The G Man

Thanks Jay, anything but Black mate

Thanks Dan, some very useful and informative stuff there. My local Porsche centre called yesterday but I was out and my wife took the call. Fully agree with a well spec'd 2.7 rather than a poverty spec'd S. And the comment on the brakes is spot on, performance starts with stopping IMO. I'll be arranging a test drive in the very near future and will try both.

I thought he was out the country, never returns his calls

May have a bit of dosh coming my way and, I've got an itch! This one is of the Porsche variety. Been doing a bit of research and have submitted a spec with a request for a test drive on the new Caymen. Wifey has said "I like that, and the colour is gorgeous", (Amaranth red) and, to me, this is a go signal! A lot of the motoring press have said that the 2.7 is the better option as compared with the S. My must haves on spec is, PDK box, PCM Nav with Bose, Sports exhaust, leather (two tone) and the new Boxter wheels (19") along with the aforementioned colour. The biggest hurdle may be the storage, we like our two or three weeks in the south of France most years and wifey's packing habits are deplorable. Question is, well, for anyone in the know to answer, 2.7 or 3.4, what's the best? Help and considered opinion would be useful, cheers

Taking the picture is wrong mate, hope you found it on tinternet

I was thinking along the lines of an XKR, but my problem is they don't seem to have a XKRMANALEX when it all goes wrong Seriously though, anyone know of fragility issues? (Sorry for the thread hijack)

......and then someone like Wasso comes long and tells you why you've got a Z and not a beemer , but then again the whiff of pipe smoke and tweed is alluring to seduce me to the Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag side of life I've heard that their forum gives free flatcaps and lambskin driving gloves

Must admit that some diesels are very quick, having spent the last couple of days in my Mrs Leon FR it re-awakened my appreciation of a torque bolstered machine. I'm not one to say that I would "never get rid of my Z" but the re-mapped V6 3.6 is addictive, as compared with "appreciation". That said, now my Z is nearing 3 years old and there not being anything out there (with exception of the new Caymen) that takes my fancy, my car searches now consist of either, 5L supercharged Jags or powerful diesels such as A5's or 5 series Beemers. If only I could stop growing old, then maybe I would stick with the Z, have fallen out of love a bit over our sh1tty winter and have toyed with throwing some serious money at my Z or moving on , to what I've no idea, yet

I was at the Scotland v Wales match last Saturday, both teams were abysmal, what I'd say though is watch out for the Welsh delaying for a split second in the scrum to make the opposition look like they are engaging early, killed the game last week and the ref was completely conned. In saying that, I watched England v Italy on Sunday, I know there was one eye on the Welsh game, but England will have to pick it up a level or seven! Very close to call, but I'd say Wales might not have enough to win by the required points to win the championship (eight IIRC), if they win at all. Anyway a great days rugby to look forward to and I'll be rooting for Italy to beat Ireland to record their first 6 nations double win. As for Scotland, well this will be the day that the dastardly French will become World Cup contenders most probably, bring on the Lions tour

yes there is, lovely big bore pipes, 28mm (might even be 32mm), the microbore I'm talking about is the radiator microbore, mine are all 12mm. The big boy in question works at around 98% efficiency at the last service. The pump is very quiet and covered by an excellent domestic insurance, the engineer that fitted it reckons it's an easy system to maintain and replace large items. My post was more to relate that the price for supply and fit is reasonable. I would fit the biggest possible domestic boiler that I could afford, as you may well at one point extend your house or utilise heating in a garage or similar. I thought it was Danfoss that was used, is it related to grunfos?

I've had two boilers fitted to two houses in the last 2 years, previously had a Vaillant that worked flawlessly for 24 years in my house, it was only parts availability in the end that killed it off. Both boilers that have been recently fitted were the Vaillant Ecotech combi's. The one in my house has a 37kw capacity and an excellent pump, which you need to consider if running more than one hot tap at a time, we can run the shower/bath and the kitchen hot tap simultaneously with very little if any drop in pressure. The second boiler was slightly smaller, fitted in my daughters house when I refurbed it. The only problem on that was the microbore for the central heating was only 8mm which is too small, minimum 10mm should be used. Neil was instrumental in solving the problems here, and it all works perfectly. Both boilers have wifi controllers, mine is very simple to use and set programmes, I got a high end controller for my daughters system which to be honest was a little more complicated, once i got the default language into English from German it was easier but I wouldn't go for that type (Vaillant) again, stick with simple and it will be cheaper. My boiler cost £2k to be supplied and fitted, boiler itself was sourced by me and so I new that @ £800 was labour/fittings and taxes, took two days to install and the fitter had an apprentice with him, which I like to see, someone getting a good start in life. The other boiler was £1100 + £120 for the controller + £200 for various valves and microbore/flue etc, I fitted it myself and then got it checked out with a gas safe engineer for compliance, as I said had a few teething probs with the microbore but Neil helped me with this. It would have made economic sense to actually get it fitted by an expert at the start but the rest of the refurb wasn't finished so couldn't pay an engineer a few hours here and there. The Worcester is a Bosch company I believe, so quality shouldn't be an issue, but check the link below and do more research before committing. The price you have been quoted sounds very reasonable, remember you are paying for expertise and peace of mind, good luck http://www.vaillant.co.uk/homeowners/products/domestic-boilers/ecotec-plus-combination/

Proper Viper stripes on a dark colour might look ok, white on black. Might try it for my trip to France, just to show off

I think they must, my set up had the familiar rasp from the Berks, I liked it but it was on the overrun. Has since gone but I have an awesome sound now, reminds me of a Borla

Seen a white one in the flesh the other night, looks really smart and had a nice sound, either that or my mums Scenic has a blown exhaust. I would suspect that they will be hugely modifiable in a short timescale. Oh, mums Scenic spanked it

Doesn't matter what speed you're doing, under or over the limit, she still warns you. Just some supplementary info, the traffic updates are bang up to date and you will get a warning of traffic problems ahead on set routes, well in advance and you will be offered an alternative route. Took this option once and ended up in a farmyard

Look at nearer £1500/£2000 for new from a dealer, after all they want £76 gazillion for a set of wheels But, yeah . There's nothing he can't get

im glad you have fallen for the car again after your initial doubts Plus realised that you have to kick the nuts out of it to get its true performance and then the beast is unleashed Linda has just realised that about me Looking good Jay

I'll be that fat kid, there are quite a selection of cars, Gallardo, 430, GTR, R8, 997, V8 Vantage, 600BHP Mustang , but I think that you just have whatever 5 they bring on the day, which will be fine. Hopefully, once I suss the changeover points, I'll be able to manipulate for the Lambo at an interesting part of the drive, the stretch after the Loch Fyne Oyster bar heading to Inveraray is an awesome stretch if you get it clear Pictures are provided on a memory stick for you at the end but I'll take my camera and maybe a mount for a vid if they allow it.

Larkhall mate

Trained and work beside him, Marks' his name, top bloke, but Neil should show him the ginge pube's and he'd faint!!

No mate, I lift weights at the same gym as Neil, we train at different MMA gym's. he trains with a few of my mates at Amro's place. I was only joking about slagging your 320i earlier

The supercars, not my girls

Neil is getting his ar*e spanked by my mate Murph at the MMA gym, he had to be chucked oot the other night, were you involved in that Stuarty?

Don't know if I'll be able to choose Vik, but any 5 on their site will do The Ferrari and Lambo will be great, but I want really to see if the 911 lives up to Ekona's promise