waltzinblack

I haven’t been on this forum since I sold the car to rasco. Pleased to see it has been tastefully modded since! I must say the fact it has run flawlessly for this long is a testament to the expertise and quality of work of both Abbey and Horsham Developments when the work was done, and to Rasco’s attitude and care whilst owning it. The midrange punch is addictive and the handling with all the chassis mods is sublime. You really can’t go much quicker for this price!

I saw this too.... Pirellisbetter in the wet!??!?!?! And I thought the Brexit result was the stupidest thing I was going to have to read about this year. What is also strange is just how BAD they found the MPSS in the wet, I've always found that's where they were far superior to other brands. One other thing from the test: they are testing continental's new tyre on continental's proving ground... and guess who came out top overall? hmm. Still think MPSS are the best... oh apart from R888s which I have now

Hey mate! Glad to hear you're still enjoying the car. I never did get round to writing my epic 4 year Zed saga for the forum to read (but with your permission, I'd still love to!). Seats and a proper radio are just what I never got round to doing to finish the car off Did you get the manifold sorted? It's a real testament to the excellent knowledge, patience and skill of both Mark and the team at Abbey and Jez and his guys at Horsham that the car runs so strongly and so reliably on a stock engine, and performs so well generally. Both garages gave me a lot of their time over the years - mostly spent putting up with silly questions from an over anxious and perfectionist owner who didn't really know what he was talking about! Ekona is correct, I am currently re-discovering the entire meaning of 'cornering speed' in his stripped out, turbo'd MR2. It is so SO much fun - especially with the roof off - but my god I miss the looks, presence and relative refinement of the Zed! And how it just GOES in 6th gear on the motorway, am I right? Oh and AND how good it sounds even for a turbocharged car. By the way I found the masterkey for the Zed the other day. If you ever fancy a roadtrip or are in the Herts area then feel free to come and pick it up. Or I will have the MR2 back on the roads in a month or two and can come to you! (I don't really fancy chasing) Beware though... I may be tempted to steal the Zed back with the key

I have to say it is very nice to hear someone who is honest about their ability and who clearly drives with due regard to it on the road and is willing to learn. Far, FAR too many people (and especially people of my younger generation) who are cocky and stupid and cause problems ruining it for the rest of us. I was also not that confident in my ability when I first got the Zed and took me a while to be comfortable with a heavy, torquey, RWD car with the agricultural controls the Zed has. If at any point you feel the urge to spend money on stuff to make the car faster, go and do some driver training days or go on a trackday with a friend/willing member from here who can give you a few pointers. I have done both and they were the best things I've ever done to become smoother and faster. Who knows, you might even catch your mates in the Carrera and the TT after that Unless they are handy drivers themselves... 4 years later and I had the honour of Ekona telling me he actually broke into a sweat following me. Admittedly he was 300kg and 50bhp down on me, but I am still happy with it! I'm now on a new learning curve of my own, experienced the wonders of lift-off oversteer on a wet roundabout the other day in my little turbocharged go-kart PS... if you are managing to downshift into 2nd in a Zed without rev-matching you must have guns of steel! The 'boxes in Zeds I've driven would just give a big fat nope if I tried that!

This ^^ I wanted wider rears for more grip (turbo'd Zed) and carried out extensive research into different wheels. Volk TE37 are about the only thing that are as light, strong and good looking as the Rays. I seem to remember them being in the order of £2,000 for a set... I just gave up and spent that money on a Quaife diff and polybushes which improved the grip/handling to such an extent I wasn't worried about the wheels at all! As for remapping, don't even worry about bhp numbers on an NA engine. The best thing about uprev is that the car feels keener and more responsive to drive. Even with your nice exhaust, plenum spacer and filter the extra power will be nowhere near noticeable. You might just end up restoring the power it should have had when it left the factory. I'd say the Uprev is still worth it, but as mentioned if you want to go a lot faster, the Zed's brakes and suspension are easily and relatively cheaply improved and will be markedly better. DBA discs, Ferodo DS2500 pads, braided lines and BC coilovers are a nice combo. I can tell you from experience that they certainly compliment 380bhp nicely Oh, and remember to use 98 RON and above!

My personal opinion would be to look elsewhere. I've only driven a MK2 ST and not an RS but my two main concerns are: 1) Front wheel drive; and 2) The looks/image. Point 1 has been explained enough and if you love your driving I'm sure it doesn't need any more explaining to you. Point 2 is of course subjective, but then what is the point of forums without opinionated responses poorly disguised as absolute fact? I should probably begin by warning those with a sensitive disposition that Point 2 will be small-minded, stereotyping and probably something'-ist'. So here we go. In a photo, positioned in front of a graffiti-stained railway arch and in isolation from anything else, the Mk2 ST looks modern, striking and aggressive. Something a fast car should be. However, stick it on a normal road on a normal day between cars driven by people who: wear jeans that sit properly on their waist; and are capable of positioning a peaked cap at an appropriate angle on their head...and I just think it looks so out of place. It's very 'look at me' in an incredibly brash and un-stylish way which only highlights the fact that, to most, it is an incredibly chavved up Focus. Those pretend Gallardo rims too... ugh! (now they are ripping off Astons with the current Mondeo... whatever next!?). Unfortunately and despite their eminent capability, I feel the same about Scoobies and Evos. Lamborghinis and certain Ferraris and GT3 Porsches are also very 'look at me', I agree. Can't decide whether I'd look like a c*ck driving one or whether the fact that it's actually a £100k car is some sort of excuse. If you know me, you'll know I really don't have Zed-tinted glasses but this is one area where I think the Zed does very well. It (together with many other fast/exotic cars) looks sleek, purposeful, sporty but manages to do it in a subtle way. You stand out in a nice way but you don't LOOK like you're trying to. Which brings me nicely onto image. Image wise, let's just say every ST I have ever encountered has been driven by someone who came across like they'd just stolen it - both in appearance and road etiquette. And its because of that they have a really terrible image amongst others. A bit like the Saxo VTR (my first car ). Disclaimer - I am aware that very, very occasionally these cars are driven by sensible, nice people who also happen to be forum members. This sort of image also lends itself to the aspirations of other youthful miscreants who then idolise cars like the ST. After all it is fast, cheap, usable and will suit the neon lights and DC Shoe Co stickers that they plan to festoon it with for racing each other in B&Q car park. Plus it's name already looks like a shortened word that you'd find in the MSN Messenger Dictionary (90's kids, you know what I mean...) and it could even pass for an acronym of 'Sick Ting' or similar. As for the RS, It's basically all of the negative bits above but multiplied by several powers of ten. Case in point - he lives in Essex. But then maybe I just think all this because I was 19 when I bought my Zed (owned it for four years, turbocharging it in that time too) and I just have a complex about other road users thinking I'm a Boy Racer. I probably looked even sillier when I was driving a Jag. Finally, for the serious and more useful bit of my post - if you like it, test drive it. If you still like it, buy it and enjoy . Some food for thought though, is it really better than everything else here? It's a £20k car after all: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=used-cars&EnginePowerFrom=300&MaxPrice=20000&MinPrice=18000&Page=1 P.S. Who can tell that I was bored this lunchtime?

Understeer city! PS3s are shopping trolley tyres despite the PS designation, they're going to hugely inhibit the front end performance of your car. As to the original question, I'd happily put on the F1s, 050As or AD08Rs if I couldn't get MPSS. You're getting soft these days... To the OP - find the MPSS somewhere else

Will weigh in and say I totally agree with Ekona re powerful cars feeling faster over 100. His 6er definitely did, and my old Tubby Zed did too. On a certain track I would wager that both cars were close to the highest top speeds down the back straight even though every man and his Nova was catching up in the tighter corners! But my old Zed...Despite being 100bhp and 130lbft up on a standard Zed, there wasn't *that* much noticeable difference below 70 or so. (Although I reckon I'd have the edge on an Astra VXR ) At higher speeds and into 4th gear it was just ridiculous though. A massive slug of midrange torque and the extra power meant you could get well into three figures with frightening ease. Your Astra VXR would think he was going backwards once I got into 4th... Was similar with Ekona's 911 and my Zed too. I was running a lower tune and about 330 ish bhp and 320 ish torque. The turbo torque helped and at lower speeds I had no trouble keeping up (I'm not even sure if I was slightly out-accelerating the 911 in 2nd at points) but as soon as we got to higher speeds he began to disappear. As for Jags... DO IT! I had an S-type 4.2 V8 (the better engine) and it was just fantastic. Cornered with the precision of an aircraft carrier, but was so comfortable and the interior quality (cream leather heated armchairs and walnut veneer) was on another level compared to a lot of cars I've been in. It was just SO plush. Wasso came and machine polished the car and it looked positively regal afterwards. The 300bhp V8 and auto box were creamy smooth, but it had torque in spades and could really, really shift if you wanted it to. Didn't sound half bad either and the whole car would wobble if you revved the V8 at idle. Awesome. Just a shame that the electrics were dodgy, the boot filled with water and the fuel economy was measure in Gallons per Mile rather than the other way round. Brakes were strong, but when you had to step on them hard the wallowy mass behind you would sort of sway and swerve about like an aircraft undertaking a bumpy landing.

I reckon: 993 Porsches 'last of the air cooled 911s' although these already seem to be appreciating. And even though you said 'apart from Ferraris' I reckon the 360/430 will (possibly at the lowest price they will ever be now?) and especially the 458 will appreciate. Probably the last n/a Ferrari? On that note, any marque that's known for its lovely NA engines will almost certainly be forced into turbocharging sooner or later, so things like the V8 M3, Aston V12s, Ferrari V12/8s.. things like that. Cheaper things... I agree about old Evos/Skylines and the VX220/elises. They will probably appreciate to an extent. Z4m coupe possibly too.

Hopefully you will have a better experience than I. If not, the Cosworth one from Demon tweeks should do the trick!

My car was driven by Dan and I had the BC set up. I hope you are also getting the adjustable camber arms because I found that I could not adjust camber completely with the BCs on stock arms due to them lowering the car 20mm. It's fun playing with the adjustable damper settings, just a shame you can't adjust for rebound. With these it's entirely possible to have the camber very aggressive on the front (so aggressive that I wore down the inner shoulders of my MPSS before the outsides had even got near the wear marker!) and this camber makes the car lovely and pointy. I actually had the rears very flat for ultimate grip, but my car handled beautifully on track. I also had Eibach ARBS and fully Super Pro bushed suspension but we will ignore that point for now Just to play devil's advocate, if handling is your thing it might be worth considering ditching the 19 inch Rotas for standard 18 Rays. The Rays are SO SO light and the difference in unsprung weight, particularly on the front end will give you the best handling and feel.

I think you've been informed correctly about where/how you can get the map done. I always think the map was worth it make the most of the N/A mods, and it makes the car more responsive and sorts out the AFR etc. However, it will not feel like a totally different car and other than the placebo of the slightly sharper throttle, you really won't notice the extra few horsepower.

Found on Autotrader. Bought from WLMG Nissan in Mill Hill. They made good money out of Nissan GB in warranty claims... so I didn't actually receive a fully working car for about a month!

Pretty sure it's a small type. And I would advise against the Mishimoto caps, big time. I upgraded to Mishi Rad and fans, and they are great. The rad came with the 1.3 bar cap. However, my radiator was dribbling coolant constantly out of the cap which was then boiling on the hot radiator. Spoilt the nice chrome finish and also peppered my entire engine bay with green droplets which are really hard to clean off. Tried a brand new Mishi 1.3 bar cap, same problem. Tried fettling the cap to get a better seal, still leaking. Then tried a Cosworth 1.3 bar cap and it hasn't leaked a drop in 1,000 miles driving around Wales and including a track day. So yeah, small type - don't go near Mishimoto caps. If you google 'Mishimoto radiator cap' it then suggests adding the word 'problems' to your search query.. go figure!

I didn't know/remember you were a PC man Dan, perhaps you mentioned it whilst I was drowning myself with that ridiculous glass of wine. Are you a total war fan?