Chesterfield

Thought Id spotted it on autotrader today, there is a Nismo kitted UY on there. £25k or £26k I think. Makes the one above for £25k seem an absolute steal. Just depends on what I could realisticaly get for my late roadster with 8k on the clock. If the difference was small enough, I could well be having the speedracing rear sprayed yellow. (dont know how well a bodyshop could match the yellow fleck in the UY though)

So, you keeping it now then!?

That looks fantastic Liam. I like the tyres - they somehow seem more "agressive". The whole look now is great, and I like the metal centres to the wheels, they go well with the disks etc. Very nice indeed.

Unless of course someone were very tempted by that 800 mile UY and had a spare Speedracing rear lying in the dining room, soon to be joined by a set of greddy sides and front lip... £25k for an UY GT4 with 800 miles on the clock. Some serious thinking this weekend me thinks.

You have pm.

The price I mentioned was the difference between Blue Ray and standard DVD format. Ive watched a HD-DVD and Ive watched a normal DVD through a DVD player that upscales, and although you can tell the difference, its not staggeringly different in my opinion, and personaly, not quite enough to justify the difference in price of the media right now. Obviously if the media comes down in price then that particular point becomes void, and its down to the rest. Im personaly not going either way yet, as its not clear which one will win out, and I may not bother at all for the time being as I cant justify the cost for the quality gains. Sony could add a HD-DVD drive as an external attachment, but seeing as Sony are in part attempting to justify the units cost £425 in the UK! By pointing out the Blue Ray capability at every opportunity, it would be a rather egg on face event if they unveiled a HD-DVD add on a few months later.

I spot a yellow roadster! Hmmm.....

Although some studios (Fox and others) have backed blue ray only. Others (Universal for example) have backed HD-DVD only. Although the blue ray format is shipping with the PS3, this is hardly a prerequisite to it "winning the war". Although it will of course help, a lot. For the first two months of this year, Blue Ray film sales outstripped HD-DVD film sales. Why? Is it more popular? or could it be that many people who bought a PS3, bought a Blue Ray film just to see what it looked like? Give it a couple of months and people will realise that for the extra cost of Blue Ray (or HD-DVD for that matter) - do they really appreciate the picture difference? Especially if their current DVD player upscales the image to 1080p anyway? (it is noticeable, but for the price difference?) So yes, Sony having a Blue Ray player built in to the PS3 will certainly aid sales of Blue Ray media, but is it enough to push Blue Ray as the winner of the Hi Def film market? Many will, afterall, be buying the PS3 to play games, not movies. MS and the xbox 360 however have played an ace card by not opting for any format built in, which means at the drop of a hat, they can launch a blue ray add on instead of selling the HD-DVD add on. Cunning eh? Then the big one..... Piracy. Piracy, although illegal, will have a MASSIVE part to play in deciding which format wins. There are already programs out there that allow people to decode HD-DVD disks to their hard drive, all that is missing is the cheap means to burn these back to a blank HD-DVD. Once the ability to pirate HD-DVD's on the "cheap" arrives, then HD-DVD rentals will go through the roof. Its a sad fact, but as soon as its cheaper to copy a HD-DVD than it is to buy it off the shelf, it will bring a whole new wave of people to HD-DVD. Although ultimately the studios will want to stamp out any piracy, and probably introduce new copy protection methods - I cant help but wonder if these have been left deliberatley "easy" now, so as to actually use the power of the pirates to win the format war initially?

Bye common sense - it was nice knowing you, sorry you felt the need to leave our beloved country. Seriously, how far does this PC band wagon have to go before someone decides its time to put the brakes on? Or more worryingly, does it have any?

I think there are other members here that have either suffered or are suffering from this issue right now. I would agree that any bubbling in the general area of a scuff could be declined, but I doubt anyone could attribute bubbling on all the spokes to scuffs round the edges. As above, try another dealer if you arent getting any joy with your current one - you may have more luck. (although having corroding wheels replaced on a top of the range nissan vehicle should not require "luck" ) Welcome to the site by the way, hope you get the issue sorted, if not let us know how it progresses and there may be others who can be more help.

Swap?

I think I worked it out that the break even is about £18.3k. If you earn below 18.3K, then scrapping the 10% band and reducing the 22% to 20% means you are actually worse off. If you earn over 18.3k, then scrapping the 10% and reducing the 22% to 20% means you are better off. Im no accountant but heres how I worked it out: (using standard basic allowance of £5225) CURRENT SYSTEM..........................................NEW SYSTEM.................. money earnt....tax rate.....tax paid..................money earnt.......tax rate.......tax paid £5225................0%.............£0.......................£5225..................0%...........£0 £2150...............10%.............£215...................£2150................20%..........£430 £11000..............22%...........£2420...................£11000..............20%..........£2200 Total £18375....................Total £2635............Total £18375...................Total £2630

Think Ill save this post, knowig yours is in the G band and mine is in the F band is a point to consider should I ever want a yellow coupe... hmmm

Actually if he has an 06, then hes just saved £74, as the new tax on an 06 Z is £300 as of tomorrow morning.

Yup the top group "G" applies to all cars over 225 g/km AND registered after 21/3/06. Any Z registered BEFORE 23/3/06 is sitting pretty in Band F.

EH??? K? It goes from A to G as far as I am aware - G being the newly created band for "Gas Guzzlers" last year. It breaks down like this for 350Z's: Cars Registered Date.........................Taxing car....................Ammount Before 23/3/06 (Band F).......................After 21/3/07...........£200 Before 23/3/06 (Band F).......................In 2008....................£205 Before 23/3/06 (Band F).......................In 2009...................£210 After 23/3/06 (Band G).........................After 21/3/07.............£300 After 23/3/06 (Band G).........................in 2008.....................£400

Tell em its for charity! The "making yourself feel happy" charity.

Thats true. So they could change that £10 or £5. The main point is, anyone with an 06 registered on or after 23rd March 2006, may want to tax their vehicle this afternoon before the new £300 kicks in tomorrow.

Still enough of a yearly cost to make people question whether they really want an 06 over an 05 though (given all other things being equal etc, like mileage for example). I dont buy the polution argument anyway. Thousands of years ago temperatures were warmer than they are now, and I dont see any drawings of V8's on cave walls?

Yes - I had the same question when I was fairly new to my car too. Its perfectly normal, just make sure you dont give it too much right foot before its warmed up (you will see the pressure go off the scale if you do).

Yes Val, we are. Well, its going up £10 this year and £5 next year and the year after. Meaning pre 06 model owners will pay £205 next year, and 06 model owners who have cars registered on or after 23rd march 06 will be paying £400. It also carries a little more importance for late 2005 owners too. An 06 model (or 05 model) registered on or after 23rd march 06 will be subject to the £400 road tax next year. An 05 model that could be as little as one month or less older than that car will only be subject to £205 in the same year. Which means on the second hand market, people will REALLY have to want the subtle changes to the 06 model in order to choose one over a late 05 model. When these cars are a few years old, the few months between registration dates will not concern many people, so the £195 difference in road tax each year will be a big factor to second hand buyers I think.

In the March 2007 Budget Chancelor Gordon Brown made changes to the Vehicle Excise Duty bands and charges. These charges affect the owners of all Nissan 350Z's. Some considerably more than others. Here is the link to the full budget report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/p ... report.pdf Sections relevant to the owners of the 350Z are 7.78 on page 191. Band G are vehicles with emissions levels above 225g/km and registered ON OR AFTER 23rd March 2006. This means that any 350Z registered ON OR AFTER 23rd March 2006 is in Band G. Any 350Z registered before this date is in Band F. (and subject to the £10 rise this year and £5 per year for the next two) The new rates for cars in band G are considerably higher: £300 in 2007-2008 and £400 in 2008-2009 Changes to this years VED rates take place on 22nd March 2007 - THATS TOMORROW. If you own a 350Z registered on or after the 23rd March 2006, you may want to get your road tax today NOW. If you only have a month or so to run, you most certainy do want to get your tax this afternoon, buy it tomorrow and it will be £300 not £210. Please discuss - here: CLICK HERE

According to the budget yes. Here is the link to the full budget report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/p ... report.pdf Sections relevant to the owners of the 350Z are 7.78 on page 191. Band G are vehicles with emissions levels above 225g/km and registered ON OR AFTER 23rd March 2006. This means that any 350Z registered ON OR AFTER 23rd Marc 2006 is in Band G. Thats £300 in 2007-2008 and £400 in 2008-2009 Changes to this years VED rates take place on 22nd March 2007 - THATS TOMORROW. If you own a 350Z registered on or after the 23rd March 2006, you may want to get your road tax NOW.

Well - its here.... Tax on highest poluting vehicles £400 as of next April. Can't find any details on what the emissions levels are and the vehicle registration dates affected though... Im sure we will find them somewhere though.

Its actually not that bad at all. I can imagine with the top down its a little pointless though. With the roof up I actually think its not that much louder than the cabin oise in my MK4 golf. I found that very surprising indeed.