Dynamic Turtle

Does the post-06 come with higher VED too?

TBH there are much better aftermarket exhausts in terms of soundtrack and weight reduction and I'd only fit the Nismo version if you're desperate about maintaining your Nissan warranty. I have a Nismo exhaust lying around in my garage, and I think Abbey have about 50 of them in their graveyard. Read into that what you will (i.e. its not very good). DT

Can you imagine how unreliable they'd be if Tesla made ICEs? Like that crap they build in Michigan...

Have these in my Nismo, massively recommended, they're so mental!!

Amt makes a good point, pretty much everything is fast these days - a pcp golf @ £300pm does 0-60 <5s and turbodiesels churn out 350lbft of midrange punch as standard. Straight line you're not going to gain much but other things are more important, like NA noise, red line chasing powertrain, chassis, steering, rarity and presence. BMW 3 series has none of these.

What is a "standard" Supra?

Big price range for Integras it seems, £4-13k. Market's all over the place, basically, like S2000s people can't actually figure out if they're modern classics or regular rustbuckets.

Also I can't seem to find 103 load in this tyre size, are they all 99?

On the off chance anyone is selling some part-worns I'd be happy to buy a pair with 4mm+ left Thanks, DT

But where do you draw the line? Does everything have to be OEM? What if you're using equally effective brake pads that aren't Brembos? Is that a declarable / contract voiding non-standard addition to the car? Madness...

But in your experience would that really invalidate an insurance contract if it came to court? There must be shades of grey in the interpretation of its legalese as with any other commercial agreement, regardless of how well stress-tested it is (and I'm guessing they're battle-hardened drafts). Something like a bolt on supercharger or slammed geo I can understand, but marginal stuff like stickers or a Y-pipe less so.

Despite the hyper green regs LA is still a car culture hotspot, and you can see why when you have roads like mulholland, little tajunga and the Pacific coast highway to use. Hired a stingray and a mustang last time I was out there, fantastic place because the people are so cool.

I think you're crediting assessors with too much intelligence and effort. IME they're a lazy bunch. At some point there has to be a reasonable level of ignorance. I have no idea if my car has polybushes, different anti roll bars, camber arms, a remap, non oem tyres etc. Insurers just use it as a scam to extract more money from the demographic with most money to burn (I.e. 18-35y. Males). Their risk assessment models are hilariously archaic, slide rule things.

Paint job and mods not to everyone's taste, but I'm sure this is one very carefully loved nuclear weapon.

P.s. the 350 taught me the pitfall of modifications, less is more and never touch the suspension.

No, but there's no progressivenosity without innovatating.

Hence why I'm willing to forego the last 5% of handling feedback for a 20% improvement in livability and much less tin-worm with a DC5.

Well that's what I'm worried about. Previous experience suggests that I'm no Vin Diesel when it comes to controlling a drift...

Any views on the S2000 vs DC5? Apparently it doesn't have the same chassis balance and appears to be a bit of a widowmaker on track if all the ring vids are anything to go by. Is it more of a lazy boulecvard cruiser or a mentalist? Never driven one. Love the knight rider tacho though!

To be fair their salesman are actually very good (and extremely polite) - mostly former racers and works engineers used to giving it the full Heinz.

Without a doubt, but those speeds are intimidating for the occasional user and I borrow rather than own these cars and can’t take liberties with the paintwork. It takes a while for your brain to readjust and treat corners with the momentum and traction characteristics of something other than a 1500kg Zed, but you do eventually feel confident to dial it up…but only to a point. Likewise I doubt I’ll be given enough leeway to really chuck the Cali or 488 around (they’re accompanied test drives so the salesman can constantly harass you) but let’s see how linear Ferrari have managed to make a turbo torque plot.

not from me . very good points in your second para. One of the good things that ferrari offer and throw in is a 7 year service plan, helps a bit towards the upkeep. Maintenance is 4 years I believe. They have “scheduled maintenance†plans up to 12 years post purchase, but you have to swallow full dealer RRPs for everything from initial purchase cost to consumables. Lots of caveats in exchange for your $$$, but you certainly don’t buy these things for affordable 0-60 times. I’m sure for most buyers it’s a fly in the room, but for the marginal tifosi it can be extremely painful.

I think the 360 on smooth tarmac would be epic but it sadly felt a bit hamstrung on our crappy roads where the damping just can’t get along with the lumps & bumps. You have to be a good driver to get the best from it, particularly as modulating the brake is so difficult. The go-kart analogy is accurate but it picks up a helluva lot quicker than a two-stroke. Debating the aural characteristics of the 458 & 488 seems a bit churlish and very much a first-world problem, these are cars so capable that you’re probably never going to access 7/10ths and above unless you’re Lewis Hamilton. Obviously it’s the end of an era but so was fuel injection, ABS, TCS and paddle-shifting. I think anyone going from a 250GTO (Petrolicious vid is a must-watch) to a 458 would be disappointed with the noise of Maranello’s latest but would they question the performance? Likewise I doubt many would turn their nose up at the 288GTO and F40 for being turbocharged and the AMG GT has shown that you can engineer a nice exhaust burble if you design it carefully. Not advocating the latest & greatest but times change… Also hasten to add that I’m not in the market for one of these (looking at a leggy VTEC or Busso for track work!) I just have friends in the right places. Friends who are also nursing serious financial wounds from upkeep and maintenance regardless of the price rises in the market which barely offsets it. Sympathy violin anyone?

Been spending a bit more time driving fezzas lately, friends have let me borrow their 360 & 430. The former is a surprisingly hard car to drive fast and is in no way a lazy GT like the zed, problem being the B-road damping which definitely wasn't borrowed from Lotus. It is an absolute catapult though and picks up so quickly. Open gate gearbox is hard to use, got to be accurate with it along with the pedals which are so close to each other that there is a likelihood of braking and accelerating at the same time. Also weird how it's quieter inside the car than you'd expect (certainly compared to say an Exige 240 or decatted 320 the latter requiring earplugs). Incredible Tubi exhaust though and it just sings! The 430 felt similar but more sanitised (best word I can think of). Not necessarily a bad thing - more user friendly. Paddleshift lets you focus on the sheer speed but misses somethign in the process. Another's friend's father has a 458 Spider which makes every other car I've experienced feel like a fisher price toy. Test driving the new Cali T & 488 later this week, pretty excited DT