Ekona

Am I b*llocks!

Or, to give you another reason why manufacturer weights are a load of rubbish (Porsche included), I had my old Zed weighed on a proper weighbridge. Full tank of fuel give or take the 10 min pootle to get there, myself @90kgs, K1 exhaust on so much lighter there than stock, all on a revup Roadster... 1860kg. Work backwards and that's still stupidly heavy. No chance in hell a normal coupe weighs anything less than 1550kg minimum. Nissan themselves claim (via here) a weight of between 1528kg and 1550kg, and I can promise you it's nearer the end of that.

Did you even read 10PS's diary?

I'm not sure why there's such a big stigma from getting financial aid from your parents tbh. My folks bought my first car for me and insured it from the ages of 17 until 21. My Dad went guarantor on my next car and it was also pretty decent of him to give me a job working for his company where I am today. Sure, I've worked pretty hard since and made the most of the opportunity, but I won't sit here and say that it's all been off my own back and I've worked in the mines since the age of 9 to afford everything. I've got amazing parents who have helped me out in life, and I don't really care who knows it or what they think of me. In all honesty if I had parents who were worth millions (mine aren't btw!) and they wanted to buy cars and houses and ponies for me, I'd snatch their hands off. I suspect most people would.

The Boxster's gone back now, but I did manage one last extended hoon in it yesterday before dropping it back: Well, it would be rude not to really! In equal measures, I'm both more impressed and more disappointed with it at the same time after having driven it further, and certainly after having my own car back and being able to do a back-to-back comparison. I'll start with the negatives first, as they're slightly harder to quantify in a way. It simply doesn't feel that special, and it should: This is a £50K car, and one by a premium manufacturer who knows sports cars better than almost any other company in the world, and yet it still felt slightly dull. Maybe it didn't help that it was a silver car with a black interior which is about as boring as you can get, but whilst there's certainly nothing wrong with the inside as such (indeed, 90% of manufacturers out there could learn a lot about the use of quality materials in a cabin from Porsche) it never gave me that little shiver you should get when sitting in a roadster. The more I think about it the more I suspect the lack of colour really doesn't help it, and I would hope that a buyer would add a row of red stitching here or a yellow seatbelt there to liven it up, but seeing as how this is only a courtesy car I guess there wasn't much sense in the dealer speccing it to daft levels. The only other downside were the brakes, which I never grew to love. Yes they're progressive, but they fade far too easily for my taste and I never felt truly comfortable in their outright stopping ability. That said, being able to dab them lightly to shift the weight forward on a section of fast flowing corners was a joy. Honestly though, that's me being picky: The brakes are still better than the stock Zed ones, although (and whisper this) I think I found the post-facelift Zed to be a more characterful place. All those Zs everywhere make it look like someone really took their time over it, whereas the Boxster just looks like it was lifted from the 911. So the positives then. Ahh yes, the positives. Sod the boring interior as it's instantly forgotten the second you open the exhaust valves and blip the throttle, especially with the roof down, as you get this gorgeously throaty bark that feels like a rather sizeable dog is just itching to get out from the rear of the car and go chase some particularly pesky tomcats. This is how to do an exhaust without adding drone or volume for the sake of it, and whilst I personally could've lived with a little more noise I appreciate that there's a limit as to how much a normal person would put up with. Porsche went for tone over volume and that's fine by me, especially as every light toe tap of the right foot gives you that aural orgasm of a flat-6 lump. Wind it right up in 2nd and 3rd and it's heaven, it really is. The engine is very similar to the revup and HR Zeds, in so far as it wants to be rung right out rather than ride the torque. It never feels especially quick until you glance down at the digital speedo and realise that you probably should back off a fraction... It pulls right through from 3K to the 7.5K redline with an ease and a smoothness that only the very best engines do, and it makes you want to do it again and again just to savour it. The car always feels like it's very much at ease regardless of whatever roads you throw at it, although much like my 911 the stiffer suspension setting is just too stiff on UK B-roads, and it can get a bit crashy. When that's the case you just push the PASM button and return to normal mode which allows the chassis to ebb and flow regardless of surface, and allows you to pick the pace back up. It's not so much Jekyll and Hyde, more bacon sandwich and 21oz T-bone: There's a time and a place for both, but you wouldn't want to live without either. As far as the drive goes, it's practically flawless. The steering wheel is chunky and well-weighted, the gear shift positive and smooth, the seating position supportive and comfortable, and the drivetrain engaging and urging. This is by some margin the best roadster I've ever driven, and it makes me remember just why I was so excited after that initial test drive in an almost identical car those few years ago, and just how I started my infatuation with Porsche and why I ended up with one on my drive. Given that there's a plethora of decent Boxsters out there for prices that compete against a new Zed, this is the benchmark that needs to be beaten and I would say that whilst there's definitely reasons to get the Nissan instead, if you don't at least drive one of these as a comparison then you're really missing out. Besides, you don't need both kidneys...

What was he then, a magic forum ninja? Only the cool kids get a warning anyway, so don't sweat it Neil

Without trying to state the bleedin' obvious again as I think most people have already done here, this thread can pretty much be summed up with one sentence: You can't afford a 350Z right now. There's a difference between able to buy a car and being able to run a car, and it looks like you can't afford to do the latter in this case.

I totally agree with you, the chassis is much better balanced on the Boxster platform than the 911. No matter how much engineering they do, having the weight over the rear wheels isn't as balanced as mid-engined. Whilst I've no doubt that the 911 would be quicker (power aside), it takes more commitment to get those extra tenths whereas I was able to be pretty much flat out in the Boxster within a few minutes. It's very confidence inspiring. If it stops raining I'll be taking it out for a blast tonight. If it ever stops raining.

Get some wheels and tyres that fit properly?

Two weeks is fine fella, probably better than I used to do on my Zed anyway! I'm almost convinced there's no issue now after hearing you say that, you'd have picked up on oil loss long before a Nissan tech after 5 mins of working on your car.

You can drive a Zed at 17 if you can find someone to insure you.

Sounds like to me they're going to clean out the intake of the oil rather than actually find out what the cause of the oil burning is. I don't actually think there is a problem y'know, as if there was you'd notice yourself when doing your weekly oil checks (you do do your weekly oil checks, don't you? ) and if it was that bad I reckon you'd have a seized engine by now. Personally I'd be cleaning the MAF with some carb cleaner, letting Nissan clean your entire intake system (including throttle body), resetting the ECU and then seeing how the car feels.

A turbocharged car will always feel like it has more oomph than an NA car, but it might not necessarily be faster. You need to use the revs on the Zed to make good progress, whereas on a TT you can rely on the torque much more.

No they didn't. All GT convertibles had buttons on both sides, but where the ones on the left on the coupe did the bluetooth controls, on the convertible they only did the radio as BT wasn't available as an option. If it doesn't have buttons on both sides of the wheel then it's not a GT car UNLESS the wheel has been replaced at some point, although why you'd do that is a different kettle of fish.

It's also quite optimistic: Having traded Jo's car in two weeks ago I know exactly what the computer should be saying for an excellent condition 2005 MR2, but on there's it's over by about £300. It's no better than a rough stab in the dark IMHO.

Anything other than a direct connection using the soldered Bose hack or a brand new head unit for an MP3 player sounds utterly appalling. Yes, the FM is better than the tape adaptor, but only in the way it'd be better to have herpes rather than syphilis.

Right, might've been more helpful to have kept everything on the one thread, but let's not dwell on that right now. So if I'm right what we've got here is this: Approx 2 months ago the car stopped and wouldn't start. Car was taken to Nissan who fixed (what did they do exactly?). Last week you had a CEL giving a fault code regarding an issue with one of the cats, this occurred along with an erratic idle. Car then broke down again whilst being driven and would not start again. Car was again taken to Nissan who diagnosed a broken earth strap and repaired (presumably). They then told you that the car was smoking heavily and using a lot of oil. Correct so far?

Define crazy amounts of oil? 1L per 500 miles? Worse?

As many as you want, the only limit is one launch every 10 minutes or so to give the gearbox oil a chance to cool down I believe.

I had exactly the same issues, it was the master cylinder on mine although I only discovered that after changing the slave first. Change both and be done with it, the clutch bleeding is a real PITA and is what takes up most of the labour time so that's what you really want to minimise IMHO.

So the 911 is in the Porsche garage this week having some goodies fitted, and they've kindly furnished me with a spanking new Boxster S with which to play around with in the mean time. I've only driven about 45 mins in it so far, and mostly on boring roads, but I still thought it might be nice to do a little write up on it. Given the first ever Porsche I drove was a 987 S (albeit a Gen1), it was interesting to go back to the start as it were. Spec? Well it's a manual S, which means a 3.4L lump pushing 310bhp and 230lb/ft in a car weighing 1450kg, so as you can imagine it's not exactly slow. More on that later though... It's a pretty well-specced car truth be told: GT Silver metallic paint, Turbo II 19" wheels, sports seats (manual ones, natch), Bose stereo, sat-nav, Sports Chrono and the highlight, the switchable exhaust. It's still a nice place to be which really it should be, seeing as how it's 95% identical to the 911, and I felt right at home slumping myself down into the comfortably tight seats for the first time. In a way it's almost irritating that it's the same as the 911 as suddenly it makes my car feel a bit unspecial, a bit normal, but on the other hand why change something that is very good in the first place? The font used on the dials is different though, and only a proper Porker nerd like yours truly would notice something like that I guess. First thing I did before even starting her up was to drop the roof. Well, on a nice sunny day it would be rude not to really, and I never drove anywhere in my Zed with the roof up if I could help it. Almost identical to the Zed in terms of function, except you don't need to hold the brake whilst doing it (I still did though, out of habit!) and it's a far quicker and quieter process. Once down there's an incredible amount of vision all round, and bizarrely enough the cabin itself seems to shrink around you, almost feeling S2000-like in claustrophobia. It's unnerving at first, and then you start the engine. And blip the throttle. And blip it again. And again... Oh my! Remember the exhaust I mentioned, the Porsche Sports Exhaust (or PSE for short)? If you ever buy a Porker, make this the first option you tick. The noise at idle is throaty and rumbly and bangy and poppy, and all those other childish things that a good exhaust should be. A simple button on the centre console swaps between raucous and smooth in a second, although why anyone would ever have it in anything other than shouty mode is beyond me. It's a little irritating once moving as between 2.5K and 4.5K revs it quietens itself down again (due to EU noise restrictions) but once you get past that dead spot it simply screams to the top end with a gusto I'd almost forgotten. The manual 'box eggs you on to so, as it's as sweet a shifter as I've ever used, and certainly more MX-5 rifle bolt than 350Z lumbering clunk. The clutch seems a little weirdly weighted, as if the pressure plates aren't quite right, but it's a sensation that soon passes and since every manual Porker I've driven feels exactly the same I suspect it's engineered that way. Bearing in mind that my car's a PDK car and so has no clutch pedal, and I clicked with this three-pedal setup very quickly, I suspect this is almost as good as it gets. It's a horrible motoring journo cliche of a term to describe a roadster as having go-kart handling, and it's a cliche I've tried desperately hard to avoid using myself, and yet it somehow feels more apt here than anywhere else. An Elise may have it licked on the super light weight that a kart has, and certainly the rattly noise of one, but the smooth delicacy of the steering in the Boxster is a joy. When switching the Sport Chrono mode on you get a sharper throttle (think D1 throttle controller on SP3) but more importantly the slip angle of the TCS (or, in Porsche speak, the PSM) is increased to 12% and you can certainly make full use of that when floating into a 90 deg opening corner. The front end points, the rear end goes heavy and starts flicking round, yet the pivot point remains the driver rather than the engine and you can guide the nose in using the lightest of feathery touches on the go pedal, and then bang your way up the box again. Delightful. Being able to lean on the under-servoed brakes whilst driving into a tighter slower corner is a real treat, although I think I would personally prefer slightly more stopping power at the top of the pedal travel though. That said, the brakes are very progressive and that's possibly more important in a sports car. As a comparison to the 911, it's closer than I'd hoped really. The 911 has that ballistic balls-to-the-wall pace that the smaller car simply can't ever hope to match, but then the balance of the Boxster is so immediately exploitable that, for a driver, you could probably save yourself £30K and live with the two seater. That is, and here's the catch, you remind yourself that no matter how good it is, it's not a 911, and the history and character of the bigger brother has a lot going for it. Certainly I don't regret my decision to get the bigger car in any way, and that's my heart talking more than my wallet. Compared with the Zed the Boxster simply walks all over it. There isn't a part of the 350 that I prefer to the Boxster, exterior looks aside. Okay, maybe the Zed is the more honest, brawny car which appeals to people (hell, I picked it over a Boxster don't forget), but as a driving tool there is no contest. Sorry folks. So what is the 911 in the garage for? Well, the PSE and the Sports Chrono button of course, which also brings with it the joy of launch control...

Will PM now.

Basically, no. You'll always have to push the button if you want it off.

Do they not come with an LSD as standard then? If you didn't keep spending money on things like that you could probably have afforded an M3 y'know Also...

TG and 5thG are hardly cutting edge motoring journalism and I wouldn't trust either as far as I can throw them. If it's in depth analysis you want then you will be hard-pushed to find a better magazine than CAR, those guys are not only brilliant writers but they look at the cars from all angles, rather than just the core driving experience that EVO aim for. That said, EVO is miles better under Trott than it was under Metcalfe in the later years, definitely improving.