Ekona

If only they were all like you! You'll love the VUS, there's not as much grip there as the Bridgestones but a million times more feedback, which makes for a smoother ride

I'll list the obvious stuff as it comes into my head: 1. You can make a living from anything if you're a good businessman. Car sales is no different. 2. Insurance, insurance, insurance. Public liability as well as the obvious insurance for the cars. 3. Yes, register it with Companies House. Depending on turnover you may need to be VAT registered as well. 4. It's illegal to sell cars from home, your local council will have a field day with that. You will need premises of some kind. 5. Anywhere and everywhere. Every car you see is a possible purchase, but you've listed everything obvious. Part-exchanges will probably be a good part of your business I suspect. 6. Read the SOGA and SOGASA, your legal obligations are in there. In short though, a minimum of 3 months warranty will need to be supplied from either you directly or via a warranty company. 7. How long is a piece of string? Too many variables, but on each car I'd be looking for a minimum of 20-30% profit bearing in mind all the overheads you'll need to pay for. No offence meant, but judging from your questions you're in no way ready for this at all. It's one thing to see the odd car for a bit of extra cash, but another thing to start a brand-new business from scratch which I'm assuming you have no experience of. I wish you luck, but you really need to do a serious amount more research yet.

Needs lowering and spacers

Give us a link then! I'm calling BS on it though.

Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission! Touching 40c now, sweltering big time! Have seen a load of 350s in just a couple of days, no 370s yet though. All I can hear sitting by the pool is the rumble of passing V8s, I'm getting serious cylinder envy...

Currently 33C at 9:30am here in Davenport FL, chilling by the pool whilst browsing the iPad, catching up on stuff I missed whilst travelling here yesterday. Three weeks in my parents' house out here, going to chill out like crazy if that's possible, haven't had a proper non-driving holiday in 2.5 years. Got a spanky new Focus as a courtesy car, it's soooooo gutless though!

You need to go somewhere else for a diagnosis IMHO. A multi-cylinder misfire (flashing CEL) would show up from the initial codes and wouldn't need a £197 diagnosis (whatever that is!), so something's not right there. That's not to say that the piston rings haven't gone, but before splashing out a few £K on a different engine it would be worth spending another couple of hundred on a decent independent survey.

^^^ This. Everything will always be cheaper in a years' time, except for petrol. Buy now and it'll even itself out nicely.

Again, not on the Zed, but on an MR2 Roadster years ago (the first batch ever made for the car for a select few of us in fact), and I was very happy with them as a slight OEM upgrade. Tbh though there's better choices out there for the Zed, and I wouldn't put anything other than the DBA or Performance Friction stuff on there as they are worth every single penny.

Service history? Last oil change? Last time you checked the oil? Any odd noises?

Gallardo Sag GT2 Easy. Gallardo for the occasion, Sag because they're mental, GT2 because it's like nothing else there.

Truth is, not everyone knows/cares about cars. To people who don't know/care, it's just a Nissan, and a big one that only has two seats. It's expensive, it's loud, it's thirsty, and the boot isn't very big. To non-car people, it's actually not a very good car at all, especially to those who just use a car as an A-to-B device and need somewhere to put the kids and shopping. It's an unnecessary and flash expense in a world where money is tighter than it's ever been, and it's polluting the earth and killing trees. This is why people give disparaging remarks mostly, not because they're jealous or because they're arseholes, but because they don't feel the same way we do. It doesn't make them wrong (arguably they're correct on all counts!), it's just a difference of opinion. To turn around and start slagging them off and calling them stupid makes us just as bad. We love the cars, it's our money we're spending, and that's all that matters.

So gutted for Lewis, but absolutely delighted for JB At one point I was desperately hoping for a Lewis/JB/Webber podium which looked like it might be on, but sadly I had to put up with The Finger and Alcocko on there instead.

A friend of mine posted this on another forum and it summed up a lot for me:

Doesn't make us wrong though

But is that because of the racing or the coverage? I'm quite partial to watching the BTCC too when I remember it's on, but I would say it's good in spite of the coverage, not because of it.

Your ranting I actually understand, it's more the reaction of others that makes me chuckle. Not specifically referring to anyone on here or even here in particular, more across the entire interwebs.

I quite like how everyone is so keen to slag off Sky's coverage when there's a 50% chance it'll be better than what the BBC currently produce. When have Sky ever screwed up coverage of any sport they've broadcast? I can't think of a single one, and I've been watching Sky since 1992. The reason they are so very successful isn't because we're all mindless sheep who follow wherever the money is, it's because they're actually very, very good at what they do. Leave your political/anti-Murdoch/anti-capitalist feelings at the door and you'll see just how much richer the current selection of television programming is for their existence.

It's worrying how many people feel they have to justify the car they bought to other people, never mind like-minded enthusiasts.

Jake will stay with the BBC as he wants to do the Olympics, so that's him tied for another year at least. Brundle will probably leave as his contract is up anyway, hopefully taking DC with him. EJ will stay with the BBC though, he likes the freedom it gives him.

Photos like that make me really miss my old car

Staple a £20 note to the front of the CV. That'll get you noticed. /unhelpful

Viewing figures yes, but not necessarily income. You've now got two broadcasters paying instead of one, and that will offset any drop in sponsorship money. Viewing figures will likely be very impressive for the first year at least whilst people try Sky out, and it may lead to a new audience that otherwise wouldn't watch the Beeb coverage. I agree that last bit is unlikely as I can't think for a second where they would come from, but F1 as a whole aren't in the habit of making losses. F1 isn't a cheap sport, and by the very nature of it the fans tend to have spare cash (not all though, obviously). If they're passionate about the sport they'll more than likely shell out for Sky, so I'm not sure just how much of a drop it'll be. If it's about 50% it'll be a good deal.

He said it needs to stay for the sponsors to keep shelling out loads of cash. The BBC can't afford the F1 and FOTA have a ton of very expensive changed to make to the cars over the next couple of years, and this is the best way to ensure that F1 as we know it carries on. FOTA wanted a much bigger share of the pie this time round and for Bernie to carrying on making the same profit as before he needs the extra cash to come from somewhere.

+1 BBC coverage of F1 is superb, but compare BBC football with Sky football: Night and day. If Sky can bring that level of quality to F1 then I'm all for it. Okay, so I've got the full Sky package anyway so it won't effect me in the slightest, but I still say it's a good thing rather than a bad one. Sky excel in their sports coverage and know exactly how to produce a fantastic package, and whilst it might not have the character of the BBC programming it will certainly be a very slick and professional programme.