Be Excellent To Each Other

I suspect I may never see another one on the Isle of Man for as long as I live! And bringing cars like this across can be a total ballache as they have to go through the Manx Test which is like a very tough MOT. That's one other thing the dealer here said, the car would go through the Manx Test and be on Manx plates before they sold it to me, so anything terrible safety-wise would at least be picked up and have to be remedied before they'd give it a certificate.

At the moment it's still on UK plates and hasn't had the test, which I guess is why it'll be making its way back to the UK soon. It also doesn't have any tax on it, which makes me wonder about the legality of them letting it off their forecourt for test drives.....

(There's only one place on the island that can perform the Manx Test, and it's run by the government, and those boys are thorough.)



I suppose so but I'm wondering if this car is almost into the category of one that'll hold its value pretty well from now on because it's so rare and potentially cherishable.

A bit like the Citroen C6 with the 3.0L twin-turbo diesel engine in it, the 2.7s are relatively common and priced accordingly, but you almost never see a 3.0L come up because it's a massively better engine and really desirable in C6 circles, and there are less than 50 registered in the UK.

The R36 is a car I'll keep an eye out for from now on just out of curiosity's sake, I've done the same with C6s since I got rid of that.

On the plus side with passing on the R36 that's the best part of four grand that's still in my pocket!

Mate, if it's a relatively large petrol-engined family motor you want, try a C- or E-Class Merc, a 5-Series maybe, or an Audi A6. (Of these, I'd have the Beemer personally as they're much more driver-focused, but then I'd go for a smaller 3-series anyway as they weigh less and therefore break less, do you really need a big motor?)

The point being, at least for me, all of these were manufactured as "quality" type motors, whereas this Passat is just that - a volume car that was never really intended to carry a large, powerful (thirsty) engine, and sorry to say it but this one looks to have been particularly unloved, too. Ten large for that...? They're taking the piss IMO, it's not even worth half that (again, IMO).

There's a reason so few people took up these cars; it's the same type of deal with those big Vauxhall Omegas and all that sort of stuff. Why pay out all that money (incl. running costs) when you can have a still faster, better made "premium" motor that holds its value better and lasts a lot longer?

Apart from anything else, the Passat isn't all that to drive - usual dead VW steering and nose-heavy understeer etc., which I'd have thought would be particularly bad with this boat anchor of an engine sat up front? That's totally OK for a boggo 2.0d repmobile that's £20k new and comes with 45-50mpg and a half price tax disc, but less so for something like this.

Edit -

In fact, here's an absolute minter for less than half that asking price, 24k certified miles with FVWSH, only 2 owners, all the toys, leather etc.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... &logcode=p

OK, it's "only" the 3.2 litre V6 but I mean, come on. That's actually a nice motor for that price (and doubtless you could knock 'em down to 4-4.5k as no-one is buying these cars), pretty much as new. Cripes, whoever bought it from new must be crying into their soup with that depreciation, that big ol' engine is barely run in.

Yes all fair points there Cavey, one way or another it all points to the R36 not being the right choice.

If you look at GazChap's £7.5K 750i on the previous page of this thread it does make that R36 seem a bit daft, although TBH if the R36 was pristine I think I'd probably have gone for it.

On your wider point though, I do like cars such as the R36 on a 'conceptual level' if you will, like the Citroen C6 (which I've had), or the Honda Legend (I do fancy one of these), or indeed the R36.

I'm not sure who actually lashes out £30K-£40K on these cars in the first place, but I doff my cap to them A top-end BMW or Audi is a bit of an 'obvious' choice, dropping £32K on a mental Passat is a far more interesting choice IMO (That R36 would have been £32K new with the options it has on it.)

Also it should be noted that the R36 isn't just a normal Passat with a whopping great engine plonked into it, there's a lot of work been done to the suspension, six-speed DSG, it's got the 4MOTION system which is very similar to Audi's Quattro, upgraded interior, top-line spec throughout etc.

It'd be rather like comparing a 318i with an M3 and saying the M3 seems dreadfully overpriced for what it is.

Buy my Jag!

Are you sure they are rare. Just ran past a R36 in my village last night.

So they're not even that fast then.

How Many Left says around 150 in the entire UK. Maybe you just haven't been looking before

There were 222 right-hand drive M5 estates made in total, not all of which ended up in the UK. I had one of them, no doubt some were written off or exported, so they're pretty damn rare - yet I've seen two others recently (neither of which was my old one) and both fairly local.

Diesel is now cheaper than petrol?!?!!

I saw that on the way in this morning. It's to do with the oversupply of petrol, apparently.

It makes a pleasant change to be 2p cheaper certainly.

Boring story mode..

The other morning I had an appointment with my care worker (that's what they call em now). Any way, Mrs JC had gone out also to drive to the hospital for her check up and as I walked down the road I saw a wing mirror. My immediate thought was "Fuck, I bet that's ours !". Well, the back casing of a wing mirror any way.

So I went about my morning and just as I was leaving Mrs JC sent me a BBM message saying "Fuck, back of mirror broken off, can't claim on the insurance over £500 or so, will have to bite bullet".

I went quite potty at first using expletives. Then I remembered the mirror on the ground so we walked around and by the grace of he who looks over us it had one tiny mark on it and clipped back on perfectly. Not even one clip was broken.

Pheeew ! that could have been a real kick in the cods.

Right, if thete's a green lane on the map I can drive up it, yeah? Of I get stuck will the AA come, or do I need a winch now? Should the winch go on the back or front?

Green lanes are legal rights of way but some of them get closed for certain parts of the year.

The AA advertises they will come and drag you out (so does the RAC), so shout like buggery when they won't actually come and rescue you.

Winches are fucking complicated and fucking expensive. You want one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-TON-HEAVY-D ... 1106416674

And one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-rover-4x ... 463e655cb3

And probably one of thse:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-2M-4X4-RE ... 53dfddbc75

And a set of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIMEX-JUNGLE- ... 35d9e463bc

Noted. They will fit in tje spate wheel hole.

I have two of these on the front, bizarrely with road tyres on the rear.

The Green Lane runs up the Cat and Fiddle to the pub and we saw some MX bikes going down it so I figured it would be a laugh. It is mostly loose rocks.

Nice. Get two more of those tyres for the back

Actually, in seriousness, whip the ATs off the front and put them on the back. You will get better handling on the road and better grip off it.

That would not have occoured to me in an age. Thanks. I will try and swap them at the weekend. What I really want is the gold wheels, though...

Just booked a three day test drive of a Nissan Leaf for next week, as I can't get the thought out of my head that paying to own the 750i AND tax it AND fuel it is stupid when I could have virtually-free fuel instead.

I see loads of those around now, they're also becoming very popular as taxis round here. I guess what you need to consider though is how much you will possibly save during the three weeks you own it for.

Someone around here uses an Octavia vrs as a minicab. And in Bradford I have seen a golf r32. Which seems legit.

Leasing a car might be the thing that forces me to hang on for a car for longer.

Currently looking at an '07 5-Series 525d M-Sport Auto, will be taking it out for a drive on Monday. (It's the '07 revision which gets the 3 litre putting out just shy of 200bhp, as opposed to the tamer 2.5 at 175bhp that earlier 525d cars got.)

Checking out a few owner reviews on Parkers, admittedly this isn't for the same model (530d as opposed to 525d) but this chap doesn't seem happy with his experience at all.

It was the comment about the umbrella that brought forth a genuine LOL though.

As for the car I'm looking at, I know Bangle's styling wasn't to everyone's taste, but I rather liked his work.

200 ponies seems a bit wimpy for something that size.

Could be the case I suppose, I'll see how it drives and take it from there. It's supposed to be a very nice engine.

I really wish I could be one of those people who just sees a car as a 'device to get from Point A to Point B', and if it performs that function, it's fine.

The fucking money I've burned on cars over the years is absolutely obscene.

But I do like them so much.

200bhp from the torquey diesel should be fine. If you do buy it though, swap the run-flats for normal tyres (or perhaps even negotiate that as part of the sale?) - that review isn't wrong, runflats make a meal out of the ride comfort on any BMW - it's the reason that the 7-Series was never fitted with them as standard, nor were the M5s that were built on that body shape.

It's not particularly bothersome to park either.

And yep, Bangle's designs have aged rather well - I much prefer the look of the E60 5-Series compared to the current one.

So what's the deal with the run-flats? The mere concept of such a thing seems rather strange, 'cause tyres are filled with air and when the air goes out of them they're not working tyres until they have air in them again.

TO THE GOOGLE-O-TRON!

Can you tell from the pic if it's got the run-flats on it or not?

As for parking it, I got used to parking the C6 which was so big it very nearly didn't fit into a car wash, so I'm sure I can manage the 5-Series (And with sensors it's not like you can go wrong anyway.)

It's 0-60 charge takes 7.5 seconds, so it's clearly not a slouch of a car.

I have now learned all about run-flats.

They sound really shit.

Thing is, decent new tyres all round for that car are probably going to set me back about £600 I'd guess. Tsk.

Yeah they're pretty awful. Our Mini used to have them (no spare and no place for one) but Mrs JC and I decided not to fit them when then were worn out.

We have AA cover and our tyres are insured so we're OK. They were very bumpy in our little Mini.

The more I read into this run-flat malarkey the less I like it.

By all accounts RFTs (as the parlance would have it) are crap. Lots of road noise, knacker comfort, poor handling, ironically vulnerable to punctures (something to do with the reinforced sidewalls), don't last as long as regular tyres, prone to uneven wear, expensive and sometimes hard to get except from gouging BMW dealers etc etc - it's genuinely hard to find a single positive comment about them beyond the odd occasion where they've saved someone from otherwise being stranded in an awkward place. (Which is a total non-issue for me as I live on a small island, in a pinch I could just fucking walk home from anywhere on the island.)

In short, you don't want these things on your car.

So that now leaves me in the position of having to haggle down for a price of decent tyres for the car - (I hate haggling, it's just begging by a different name really) - and the subsequent ballache of getting them fitted.

Meh, I'll go along as planned tomorrow and take a look, but I'm less interested than I was before reading into all this RFT crap.

Walked past the Honda Dealer this morning and they've got the brand new Civic Type-R GT sat outside, so I had a good look around it.

ZOMG PURE SEX.

Part of me wanted to go in and start signing pieces of paper until I'd signed enough of them to be able to take the car away.

306bhp from a 2.0l turbo unit, and it's set a new lap record around the Nürburgring. And it looks stunning as fuck.

WANT.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/honda/civic-type-r

*wanks cock*



*spaffs*

That does look pretty, though.

I just can't help thinking that most of the engineering effort has gone into trying to overcome the inherent shortcomings of starting with a FWD hatchback.

Those new Type-Rs look way too fussy for my liking I guess that's hot hatches for you though. 306bhp doesn't seem all that impressive from a 2.0L turbo either? The Celica was doing 255 way back in the mid 90s, and with mild fettling (and I do mean mild, all I've done is change the radiator for an aluminum one and upped the boost a bit) I have a reliable 320bhp out of mine.

Most likely emissions regulations killing them there though!

Man, I know I'm getting old (and boring) but, I just cannot imagine who is going to be in the market for that Honda? To my jaded old eyes it looks like a MaxPower(tm) wet dream that's had one trip too many to Halfords' bolt on tat dept. This cannot seriously be described as a pretty car either in "cooking" or "hot" trim.

Realistically, the sort of people who have £32.5k plus options (GT version) on a hot hatch are 30-something professionals; are they really going to want to be seen dead in something like this? Or are they going to buy a much more conservative 4wd Golf R, in a nice dark blue/grey, with no torque steer?

On the other hand, the real hard core MaxPower lot are surely going to plump for the much more powerful forthcoming Focus RS (360PS+ word has it), which is 4wd (so much for all that "RevoKnuckle" crap eh) because you know, hallowed "RS" moniker?

Seems to me, then, Honda have mis-pitched this car, but we'll have to wait and see.

Unless it beat the 6m48s set by the Radical, I suspect it's actually set the FWD production car record. Fucking cool looking, though.

[edit]Turns out it's the FWD sort-of production car record with a 7:50. Vroom!

/waves

There's no accounting for taste.

But seriously, each to his or her own.
Personally I really do think this looks 'orrible but I daresay they're not looking to sell 'em to old biftas.

You can't really use the list price of a car as a basis for that kind of thing any more. Almost nobody these days pays list price and most certainly don't "buy" the car, it's all in the leasing isn't it?

Hence the demise of the chavved up MaxPower mobiles that you used to see roaming around the country - these days most college students and young adults are leased up to the eyeballs with Vauxhall etc.

The sort of people who could afford to insure it would most likely want it, though. Not for me though. I mean, that Type-R makes my Celica look subtle.

It's undoubtedly a beast of a car, but I have to somewhat agree with Cavey - that front styling is fuck ugly.

I suppose you've got to use some yardstick though? List price seems reasonably fair but yeah, people lease stuff these days.

No idea what the leasing costs/residuals etc. are/will be for this, but I still stand by my prediction that most people genuinely in the market for one, whether outright purchase or lease, will be heading off to the Audi, Merc or BMW garage whereas the headbangers will have the RS Ford. (Not even necessarily saying they are right to do so, just what I think they will do)

Not to worry, you'll get your freedom card soon and can just take the bus.

VROOM VROOM TYPE R BITCHES

FREEEEEDOMMMMM!!

Buses, yeah baby. Now see, they look awesome.

IN THE FLESH.

Seriously, if I had £33K to spare and I thought I could get away with spending it on this without Mrs Hearthly removing my balls with a bread knife, I'd have one.

I think Cavey has a point though, at £32K it's battling it out with whole different market sector, unlike the previous Type-R which even fully loaded was under £20K. I'm not entirely sure where the market is for this new one.

(Apart from me and Grim...., apparently )

I can see why people like 'em, I would've loved one when I was a young blade of 20-odd in my little black XR2i, waaaaay back in the day.

Personally I'll take a brand spanking V8 RHD Mustang for the same dosh, far more charisma (IMO) but undoubtedly not as talented round the 'Ring. That's just me, though; horses for courses and all that, the eternal car pontification argument.

Good luck getting one of them before 2017.

Well, I'd wait, hoping I wouldn't plop my clogs in the meantime....

I particularly like the "5.0" on the side, that's got to be worth £10k on its own in my book. "No replacement for displacement" rules supreme in CaveyWorld.

I mean look at it, seriously. FILTH.

If you do can I have it when it arrives?

I guess I'll have to exit stage left from this thread once I order a Leaf, eh?