>> - The back is ugly, like I said. The front isn't the pretiest thing 
>> ever, but actually seeing it in daylight, it's not that bad.
> 
> And at dusk/night I guess you can't see it because it's dark grey :-)

Well, it's metallic so it's sort-of shiny. But no, you can't really see 
what anything looks like properly under low-pressure sodium lamps.

>> - The clutch doesn't enguage until you completely remove your foot 
>> from the pedal. You can lift the pedal all the way from the floor to 
>> almost fully released, and you're still not moving. Only in the last 
>> 5mm or so of travel do you get any power to the wheels.
> 
> My car is the opposite, the clutch engages as soon as you lift your foot 
> even slightly, and then there's only about 5mm until it's fully engaged. 
> Real fun if I drive a car like yours temporarily (eg a hire car) then go 
> back to my car, you end up jerking forwards and stalling a lot!

Yeah. I spent a lot of time on my way to work this morning sitting at 
traffic lights reving the nuts of my engine while not actually going 
anywhere.

My old car, as you release the pedal you gradually get more drive. On 
this one, it seems to be either "on" or "off". And it's only "on" when 
the pedal is 100% released.

>> This means that if I park my car and go shopping, and I happen to walk 
>> past a shop front that's fairly close to the car park, my car will 
>> unlock itself and allow anybody who notices and hops in to start the 
>> engine and drive off.
> 
> Mine is similar, but I have to put the "key" into the slot before I can 
> press the start button.  Are you sure the engine start button works as 
> soon as the doors are unlocked?  Maybe the key needs to be closer to the 
> car (like 1 meter) before it will start?

Mine does in fact have a slot to insert the key into. But this morning 
the key never left my coat pocket, on the back seat, and the car still 
started just fine.

More interesting is the fact that you can't turn the lights off, even 
when the engine isn't running. Sounds like a nice recipe for a flat battery!

>> I still haven't found a way to lock the car yet. Presumably if I walk 
>> far enough away, it will lock. (But I'll be far away, so I have no way 
>> of verifying this.)
> 
> Yes that seems silly, it would mean my car would never lock as there are 
> typically only a couple of walls between my keys and my car.  Are there 
> no buttons on the "key" to force it to lock?

There are, but the markings on them have almost completely worn off, so 
I can't tell what they do.

>> - Rather than having the normal 4 or the extravagent 5 gears, it has 
>> 6. I'm not sure why.
> 
> It is not normal to have 4 gears - maybe 30 years ago it was.  The last 
> car I saw with 4 gears cost me 100 pounds 10 years ago, and it was 
> already 10 years old.  Nowadays any car with a half decent engine has 6 
> gears.

I have never seen any car anywhere with 6 gears in my entire life. I've 
only seen one or two that have 5 gears. I still don't really see what 
the advantage is. (Other than that bigger numbers sell more...)

>> You'd think they would use this to add more gears to the top of the 
>> range; but no.
> 
> Uhh, why?  I have never thought to myself "oh i wish i had a 7th gear to 
> change up into now".

I think that all the time...

>> brakes are very sharp. (Presumably it just had new brake shoes or 
>> something.)
> 
> Or maybe because it actually has 4 brake discs with pads and no drums or 
> shoes :-)

I was under the impression that drum brakes are more efficient.

>> Overall I'm happy with my car. Just gotta iron out the kinks. 
>> (Starting with that back window...) Oh, and it would be kind of nice 
>> if I could look up the spec list for it, but first I'd have to figure 
>> out WTF it *is*!
> 
> http://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/index.jsp
> 
> Click "Vehicle Enquiry" on the left and type in your registration number.

I already did that. It tells me it's a 2.0 L engine and that the CO2 
emissions are 191 g/Km (I don't know if that's measured or spec'd), and 
the date of manufacture. Doesn't tell me anything extra about the exact 
model. (In fact, you have to tell then the make and model along with the 
registration number.)

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