DannyBoy

And how exactly do they have the ability to recover costs from you in court ...? They have no more rights that me sending you a letter in red demanding money The only case known of P.E taking anyone to court and winning was when there was no defence and heavily suspected as a setup They have the ability to persue you in court because the same legislative changes that banned wheel clamping and introduced an appeals process for BPA registered companies also states that private landowners can persue the registered keeper of a vehicle for unpaid parking charges. Once the appeals process (which the car park owners can initiate as well) has been exhausted, then like any other business they can have you up in a county court if they think you owe them money. They have to justify the amount you owe them, but that could still be quite a lot if you've broken clearly signposted rules. Assuming the car park adheres to all the rules about properly displaying the Ts&Cs, refusing to pay a justified charge is completely indefensible and you CANNOT just get away with it by ignoring it. If the charge was unjustified then you'll win (or more likely the appeals process will sort it out) and you have nothing to worry about. The bottom line is: If you've broken clearly stated rules with clearly stated charges applied, then you owe them the charge. You agree to that contract when you park there, you can't simply ignore it because you don't like it, and if they want to they can persue the registered keeper for those cost all the way to a county court. If you've not done what they say you've done (as in the OP's case) then you don't owe them the charge and that's what the appeals process (or at last resort a courtroom) is for. DB Ps. Watchdog may say ignore them, but the AA strongly recommend you don't ignore the charges, as will anyone with a jot of common sense.

Sorry but no matter how many people have got away with it round where you live, there's no way I'd be ignoring someone who had the ability to recover costs from me in court. What do you lose by writing back to them and telling them to jog on? Other than it looking really bad in court that you've totally ignored all communication. Or are you just going to ignore the court summons as well? DB

My front bumper has a vertical split in the same sort of location you describe that was done and repaired by the previous owner. You can still see where it was, it's possible it's made itself more visible over time, but either way it's clearly not a perfect solution. I'm waiting on a Nismo to replace it with. I'll second the He'll be cheaper than the dealers by a fair margin I expect. DB

Maybe....

Bulls**t detector is going nuts at that one. Doesn't seem to be worded like the usual scam adverts, but there's something seriously suspect going on there. Just two photos in a car park and no interior pics so maybe someone trying to sell a car they don't own? I don't know... DB

At a guess, I would say that the coupe has a manual adjuster because it makes it easier to flip it all the way forward to access the glove box. I'd imagine that the convertible doesn't have that glove box, as surely it would be where the roof storage area is? Again, complete guess. DB

I'm in quite a privilaged position with respects to speeding on public roads and i can tell you it's not the place to gert over zealous, far too many things going off. I'm not going to lecture anyone on the subject because we all have done it at some point, me included. Yes the cars these days are so far advanced (ABS,Steering, Traction control) over past cars when the speed limits were originally set but it is a fact that speed is the main contributing factor in nearly all accidents and deaths on the road. Drive sensibly and within the conditions of the roads at the time. If you are still hell bent on driving quickly, your local road safety partnership generally post on the internet where they plan to put their mobile speed cameras for that day. It doesnt tell you what times it will be there the statics are painted bright yellow and you should be able to see them if your paying attention and the roads a covered with repeating speed limit signs so that said if you still manage to get caught then it's your own fault. Sorry but that's not even remotely true. Even ROSPA (at the vanguard of the war on speed) don't claim it's anywhere near that. If we take road deaths, as it's not open to interpretation whether or not someone is dead, then less than a quarter of deaths in 2011 had excessive speed declared as their primary contributing factor. Human error (not paying attention) is still overwhelmingly the largest cause of road deaths, and always has been. Kind of surprised that someone in your position would say something so totally contrary to the facts DB

I'd say garage it, the depreciation wouldn't worry me too much If yours is a good example. Personally (from my extensive experience in financial forecasting, or not...) I think that Zeds will stabilise in price sometime in the not-too-distant future. The cheaper they get, the more will get ruined and crashed by chavs (stereotyping perhaps but we can already see this happening), and the rarer a 'good' Zed will get. When you combine this with the fact that the 350z is aesthetically aging very well and looks set to continue doing so (much better than the 370, sorry guys) I think they'll soon achieve modern classic status along the lines of something like an 8 Series, where solid ones are still worth actual money despite the comically thirsty engines and relatively low hp/litre. Just my 2p and I could be completely wrong, but it's one of the reasons I chose a Zed in the first place, because I think unlike a lot of their rivals they'll stay desirable into the future. Not that I'm planning on ever selling mine, but I'd like to think I won't look like a berk driving it in 5-10 years time, as I would in say, a 986 boxster. DB

DIY method would be to get it spotlessly clean, wetsand it CAREFULLY with fine grade paper until you can't see any more clouding, then buff it back up with a DA polisher and then finish with clearcoat. There's nothing there your average bodyshop couldn't handle if you wanted to get someone else to do it, but it's perfectly DIY-able if you're careful. DB

Personally wouldn't put a Nismo sticker on unless I had some actual Nismo performance parts on the car (with the possible exception of a full factory fit genuine Nismo kit, which I think would be acceptable). That said, I am one of these people who descents into fits of spittle-projecting rage whenever I see a 318 with M3 badges on it, so probably not a very balanced view DB

Ouch My gut tells me you'll never get anything out of them, and it'll probably be less hassle just to suck it up and re-do the vinyl. Trying to prove that it was their fireworks that did it will be next to impossible; who's to say you didn't just drop a fag on it? DB

Could be the left-side speaker cut-out issue rearing its ugly head, as I first noticed this only as a change of volume until a passenger commented that all the noise seemed to be coming from my side of the car. The way I tested it was to have the sound on with the engine off and change the left/right balance to see if the overall volume changed (obviously sending more noise to speakers that don't work will make it quieter). Good excuse to rip it out and put something better in DB

From what others have said (a lot of others), the HR engine feels a lot better than the 33 extra ponies would have you believe. The fact that it revs almost 1k rpm higher than the DE is a clue to how much of a different engine it is. This could all just be people trying to justify the extra tax to themselves, but if you can afford one I'd recommend driving both engines yourself to be sure. the whole 'mod the hell out of it' suggestion doesn't really hold that much water to me either, as it's practically impossible to get a DE to the same power as a stock HR keeping it N/A, so you end up with a supercharged engine which is a different kettle of fish (albeit still a right larf I bet). I have a DE btw, so no agenda there. DB

Yes, Leeroy, you're right I should have been more specific, the gearboxes are just a bit of a sore subject to me . Almost all 350z 'boxes are a little notchy when cold, and generally pretty 'manly' to operate. What you really need to worry about is if when up to temp you can't get it into 2nd without a nice crunch, and possibly the same in 5th and 6th. The clutches seem to vary massively. Mine gave up at about 50k, which seems fairly normal, but SMD is apparently still on his original at over 100k DB Edit - just noticed your synchro question - yes, it's true, I don't know why but the synchros on early boxes don't have enough cones for the power basically. Later DE (CD009) and all HR boxes have double and triple cones on more gears so they're more robust. It doesn't seem to be that well documented over here, but a transmission swap to a later gearbox is a very popular thing to do in the states to avoid synchro issues. Some are fine, some (like mine) are a nightmare, just have to make sure you get a good one.

I'd recommend a test drive to check the gearbox, the syncros are notoriously weak on the early cars and at 74k that could be rearing its head if the car has been driven as god intended. Symtoms are a crunch going from 1st to 2nd and back again, and 5th and 6th can get crunchy too in some cases. I'm probably more paranoid about this than most, but then I unknowingly bought one with a shagged gearbox and it's now having its replacement gearbox rebuilt as that was shagged as well. Probably one of the most expensive problems you can have with the Zed so I'd say its worth taking steps to avoid. Also the clutch could be on its way out if it's still on the original. DB

Flipping awesome man ! I can't wait to move out and have some space again to get a wheel set up. For the time being I'll be using it on a wheel stand rather than a chair because of space issues, but I've managed to find one that is pretty damn sturdy and that everything can be hard-mounted to so hopefully it should just be like driving a sofa DB

I'd also be interested in an impression from a real person, I've got a full Fanatec CSR setup on the way So I'm trying to figure out if it's enough of a 'sim' to make it worth using the wheel and stuff with and it's quite hard to judge from the few decent reviews out there. DB

Where's Ekona when you need him... DB Dan has bit of a downer on the 452 Falkens, whereas a lot of us who have used them over a long period found them excellent value for money and for everyday road use are a perfectly competent tyre in the wet and dry. But bear in mind Falken now have the 453 out as a replacement and we do not know the feedback on those yet. It was slightly tongue in cheek I'm perfectly prepared to believe the FKs are fine for everyday driving. That said; whilst I'm not going to diss a tyre I've never used, I'm also not so sure I'd suggest 'ditching' tyres that Ferrari saw fit to put on the Enzo and replacing them with semi-budgets with an at best mixed reputation. DB

Where's Ekona when you need him... DB

It's interesting to hear that there really are a fair few genuine success stories from online dating, and that they're not just made up by match.com et al. The thing I think I'd find wierd is that if you met up with someone from a dating site you both know exactly why you're there, and the idea of someone judging you purely on your value as a prospective partner from before you've even met is a bit odd in my mind. All my previous girlfriends I've known for quite a while before anything happened, so I suppose it might be that that makes be see it as wierd. Or I could just be giving myself excuses not to try it DB

Definitely right to go about this the legit way. Even removing the fact that you don't know what this guy will do if confronted, you could well invalidate any legal standing you do have by doing/saying the wrong thing and creating a loophole for him to wriggle through. That said, as above if it was just £50 my action would be to chalk it down to expeirence and move on, but if you don't feel that's financially appropriate for your relatives then I think leonk's idea is a good one. Depending on how far it goes you could cause yourself waaaaay more than £50's worth of hassle even if you end up winning. Good luck and hope you sort it DB

Funny someone should bring this up, because I'm also of the mid-twenties-and-single variety and was wondering exactly the same thing just the other day. I came to the conclusion that the vast majority of mid-twenties couples met at uni. I didn't go to uni, and chose to join the military instead (kinda the other end of the scale as far as meeting nice young women goes) and on emerging back into the real world I've found that single people only seem to exist in clubs, and that's not really my thing. DB

People have definitely run these as a single turbo but it's hard to work out what kind of lag they actually have because everyone who has a turbo conversion done claims there's no lag so they don't feel they've lost out to the vortech crew. Also it seems like you've done your homework, but for me, personally, I'd be building the engine before i did anything else, especially as it's torque that kills the stock rods and you'll be getting bags of that with a big turbo, even at less than 400bhp. DB

Ahhh, thanks, thought I recognised it from a film. DB

Someone may be able to confirm this, bit IIRC the Crawfords headers don't fit RHD cars (I'm assuming you're in the UK) which is gutting because they're supposed to be the best for performance. DB