Ekona

Screen resolution my arse, it's because everyone loves tablets right now so they thought they'd try and cash in on the craze. Terrible design decision, and they'll regret that in a few years. Now, if the tablet were fully functional and removable...

Reasonable reply. J17, take note! I'd disagree with not doing a test drive first, though. I had that once on a dealer selling an Esprit V8, a car I could happily have seen myself in but needed to know if the drive was any good before getting too excited. Dealer wanted to do the deal before a drive, so I simply walked away and bought a 350Z instead. That said, it's your business to run how you wish, and no-one can argue against that. If you're happy to miss out on sales by not doing the drive first, and are still making a good living, then I reckon that's the best of both worlds for you.

Admiral group do not cover your mods fully, even if you take out the optional protection pack. Be careful guys, sometimes the cheapest isn't always the best. For insuring something like the Zed being discussed, that's not something I'd do on-line. Give them a call and discuss it direct, get them to confirm what they want to know and then get that in writing. Takes 10mins, but could save you £10K.

Agreed, that's a really ugly design feature but in fairness it's not only Merc doing it right now. A45 I have nothing against in principle, but the exhaust is a little too shouty for my taste. Great when you're nailing it, but pootling around it lacks tone. It's not a car I'd ever consider, but I can see why people are buying them. Same as the Golf R, or any other premium sporty hatchback.

I agree, which is why I buy coupes now That said, there's something to be said for open top motoring when you're not at 10/10ths. What can be a boring drive in a tintop pootling along can be very enjoyable in a ragtop.

Yeah, it all gets really complex with some mental physics that I can't even begin to understand. In your example, the heat might not be twice as much but the extra twist could make things bend thrice as much, so you might get more losses or other equally weird stuff

More energy = more wastage via heat, twist in the components etc.

If you lose 3bhp, you'll gain that in enjoyment. It's absolutely worth the sacrifice, and for me induction noise is better than exhaust noise on the 350.

No noticeable scuttle shake really, maybe the odd bit but you don't really notice it at all due to the weight of the car. They don't feel as fast as you would think, but a quick glance at the speedo will confirm that you can do serious pace in one. Plenty of grunt from low down though, and the midrange is excellent. Stock exhaust is rubbish, tbh. A good intake will free up some lovely induction noise, and then a replacement exhaust makes it sound a bit better still.

Hah, someone clearly wasn't looking when they selected their car details for the PH classifieds, that's for an Audi barge of some kind!

You need to drive mine. Not exactly the be-all and end-all of excitement, but far more fun than it has any right to be.

Budget? Tbh I wouldn't even consider an RS4. Sure, a nice car, but hardly a thrill a minute. The C63 has the most charismatic V8 engine of the last 15 years in it, but an E90/2 M3 has it licked in dynamics and it's available in a manual. New Mustang would also be an excellent car, but I'm not sure I could choose it over a C63.

And you've missed the point of a convertible completely. Yeah, it's a pretty ugly car with the roof up, but the extra sensations you get from dropping the roof in all weathers adds so much to the driving experience. Where this nonsense comes from that you only put the roof down if it's sunny I've no idea: One of the best drives I ever had in mine was in the Highlands in February, with the snow falling down whilst the heater was on full whack. Magical experience. The looks of a car are pretty irrelevant really unless you're one of these people that stare at their car more than drive it, as you only ever see the interior when driving anyway and it's not like any Zed is blessed with the looks in that department! While we're on the offending bit, I'd say that I'd rather be Ken and Barbie in a convertible than a council chav in a coupe :p

That's a guess as well If you want accurate figures, you either need a hub dyno to remove any queries about the tyres or the ultimate and ONLY true way is an engine dyno, which really isn't an option. Best thing to do with dyno figures is treat them as a baseline. You've done one now, so when you do anything else to the car you can then see if you're gaining or losing power in relation to the baseline. Tbh, on a DE they're pretty good numbers. Where did you get the dyno done, what machine was it, and how many pulls did they do?

Meh, it's all guesswork. I honestly wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

To be perfectly honest, you know whether you want a convertible or not. Some want it to enhance the driving experience, which is what I bought mine for, or some want the coupe because it handles much better. However, to answer your questions: 1. Ride and noise are much of a muchness. The coupe isn't the quietest place to be, but if it's raining the ragtop is a fair bit louder. 2. The ragtop has the benefit of not needing to worry too much about resonant drone: I ran the K1 on mine and it was perfect, I've heard it on coupes though and it's horrendous. 3. Comfort is the same. Trust me, if I can't tell, then it's not worth worrying about. 4. Ragtops left out in the open can have issues. Mine was always garaged and I never had a problem, even in very cold temps. That's the only pattern I've noticed on here in over 7 years of being here, but even then it's not fool proof. As a rule, they're solid enough. In terms of driving dynamics, my ragtop that was fully braced, aggressive geo, good tyres and excellent brakes was slower on circuit than a boggo coupe. That was what made me switch from having had 3 convertibles in a row to buying coupes. That said, on a hot summer night or a freezing cold winter day, I do miss the thrill of dropping the roof.

I played for a bit after the patch. It's still a mess, so I've binned it. They'll get no more of my money, utter shambles of a developer.

Well, I never knew that. Makes you wonder why the Micra is such a POS to drive then.

It depends on the TDO. But yes, overtaking under braking or mid-corner isn't a very clever thing to do. It's a trackday, not a race. EDIT: I'll caveat that with the fact it's Rockingham, and on that part of the circuit because it's so wide most TDOs are a bit more flexible. Tbh on most trackdays the later in the day you get when you're used to driving with everyone, you figure out who the decent drivers are and you'll let people past/overtake a bit later. I didn't see too much wrong on the video.

Fair enough, his loss really. Tbh I can see his point, not every previous owner is happy to be contacted and some may well relish the thought of giving the dealer a bad rep if they felt justified.

Phone number no, but name and address yes. It's on the V5C anyway.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281742667856?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D281742667856%26_rdc%3D1 I think it might be missing a few bits

Cripes, they're cheap aren't they?! I don't like the logo on them in the grey and red versions, and they look like a Recaro rip-off but that's no bad thing as they're very comfy. I can't see you'd have any more issues fitting those than any other seat. They'll be standard Sparco fixings, so if you can find a thread on the interweb that details fitting of a Sparco seat in a Zed then that should be fine