sasha@lazytrips

Easy. Corvette is a gorgeous sounding sports car with pretty damn good handling and a fairly large boot whilst not being excessively heavy. Camaro is a muscle car which will be great fun in a straight line and is a bit more practical, if you really need that for 2 people The only corvette I can get is a convertible and from the pictures I've seen that won't fit even 1 standard size suitcase, so that seems to be out of the window.

The issue is that they all have a lazy V8 with around 400 horsepower, all have awesome sound systems, nada, nada, nada! It seems that despite having the best everything, nobody reckons the Mustang is a decent choice, but how do you choose between the other two!

I was just mentioning that as we've got a few legs while we're over there, we're already hiring an older & convertible 'stang when we're on the gulf coast. --- Overall, looks like the public is fairly evenly split between the Camaro SS and the Challenger R/T. The wife likes the R/T because it looks the nuts and is orange. Maybe it's time to go with the heart and pick a rough 'n ready Challenger ahead of clearly superior cars in every single way you can put it.

The corvettes have been taken out of the fleet and only a few old (2008) and bashed convertibles are remaining. To be honest, it's probably a good idea to get one of the newer cars. The new Mustang is no Shelby, but is still pretty decent for what it is and is better than the others performance-wise. I'm just trying to figure out what would be better to drive around on the Strip, crossing the desert and cruising along a windy road on the Pacific coast...

Hertz = decent cars at decent rates with the right discounts. Finding it very hard to pick one.

So I have a dilemma. Having booked a Chevy Corvette Z06 Convertible for my little trip to the West Coast, I then actually used a brain cell or two and realised that that amount of luggage my wife and I will lug around on a 2.5 week holiday is likely to exceed the purse-sized thing at the back of the car amusingly called the 'boot'. With no rear seats or any other useful storage space to speak of, it looks like I'll have to ditch the Corvette in favour of something more practical. I've narrowed it down to these three options: 1. Ford Mustang GT Premium Coupe (2012 - latest model) Pros: arguably best to drive, best sound system, best noise proofing (we will be doing a few longer journeys) & best interior Cons: we are hiring a standard older Mustang convertible in the southern states, so might like a bit of variety? the rear looks a bit naff 2. Chevy Camaro SS (2011 - latest model) Pros: Huge LS3 engine with some air pushed into it. Fairly mean looks, pretty nifty in a straight line, decent sound system Cons: boring black colour (Mustang is blue with stripes & R/T is orange with stripes), poor interior 3. Dodge Challenger R/T (2011 - latest model) Pros: looks like a proper 60s muscle car, decent interior, is orange Cons: slowest of the lot (it's all relative...), worst sound system (again, relativity means it is still pretty awesome), apparently not the best ride, etc. ***************** I really ought to make up my mind quickly before they go. What should I pick and why? In terms of context, we're talking LA, Las Vegas, Arizona & San Diego.

I'm taking notes as I'm off in around 4 weeks! Also taking a Mustang in the southern states, but had a choice between the Camaro SS & the Chevy Corvette convertible special edition for the West Coast leg. Opted for the convertible. Now wondering whether it was the right choice

Before you do, here's my word of warning. Having had my black burger z badge on for about a year, they do not wear very well at all. Mine has lost all its shine, looks sorta murky green and is really not looking good at all. I do drive the car a fair bit and it went through all the snow, salt & whatnot, but that shouldn't be an excuse for it to weather so badly. I'd go with something of better quality & more durable.

Funny that. I'm currently planning a big road trip in the US in about a month's time - just trying to figure out from where to where, through where and what car to get.

I'd be interested to know what would happen to whoever is due to pick up the payment in Western Union in UAE as the punishments for things like theft & scams of this sort over there would be... let's say a little more severe than in most other countries.

Thanks Alex, Anyone know how much of a problem this is given I've already driven a fair way with this issue? Any ideas on how easy this is to fix and what bits I'm likely to need other than the spring? Would rather know what needs to happen so that it can be mended on Saturday.

Hi guys, I have had the skidding, ESP & Handbrake lights on for a few days and having read through previous threads, etc, assumed that one of the wheel sensors was gone. Today, I noticed a slight rattle from the rear left and when I came to wash the car in the afternoon found that one of the two metal studs on the rear caliper (Brembo) has come out and although I pushed it back in, there is no spring on it like there is on the other side. The car is going to CS next weekend and my questions are: How bad is my problem? Can I safely drive the car? How complicated is this problem to mend (I have no parts or tools on me, so I guess I won't be able to sort it)? The car seems to drive ok, but am I right in thinking that one of the rear pistons is not pushing or holding the brake pad? I'm at a loss as I work away in the week and need to figure out what to do in case I can't drive the car. :S

That would indeed be me in an exceptionally dirty car with a massive rear.

That certainly isn't a do-luck rear bumper.

I've seen the grey car around a few times as well

Saw a GT3 RS in Chester last week in the promotional White with Red & Black accents with the bit down the side, etc. Looked pretty mean and certainly stood out on the road.

I love hearing about trashed zeds. The more zeds get knackered/blown up/written off, the more rare mine becomes and the more valuable it'll be in the future!

Just signed up for my wife's 3.2 V6 TT & the zed in a couple months. The discounts over the next cheapest insurance option are surreal!

Saw you pulling in behind me & left an improvised "spotted" card on the back of the receipt. Unfortunately, I think one of the Tesco staff saw me stuffing it under your wiper and may have taken it out as I was driving out.

One of the contacts in one of your sensors is most likely broken. Happened to me when a nice lady in an Audi decided to introduce some cosmetic changes to my rear end. My recommendation is to disconnect them. In my personal experience they are fairly useless anyway if they are the same standard Nissan issue as mine as by the time they beep on the full, I am still so far away that having one is pointless.

Go to Sumo Power (trader on this forum) for the Do-Luck bumper as they are the official distributors. But on the other hand, I'd suggest you go for the Vizage JP Type N seeing as I want to be the only gay in the village.

A very similar story happened to me when I drove into a Nissan garage (joint with Renault) soon after buying the car, parked right in front of their showroom (this is a low-end Nissan garage with nothing fancy ever going near it), walk in and ask how much it would be for a service. The guy at the desk looks through the window at my car and goes "I'm sorry. We're only servicing Nissans and Renaults". Needless to say I did a quick runner from there.

My view is that having more than one car is cool if you can afford it. Buying a second car in order to be able to afford the first one is in my personal opinion plain stupid. If I can't afford to buy a car and run it every day, drive it at weekends and go to Europe if I feel like it, then I need to buy a cheaper/cheaper to run car. Let's do a simple calculation. £600 for a shed, £50 for an MOT, £100 for a service, £70 for spare parts as sheds do go wrong (probably conservative on cars of this age and build quality), assuming you do high mileage in the shed as the reason for getting it in the first place, take £300 for a cambelt change every 3 years (again, conservative). Now add insurance and assume we are figuring it out for a typical 30yr old with 1 accident & 3 points or something along those lines = £400 given the ridiculous price hikes (optimistic as you won't be able to use your no claims on this car and even with multicar policies, prices have gone up a lot) Now let's assume something will go bang on the shed within 3 years from high mileage + age + quality and you'll have to replace it again with another £600 shed as per some of the above numbers. So your costs on average will be: Year 1: £1,320 Year 2: £720 Year 3: £720 Year 4: £1,320 ... (£920 on average per year) Now let's assume that your mega efficient shed despite its age, wear and lack of investment manages to get an average of 40 mpg. I typically get more out my zed, but let's assume you get around 28mpg from the zed. That's a net difference of 12mpg. Question: how many miles do you need to do in order to make the shed actually worthwhile? Answer: The shed will take 2.5 gallons per 100 miles as opposed to 3.57 gallons for the zed. Let's take the current petrol price as average (probably overkill, but whatever). So that's £1.30 a litre. So the shed will cost something like £14.80 (back of the envelope calc here) as opposed to £21.15 for the zed. So every 100 miles you save £6.35 or thereabouts. So that means you'll need to do around 15,000 miles a year just to break even. Doing 20,000 miles, given the somewhat optimistic assumptions above saves you a massive £300. In my personal opinion if the amount of hassle, paperwork, potential problems, lack of enjoyment, image, whatever other reasons in your mind are outweighed by £300, you should not have bought the zed in the first place. Nuff said.

Then at least fix your rounding error

It's a shame that your conversion from litres to gallons is rounded. You'd be better off using the litre capacity and then multiplying by a fixed conversion factor to get gallons (around 4.55 - get a precise version of google). Also, you could simplify that calculation a lot by just dividing the mileage by mpg and then multiplying by price and the above conversion factor. In your sheet, the Golf R32 should have identical fuel costs to the zed and the 3.2 Brera as they all use petrol and have equivalent MPG.