Kev946

Well you do now....me. I was paying £50 a week to park at Derby training station. PS: Nothing in comparison to the £123.50 return train fare to London.....

Dunno if anyone said it in the thread, but bike to work: Quicker? Hell yeah! Cheaper? Hell no! Derby Station charge £10 a day for parking so I save £50 a week using the bike. My Diversion cost me £600, only cost me £100 a year insurance and does 50 mpg. So cheaper for me...

I'm with Bennetts and my Diversion cost me £100 fully comp and I've got no no claims bonus. The R1 was a little more...

I've got 2 bikes at the moment an if it's comuting suggest you get yourself a cheap bike first. I've got an old Yamaha 600 Diversion, ideal for comuting, no one will pinch it and your don't have to worry about cleaning it. I save my best bike for weekends...

Try these guys http://www.gearboxman.co.uk/

I think most of you guys are missing the point. No one is comparing a Lotus with a GT-R, forget that, 2 totally different cars. The point is simply that the manufacturers keep adding weight, then adding power, and one is cancelling out the other. I remember a Top Gear programme a while back where they took the oringial Mk1 Golf GTi v's a Mk4 I think it was, and did a standing start. The Mk1 left the Mk4 standing and others standing. See this vid, says it all really If the GT-R is supposed to be a performance car why does it weigh sooo much. I'm nt suggesting for one minute it should weigh the same as a Lotus, but it's something like 200 kg's at least overweight. This argument equally applies to other so called performance cars, such as the latest M3 and M5 for example. Both have a stupid "for show" carbon roof whih I don't expect makes anything more than a couple of kg difference. Anyway, what is clear to me is you guys don't care about weight, and personally I do. Can I not have an oppion here? Maybe now I can start to understand why Valerio left...

You can't honestly argue that its about the same size because it's higher Or perhaps the popemobile is bigger than a cadillac Just never heard anyone comparing weight based on square footage of a 3 dimensional object. Clearly the GT-R is a flag ship car to riase the Nissan badge image and from comments on here, it's doing just that, but how can you defend 1740kg, even though you guys are doing a good job. If you talk to the Lotus guys many have removed their sound system to save weight...

Chris - I think you will find a car is 3 dimensional... PS: It's worth noting that the Cossie used a standard production car shell. 1300 kg was a normal car in those days not a light weight sports coupe. Anyway...

You guys would not believe the weight of the Cossie seats. They are highback Recaros and weigh sooo much. I've had them out on many occasions. I'd be surprised if they are lighter than the GT-R's. I realise there's over 20 years of car development between the 2, but this just illustrates that progress in other areas is at the expense of weight. The manufacturers could make their cars lighter but at a cost, so don't. Just look at Motorbikes, they are massively lighter than they were 20 years ago. As for size, don't forget it's a Sierra Cossie, seats 5 adults, has a big boot too, so if it is smaller it's marginal. It's certainly much bigger than the Zed as it fills my garage.

I wasn't proposing a stripped out GT-R aka Lotus, just some weight saving materials to bring the enormous weight down. Why do modern cars weigh so much anyway. I realise airbags, crumple zones all add weight, but whay don't manufacturers counteract this with light weight materials, probably cost. Just as a comparison, and yes I've said this before, my Cossie weighs 1315kg. As a car it has 4 seats, is as big as a GT-R but the GT-R weighs 32% more than the Cossie , that's massive. I wouldn't compare a Lotus to a GT-R as they are totally different cars, but if you did the figure would be more like 50%+.

Your kidding aren't you? I am glad to go work sometimes for a rest, my girlfriend never leaves me alone!! = You lucky geezer. I've met your girlfriend, in fact she's been in my car..

+1... The GT-R will be a crap track car weighing that much. Be prepared to budget for a set of tyres, brake disks and pads per session, not to mention clutch... Well that is the first time that i have seen or heard that word associated with the performance of the GT-R But at the end of the day i bet you would like to take it around a track kev? Anyhow does not really bother me, i am never going to budget for any of that stuff even if i had a GT-R because i am not really going to spend 55k on a car just to pound around some track all day long!! Anyhow i read that the clutch was good for 150,000 miles, so i would hardly think that the computer controlled transmission is going to go tits up with a single track day? Of course silly me, Nissan transmissions are immensely reliable.... That may be the case but you dont know that about the GT-R, at the end of the day Nissan are having a single engineer build the transmission in a clean room, that alone show's the efforts they are making with this car. In some respects the transmission is a world first on this car built in association with Borg-Warner and the multi-plate clutch is said to be good for 150k. I am sorry kev that you have to get on your high horse or make flippant remarks everytime someone challenges your obvious superior knowledge of cars, but after all it is a public forum. Sometimes i get the impression that you just want us to say "Kev no matter what car you have wether it be a Lotus or BMW its way better than the 350z. And there is a lot of Marque snobbery these days, its a bitter pill to swallow i guess when the maker's of the Micra produce something that goes around a track quicker than a BMW,Porsche or virtually anything else you care to name. I'm not on my high horse and sounds like someone needs a hug... There's always a better car out there guys, better than mine, your's etc. I think the Lotus Eagle will be a gigantic flop for example, and I'm certainly not a badge snob. In fact my favourite transport at the moment has only 2 wheels, my R1, I love it and the performance would embarass a GT-R dear I say. All I can say is you should try drving a proper lightweight sportscar before you make your judgements. I've owned both, done track days in both so at least my comments have a reference point. I don't claim to be any expert, I prefer to listen to people that know, e.g. my Lotus has just had a few [performance upgrades done by Lotus Motorsport at the factory. Now these guys know what they are talking about. Anyway, I don't expect anything but a biased oppnion on a new Nissan model from a Nissan forum, and it is a wonderful piece of engineering, so I'm not knocking that at all, but it's major flaw, like all new models is that they are geting heavier and heavier. That's all I'm saying, simple as that. Now can we get back to the original thread which was the new Lotus Eagle.....

+1... The GT-R will be a crap track car weighing that much. Be prepared to budget for a set of tyres, brake disks and pads per session, not to mention clutch... Well that is the first time that i have seen or heard that word associated with the performance of the GT-R But at the end of the day i bet you would like to take it around a track kev? Anyhow does not really bother me, i am never going to budget for any of that stuff even if i had a GT-R because i am not really going to spend 55k on a car just to pound around some track all day long!! Anyhow i read that the clutch was good for 150,000 miles, so i would hardly think that the computer controlled transmission is going to go tits up with a single track day? Of course silly me, Nissan transmissions are immensely reliable....

+1... The GT-R will be a crap track car weighing that much. Be prepared to budget for a set of tyres, brake disks and pads per session, not to mention clutch...

Did you miss Sarnie's post... It weights 1740kg. You can get a 4x4 that weighs less than that.... I have to admit it's incredible that the've managed to get such a porky car around the ring so fast, but guess that how advanced the technology is. Now imagine how quick it would be if it was a proper lightweight sports car. I really do hope they build a small 2 seater with the GT-R technology underneath.

You guys just don't get it do you. Anyone can got fast in a straight line. Now going round corners, that's different....

You know the Lotus moto less is more.... I ain't buying one BTW, it will be way too heavy, although I expect it will be ligther than a Zed.. I like the performance of the new GT-R, but not sure on the styling and it's also way too big and heavy. It is a technical marvel though, a bit like a PS3 on wheels... Now if Nissan used the GT-R technology on a light weight 2 seater, then I would be interested.

I think you will be paying more like £60k and then there will be a queue. Still alot of car for the money though. If I was going for one I'd wait a couple of years for the imports to bring the price down, then they will be a bargain.

You won't get a GT-R for that money unless you import one yourself, and then you will have to learn Japanese to drive it....

Have you seen the latest SE Europa, more like a TVR, e.g. leather dash etc. very plush. They say the car is aiming at the 911 market, but it seems to be between the Coxster and 911. I did catch something when it was first launched, but got the impression that although the interior wasnt stripped out like the Elise, it wasnt much to write home about. If I'm honest I didnt pay much attention though Will be good to give the Zed some competition, get Nissan to improve the interior and give it a diet Check out the latest Europa, very plush and dear I say better than the Zed. Also some cracking deals. Check this one http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/415473.htm

Have you seen the latest SE Europa, more like a TVR, e.g. leather dash etc. very plush. They say the car is aiming at the 911 market, but it seems to be between the Coxster and 911.

I saw this car all disguised last week when I was at the Factory. They were testing it on the Hethel Test Track. If looked very much 350z size and interesting to hear it will be 3.5 V6 Toyota powered.

See http://www.worldcarfans.com/9080414.009 ... tted-again

Thanks mate

But the point is lighter wheels will improve handling, less weight means less stress on the suspension, less gyro effect so quicker turn in etc. When I fitted 19's to my Zed they were heavier and the ride and handling was noticeably worse when the car was pushed. Normal driving was fine. I had to compensate by upgrading springs and dampers, so the overall gain was purely cosmetic. maybe so, but on the road...hardly going to be that noticeable. Depends how hard you drive. I could tell. I upgraded the springs and dampers staright away I was so dissapointed with the ride and handling.