Be Excellent To Each Other

I saw a Rolls Royce with 'D1' on it the other day.

Big deal, I saw a bus with 1D on it.

IDGI

I assume it was a comment on the size of the damned thing.

Someone was trying to parallel park a Rolls outside our office the other day. It wasn't as huge as the one in the pic, but it was pretty hefty, and he was making a right meal of it ( says the guy who screws up parking his dinky little car ). However, I bet most people who drive cars like that are actually full time drivers, rather than the owners.

Indeed. That's an old 3 series next to it.

It does make that E30 look like a toy. I loved my E30.

I drove to Carterton yesterday to buy a space saver tyre for £60 off Gumtree ad.
On the way back started to hear a squeaking noise from the engine (probably a belt) but it's ok today no noise?

Ignore it until it comes back, then

Then upgrade your stereo.

That's the plan but I hate odd noises in a car that I have not owned for a while, a mechanic at my local garage has agreed to look over it for me tomorrow morning at no charge.

Just done a recall check &

According to our records there is some outstanding work to be carried out on the VIN you entered.
pud : fuel lid does not open

What's that? the fuel cap?

Aye, I assume you have an internal release button for a flap that covers the fuel cap? It'll be that.

Don't run out of fuel unless you have a screwdriver handy?

What's this recall check?

The button release works fine on mine but what the hell I'll take it in for a check.

I expect the recall is because at some point it'll stop working fine

Just spoke to the garage, Aircon needs re-gassing (hoping it is not the compressor) & I can't find the frickin Alloy locking wheel nut key.

He is happy for me to get them fixed locally & for them to contact him for payment.

Noisy belt noise has not come back, I wonder if it only does it at high speed?
I was doing a fair bit on the A420 when enjoying the car.
Will need to test again soon

MOT passed!

2 advisories, slight deterioration of a brake hose and slight corrosion of the bodywork.
Can't say either of those are worry, the brakes were only replaced a few months ago, i'm sure if the hoses needed doing it would have been mentioned by the specialist! Corrosion wise? Well, yes, it's a 13yr old XJ, that's what they do

Any time I've had advisories on an MOT they've not been mentioned on the subsequent MOT.

I can only conclude I have magical car healing powers.

I'm now this > < close to buying a new Octavia which would be a 14 plate next year.

The ones I saw when they first came out didn't really do it for me, but having sat in a nice metallic grey one today with tinted windows, panoramic glass roof and a full beige leather interior my wallet is feeling nervous.

42 months interest free credit and a decent discount is very appealing.

I really liked the new Octavia when I was allowed to get my sticky paw prints all over one at Goodwood this year. It looked especially nice in estate and VRs guise.

I wasn't entirely convinced by the VRS. The seats felt cheap and there are some features on the options list like cruise control and sat nav that really should have been standard. It would be a 2.0tdi Elegance Estate for me, which is only a fraction slower than the diesel VRS.

Had a drive in a Nissan GT-R and an Ariel Atom yesterday.

My, the GT-R is an awesome machine and when I eventually get bored of the M5 I can see myself moving upwards into one of those.

The Atom was just as awesome, but the track was wet and I had the owner sat next to me so I spent more time shitting my pants than trying to wring it's neck.

MR2 is on the road hurrah! I had to modify the rear callipers to get it through the MOT as they are a woefully poor design and the strut top bearings were seized. I didnt think they were that bad and I might have got away with them but when I took them off the bearings were completely seized! power steering must have been hiding the problem.

It got its mot yesterday and I opportunistically took the chance to change the clutch and timing belt on friday night. If you ever have to do this on an MR2, pay someone else to do it, my god, what a complete arsehole of a job! rear suspension out, wiring loom and pipes off, engine out and even with the engine on the floor the gearbox is still an nightmare to split off the block. so its done now but as a result I ended up working 23 hours straight and going to bed at half 6 in the morning Now I feel like death. but at least the car is done

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/ ... -cotswolds

This is quite amusing. Plus, it's only £500 now, seems like a bargain...

Buy it Troop, buy it!

That seems much more like a Gazchap purchase opportunity to me, he's a sucker for a metrosexual car.

You should totally buy it, Troop. Buy it. Buy it.

I know who should buy it. You!

No, you should buy it. I don't want to buy it because I want a Jag

It's almost as if there is an ulterior motive to this, but i'm not sure what that could be...

Wookie - 23 hours straight to change the clutch and timing belt? Ouch - but fair do's to you, man.

GazChap - GT-R is hugely impressive for sure, but in the end I just thought it was a big, heavy, unfeasibly fast rocket-ship (with trademark over-light, over-assisted, feedback-free Jap steering, over-servoed brakes and clunky automatic gearbox). Each to his own, and as amazingly fast as it undoubtedly is, I was glad to get back into my vastly inferior, slower little Boxster. I want to feel I'm driving the car; I want some kind of feedback/emotion (even histrionics) from it. Certainly, I want to have at least sufficient feedback through the steering, pedals and seat of my pants to have some vague idea what it's doing and where its limits might be. It's certainly not for me.

Trooper - that Beemer seems nice.

I was in that their london on friday, and a GT-R was waiting at the lights to turn left, but he was obviously trying to beat the queue and was planning to jink in front of the right hand lane and go straight on. He had about 2 car lengths before the left lane became a building, so I thought he was being a little ambitious and expected a bit of argy bargy.
Lights changed and fuck me, that is one quick car from a standstill. I've seen (and driven) a lot of very fast cars in my time, but this was on another level, he was pretty much gone before the car next to him got going.

I wasn't really interested in them before that, but i'm interested enough now to give one a drive at least

Oh absolutely; my mate's has had a "Stage 9" whatever that is supposed to entail (it's about £30k worth of work whatever it is, excluding the all-titanium, decatted custom exhaust). It lights up all four wheels and quite literally leaves my Boxster S (hardly a slow car) absolutely *for dead*. I've even seen it smoke a fully tricked GSXR-1000R at the lights (in the dry); I was the passenger... dynoed at over 800PS.

Even box-fresh, they are absolutely immense, just a whole new level of performance. You'd need something like a 991 GT3 (minimum) to dice with one and they cost rather a lot more money... but as a driving proposition? Peerless in the traffic light drag race stakes; utterly invincible in the wet - but it's all just so characterless and emotion-free, and the car's doing a fair bit of the driving for you. Whatever lights yer candle, but not my bag - far too big and heavy, wrong badge, plus I don't do 4wd anyway. Very, very, very fast white goods.

Buy one!

Oh dear.

Why does the badge matter?

FWIW, I thought the steering had ample feeling on track, and the car I was in was a standard car from 2009, so is actually slightly down on power from my M5 (although it's about 400kg lighter than the M)

The only thing that would put me off is that leg room in the back is non-existent, and I do like the flexibility of being able to take passengers etc.

I've also just bought an Eisenmann race exhaust for the M5, rather than arsing about trying to fix the shoddy job the last garage did trying to remove the silencers. Woo.

I know it's wrong; I know I'm being a snob - but at least I'm honest enough to admit it.

If I'm spending £80k on a car, I want a designer label, but that's just me.



Fair do's mate, I've never pushed one that hard. Thing is though, given the weight (and its unmatched penchant for shredding all four tyres in Defcon One "GT-R Mode" anyhoo, which you'd be in on-track), who tracks these anyway? They're surely just too big and above all heavy; the brakes would be cooked after a couple of laps?

Don't get me wrong, I think Nissan have done an incredible job with this car, it is amazing (one of the best engineered cars ever), but IMO in the end it can only be a really, really fast GT?



Thought the GT-R was about ~1800kg dry mate; didn't think it was much lighter than an M5? Plus, the word on the street is that Nissan majorly under-report engine outputs for this car.



Cool beans mate, love it. Very nice.

I couldn't really care less about the badge, but unfortunately most people seem to think like you!

Besides, the original cars were only £55K or thereabouts new.


Can't speak for that as the track I was on wasn't really long or fast enough to really test the brakes, but from what I remember the GT-R was designed specifically to be that weight, as in the engineers didn't want it any lighter or heavier as it would compromise the car. Given the reviews and awards the car's won, I'd say they did the job right.

You're not wrong, compared to an Atom (with no driver aids) the car does do a lot of stuff for you, but if anything that just makes it more fun as you're not paranoid about spinning out and hitting a tyre wall at >100mph. Plus you can always turn them off.


I always thought they were about 1600, but yeah apparently they're 1,740kg. Still a good ~200kg lighter than the M.

Good stuff. So how does it go?

You'd think, living in Japan for a couple of weeks I'd have thought to get you some bits for it wouldn't you..

are you sure? I think the 535d has a wet weight of 1755kg and it's got a diesel up front, albeit one with an aluminium block.

Edit: though actually, I probably saw that in the autotrader specsheet so shouldn't put ny truck by it.

you're back! how was it then?

It goes well, super noisy, not particularly fast but nippy enough for a runabout but most importantly its lovely and comfortable to drive.
Also, it drifts really rather well!

Touring is 1,955kg according to Wikipedia.

Good luck with that one... http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/17/autos/m ... sub-tesla/

BMW claimed 1830kg (albeit Wiki have it down as 1855kg).
I'd be inclined to compare manufacturer figure with (Nissan) manufacturer figure; 1740kg vs 1830kg - doubt you'd notice any difference at all tbh.

They're *both* way too heavy in my book, but to be fair they're big old motors. In the case of the M5, it's still a 5-series which means five people can travel in cossetted luxury (GT-R cramped in the back). You ain't doing that in a Cayman or Exige.

Hello fellow licence-holding motorists,

I passed my driving test yesterday at the ripe old age of 34. I am now keen to get a car but up until now they have held no interest for me and hence I know little about them in terms of what is 'good'.

Do you have any recommendations as to what car would be a good one to begin with? I had lessons for eight months and passed first time. I regard myself as a 'good' but cautious driver, I am aware the learning curve has only just begun as a new driver, but I am also quite vain and have a few quid to spare. My heart tells me to buy something quite tasty but my mind tells me to get an old banger to begin with. Insurance is a factor, but I've got some pretty decent quotes. For example, for a VW Scirocco I was quoted £560 fully comp from Admiral. Do you think this is a bit adventurous for a first car?

Biggest question is, what's your budget?

I was thinking of doing the personal leasing thing with a budget of between £200-£300 per month. If looking at the used market, probably around £4-5k.

That is one hell of a budget for a first car, good on you

I think we talked about outright buys a short while back didn't we?
Leasing isn't a bad idea if you want a new car, but don't actually want to own a car, for a £300 a month budget you can get some nice cars!
#models">http://www.lingscars.com/index_min.php? ... pcp#models

I've had long enough to save-up! I guess I am fortunate not to have the financial constraints of a 17-year-old.