Ekona

So does that mean it's actually the height that's more of a problem than the width?

Only with the power lead attached, yes. There's tons of width either side, easy a good 15mm I reckon. Without the power connected and with the rubber mat in, it's a lovely fit height-wise.

Just a shame the XL's have such a p*ss-poor battery life compared with my old 520 I used to be able to run that, with a full charge, from Braintree to Colchester to Welwyn to Nottingham to Welwyn and back to Braintree again. Awesome little thing.

They do fit, but not easily. Without the power lead it's fine, but with it in, and because it's located at the bottom of the unit, you need to remove the rubber mat and kind of wedge the whole thing in at a jaunty angle so it stays put, and so you can actually see it. It'll bend the crap out of the power connector itself, but the socket remains safe so that's the main thing.

Over the winter I'll be taking my centre console apart and routing the cable through that, which should eliminate any issues.

Snake oil. The restriction in the intake will cause you to lose power so you'll need less fuel, so technically it will work but then wedging half a brick under your accelerator will do the same thing.

Allegedly drugs cheats (or the people that make the drugs, anyway) are 15 years ahead of the testers right now. Everyone could be high on something, but we won't know until 2023

That said, that man Bolt is absolutely incredible. True charisma from a track athelete is rare nowadays, but he's got it in bucketloads along with a healthy amount of talent in those legs. That was truly something else watching him win the 200m earlier.

What was the show that had Paul Daniels and this cheese slice looking thing, was it whizzabit?

Wizbit

My car (bought back in Feb) had similar history to yours: Done just 6K miles, owned by NMGB and used by a branch manager. It had had 2x multipoint checks when I bought it but no full service. I've just had the P2 done (skipped the P1 altogether) to bring it back up to date, and as it was purchased via Nissan as well I've got a bit more come back if anything is wrong (not to mention the remainder of the normal warranty as well).

A multipoint check will be a visual one i.e. does it have oil, is there life left in the pads/tyres/discs, any signs of rust etc. You've still got loads of warranty left, so I really wouldn't see it as an issue.

Should be MPH.

No, I do get the whole point behind modding, but most of his cost was spent on stuff that doesn't actually do anything performance-wise, and that's bordering on rice more than anything.

Besides, it's one thing modifying a swift RWD car into something stupifyingly quick, and another entirely to chuck some more power into a FWD scrabble-wagon.

There's plenty of quality work there, but am I the only one thinking that, with all the chrome bits and logos and 600s and chequered flags and whatnot, it looks really over the top? Sometimes less is more.

For the amount of money he's spent on that car (gotta be close to £10K I'd have thought, plus the cost of the car itself), he could've had something really decent. Still, if he ever gets bored he's welcome to come and give mine a quick detail!

I've always done 50-30 x5 with light pressure, 70-40 x5 med pressure, and 100-50 hard pressure x5 (obviously on a private road) with the gaps in between to allow the brakes to cool. This ensures that the pad gets even treated with heat over the whole surface (1st bit does the front, 2nd bit does the middle, last bit does the back).

At least, that's the theory behind it that I've been told and it's worked for me in the past.

Sorry about the above but to be honest, unless you already have the cash up front we all take a gamble on finance/loans -Who knows who may lose their job to no fault of their own or even just have a change in their insurance situation like me. (I and my boss did not see this change to insurance coming, god, he's taken a much bigger kick in the balls than I have) To everyone (especially M13KYF and Martinmac) who has given me advice Thanks! Really is a good community here!

True, but you don't have to finance a car, whereas you do have to insure it. Plus anyone with half a brain takes out a payment protection plan on the finance to cover you if things do go tits up.

I hope you do manage to get things sorted though, have you spoken to many other insurers yet? Any lower prices?

Ace, I'm making a note of that for the future, cheers Digsy

Still, original point remains (mostly) valid. Do it properly, or get a car you can afford the insurance on.

And there's always the case that the eBay exhausts may be of a superior quality to the ESR one. I doubt it, but it's possible.

Really? He would technically be an uninsured driver with no legal cover at all, so why would they still pay me?

PMSL @ ambivalent bunny

I really don't see why you're trying to get around the system with all the risks that it involves. You knew the status of the car when you bought it, you knew you would be classed as an inexperienced & young driver, and you knew that you got lucky by having your boss insure via his company for you. You took a huge risk on that knowing that the insurance costs would be sky-high and that's the only reason you could afford the car in the first place: Now your luck has run out, why not just suck it up and pay for insurance legally and properly like everyone else has to?

There's being able to afford a car, and being able to afford a car. I could afford to buy a 355, but no way I'd be able to afford the running costs so I don't own one, simple maths. Sorry to be getting at you here, but I know how I'd feel if someone drove into me with invalid insurance and I wouldn't exactly be a happy bunny, put it that way.

£2500 just for insurance?!

That's insane. I'd rather get something less flash but just as much fun and pocket the rest as savings.

Was wondering whether to not tell them about mods, wait a few weeks and then declare them?!

Don't do that, else you'll be driving around uninsured and you really don't want to be doing that.

I am 21 and under my dads insurance but i am the main driver so i still get my ncb build up!

Eh? How does that work?

I thought you can only earn NCB if you're the main driver named on the policy normally, unless you're on one of these schemes where you earn NCB that is only accepted as such by the insuring company (Direct Line's scheme, for example).

And this is why newly-qualified drivers buy pieces of crap to drive round in, just because it's all they can afford to insure. Build the NCB up and never get it insured by a company unless it's you that owns said company.

That said, who have you tried? Have you done the generic Confused.com to see who comes out lowest, and then rung them direct to see if they'll lower the price? Other than that, try Elephant if not already as they seem to be very cheap for many drivers right now.

Or T1-Rs, which are very similar apparently but I've actually tried them. They're good for what they are, but you sacrifice feel for grip in the wet, and they melt like buggery on track. Given the car's worth more than a few grand and the rubber is the only thing keeping me in contact with the road, I'm happy enough to pay for something decent if they allow me to get the most out of it.

If we could guarantee the weather I'd slap a set of A048s on there and be done with it, but I've lived with them on other cars in the past and they're just not suited to the English weather.

'genuine Nismo duel intakes'

That'll be one pair of very angry intakes then

Looks good, very clean and tidy.

Right, I'm convinced, I'll have to hop on the bandwagon and get me some of these too. And for nigh-on £850 (from the few places on-line that sell them), they want to be the best!

While we're here, just what is the proper name for the multi-function thingy on the auxiliary gauges?

+1 on the PF pads

Am using them on stock Brembo setup on Phil's recommendation (along with the braided lines and RBF600), and they're simply superb. You need to work them hard to get the best out of them and they're not that easy to modulate at low speeds, but by God do they suck your face off when you really lean on them (and without setting the ABS off either)!

I like the look of those discs as well, might have to treat myself when mine finally give up the ghost...

That's what I was thinking. The only clock in the Zed that I can see is on the multi-function thingy on the auxiliary gauges.