Ekona

The trouble is that no-one makes a distinction between small business and large business: What you apply to one, you apply to the other. I've no real grudge against the megacorps paying less tax as they contribute much more in other ways by giving people jobs to earn money and pay PAYE & all the stuff they then buy. All the other changes I'm relatively comfortable with tbh, some of it makes sense like the dividend stuff (even though that affects me directly) in terms of fairness. Business rates don't affect me, however I'm very much against the changes the Tories made, but do I see Labour changing them back? Nope. What worries me is that Labour are going to aim their guns not just at business, but at people earning over £26K. No-one would call £26K a fortune, hell in parts of the country you'd struggle to live off that full stop. If Labour and that do go after Starbucks et al, that really is going to be painful for people like me.

That's the scary thing, Labour will borrow as much as they need to to be able to sort the problems they believe exist, with no real plan for dealing with that debt. All the austerity we've been through will be for nothing (and there's a sound argument that says it wasn't that successful, I acknowledge that), and then in times of uncertainty when we don't know what kind of Brexit deal we'll end up with I just can't see it being a good idea to start living well beyond our means again. Even more so than we already are. I don't disagree with all of the Labour policies tbh, and if we had a perfect world then they may even get my vote as they have done before. However, as a small business owner that is subject to the same tax rules as Starbucks, I cannot support a party that specifically wants to target me to take even more out of my pocket.

Why? You'd think that someone who knows how to make money rather than spunk it up the wall would be ideal to be in charge of trillions of pounds. When you consider that Corbyn himself said the other day that he was aiming to help those earning £26K and under, that puts an awful lot of normal people in the category that he wants to hammer...

Well done for picking the least suitable track car ever, and a car that is well out of the OP's budget. Might as well have suggested a P1 GTR, be just as useful. It's only on the power tracks you'd want for more power on the mk3, stuff like Spa and Silverstone. All other tracks are absolutely fine with the 140bhp, bearing in mind it weighs less than a ton.

I just don't understand how solicitors are so sh*t. If they were bakers for 7 hours of the day and only did legal stuff for an hour a day, I could understand it, but this is their profession and what they do day after day.

A 980 is broadly similar to a 1060, and having gone from that to a 1080 I think there's a world of difference when rendering at the higher gfx levels, even at 1080p. Plus the ability to run at 60fps at those higher levels, which is arguably more important. It's just nice being able to boot a game up and set everything to Ultra as default

Shame about the golds Steel on blue then, if you must have a colour. I still reckon plain steel would look cleaner, mind.

MR2 mk3, easy. Engine in the right place, cheap as chips to buy, cheaper to run, better to drive than anything else you've mentioned. And yes, the mk3 MX5 is as bad as they say. I felt it was numb and flat, neither of which applied to the mk1 I owned. RX8 is awesome, but budget for a few upgrades immediately (Sohn adaptor, Corvette coilpacks, tanker full of two stroke etc) above the regular stuff. Honest, out of the box the MR2 will be way more fun than anything else. Ask Docwra, he'll tell you just how awesome they are on track.

Ultimately it all comes down to the games, really. Love FPS? Stay PC. Driving? Xbone all day. Massive action games? PS4 easy. Either way, I wouldn't choose until the Scorpio is properly announced. Give yourself the best amount of choice before deciding.

I went for G, just because. I honestly don't like any of those. Blue on blue is best, but ONLY if the colour match is spot-on, else I'd just go for plain ol' steel. Could go gold if you ever get the wheels to match?

I'd expect it to be closer to £150, but money well spent.

If you're talking about the difference between SD and HD, it's massive and a DVD at 480 is quite clearly inferior to a BD at 1080. The same can be said for 30fps vs 60fps, it's night and day. There is definitely a place for consoles, as the lower entry price and easier setup is such a boon. Plus you have stuff like the exclusives on the PS4 like Horizon Zero Dawn and the forthcoming TLOU2 which you'll never get elsewhere, and the online side is a more convenient place to manage things from.

Oh don't you worry, they'll let you know... Tbh it's quite easy to tell, just the way a M&K can aim so much quicker gives it away. If it's a gfx card you're after, I've a GTX 980 sat here doing zilch. Needs to go, make me an offer?

How much are your local dealer asking for one?

Personally if I'm ever experiencing potential MAF issues then I'll always buy a new OEM one. Used ones can be so flaky, fine one minute then duff the next, if you're fault finding it's always best to start from new and they're cheap enough.

I've gone the other way, and am now back on PC instead of consoles. Instead of the Scorpio I went for a 1080 instead, made more sense to me. I do enjoy console gaming still, but I'm sick of games only ever being 30fps (for the most part) and I want to be able to enjoy them all at 60fps in their glory, as that's what makes more of a difference to gameplay. I can still use my Xbone Elite pad if I want, and now MS are releasing first party (and soon third party) stuff on PC at the exact same time it seems a no-brainer. I'll need to do a full CPU & mobo upgrade next year probably to keep right up to date, but that's just a want rather than a must-have. 4K doesn't interest me, certainly not at 30fps, although the 1080 is more than capable of running at that or higher if I wanted to turn some gfx settings down. Until the next lot of consoles come out that can do 2160/60 with ease, which isn't likely for a long time, I'm staying PC. Interestingly, console FPS gamers on-line consider using M&K to be cheating, and will give you a ton of abuse for it. Personally I don't care as I don't play on-line, but I just found that interesting.

He got a smack on the arse, does that count?!

So much awesome!

I see no reason to not do that, tbh. If their system is that screwed up that by declaring a value higher than the car is it reduces your premium, go for it. Like you say, they're only going to pay out market value anyway. Just be aware that Admiral don't cover replacements of your mods, so if you bin the car you'll only get a standard exhaust put back on.

They look awesome, BMW specialists?

I'd drive down there anyway, wherever they are. I once had to drive from Braintree to Hastings (where my solicitor was based) just to give them a kick up the arse. It worked! That was the day I swore I'd only ever use a local solicitor for house stuff, regardless of it costing me a couple of hundred quid more. Worth every penny.

I know, it's scary just how much better a car can feel when a genuine expert at the top of their game adjusts it, rather than just someone who's a bit handy with a Hunter machine Where did you go to btw?

You know what, that's probably the best way of thinking of him I've ever heard. Absolutely spot-on, well said sir.

@Tom: Did you get a local one or a national one? I'm sure I've asked, but I'm too lazy too search the thread

As in tyre pressures? Yup. Spirit level on ramp yes, it's set to a tolerance of 0.5%, when most places set theirs up to 5% I believe. Roll car backwards & forwards, yup. Plus test drive/s until you're happy with it, plus fix anything that breaks when you're there (like my duff lower arm bush, didn't charge for labour nor on-cost on the part either). I agree, having seen just how precise CG are with their measurements and more importantly their setup, I don't even think it's worth me taking the car to a local place for a 6 monthly check unless I can feel it's really off. I'll simply go back to CG once a year and consider it an annual check up if nothing else.