Conquest

Said goodbye to my Corolla yesterday, flying overseas on Saturday for the next 12 months...

Just replaced my tyres with a set of these the other day, $150 a tyre for 205/50/16

Personally I find them pretty quiet, can't hear them when travelling over 70k's/hour on the highway. It's only when i'm slowing down I get a weird woop woop sound, not sure if it's the tyres or wheel balance issues. Apart from that i've been looking forward to driving on wet roads, the amount of grip is amazing and they still aren't fully run in yet...

Apart from that it looks like Bob Jane has a special on 15" Yokohama A Drives @ $142 a piece, is this good value?

Which A.Drives are you referring to?

This one

No mention of R1 or performance so I assume they're standard tyres.

How is the Bridgestone all round performance, wet weather and noise? As I said i'll most likely be giving the car away so first and foremost i'm after something safe and comfortable.

Ok rego's coming up and I need some new tyres. Still undecided whether to keep my 16" 205/50/16 or go back to stock 15" 195/60/15 as I probably won't be in the country much longer so i'll be giving the car to a relative while i'm gone.

One of the few 'legal' 16" options seems to be Toyo Proxes and they get pretty good reviews, are they still around $180 a piece?

Apart from that it looks like Bob Jane has a special on 15" Yokohama A Drives @ $142 a piece, is this good value?

Will probably check out the local Tyrepower and Blairs in the coming weeks, any other suggestions are more than welcome...

I'd give it a 10.

Almost 6 years & 80k (around 15k per year), needs a major service but i've been putting it off for the last 2 years <_<

Clutch and brakes are strong and the paint is still in very good condition despite being washed maybe two or three times a year. Inside the seats and carpets are holding up well, the a/c is ice cold and there have been no broken panels or switches or electrical faults.

Sounds like I neglect my car but then again I don't drive too often, usually once or twice a week. FWIW most of the k's were clocked up in the first few years commuting up and down the F6...

It's Oak Flats, my former home town. Apparently designed by Walter Burley Griffin, the same guy who designed Canberra. That also explains why the streets are named after former PM's e.g. Barton, Deakin & Wentworth...

So you're opposite the lake eh, I used to live on the lake side.

Oak Flats

Not true - Australia uses PAL 50hz, therefore multiples of 50hz e.g. 100hz and 200hz are correct. The US uses NTSC 60hz which is why you see multiples of 120hz etc.

True.... but doesn't this only take into account local stuff?

Not really, any decent tv advertised at 100hz etc should be able to scale comfortably. I guess that's another thing to look out for with cheaper tv's, how good is their internal scaling?

The term PAL is often used informally to refer to a 625-line/50 Hz (576i, principally European, African and Asian) television system, and to differentiate from a 525-line/60 Hz (480i, principally American and Japanese) NTSC system

FYI my Bravia can handle PAL, PAL60 & NTSC video @ 1080/24p, 1080p/i, 720p, 576p/i & 480p/i...

even 100 hz is ok although 120hz better, from what ive read samsung and sony's new 200hz is failry pointless as need to go in multiples so 240hz would be the better hz rate etc

Not true - Australia uses PAL 50hz, therefore multiples of 50hz e.g. 100hz and 200hz are correct. The US uses NTSC 60hz which is why you see multiples of 120hz etc.

Anyway you've probably seen this thread and associated threads on Whirlpool.

Also the prices don't seem particularly good e.g. 47" HD set for $1,699 - when I was shopping around I found a few Philips and older series Bravias for around the same price, probably a bit cheaper with some haggling. Don't forget to factor in the additional shipping and warranty costs on the Kogan.

And if all else fails there is always eBay . ;)

20th August 2007

Easy, was my birthday and I specifically remember it since it was a bad day at work due to a major corporate action.

Didn't get home until well after 11pm after starting at 8.30 in the morning

1st April 2007

Also, I've noticed that the badging on my corolla is different. Like how the 'Conquest' is right after the 'Toyota' and not below the 'Corolla'. I bought the car new and it came like that. Pictures are right below:

Yep something strange going on there...

Also issues with the grill as there is a slight bump on the hood above the toyota badge on my car.

Well you could get the TRD mesh grill, alternatively there's the Levin &/or Sportivo chrome or painted surround. Looks a million times better than the stock black plastic.

I saw 'KIM 69S' on an old Hyundai Tiburon the other day...

...Unfortunately Kim looked like an old 40 something bogan

It's been done but we'll probably never see it down under...

Toyota Blade Master G

Got a K200D myself and couldn't be happier, IMO it is a bargain under $600. I already had a Pentax SLR so it made the choice easy.

Pros: Great image quality, tough weatherproof construction, inbuilt IS, takes regular AA batteries (alkaline or lithium) which is pretty handy when travelling, good range of lenses plus it takes the old Pentax K mount lenses so there are some bargains to be found.

Cons: No live view, a bit heavier/chunkier than some competitors which is not neccesarily a bad thing.

If you want a good camera/lens combo for all conditions I would recommend the K200D with a Pentax 50mm F1.4 lens, you'll miss out on zoom but it takes sharp clear pictures day or night.

Maybe i'm missing your point but my '03 Conquest has folding side mirrors stock, not sure why the facelift would be any different.

Takes a little effort to click them out of place, I was kinda nervous about breaking something the first time.

This toxic treat is brought to you by Food Republic, Beijing...

So much wrong with that ad and not because of its supposed shock value.

On the side view at the start (0:56) and end (0:13) you see the car go across a wooden fence, but on the straight ahead shot (0:54) it's coming straight for them. The red car is maintaining it's lane well clear of the silver car but then it's magically on the wrong side of the road causing another head on crash.

Continuity aside I guess the lesson is to keep your dog locked up and don't flirt with your gf on the side of a busy road with your back turned to the traffic, common sense really...

just curious since it seems so many people are taking this thing seriously.

There are many people that take BB, Idol & Nigerian 419 scams seriously but it doesn't make them good.

Idiocracy FTW

Gee with a 23km/h average you must be sitting in some pretty heavy traffic ;) Anyway new engines also take a little while to loosen up a bit so you should see much better fuel economy in the coming weeks.

BTW you must have a Levin ZR or Ultima with Optitron to get those readings, correct?

Because that's a feature I wouldn't mind but it's not in a model I want to buy (Levin being a hatch and Ultima being an auto)...

Well I guess the positive message here is that most people are getting it detected and treated early.

But sadly my mum died of breast cancer around 20 years ago...

Hate to break it to you but the last couple are sorta fake.

The storm pictures below (or above in this case) were taken during a North Atlantic storm February, 13, 1987

Believe it or not it was actually Friday the 13th ;)

http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/spruceglen.htm

Just caught this clip after the Gorillaz concert on ABC2

The song is False Lies by Exhausted and you can find out more here...

http://www.abc.net.au/4minutewonders/showcase/war.htm

7eK3XbMNqzE

In case that wasn't enough here's another Monkey Dust war parody <_<

1N8dw4aPgW8

Haven't been posting much, haven't been driving much either <_<

Anyway my car is almost due for its 4th birthday and that means service time and a pink slip (or e-certificate or whatever it's called these days).

I missed my last 6 month service so it's been almost year between drinks but I just realised that the next 2 year/40k major service is probably due, the only thing is that my car hasn't even hit 60,000k's yet let alone 80k. So whaddya reckon, is it worth doing the major service now? Or should I just stick with the regular 3.5yr/70,000k service?

actually the Ultima and Levin ZR versions have HID Projectors

Yeah I know, all of my 'misses out' cons relate to features that are available but not in a model I want to buy (Levin being a hatch and Ultima being an automatic)

Did anyone get a promo flyer in the mail recently? Or am I just lucky

Anyway I decided to have a look on the Toyota site and i'm not really impressed so far, at least not enough to give up my current (pre facelift) model Conquest sedan quite yet.

Pros:

IMO the new model sedan looks quite good (& I like the graphite colour)

6 speed manual transmission

ABS as standard

Comes with 205/55 16" alloy wheels (about time they put some bigger/wider rubber on as standard)

Dual front, side & knee airbags

Fog lights as standard

Remote boot release

6 CD changer with bluetooth & AUX

Steering wheel mounted controls

Cruise control

Leather wheel & gearknob

Anything else?

Cons:

Still only 100kW

Misses out on HID/Projector lamps

Misses out on auto headlights/wipers

Misses out on keyless entry/start

Misses out on climate control

Misses out on Optitron display with trip computer, fuel economy, range etc

So all in all while there are a few worthwhile safety improvements and a couple of extra luxuries included on the new model Conquest sedan i'm quite disappointed that they skipped all of the 'cool' new gadgets. I'm not really interested in the Levin ZR but I wish they would offer the Ultima sedan as a manual.

In the meantime I guess i'll sit back and see what TRD have to offer or else i'll continue to save for an IS250 towards the end of the year...

EDIT: Just an interesting note, the sedan is lower than the hatch (1475mm vs 1515mm) and also sits closer to the ground (102mm vs 113mm)