rabbitstew

Which is a very good point. My mate used to constantly wonder how the hell I could eat 3 or 4 pies a week and not turn into a fat so & so. But he didnt realise that i factored in those calories into my daily routine. So those 500 calories a pie was, when coupled with healthy veg & potatoes all kept me well within my daily amount.

I'm not so sure about that, when I was buying having factory sat-nav pushed the price up a bit. There are still enough people (like me) out there who want factory sat nav fitted. Maybe I just got ripped off then by the dealer when I part ex`d the car. They looked in glasses guide said "yep this is what its worth in mint condition, plus this amount extra for your low mileage, but the long list of factory extras add nothing to it". And no matter how much haggling I did they wouldnt budge on the price. With zed prices being all over the shop, its hard to tell from looking at prices on Autotrader if stuff like sat nav makes any difference to the resale price. You see (for example) a 2007 zed`s varying from £9500 up to £14k with and without Sat Nav, then you also see the occasional 2004 or 2005 models also up for £10k -> £12k. The prices dont seem as clear cut as when I was looking at M3`s, when at the time you`d see a poverty spec 2002 model for £9000, but a high spec 2002 with sat nav and other bits would be significantly more.

Some good advices on here, so i`ll just reflect my experiences. Ive been into body building, on/off for the last 22 years, so have learnt a thing or to. First thing I learnt is not to bother with fancy protein supplements costing 30 or 40quid a tub. I just buy Protein powder in bulk. Massive sacks of the stuff for 80quid each which last me for ever. Its mainly stuff the food industry buy when they make products like chocolate etc.. You can get 80% or 90% protein blend depending on what you fancy. If you dont like the natural taste you can always mix in a bit of milkshake powder, but i love the natural taste of it. I can see why people buy stuff like maximuscle etc.. though. If you read the sales spiel on the packet you think its the next best thing since steroids and a couple of scoops will turn you into Arnie. I normally start by making a note of all your current diet, so you can see what amount of protein, fat & carbs you are having before you start adding anything else, as you may first need to adjust what you are eating. Workout how many calories you are using per day and how many you are taking on board. If you using more calories than your eating you will loose weight. Really your diet and workout program needs to reflect what you are trying to achieve. At the moment personally im trying to loose a bit of fat as ive had a good few months off and not been watching what ive been eating. For me I find a hard early morning cardio session on an empty stomach works the best. I work from 8am to 7pm so I get up at 6am, and go for a run. Yes... run on the streets. Dont need a treadmill or fancy gym, just a pair of proper running shoes and some headphones. I try and do 4 miles 3 times a week. Then when I get back in i`ll cool down, have a shower then have something low fat and high in protein for breakfast. I find after the run, my metabolism is through the roof and I can sit there at work and literally be buzzing until after lunchtime. I can literally feel the fat burning off. I split my weights workouts into different muscle groups like most body builders do. That way you can have a good 1hr workout and keep your energy up, focusing on one area of your body without tiring half way through. You can give 100% to it. So, for example you may do back / upper back and biceps one day, then chest, triceps (maybe shoulders depending on energy levels) another day etc... I tend to do weights straight after work. Ive been sitting on my backside all day resting and eating, so ive plenty of energy stored up, so dont need another shake or anything before my workout. Maybe a black coffee but thats about it. Workout for an hour, then have a protein shake straight after. Usually just protein & water. Sometimes mix some maltodextrin in it if i need extra carbs. Again, shower, cool down, then usually have a meal 1hr later - again high protien, low fat. Lunches at work can be a pain, as sarnies from the local shop are so easy. But, what I tend to do is to make my own lunches. I split my main lunch into 2 or 3 meals staggered out at roughly 2 or 3 hour intervals. So, breakfast at maybe 8am, meal at 11, meal at 2pm and something at 4pm. Very often if im having something like chicken or rabbit for tea, i`ll cook a bit extra and have that for my lunches the next day. Or i`ll open some tuna. I usually have some rice with it and some peas... just stick it in a container then you can microwave it. If no microwave, you can swap out the rice / peas for something else. Theres a million options, just do what you fancy. The biggest problem most people have is temptation. My missus cant diet for the life of her and hates any sort of physical exercise so she has problems. She can be fairly good on her diet for a couple of days then rinse a whole family size bar of dairy milk - 1200 calories alone. My biggest temptation is a pint of lager! But, when im strict im strict and you have to make sure you are strict all week and maybe allow yourself a day off at the weekend when you can have that kebab or pizza or curry or chocolate. I use an app called myfitnesspal and thats great in that i can keep track of my calories per day and know where I am. Good luck with it all!

Have to say im going right off the range rovers now. I used to like them, but think the styling is making them far to bland now, esp when you think of what they cost.

But is the new 3 series convertible more "common" than vectras, astras, mondeos, clios and all the other cheap main stream cars out there? Sure, theres a lot of bmw`s on the road now, but im pretty sure i see more non 3 series convertibles than i do 3 series convertibles. I see what your saying, but if you think there are probably an equal-ish number of mondeo`s, vectras, astra`s, focus`s, bmw 3 series, etc. etc. on the road, the fact that (for example), less Peugeot 307`s break down than say a Clio is probably a fair comparison.

I thought all the late HR Zed's had Sat Nav fitted; Even a base model car had Sat Nav I thought, I haven't seen a late model without Sat Nav. I'll try and keep it short . Up until the introduction of The HR, every single 350Z had to be ordered from a main dealer and you would specify what options you wanted to be added. After the financial crash, which roughly coincided with the introduction of HR update model, Nissan and their dealership network only brought in 350Z's with the SatNav fitted. You could in general pop along to your friendly Nissan dealer, hand over your cash and drive away with one a few days later...if you didn't fancy one with a SatNav, then you simply placed an order and waited a few months, dealerships figured out that folks would rather pay the extra £1,400 or so rather than wait for an indeterminate time. I worked this out after a conversation with a Nissan main dealer in 2008 when he told me that he could get me one within a week but it'd come with a factory SatNav Pete So what we are basically saying is the same as what I said, that as standard the HR did not come with sat nav unless you paid the extra for it. The fact the factory assumed everyone would be happy forking out £1400 extra for sat nav and shipped some cars to dealers with it pre-installed as a sales ploy is neither here nor there, as the end choice was with the customer as to whether they wanted it or not. If they didnt feel it was worth the extra then they didnt have it. I can understand why Nissan would assume most customers would want Sat Nav. I remember at the time it was very much the "in thing" to have factory Sat Nav in your car. So much so, when I was looking at second hand BMW M3`s 2 years ago, if the car DID NOT have factory Sat Nav then it was at least £1000 cheaper then one which did, as it was in that much demand. Unfortunately when it comes to the 350z, as I found out, even if you have every factory option out of the book, it adds nothing to the resale price as these days people arnt as bothered. Not only that, pre-installing extras on cars can be a good sales ploy... if a customer wants a car quick they will pay extra, even if it has stuff installed they dont want, and Nissan make more money.

I think long gone are the days when German cars were widely regarded as being more reliable then other manufactorers. Only the other year we saw on the news no end of Audi`s and VW`s having problems - especially with coil packs etc... More recently when I was looking to change my car I looked at Mercedes, in particular the C220 CDI and that kinda range and the amount of bad customer reviews I read really put me off buying a Mercedes full stop. That and the fact my friend has both an E class and an SLK and has had no end of problems with both. But then again, a friend of mine who works for the AA says the most reliable cars he knows are the Peugeot 307 HDI like my old shed is and the Golf TDI. Apparently the Clio is the most common car to breakdown according to him.

Well you will be in a very good position with no part ex to worry about! Unless I get there before you and snap up the vx or elise your about to buy.

Seems about the right price. Normally these go for about £150->160, but this one looks in pretty poor condition. That middle pipe looks like its never been polished. My K1 was spotless stainless even after a year on the car.

If you check out the sellers feedback he has some funny ones. Apparently he listed a car for £2.50 buy it now, then when the buyer snapped it up, he backed out of the deal saying he meant £2500. Also he`s sold & broken quite a few cars, according to the feedback, one buyer actually phoned him up about a car to check the damage and apparently the seller didnt mention half the damage until the guy turned up to collect the car. The 2006 Coupe he is selling looks like it came with the Alezan Leather interior and someone has replaced the seats for stock black ones, but not replaced the handbrake and gear knob - so it looks strange!

Welcome!!!

I thought all the late HR Zed's had Sat Nav fitted; Even a base model car had Sat Nav I thought, I haven't seen a late model without Sat Nav. My god, theres a lot of confusion here. Sat Navs were always optional. On my 2007 HR 313 Roadster, it was an extra £1400 over list price to get the sat nav. If you had the sat nav on a 2007 car then it replaced the cubby hole and the sat nav was visible all the time. If you didnt have sat nav you had the cubby hole. When I was looking for my car, and even now if you look on autotrader at HR cars there are not many around with the sat nav. I think not many people figured spending £1400 on a sat nav seemed good value compared to a £70 TOM TOM. The interior of that car is definitely facelift. It looks identical to mine, bar mine has the sat nav. Same alloy trim on the knobs etc.. Not only that, its reg`d June 2007, which was when the HR`s first came out. Sure, there are earlier models late registered so just cos its 2007 doesnt mean its automatically an HR but its another tick in the "is it a 313" box. Also, if you check the number plate, it comes up with it being registered as an HR 313 model. Anything else? I think we can safely say this is an HR 313 model, and as per the Sherlock Holmes work on this thread must be cheaper than normal purely because its got a bit of a dubious insurance history.

Your a braver man than me hanging off buildings like that, but im also a fellow biker! I think you`ll be a bit disapointed with a zed after getting off 2 wheels, but never the less the zed is a fun car to drive!

Very cheap indeed, from looking at other for sale prices, id have expected that to be around the £10k->£11k mark. The "glasses" trade in on that car alone is currently around £9000 at a garage. Looks like a good buy on the face of it, especially with good miles and 1 previous owner apparently. The only thing I can think is that its cheap because of the colour. Midnight blue isnt for everyone, most people prefer black or grey these days.

Welcome!

Welcome! Im based near Cambridge and you do see a lot of LHD cars around here due to Alconberry & Mildenhall. Seen a couple of LHD 350`s but not many.

When I searched a few weeks back there were several 313's on autotrader for less than £10k, but as before the prices of zeds seem to vary wildly, more so than many other cars. There's a garage I know not far from mine who happily tries to sell 2004 zeds for £11k or £12k. Looking on Autotrader just now. National search theres 7, 313 zeds for sale. Cheapest is £9995 for a grey 57 plate 313 with 66000 miles. Next is £10295 for a 07 313 Roadster with 70k on it + navigation. My favourite atm is the Orange 57 plate 313 with 51k on it for £10450. Theres another 4 on there under £11k. Assuming you can knock the normal couple of hundred quid off the asking price dealers expect then you`ll be looking at £9500->£10000 for a 313. And those are top wack dealer prices with warrenties. If you bought privately you`d expect the prices to be £1500 less than dealer prices. Im really pleased that you got an offer so quick, nothing worse than having a car sit around for ages. Cheers!

Nope they were never standard on the 350z and were not even a Nissan option. However, due to the big backside on the zed a lot of dealers did offer their own reversing sensor`s as an extra if buyers wanted.

Brilliant review there! Ive looked into it all a bit more over the last week and everytime I read more I seem to sway more towards the vx220, then I read some more and sway back to the Elise. With a paltry 118bhp and 0-60 in high 5 seconds theres no way im going to keep whatever I buy out of the two standard. With my "sensible" daily diesel having 204bhp, 300lb torque and 0-60 in 6.5 seconds I need a weekend toy to really be quicker. (sure i get the Elise "experience" and its not all about 0-60 etc... else) Those DVApower guys seem to be offering some good increases for sensible money, i may have to check them out a bit more.... It is also a bit daunting though knowing that if the clam gets damaged in an accident then the costs of replacing means the cars a borderline write off. Esp on the vx220 when the clams are like hens teeth.

Your right, the logbook always says on it these days that its not proof of ownership...... but how else would you really prove ownership of the car... sure you may have a receipt for when you bought the car, but 99.9% of people want that logbook. Another thing to consider here... if you are planning to keep your private plate then you`ll need to send that logbook off again, and that will take 2 weeks for DVLA to send you back yet another new logbook but this time with the cars original plate on it. I know as I did exactly this with my private plate a month back and it took 2 weeks.

Thanks Neil, some good points there! Good thread here im reading atm comparing the VX220 & S1. http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... mid=241684

Yep but the VX220 turbo is around £11k compared to the non turbo`s which can be had for £6k upwards. The VX220 from what i gather is pretty much based on the S2 Elise. Just discovered you can get a Honda K20 engine conversion kit for the Elise which gives you 0-60 in 3.9 out of the box..... oh dear... what i have started now!

Thats what im thinking. Something we can use at the weekends and maybe use in the week for work if the weather is nice. It looks like the VX220 is a bit cheaper to buy, and also cheaper to insure (albiet only 50quid). But im not sure on the looks. Id probably have a bit of a fiddle with them anyway engine wise, so am now looking to see what sort of cheap tuning options there are as it looks like the VX220 is more tunable maybe.... hmm....

Ah so thats why they laboured the point about using the right oil. They kept banging on about making sure you use the right oil but didnt say why, just said we had to "or stuff breaks!" Yep and I dont know if all cars are the same, but on our 307 HDI it has some other special oil stuff in a reservoir near the fuel tank, which is what it injects into the DPF to burn the soot etc. Now, when that runs out apparently you can only buy that oil from the main dealer and its something ridiculous in price. I seem to recall £200 being the sort of price mentioned. A lot of people remove the DPF, but im not sure if its now like with CATS in that if your car was fitted with one you have to keep it. When I had my golf GT TDI i threw the cat/particle filter away as there was no test in the MOT for cats or particle filters, as that was only done on petrol cars.

Just done a quick search and cant see any threads about the Elise, but I do know a few members on here have driven them or had them previously. Basically now ive sold my 350z 313 Roadster and bought a few months old 123d M-Sport Coupe for my daily commute I figure I can get away with selling our old Peugeot 307 HDI "shed" which ive been using for commuting and replace it with a fun car - something a lot cheaper than my 350z was tho. I've always fancied an Elise S1, but after test driving one back in 2000 (it was a 98 model i think) I was sadly disappointed with its performance. It might have been that at the time I was driving a Renault 5 GT Turbo which after some serious tuning was pushing out twice the power to weight ratio than the Elise was. I was also very much using my sports motorbikes at the time too, so going from driving / riding pretty quick things the Elise felt slow to me at the time. I remember putting my foot down and nothing much happening and the brakes were practically non existent (no servo on them from what i can remember). However, after reading many reviews I think the main reason why I wasnt impressed with the Elise was that the test drive just wasn't long enough for me learn how to drive the car properly. All the reviews ive read rave about the cars handling and the feedback through the brakes and steering. And looking at the performance figures, 0-60 in 5.5 seconds is hardly slow, and certainly on a par with what my 350z was probably capable of doing. So, now that the prices of Elises have dropped and are more affordable for a fun 2nd (or 3rd) car, ive started to look into them again. I've heard about the normal Lotus reliability / build quality problems. Such as window mechanisms failing, roofs leaking, head gaskets going cos the coolant system doesnt age well on the older cars, the alloy chasis corroding on some cars etc... But has anyone on here had one or lived with one for a while? Be nice to get some real users experiences & opinions on them. From the looks of it, the 111s model is the one to go for, although it may well be out of my budget. I also know they put different engines in the Elise, but was that just when they swapped from S1 to S2? For my money i guess id be looking at one of the early ones - maybe 97/98. I did briefly consider a VX220 which I know some people on here have also had, but am swaying more towards an Elise atm. And before anyone mentions an Exige... they are just way out of the price range for what im looking for - no matter now much id love one!