorgeous looking, strong character and gallons of space, perhaps enough to put a swimming pool in the back, though thats out for debate, Volvo dealers should probably be used to that question!

The sporty Alfa has a certain look of a standard 159 which has been stretched in a limousine-esq style, but everyone knows Volvo have a vast wealth of experience of tried and tested examples of estate cars, but prehaps not sports cars like its Italian counterpart. Maybe Subaru have lost their nerve and just cant keep up with the demand these days. 

Volvo or Alfa Romeo?

If it was me, Id have the trusty Volvo. Why? Because it looks better, is going to last for at least hmm.. 300 years, and did I mention it looks better?

Both available from Volvo and Alfa Romeo dealer - Lipscomb.

PS. Researching these cars has led me to an amusing discovery, the discovery of just how many people are spelling Alfa Romeo as Alpha Romeo, all 165,00 of you!