sasha@lazytrips

If it's worth my 2 cents, I would highly recommend going with 255/35 and 285/35 tyres on these. They sit and look much more natural than the typically preferred 245/275 combo. Granted not all manufacturers make them in those sizes, but otherwise the rim sticks out and any slightest pothole/kerb will take chunks out time and again.

Been on a few trips all over Europe and there's not much to add to the above. Make sure you've got all your triangles, bulbs and whatnot in the car. All rumours of "mental Italian driving", "impossible high altitude passes", "undrivable Eastern European roads" and the like are completely untrue. Decide where you'd like to see, figure out the optimal route and just enjoy yourself

Less thinking - more buying!

Mine always reads quite substantially higher until the car is fully warmed up in the winter than it does in the summer. Perfectly normal.

The big problem is that somewhere around 60-70 english players start a game in any given premier league weekend. Out of these roughly half have no hope of ever making the team because they are just nowhere near good enough (not singling anyone out, but for example Jack Colback from Sunderland). You're then left with something like 30-35 players from whom you're choosing a squad of 23. There really is no choice in players whatsoever with nobody really pushing to get into the team. You go look at teams like Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the rest of them and you'll see dozens of players who would walk into the England squad who are miles down in the pecking order. In addition, all the recent events have meant that half the squad all seem to hate each other's guts. If they get out of the group, they're certainly not making it through to the semis.

So after looking everywhere for some decent wheel nuts, I came to the conclusion that without spending a small country's entire GDP or ordering from a part of the world that has night during our daytime, there isn't really anything available literally anywhere. I got fed up with replacing set after set after the locking key rounds off on its first use and the nuts rust all the way through. So I thought I'd give ebay a punt and look what came in the post this morning. They will be going onto the car on the 18th, and I'll try and report whether they're any good and put a photo up.

Best youtube video i've seen in a long time!

As around half your journey will be on A/B roads, I would guess that you'll use up pretty much bang on 2 full tanks - all depends on how you drive really... coast at 60mph behind a lorry or aim to stick that pedal through the floor.

I have fat tyres on my 350z including the fronts and mine does this all the time.

1. The +2 is a very very very dubious +2, especially on Mk1 models. Our supposedly roomier new shape one will not fit any adult in the back comfortably (i.e. journey has to be < 10 miles). 2. Numbers might say one thing, but in reality, the performance is miles apart. I have owned both for a long time and can vouch for that. The 350z wins hands down in everything on this front including the smile factor. 3. Audi's interior, road noise and all that jazz is far far better than the zed. It is also far more practical with a comparatively decent boot and all the small things (e.g. accessible glove box). All in all it depends on what the OP wants out of their car really.

How do these scumbags go to sleep at night?

3.2 TT's are 4wd no? They are an Audi version of 4wd which means it is front-wheel drive 95% of the time with 4wd coming on for sharp acceleration or cornering. I've also had a TTS for 2 weeks at one point and in all honesty other than the flappy paddles it felt no different to the 3.2 version - if anything was less tourquey.

It was rather obvious that the whole thing was a complete waste of everybody's time right from the start.

Well the McLarens seem to be doing reasonably alright on the long runs that they have been doing and the Force Indias are pretty fast despite their aero not being up there with the top teams. We'll just have to wait and see

I have a sneaky suspicion that Mercedes have developed a monster engine and are taking their time working out an aero package. These times mean nothing as they were set in last-year's car but I doubt there isn't a very good reason why their new car isn't coming out until later on in the month.

Oh hang on. An intro thread that actually has pictures!

As recent attempts to source some wheel nuts has shown me, there is a distinct lack of decent quality wheel nuts at a reasonable price in the UK. Get some of them in stock - people constantly need replacements for one reason or another.

Thats pretty cheap for a plate! It's just a standard-type plate for my model year but would be simply awesome in the long run. Who knows. Maybe I'll get a bit of money in a few months

Funnily enough the one I'm interested in is quite a bit more expensive on DVLA than other providers. Still way too expensive for now.

I know the exact plate I want, but the cheapest I've seen it is £659

get the colour you want and get one with the GT pack. These cars will keep going for a long time. I swear mine feels better at 95k than it did at 50k.

We've got the new shape TT with the 3.2 lump in it (pretty rare as they stopped making them fairly quickly) and a zed, so this is coming from experience of driving both a lot over time. In terms of things like the interior, panels, aircon, steering wheel and all that jazz, TT wins hands down. Absolutely fab quality, all the knobs work very well and feel solid, aircon is fast and very comfortable, road noise is low in comparison. Note: the sound system in the Audi is tonnes better than the Bose in the zed (although I am pretty sure it is also made by Bose). In most other aspects, I very much prefer the zed. The ride, speed, power and all that stuff puts a smile on your face that doesn't exist when you're driving a TT. At the same time it's rear-wheel drive and has the looks in comparison to what is predominantly front-wheel drive (the 4-wheel drive system hardly ever kicks in in reality) and looks like a TT. *** If you want a powerful car that is fun and exciting, the zed is for you. If you want something to go to the shops in, keeps its value, blahdiblah blah blah, keep the TT. Despite the power and engine being somewhat similar, the feel is completely different. The TT's engine is set in perpendicularly within the bay to predominantly drive the front wheels and the layout is almost a straight-six (very narrow angle) which feels very different to drive than a genuine V6 motor.

A normal private plate with whatever you want it to display according to all regs = perfectly normal. A plate with stupid spacing, dodgy screws/bits of tape/bolts/whatever that apparently maybe potentially sorta looks a little bit like a cool word = chavtastic.

and the price of all those + auxilliary parts + price of car is less than a non-written off one?

Sure does. This has been thoroughly tested by yours truly through physically completely running out of petrol once - obviously for research purposes.