gangzoom

Sounds like you had fun, Gang, did you meet the extended family...

It was great fun, still cannot understand how there aren't more accidents on the roads there with cows just wondering around, lorries going the wrong way down the lane, 4 cars all abreast on a 2 lane road!!

Started off in Patna which was essentially hasn't changed much in 20 years, the first 'shopping centre' only opened there 6 months ago. Ended up in Hyderabad which had a 12 lane highway that makes the M1 look like a B road, and a giant Microsoft building dwarfed our hotel. People there were panicking because GDP had fallen to 8% as compared to 9% 3 month earlier, it's a country of complete contrast, you have to get ur self there at some point to experience it!!

See you at the Singapore GP then - flights/accommodation booked as a 5 day stopover on the way to Oz

Are the tickets out yet? Cannot wait for it, loved going to Silverstone a couple of years ago, but the atmosphere in Singapore looks like its on another level

When I read the title I was gonna say Dubai but I'm glad u agree ......Il see if I can find photos looking down from there

The lift is pretty cool, given that the lift at work takes the same amount of time to do 4 floors . I took some pics at the top with a wide angle lens, its amazing to think only 20 - 30 years ago it was all desert!!

I loved the Dubai skyline, its so surreal it might as well have come out of a comic book!!

Just come back from a 3 week trip in India I have to say the its probably one of the most beautiful counties I've been to so far. The Taj Mahal is the most magnificent man made structures I've ever seen and comes close to matching some of sights I saw in NewZeland. I took countless photos of it but none of them do it any justice, if anyone every gets the chance to go to India, you have to visit the Taj and see it in real life to appreciate the craftsmanship!! Anyways here are some pics, I took over 22 gigs in total

On the way back we stopped in Dubai for a few nights...amazing that can be accomplished when money is no object, saw more Ferraris, Porsches etc in one night than a decade in the UK, still the thing that struck me the most was the skyline, the Burj Khalifa really does make the place stand out, all of a sudden skyscraper in places in NewYork, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur all seem a bit pathetic in comparison!!

I've been lucky the last couple of years, no kids and some wangling to get leave sorted meant in the last 12 months I've managed trips to NewZeland and India, next year doing Dubai again but going for longer probably than on to KL or HK or Kerala depending on time. China via the Singapore GP is also almost a certainty next year.

South America, and South Africa are 2 places I defiantly want to go the year after, than maybe Iceland but the wife thinks that would be too This got me thinking, would you rather spend £1K on mods for the car or £1K going to see another part of the world??

http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/275761/toyota_gt_86_finally_revealed.html

£25K, looks good, 2 more seats than the Z, LSD, only 1100Kg....but only 200 bhp, been NA its not going to be easy to get more poke out of it...why didn't they just stick the current 300 bhp boxster engine in it

Looks great, very envious, I thought the 335i was quick till I had a go in my friends E90 M3 ....think I've missed my chance of getting a M car for while now Have to make do with the 335i for a few years till I've saved enough for a F10 M5

This debate seems to appear every now and than...Ive been knocked off my bike twice, once by a car deciding to run a red light and another time a car that decided I didn't exist at a junction. On both occasions I had visions of broken bones, lengthy stays in hospital just before the impact. Cannot actually remember either but did fly over the bonnet of one car and in the 2nd case the front wheel of my bike ended up under the car tyre....so I cannot really blame any cyclist who decided to ride defensively.

Yes alot cyclist break the rules, but come on guys, just relax and give them some space, when was the last time you got wet whilst it was raining in ur car, or have your b####s go numb because its 5 degrees and you haven't got heated seats on ur bike.

As for the highway code, apart from my driving exam I think I break some rule in it every time I drive. How many of us drivers never go over 30mph in a 30mph zone??

I used my Z to commute to work for the last 4 winters, never had a problem with my summer tyres even over fresh snow. Infact I loved the fact the Z is so predicable, you can easily tell when the back end is about to slip and it's actually quite fun been able to provoke powerslide slides at 20mph:) Even got told off by security at work for doing donuts in the car park....Considering we get at the most 5-7 days of bad snow a year in the Midlands always it's seems like an awful lot of money to keep modile for 1 week out of 54?!

There has also been talk of using the same tech to watch two programmes at the same time full screen, but that needs things like the sound sorting and twin tuners, so maybe something for future models. I'd love that, me watching the BTCC and the missus watching the Eastenders omnibus. Both in peace

I Eastenders may well be more interesting with a touring car sound track

All that said, DO NOT BUY THAT TELLY WITHOUT VIEWING IT.

Best advice really, don't get fooled into all the marketing gimmick out there; So called "LED" TVs are really LCD TVs which use LED for back light rather than using fluorescent lamps. All the rubbish about 100hz/200hz modes, quoted contrast ratios, blacker than black modes etc is all marketing talk. The simple fact is the best TV ever made is the Pionner Kuro, which despite been nearly 3 years old(Pioneer stopped making them in 2008) is still the benchmark all other TVs are tested against!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20034816-1.html

The whole 3D things is also bit uncertain at the moment, on a 65inch screen in a blacked out room (essentially home cinema setting) it certainly works but on a 46inch in a living room I'm not sure. Glasses free 3D is coming, but how good it's going to be who knows. 3D projectors are also slow coming down in price, but a £3K for a decent one still not really a option for most people.

But the best thing to do is go and see the TVs in real life, accept that no TV is perfect regardless of price, and just get one in your price range, that looks good to you and suits your room set up, take it home and stop reading TV reviews till you need another TV (because something better is always just around the corner and apparently 2012 might see the Kuro finally been toppled)

Spending £2k on a car, then tax, insurance, mot, tyres, servicing..... you will have to do a lot of miles on the zed before that actually works out "cheaper". My old car was a Golf TDI which was worth about £2500. Including tax / insurance / mot / tyres / servicing and diesel it worked out it would cost me about 15p a mile based on 20,000miles a year to run it as a 2nd car. My zed currently costs me about 30p a mile just on petrol, tyres, servicing. Assuming over a 12 month period the shed looses £1000 in value, then id have to do over 6666 miles in it before it would start saving me money over using the zed. Then if you think you may need a new cambelt on the other car (400quid odd), and maybe something else goes wrong, it ends up actually not saving you anything at all.

+1 Buying a 2nd car will not save you any money, especially if you still have a outstanding loan on the Z. It will make more sense to pay the loan off on the car, but remember as with any car it will always depreciate with time, so when it come to selling the Z you almost certainly "loss" money.

Running a house is ALOT more expensive than simply paying the mortgage, and once you see how much money the banks are making from the mortgages your be wanting to pay it off ASAP. Having said that if you can manage to pay your mortgage back quickly (over payments) it leaves you in very good financial ground, with house prices pretty flat its actually a reasonable time to buy...but ofcourse these days you need a pretty big deposit to get on to the good mortgage deals.

Thought about getting on the scheme, its essentially a government backed investment scheme which over 25 years guarantees you a excellent return on your initial capital. Would have gone for it my self especially with interest rate been at basally 0% but we'll most likely move house some time in the next 5 years so didn't see the point...

What does it say in the small print happens if you sell up before the 25 years is up and the new owners don't want the panels?? Theses companies that install panels for free are out to make money for themselves so they must have a way to ensure they don't loss out in their initial investment?

And yeah, the 335d and 335i are both really tempting for an extra 3-4k, but then I might as well have kept the Z?!

Depending on why your selling the Z. The 335d will be significenly more efficient that the Z, even my 355i is currently averaging 26mpg and thats mainly with city driving and B road blasts, on motorway runs 35mpg is easily achievable and 40mpg if you stick to below 70mph.

Either way your be swapping a 2 seater sports car for a practical 4 door saloon. Went to Cardiff the other weekend to see the parent in-laws, I was able to have a conversation at motorway speeds without shouting, carry 4 adults + all their luggage in comfort, and when needed put the twin turbos to good use

Main problem I find with the 335i is resisting the temptation to go chasing after big BHPs...in the Z I was content knowing there is really no way to up the power without spending mega bucks...with the 335i however decats plus uprated intercooler (both of which i've just bought) and a remap will apparently see 400bhp+

9K on a 2nd hand 320d You know early 335i can now be had for a little over £10K, nearly twice the power for a extra few £££s http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3368575.htm

If your worried about running costs, I managed nearly 40mpg on a round trip from Leicester to London, and that included sitting in a traffic jam on the M25 for about 1 hour

My wife has had one for a few years now. The only thing that's gone wrong in 45,000 miles is a stuck cigar lighter thing that was replaced under warranty, and a fuse box recall. It'll also carry 3 adults in back and all their luggage without much fuss, the Sat Nav is fab, and the dash is still spaced aged compared to most other cars.

The 2.2 CTDI engine is a good one, I think the torque figures are not far off the Zs!! Personally I probably wouldn't bother with a remap, the rest of the driving experience is just too bland, useless brake, no steering feel, understeers and rolls around corners. The most fun I've ever have driving it is trying to keep the MPG above 50 Still not a bad little car, but now that the wife has driven the Bimmer a few times she's demanding RWD for her next car

I'm no expert but its sounds like a massive job...with good UK spec Zs going for £6K surely it would be cheaper to sell the JDM and buy a UK model?

yeah considering I had already accepted I was losing 6.5K in 2 and a half years in depreciation I didn't even care anymore.

 

my god, i *really* hope i dont loose that sort of loot on my zed.

Its best not to think about these things, I "lost" 13K on my Z when I traded her in...still don't regret for 1 second. No doubt my current car will "loose" even more when I move on, but thats the price we all pay for not wanting to potter around in Micras

The Z isn't about all out power, its more about the whole packadge. Looks, comfort, running costs, reliabilty, performance nothing else comes close for the price. My current car (335i) is rated at 306BHP but is significantly faster than the Z in a straight line, but it doesn't give me the same feeling of occasion I got every time I sat in the Z. Infact most of my friends who aren't into cars don't understand why I've swapped such a nice looking sports car for a dull looking BMW

Don't get tempted by the FWD hatches, the Z is a much better choice.

Aperture 3 is a photo organisation software, essentially a beefed up version of iPhoto, the Adobe version is Lightroom. You will still need photoshop to do the proper post processing work.

For £30K...E90 M3 if you need 4 seats and a boot, otherwise 911 turbo..simples

I think thoese things are pretty uncompromising. If it's setup like the old DC-2 Integra R it's hardly a family friendly machine. Still will no doubt handle better than most 'sports' cars including the Z!!

You've done a great job with your e90 Mega, cannot wait to see what your going to do with the Z . But others here are right am afraid, the Z is pretty hard to tune up for even a few extra BHPs

Thanks for the replies folks, some interesting suggestions there that i'd not really considered, worth some more investigation :-)

 

With regards the beemers, for those that have them, are the running costs likely to be significantly different to the z? I'm talking servicing, tyres, brakes, etc basically any wear parts assuming i'd use independent garages for both cars rather than dealers.

Not had the 335i long enough to fully tell, but from what I gather most bits are actually quite resonable but it depends on which model you go for. My wheels are 18inch so tyre prices is indentical to the Zs. Servicing is "interval" based, essentially the onboard computer tells you when the next oil service is due, when the brakes are due to be replaced, when filters needs changing etc..its all very clever

Overall the 335i is currently cheaper to run than the Z (mainly cos its about 5-10mpg better on fuel and can run on 95Ron rather than needing superunleaded). The 320d eco models are suppose to be very ecomnocial and cheap to run over all, hence why theres one around every corner...but to me its seems a bit pointless paying extra for RWD only to ruin it with a boring engine...but as they say the BMW badge is apparently worth its weight in gold and plenty of people seem willing to pay for it

People often use a program called Bittorrent to back up files on the internet. Google is your friend

Both the 330i and 330d are in your price range. The D is actually more expensive 2nd hand because its much more economical, but even my 335i can manage over 40mpg+ if you stick on the cruise control at 60mph on the M ways.

Personally I love my 335i, much more grown up than the Z (only faster ). Only had it for a few months but nothings broken yet. BMW main servicing costs are a joke but plenty of independents around. Lovely to drive with a good sounding petrol engine ( cannot comment on the D version). Interior quality is a class above Fords etc