coldel

Its ok, I am through that horrible stage now and back on the road to wanting something japanese, old, daft but different!

Are they going to sand back the dimples?

Pretty sure they make aircraft structures out of aluminium, as for handling some flex in a cars chassis, I am sure it will cope fine. Even if on the one in a billion chance it does crack, what exactly will happen? Not a lot apart from some doggy handling. Stick it on and be done with it!

Sounds like Surrey Vinyl Wraps are playing to the same form as in those links - shocking. The damage to that TTRS was appalling.

Totally Dynamic are in redhill and do a cracking job - on here you have RT Performance although you are going to have to navigate the north circular to reach them in Wembley

Whilst we had a 1 year old

My wife let me buy a VX220 - does that put me in the 1%

Our rent is a bit more than that - have to say I have been thinking lately about what other things I could spend the money on other than rent!

Saw a nice B5 S4 Quattro today... Must not go to the dark side (german rep mobiles!)

I had the 1.4 turbo supercharged Scirocco a few years back, lovely car inside, the boot size is pretty good but it has a narrow aperture to restricted by the actual physical size of stuff but it will still carry a fair bit. Back seats are very comfy and loads of room in the back for two adults which gives it that practical edge over any two seater of course. Driving position was really nice, interior high quality and the little 1.4 I had was the 180bhp version and was pretty rapid! Very good cars...

...SMD to be a mod?

Its taken him tens of thousands of posts to turn...

I remember a friend of my younger brother bought an M3 on finance for nearly 20k when he was probably earning that a year working in Pizza Hut, he got the car, parked it outside his house then next morning it was gone. And he hadn't insured it! Lease/PCP is ok to get a new car, not something I would do, but I am glad people do otherwise there would be less demand for new cars, more demand for used cars (which pushes up prices) and if there is less demand for new cars, less are built and less money for manufacturers to create new cars that no doubt in a few years I will want to buy used...etc etc.

Just for reference, SMD loves 350z's and given what I know would never take an Astra in its place he is also a sarcastic sod which is part of what endears most of us to him! I have been on quite a few car forums now, but I keep coming back here, why? Partly because there are enough guys on here to be impartial because they truely loved the zed they owned but have moved on and experienced many other cars. I think its a credit to this site that we can be more objective about other cars...just nip over to an Astra forum and see them ranting on about how their 1.7 diesel which has been remapped now has 'superb' performance and can beat anything on the road, and EVERYONE agreeing with them. I don't think I would want to be a part of that.

You are spot on GM, that Astra looks stunning

I have to say I feel the Audi's of this world are cheating the motoring world. That a normal looking family saloon can have 500bhp as standard. If its a fast car, it should look like a fast car!

As above banjo fittings are fine, they are very common and only leak if the mechanic does a shoddy job of prepping the caliper. Screw in are clearly easier and less hassle, but are they worth paying the extra $ for? I wouldn't say so and would never pay nigh on £200 or whatever they were asking last time I looked. If Clark do a screw in that are priced on par with Hel etc then give it a go, sounds like a good deal as it means easier fitting but I would suspect performance is on par with Hel etc.

The S2000 is never in the same boat as an Elise, MX5, not by some margin. For a start, it has a heater... ...seriously though, the S2000 sits very much in the Zed roadster, Z4 roadster category for me. They are higher power heavier sports cars, the Elise MX5 are small light roadsters low on power high on handling. My VX was often affectionately called a go cart, something an S2000 isn't.

I have to say, most 18s I would say you need to lower, but these look fantastic and fill the arches lovely. Good work Mr Chris Tarmac!

As much as everyone quotes 0-60s (which I thought we banned on here!) I would like to quote Jez Clarksons quotes on anything Astra/Vectra VXR "Catastrophic Understeer!" Not sure if they have sorted that out yet?

Or something like this where you enter your salary after tax and it tells you what percentile you're in: http://www.theguardi...ic:in body link That's more like it! Amazing how the media etc throw averages around as if it means anything. i.e. 7 people run the 100 metres, 3 run it in 10 seconds, 3 run it in 20 seconds and 1 in 15 seconds, the average is 15 but really it means naff all, its not the time most people will run it in. Sorry, rant done now, don't want to remind myself of that dull stats degree I did many moons ago...!

Having cast a glancing eye at some mk1 RS Focus's I remember seeing mountune, think its the equivalent of an Abbey map tune or the like.

Always find these sorts of reports so frustrating - how many people are actually, average? Hardly any. More useful are quartiles and standard deviations...huff!

Huge thread on the back of 'I raced a VXR'! I looked back on some cars owned over the last few years and there are a few Vauxhalls, didn't even realise until I thought about it. I remember years back buying a Corsa 1.4 Sxi Tdi I think it was, I loved that car. It was plucky, fun, did about 60mpg or something daft and never let me down. Even when at 5am I put petrol in it it drove about 5 miles before I had that moment of 'recall' and pulled over, it never chugged once! Then again I had a 1.8 SRi Astra on a 55 plate I think it was, thought baby was on the way (in the end it wasn't) and bought it as the sensible choice. An immaculate car but the most utterly soulless car I have ever experienced, utterly shocking interior, lifeless engine (and I now have a 1.8 Focus as the family run around which is miles better). The VX220 was sensational. On a decent run circa 45 mpg. Put your foot down and it easily kept up with the Zeds on the A/B roads (as per the drive out in Kent last year - good work Daz!). What surprised me most about this car was not the handling (which they are famous for) but its ability to brake down from 60 to almost nothing in a fraction of the time of anything else on the road. A pure raw driving machine, if you ever get the chance to own one, go for it without hesitation. That said, the chassis built by Lotus effectively...so thats cheating to say its a Vauxhall. Still have to say, the Zed is the one I miss the most! Its not really that fast in the grand scheme of things nowadays (and seriously its not worth boasting about racing in one) but it turned heads and has a real character about it. Enjoy.

Yeah I know what you mean, but I'm happy to have a peaceful time of it for now I do have a nice quad pipe exhaust so it makes a nice grumble but thats it I do like the fact that it does 50% better than the Zed on fuel, helps pay for other hobbies now! Sent from the golf club... Got the local strip joint loyalty card topped up now have you Dave