Ponsonby

My daughter just got back from Aldi and said that loads of stuff has sold out. The lady on the till was telling her that a couple had spent £380 yesterday - thats a lot of stuff in Aldi! When they had been asked if they had a big family they replied that there was only them but they were stocking up just in case.........

If it doesn't sell on here, are you going to put it on Ebay?

Anyone attending this meet with a 370z with Invidia Gemini and standard cats? I'd really like a listen.

I am hoping to attend Davey but will not know for sure until the night before. I'll not book a breakfast but hopefully they can sort me out with one on the day.

Or 'tracing paper' like we used to have in school toilets. Bet there is someone with a warehouse full of that horrible paper now celebrating because the time has come when they can move it on.

Looking good Lewis and the wheels really finish off the car. I am sure that Pete will be delighted that his car has gone to such an enthusiast.

My wife and daughter both have different cars with the tiny 3 cylinder turbo petrol engines. Economy is poor and not even vaguely close to the advertised levels. My family wagon, 4x4 crossover is a 1.6 turbo petrol and is more economical even just pottering about.

There is a few companies doing it over here now. They claim you can send the car back for a full refund within so many days if you aren't happy.

I guess you bought Jetset Pete's car then? Looks so much better after all your hard work detailing and will look great with the LMGT4's on it.

So many garages now are asking for a refundable deposit to hold the car for you until you have viewed it. I asked one garage to make sure the car was clean and indoors so I could view it properly and was told they would not do that unless I had placed the holding deposit. Since I was covering some distance viewing, I think I ended up with 3 deposits outstanding at one point. Got them all back though.

During my recent hunt for a car I did make a few cheeky offers. However this was only where I thought the dealer was chancing his luck with an overpriced car. Was only trying to knock a couple of grand off though. Since then most of those cars are still up for sale and the dealers have reduced their price and most have phoned me to see if I am still interested....

Wouldn't look quite so cool once fitted with a lift to get me in and out of it

You have gone a step further …. And I bet you love it

I will second that Davey. I'll go for character over outright speed, handling and mpg any day.

I had a 370 GT Edition, then a 370 Nismo and now back in a 370 GT. Really did not get on with the Nismo for a couple of reasons, neither of which were the cars fault. Seats look fantastic and are quite comfortable but not if you have a dodgy lower back and need to regularly shift seating position to avoid it locking up. Suspension is harder on the Nismo, did not really affect my back but on the knackered roads around here it just seemed to skip across the road surface and did not inspire confidence. Looks wise the Nismo is fantastic but not much difference in performance. I decided to go for comfort over looks - I am getting to be an old fart.

I'll send you a pm with my contact details. Happy to help out a fellow Zed enthusiast.

I dont believe they will have the infrastrucure in place so cant see it happening. Also, they are only banning the sale of new fossil fuel cars they are not banning them from the road. Enjoy your 'polluting' motoring days while you still can.

Hi Pete, I am not far from you, Nantwich, and have a standard exhaust if you need it to get the car through an MOT. It was taken off my 17,000 mile 2006 car and dry stored for the last 12 months. Free of charge to you. If you wanted to book your car into National Tyres in Crewe for exhaust fitting and MOT I could drop the exhaust off there for you later next week. Chris

I am lucky enough to have owned an S12, S13 and S14. Made the error of getting the S14 as an auto which wasn't good. Loved my S12 though and was the car that got me interested in the Japanese cars. That was a long time ago ...

I agree. My RS3 was significantly faster, better handling, better traction, better practicality and sounded wicked but lacked character. I am also happier to be back in a 370Z. Only picked it up just over a week ago but despite it being my 5th Zed I was still excited over collecting it.

Official Porsche service costs are huge. I have a copy of a printout of Porsche Service History for a Cayman I looked at. It was a very low mileage car so minor service at 4500 miles cost £923 and then the full service, done at 8,200 miles cost the owner £1580. They also paid for the extended warranty at nearly £1800.

I agree. My fathers car insurance was with Saga, a company that promotes itself as looking after the welfare of the elderly, and I was shocked when I saw how much he was paying for car insurance. Guess us 'youngsters' (ahem, 57) have a responsibility for looking out for our parents and other elderly or vulnerable around us.

You are far better negotiating 'face to face'. If its not far from you then go and have a look, have a test drive and then make the offer you think is fair. If you are a cash buyer (no PX) they are stupid to let you walk away. There was a 370Z that I was interested in recently so I had a chat and offered less. I got the same, no negotiation. 2 weeks later and they have reduced the price to what I offered. They have phoned me but I have one now : ) Their loss. If they have just got the car in then they will be hoping that someone will pay a premium for a yellow car but if they get no enquiries will soon reduce it. I also spotted recently a 2011 Le Mans Blue, 1 owner, 22K miles up for £15K. This appears to have been sold which surprised me.

If I view a car at this time of year I ask that it be cleaned and moved into the showroom so that I can view it properly before a test drive. You need to view it when it is dry and would be amazed how well indoor lighting, especially LED, shows up paint imperfections or re-painted panels. Remember to check tyres - not just that they have plenty of life left in them but that they are a decent brand. I have come across several second hand Zed's where the dealer has put ditch finders on just to get them through MOT. If you are not a fan of the stripes, get them to remove them before you finally pay for the car. That way if there is any damage that they are hiding you can reject the car.

I would suggest taking your time to find someone to do the work, get recommendations, and be prepared to pay a little more for a first class job. Be careful with Chips Away and other similar franchises. Some of their technicians are superb but others are awful and may depend on how much experience they have. Someone who buys a franchise may have no previous experience, receive a few days training and then get let loose on your car. I think that I would rather someone worked on my car in a warm, dry and clean environment rather than on my driveway in the wind and rain. This will cost more but if you are happier with the result....