Ekona

Basically this: 996 NA cars: M96 engine 996 Turbo: Mezger 996 GT3: Mezger 997.1 NA: M97 engine 997.2 NA: MA101 997.1 Turbo: Mezger 997.2 Turbo: MA101 (may actually be MA102 in designation, can't remember!) 997.1 & 2 GT3: Mezger All M96/M97 cars have the potential for the IMS issues, but none of the Mezger and MA101 engined cars do as it's a radically different design (the Mezger engine is very old in basic design, the MA101 bang up to date). In essence, it's a very big reason why I sought out the later 997 cars rather than save a packet buying an early 997. I didn't really fancy a 996 at the time and the 997.1 tubbys were still out of reach. 996 tubbys will handle 10K miles a year with zero issues, it's why people buy Porsches rather than Ferraris if they intend on actually using them. My 997.2 handles 8K fun miles per year without breaking a sweat.

Nice, I'm stealing that one

Evos are ugly. There, that's the elephant in the room pointed out quite nicely. None of the other cars that the OP was looking at is anything other than beautiful. Even the Audi is nicely proportioned!

Leggy ISF is a good shout, not quote sure that you can get an Evora for £22K yet though

I think all the cars listed are doable on a £1500 pa service budget, but none are doable if anything major goes wrong. The one exception is the 370Z, as I've not heard of any major failures associated with those yet. All the Pork options mentioned are very good cars, although ironically the cheapest car to run there will be the 996 Turbo as what you'll spend on consumables (brakes being probably the most obvious one that could have a sizeable bill) you'll save in having a relatively bomb-proof engine. Only possible bill there is if the coolant pipes start to go, then you're looking at a bill of roughly £2K - £3K to sort unless you can take the engine out yourself. 997.1 non-S cars are a 3.6L engine not a 3.4, and just to confuse matters the 3.4 in the 987.1 Cayman S cars both share the well-known but not actually that common issue of potential IMS (intermediate main shaft) failure and the far more common RMS (rear main seal) failure. Last one causes a bit of oil loss from where gearbox meets engine and is perfectly liveable until the clutch needs doing, first one causes massive engine failure and a £6K - £8K repair bill. It's pretty rare though, less than 5% of all cars at best estimates. I looked at 4200s as well, and if I'm honest you're going to need a huge slush fund to keep one running if you get one with issues, and I wouldn't even consider one if you don't have that. Great cars and far more reliable than people give them credit for, but still not BMW standards. Putting aside my favouritism for Pork products for one second, I tend to agree with Rich that the 370 isn't enough of a step up from what you have now to give you the smiles you're after. The M3 would seem to be the pretty obvious choice as they're new enough that nothing obvious has particularly surfaced regarding huge costs, and they do have a lovely V8 soundtrack along with genuine pace. Personally I found it a rather dull car despite of this, but there's no denying that it's a true great. Z4M also great fun and a great looker, not convinced that it's the huge step up either though. Jags are nice but waftmobiles rather than sports cars, a trait that will apply equally to the Audi. My own money would go to a 996 Turbo as it'll be monstrously quicker than what you have now, totally different style of car to drive with the weight in the arse, and you'll lose precious little if anything if running it for a couple of years. Running costs will be the same as the M3, so it really then leaves it down to what you prefer.

Mega lewls

I'd drop a couple of psi as the sidewalls are quite firm, maybe 2-3psi. As Stew says though, start at 35 and see what works for you.

This X millionty. I don't have a particular brand I stick with, I use a range of stuff depending on what I need to do. AG, Megs, DJ, Swissvax, Poorboys, Blackfire, Menerza: They're all in my garage.

I'm sure he didn't actually change his profession on there to computer technician in the end though, just in the searches for an idea of how it can change. Liam, what did you put it down as in the end? Kitchen manager? Food assistant?

Probably a bit late too point out that if you've suffered from any kind of mechanical breakdown, then you should be getting your car off track pronto. That said, fair play for admitting your mistake, most wouldn't.

The kit and wheels MUST be declared as mods! Probably a combination of job, postcode and your claim last year I suspect, not that I'm trying to be derogative about any of them though, just one of those weird ways insurers work

Yeah but you're an exception in all things

BWAHAHAHAHAHA SWT mate, never forget that.

Been through the same myself many years ago, although we weren't married and there was equity in the house. I re-mortgaged to be able to give the Ex her deposit + profit on the house + value of what she'd bought back, changed the mortgage fully into my name and carried on. Still at the same address now. Bit trickier if you're in negative equity, but if she can't fork out for her part of the negative equity needed to sell the place then you're going to have to come to some arrangement between you. Obviously if you just take the house over then she loses out as she'll have no money or property at the end of it, but if she's not that bothered then you're laughing. If she decides to go mental and stand her ground then worst case you'll end up defaulting and both being screwed, as the alternative is for her to still be entitled to 50% of the house despite you paying the mortgage all by yourself. Not an easy situation for either party really, and I really hope it all works out for you mate.

Agreed. A Cat C wouldn't put me off if it was priced correctly, but that seems to be priced about right for a D, not a C.

Silly rule, but once again Lewis showing his maturity this year by accepting it and just getting on with it. Good for him.

Lol I suspect I might need more than some chrome rings to make the inside look nice after having stripped the interior! Don't need to unzip the roof as long as it's not freezing cold, you can just fold it flat on itself I've found. I have aircon in the car but it doesn't work (still), it might be a fuse or something but tbh I think I'll just rip the lot out and save the weight.

MOAR WORKS Decided to try and fix the roof today, and you know when one thing leads to another... So I decided to remove a couple of interior panels to see what was behind them, and then gave the inside a frickin' good clean as well. Halfway through, check out the dust on the pax side All done, and you can know see the fuel pump access and the petrol filler hose in their glory. Here's something of note, a somewhat modified batter clamp made out of rubber and what appears to be a bit of wire coat hangar. When it comes to the MOT, do we think this is going to pass in the slightest? And so onto the roof. I used some wetsuit repair stuff that was recommended to me as a budget but effective convertible roof sealant as my roof is starting to fall to bits although it is still watertight (somehow!), and holy crap it's messy stuff! It sticks to anything flesh in an instant, and unless you've wiped it off within 0.007s it's there for good. I have to go out tonight for a meal for Jo's birthday and there's no way I can shift this stuff in time! It didn't really want to stick the roof back together either, preferring to flop apart, so in good ol' fashion I have now sealed the f*cker up with copious amounts of duct tape: I still really need to try and get those seats in soon...

Sorry Rich, missed your last post on here Having done both, there's not much doubt in my mind that the MX5 is considerably the better car for track work. It's more adjustable on the limit, and whilst the engine isn't quite as rev happy as the VVTi one in the MR2 it pulls with equal aplomb and sounds more raw. The mk2.5 MX5s do have a VVTi engine with 145bhp, and it does drop straight in... I'd rather have the MR2 for the road as it's slightly more challenging and feels better put together, but then it's a 10 year newer design so it bloody well should! Given I was able to overcome the brakes fairly quickly on my MR2 when it was stock and I had no idea what I was doing, the fact that I was able to keep the MX5 perfect all day despite it being a much older car and be really working it says quite a lot for Mazda and just how good this chassis is. I suspect that the MR2 would be quicker round any given track (in fact I'd put money on it), but if you offered me the choice of either I'd take the MX5.

As has been said, you need the VIN to do a proper HPI check. You can do a basic one without it, but I wouldn't buy a car without being given the VIN first, especially on a £25K car. There's more than likely no scam here, and I'd give the number out if asked.

After two years, definitely change the fluid. If you've done any hard driving then I'd do it every year.

Loved Borat, and Bruno was far better than I expected it to be as I don't like the character at all. This does look really funny though, I think I'll wait until it hits Sky though.

*tyres

Out of curiosity Tracy, what was your last car? I won't assume it's an MG just from your username! The reason I ask is that if you're used to driving mid or rear-engined cars, then going to something where all the weight is in the front can tend to feel very heavy at first until you get used to it. I've suffered from the same in the past, as I spent 5 years only with mid-engined cars so it was a surprise at first driving the Zed.