Be Excellent To Each Other

It's got a roof.
[edit]No it hasn't, fucking buy it fucking now.

Left hand drive?

I got nuthin'.

Two thumbs up here, although please refer to mine and Gazchap's past purchasing history. We may not be the best metric for you...

I see the listing has been removed - did you bite? And what was it?

Nope, I can still see it. It closes in 3 hours, and I don't have the money to hand, annoyingly.

Wonga.com?

(or, more seriously, take out a loan and then pay it back as soon as you do have the money to hand )

Hey donkey breathed time wasters! You to can rent a Delorean. No, really:

http://timemachinerental.com

NB: I think you may need to be in the USA. But that's several steps up from trying to rent out fictional Deloreans!

Cras, you should totally buy a car like that Corvette.



"IF YOU HATE YOUR NEIGHBOURS JUST BUY IT AND SIT IT ON THE DRIVEWAY..WATCH THE SURROUNDING PROPERTIES DEPRECIATE OVERNIGHT"

Quality

A video of one full lap of the Celica at Curborough yesterday.

Is it one car out at once then?

It's amazing that no matter how dramatic it feels inside, it always looks incredibly boring on video from the outside!
Witness a 70mph tricky corner at Bedford in the MX5, lots of people spin here every time i've been.

Yeah, it's just a sprint track and isn't that wide.


Yeah, it's bloody weird. Towards the start of the day the track was wet so I was struggling to corner without sliding, and locked my wheels up braking at the end of the long straight. On the video, it just looks like a normal Sunday drive.

I think it's because you're used to seeing proper racing cars on tracks, and they're generally really fast, but even F1 cars can manage to look slow on telly. If you were to video yourself driving down normal roads like you were in the video then it would look pretty fast I reckon.

I'm really enjoying my Beamer so far. Such a contrast from the MX-5 but in a really pleasant way, I'm not missing the small sports car nearly as much as I thought I would do. I know they've changed a fair bit since then but it still reminds me more of my old E30 3 Series than it does anything else. The weighty feel to the steering and the ride feel pretty much the same. For an eight year old car it all feels like new to me too, no rattles anywhere. Chuffed.

Also, take video inside the car facing out the front window, but zoomed in so all you can see is the track? Boring as hell.
Do the same lap at the same speed but have the video panned out so you can see the inside of the car and a bit of the driver in the frame? Suddenly it seems so much faster.

It's being shot badly to be honest. You need the right angle + need to be closer and more zoomed in.

If you want an impression of speed, mount a Go-Pro fairly low down on the car itself. The lower the camera, the faster it will seem.

Years ago I did some stuff at Goodwood for shits and giggles. If you held back on a wide everything looked slow.

Just out of curiosity, I put the details for my Mini into WeBuyAnyCar, to find that they've offered me just under what I paid for it - £100 under, to be precise.

This surprises me, but now I'm thinking I should take them up on the offer (especially as the part-ex value according to Parkers is significantly lower) and then trade up to the E46 M3 cabriolet

Try wewantanycar, they offered me an extra £10k than webuyanycar on the lotus. You might even make a profit!

They're legendary for reducing the price significantly on inspection.

So I've heard :/ Still, can always give them a go and see what they say.

WeWantAnyCar have offered £1K less than WBAC, though - so perhaps WWAC's is a more realistic valuation.

Chinnymobile booked in for a aircon regas on Thurs as I like my air chilly, + full service in a couple of weeks + cambelt.

Also considering seeing if one of those "chipsaway" companies can deal with the stone chips on my bonnet.

There is little more infuriating than sitting in the passenger seat as Helen ekes out every drop in the ST. One of those few things is her increasingly lazy driving style, mostly as some sort of inverse-response to being so terrified of it.

When I get a go and put my foot down (even though when she's in it I hold back significantly) I get shouted/squealed at.

Meanwhile, I'm bored of the Twingo and picking out more and more minor flaws. Largely as a result of the last time I got a go in the ST without her. Fuck. Me.

No more first world a problem than this.

I'm really enjoying having cruise control, I'd always considered it a feature for the motorways but I have found that pootling along at 30mph speed limits is far more tolerable when you aren't constantly having to check your speed.

I've made the decision to sell the Mini and the 7-series. WBAC offered £6K for the Mini, but Parkers (adjusted for mileage and options) suggests I could get 6.5K-7K for it, which would put me in profit (well, in terms of purchase price.)

Not sure how much I'll get for the 7, though.

Once they're sold, I'm torn. Do I just use the Celica as a daily driver again and have that as my only car, or get an M3 cabriolet? The Celica does still give me headaches on longer journeys, but I don't do many of those.

Wondered how long it would take...

I'm seriously tempted to swap my mx5 track car for this:
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/ ... nd/1330288

I had to to stop doing that when I found myself having almost uncontrollable urges to try going round 90^o corners with it on.

I reckon it'd go though.

Heh, yeah. It's quite surprising how fast 30mph is sometimes, you're so used to subconsciously slowing down.

See though, the Twingo's fine entering at over 20 if I ease in and throttle out. It was mostly the lack of control that scared me off. Probably for the best. But still...

Interested?

WBAC have just offered me £155 for my Celica

I am.


Yeah, I'll match that. Bring it to the cott4ge.

Heh, my Alfa is no slouch - it's got a 5-cylinder, 2.4 litre diesel engine knocking out 175bhp, but my girlfriend has a Focus ST and even with it's currently very fucked MAF sensor it's amazing to drive. I always forget how much get-up-and-go it's got whenever I get a go at driving it.

WANT.

No.

Totally no. No matter how extreme your mid-life crisis is, there is no call for that.

In the 7-Series, you mean?

PM me a price for the 7. If it had been after the wedding I would have been in for sure, but maybe...

I thought if there was any place I'd get unquestioning support for an idiotic purchase, it would be here. You disappoint.

isn't that like Swayze's car in Dirty Dancing?

Hand your balls in at the door, leave now

The previous 2.5 turbo or the current 2.0 Ecoboost? Not sure what difference there is power:weight-wise but for an OEM, guaranteed engine it's pretty impressive. Awful economy mind, the book figures are shockingly huge lies (rather than expected lies).

The new one's got red LEDs everywhere (if you get the relevant option pack) - in the glovebox, the footwells, the door pockets, a strip around the rearview mirror even the kick strips have "Focus ST" light up in fucking red. Honestly it's garish. I hate it and want to pull the fuse. What a waste of weight. Helen loves it and it's part of the reason she bought it. Hnng.

Sorry man, but that's horrible.

I don't know what your budget is, but:



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-Dodge-Ch ... 46015f2788

Needs more supercharger sticking through the bonnet.

Although if you had the money, you'd be much better off with one of these:
http://www.ford.com/cars/mustang/trim/shelbygt500/

£35k for a 200MPH car that looks so good it makes my pants tight.

Buy me one, someone?

Yeah, it ain't 50K.

There's some lovely cars out there. I'm pretty much convinced on a Corvette C3 (or a Stingray, if I can get one in reasonable nick), it's just finding the right one for the right price.

Something like this:

Not bad, but there are only 4 acceptable colours for a 'vette. Red, Black, White, Yellow.

A black Stingray would suit me nicely.

Apart from the insurance and fuel and maintenance obviously.

I still want a VXR8 too. See above though.

That Dukes Of Hazzard car looks the wrong colour.

Chappy mentions on the eBay page that the photos make it look red, but it's actually the correct shade of orange.

Ah, it's an old one now, a 2.0 litre '54-plate model. It's a colour she describes as 'blurple', because no one can really agree whether it's blue or purple. Her centre brake light lights up 'ST170' and she's got blue interior and footwell lights. Hence, she lovingly refers to it as 'Asbo'. It is a pretty awesome car, but does have fucking awful economy, especially with it's knackered MAF sensor (we really, really need to get that sorted soon).

It's quite possible the MAF is just dirty - it's easy to get to and can be cleaned with brake cleaner (make sure it's dry before putting it back on!).

Ah, she works in the motor trade and a friend of hers has checked it and told her it needs replacing. He can get the replacement and fit it for £145, we just haven't really got around to doing it yet (plus, we're skint).

Fair enough. It's only a twenty minute job, though (although you'll need cleaner and a set of five-sided torx (like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AST-5-SIDED-T ... 5af0ce54d5 ) to get it off).