Ekona

I agree, Trevi fountain and Spanish Steps have history but otherwise they're just packed full of chavs and not worth spending time to find.

Only because I model myself on you

I'll still be an arsehole on that I'd love to see my own driveatar sometime, everyone complains about it!

Tbh, there's too much stuff in Rome to do in three days: We were there a week and there was plenty we didn't get round to seeing. I would prioritise the important things and then give them the time they deserve, then come back again for the rest.

Normally I'm a weapons grade version

Three days isn't long, but I would do the following: Day 1: Vatican & Vatican museum (possible to do both in one day, but don't hang around!) Day 2: Colosseum & Forum (Colosseum isn't actually that exciting, the Forum is incredible though) Day 3: Trevi Fountain (10 mins literally), Spanish Steps (again 10 mins), Pantheon, and then whatever else you fancy doing. Shops are nice, and I'd just take a break in the Piazza Navona for some grub. Relax, soak it up. If you really want to see more stuff though, go to the Castel Sant Angelo: It's huge! Also, while you're by the Spanish Steps go and have a look inside the Shelley/Keats museum. Sounds silly to do when you're there, but we found it to be one of the most interesting an curious things in the whole city. Probably take about an hour to do it all, but fascinating if you have any interest in English literature at all.

That's an odd size, what are they for?

I blame the previous owner

If it was driving as badly as you say, I'm amazed there was no CEL! Could've been a bit of moisture sat into one of the coilpacks too, which moved or was burnt off once you'd stopped.

Not sure I'd get a convertible in Dallas, with the heat. You'd spend more time with the roof up just for comfort! What's the budget? Personally, I'd get two vehicles so an older truck or minivan for the dull stuff, then something like a Miata or MR2 Spyder for the fun things. You'll get the V8 in the truck, and you'll have something nimble but different to the usual Yank fare with the latter.

Possibly yes, but the fuel would have to have been of the most horrendous quality for it to do that, and if it was you can be sure that you wouldn't have been the only person suffering there that day. Local news might even have picked it up, especially if it was the super unleaded that was shot and people in their expensive motors filling the tank right up where having their engines destroyed. If you had in your tank 70L of decent fuel and then put in 10L of, say, 87RON fuel, then I don't think you'd notice any difference. That's why I said it would've had to have been near enough water for it to suddenly become that catastrophic to run. When it was running badly, did it throw any CELs at all? Did you at any point pull over, stop the engine, then restart again? How quickly after you filled up at Tesco did the car then become responsive again?

Unlikely. It's not actually illegal to be racist, just to do racist things. I mean, I probably wouldn't state it like that, but if you said to the clerk casually, "Oh, I hope there's no cases with XYZ in it, I don't trust any of those people", then you're going to be excused pretty quickly.

Just turn up on day one and say you hate black people*. You'll soon get excused. *Or the Irish, or Europeans, or gay folk, or whoever.

And I wasn't being rude. Youd know if I was being rude, trust me.

My point was that if you've only brimmed the tank with a few litres, then you're going to have to have done another 200 miles before you get to that fuel, if we assume they don't mix. If they do, which of course they would, then that fuel would've had to have been near enough water to have screwed your Zed that badly. And even if we assume all that was true, then you should've told the garage to not only get a refund, and to protect yourself in case you've had serious engine damage, but also to protect other motorists from the same fate. To not do so is a tad negligent, if you want me to be honest. So how empty were you? How much did you put in? How far did you go before you had issues? You were quick to jump both to a conclusion as well as on my back, but there's still questions to be answered here I think.

Dan, I hate your "youngness" You'll be telling me next you've never heard of The Saint Of course I've heard of The Saint! My grandad told me about it

Even if they're not, it's an easy enough job to cut them off and weld something different on

Never seen one before, that's seriously pretty

So you took your car back to Shell, informed them of the issue, showed them your receipt and asked for a refund? If you topped up with a small amount, unless it was pure water you put in then I'm loathe to believe the fuel was the problem.

I'll try and get some GoPro drive by footage soon, at least then I'll know what it sounds like too!

No way in hell I'd be driving on them. Garages aren't allowed to do that for a very good reason, and I strongly suspect that your insurers wouldn't approve either. Give them a call to confirm that, if you're brave enough. Also, read the Sticky about mixed tyres too.

Ooh that's superb Lexx I've still got two resonators I can remove if I want a bit more, but I think you can get away with it a bit more on the VX than on a BMW. Still tempted now though!

Well, if having a four and a half litre vee eight engine that sounds like Thor's orgasm is chav, then pass me my Burburry baseball cap and a bottle of Lambrini.

Cheers guys I was a little disappointed when I first started it up, but within about 50 miles it had settled down to the perfect tone. There's a hint of rumble when pootling along at 70, but it's only just Thete so not completely ruined the GT aspect of the car. I can confirm it sets off car alarms n a multi storey car park though

Oh hell yes. Sounds like bloody thunder, that does! I didn't really want a quad tip as it can look a bit M6-wannabe, but the stock tips are fractionally oval and most aftermarket tips are either very oval (looks silly) or circular (too small or too chav). The bumper had to be cut a smidge to fit, but it's worth it. There's a huge deep bellow between 2k and 4k rpm, and then a roar as you chase the redline. When I first saw the guy who made it for me he asked what I wanted in terms of tone, and I just said "muscle car". He got it spot-on, he really did. And please ignore the smokiness, that was taken just after I'd washed it from a cold start too. Silly place for me to stand