Ekona

Oh no, awful decision Congrats Will, worthy addition!

I often wonder how non-car people actually decide what car to buy. When you have no idea of dynamics, or engines, or anything that we all take for granted, how on earth do you pick what car you want?!

Mr Pedantic can say what he likes, as he'd be wrong. In your example, a 275/35/20 sidewall is indeed 96mm. Profile is always related directly to the width, which is why it's used as an aspect calculator. It would be useless otherwise, as who decides what a 'standard' tyre is? Dunlop do a pretty good guide to all tyre marking here. My rears on the 911 are 305/30, which makes them 91.5mm tall. The fronts are 235/35, which makes them 82.25mm tall.

Glad it's worked out for you

Profile is decided by width. Many cars run different profiles front to back.

Thing is, BMW is a much better brand than Infiniti is ever likely to be. No shame in that, they spent a hell of a lot of years building that up. I'd rather have the equivalent Beemer than the Inifiniti I have to say, but then I wouldn't be so shallow as to pick it simply because of the badge.

I genuine did snap my banjo string once, back when I was 17 or 18 I think. I can promise you, women and childbirth have NOTHING on that kind of pain. Not much blood though, which was good I guess. Worst part is that it had just about healed up, and then I got engaged to the girl I was seeing at the time so of course we celebrated by having sneakytimes, and I tore it again but kinda had to continue! Oh, I laugh about it now. Wasn't so funny at the time, I can tell you.

I priced them up on Camskill, and that came to a fraction under £890 including delivery. Granted, you'd need to get them fitted somewhere local, so that'll add a bit more on I admit.

£90 more for the MPSS would seem to be a bargain, especially considering you'll get approx 30% more miles out of them at least. But each to their own. If it were me, I'd pick the VUS out of your choice of two. Bit slippy in the wet, but loads of feedback so that may influence your choice.

Hang on, you're confusing me now! The Zed has NO protections against overrevs in the example I gave, on the way down through the gearbox. It only has protection from you booting it in gear and forgetting to change up.

Ah, I see now. That makes sense Like every car ever made since the early '90s, the Zed does indeed have a rev limiter to stop you breaking things. Won't help with overrevs via a botched shift, though. Which is downshifting to 2nd instead of 4th at 100mph, for example.

out of interest, is there a rev limiter on this car too? Yes, at 6500 for yours. Again though, and I'm curious more than trying to sound horrid, but why do you think the max revs for each gear is important?

Can I ask why you think it matters what the max revs for each gear are?

Well yeah, it's fuel cut at the redline. 6500 on DE cars, 7000 on revup, 7500 on HR. You have a DE car.

Wait, what? So you're complaining about receiving a ticket for overstaying in a car park intended for customers of a store you didn't even end up using?! You're right, that does sound petty.

I really like the VUS, loads and loads of feel if not ultimate grip. For £800 though, I'd be getting the MPSS which are a billionty times better than both.

Stolen during a viewing? Ouch, no insurance possibly.

And you're paying for the nice building, and the pretty receptionist, and the free coffee, and the official Nissan stamp et al.

Oi, I voted for the door lock!* *I didn't vote for the lock

I drove one on Saturday, so should probably put a little bit up about it. Be warned though, I come to a conclusion that will probably infuriate most of you... I had the choice of a petrol or diesel Macan, so clearly I went for the petrol one. It was the turbo one, but not the Turbo one: 3L V6 with a couple of turbochargers strapped to it, but not the identically-engined full-fat Turbo version. The Macan S, to be precise, with 340bhp. Granted, it's not a light car at 1900kg-ish, but that still allows for a 0-60 of 5.4secs. Yup, this lump of SUV is still quicker than a Zed. Does it feel like it? Hell yeah. The PDK 'box is a marvel, it's got to be twice as quick as mine (which isn't exactly slow) so you can really plough through the gears and make rapid progress. Power delivery is excellent too, lag is utterly minimal and it pulls very cleanly to the redline with no drop in power. BMW, take note. I had a good hour in the car, around some twisty country lanes I know well, and you know what? The Macan handles superbly. It belies mass very well, and the 4WD really lets you lean on it whilst maintaining rearward bias. In fact, I'd go as far to say that I wouldn't have been any quicker on those roads in the 911, assuming we're sticking to legal speeds. Masses amounts of grip, and the three stage dampers keep everything in check nicely. It flows over even the worst of potholes, but corners flatter than expected with no crashy ness on the firmest setting. The interior is standard Porsche stuff, i.e. it's really well made and everything is perfectly placed, but if you don't like them you're not going to like this. You'd be wrong to not like it of course, but each to their own. After spending some time with it, and after poking around all the various storage spaces, I came to the conclusion that this is a superb car and Porsche's claim at it being a sports car is not hugely far from the truth. In fact, I could live with one of these as an only car without feeling hard done by at all. It's like a big hot hatch, for grown ups. One of the most complete vehicles I've driven for a long time, and to write it off as dull, ugly and boring is to miss out on a genuinely fun drive. Just don't risk a traffic light GP with one.

Truth! http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires_101/tire_care_and_safety/match_mounting/

What did the shop you bought the furniture from say?

Or cheap wheels. Or crap tyre fitters. Or all three.

*you're