Ekona

You can’t figure out what a car is like when you test drive it for a short time, but you can from random stranger’s opinions on the internet?! I’ll keep it simple. Yes they’re fun on B roads as they don’t feel that big. Yes, they’re nose heavy as you’d expect so you need a fair bit of space to be a hooligan. The gearbox is fine, not the best but it does the job. Z4 will be much less fun to drive, but the Cayman will be magnitudes better. Truth is, you’re going to have to drive one to find out if it’s for you. If the dealership won’t let you drive it where you want, then

Now that’s a shame about the test drives, albeit understandable in the current climate. Their test route is absolute genius, and all within about 10 mins of the workshop

Some Revups can burn a fair bit of oil. Most don’t. That’s about the sum of it. Not sure it’s something I’d worry about particularly, esp if the rest of the car is sound.

It sounds like to me that ST are offering a “simple” geo, whereas I know from experience that CG go into a lot more detail when checking the car over. Of course you’re going to pay more for that service, so really it’s up to you. FWIW a day at CG is a hell of a learning experience too, the guys are more than happy to involve you in every step along with letting you wander around the workshop while they’re doing it (should you so desire). In my two days there I learnt more about general suspension/alignment workings than years of reading and prior experience had taught me.

Just over £100 in it, I’d still go CG. But that is a good price from ST, not sure you’ll be disappointed whoever you choose.

^^^This. I buy the cheapest discs I can as they’re expendable, and buy the best pads I can. Currently running some no-name random discs and some CL RC5+ pads, and they’re absolutely immense.

Thing is that easy needs £1500 spending on it so it’s not a bargain anyway, wise move to leave it methinks.

I wouldn’t touch that with yours. It’s an absolute mess of a car.

Bloody hell mate, not good! Glad to hear you’re on your way back now though

Erm no. Run, don’t walk, even at that price.

If you think that all that matters is whether or not a machine says the alignment is in the green, then this isn’t the thread for you. Yes, places discussed above are expensive and for most people unnecessary, but if you want an expert to set your car up in a specific way then that kind of work does cost. Also if you think that places like CG simply give you an alignment then you’re missing the point entirely: I can assure you that there’s a lot more that goes into a session than that.

What did you want, a hundred people saying they don’t know the answer?! That’s less helpful than people saying nothing at all, but even then that’s significantly more helpful than someone who has the answer but refuses to share it out of spite. Doing yourself no favours here at all, my friend.

Honestly, a day there is a true experience. They don’t just set up a geo, they test all your suspension components on road and on machine, they guide you through every step of the process and listen to exactly what you want. They turned my 911 from a cooking version into a car that wanted to wag it’s tail on every occasion, and my 6er from a barge into something that would happily attack corners on circuit. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Never heard of them, are they a local garage or a performance outfit? Equipment used is irrelevant to a point, there’s pro guys out there that still swear by string (!), it’s all about what you ask for. I would always recommend travelling to a place that understands handling and performance driving demands, such as Center Gravity if you want the absolute best (many other Zed specialists on here can do the same though), and telling them how the car handles now compared with how you want it to feel. They should be able to tailor your geo to you, rather than just use a machine to get it to within

Who did the alignment? What did you ask them to do?