rabbitstew

I tend to form a deep loving relationship with my cars in which I refuse to put it at risk of any damage by scrotes. I spend hours lovingly polishing and caring for my car and try to keep it in absolutely mint condition. Therefore, if I was to park it in tescos and have some scumbag scratch it with their shopping trolley I would be gutted. I get upset when a bird dumps on it, let alone if it got dented/scratched. This doesnt stop me from going out, enjoying my car and in fact I use it every single day for work rather than it being a weekend "toy". If it was some old banger car then sure, id not really care where I parked it, but when its your pride & joy and one of the most expensive purchases you have ever made, I want to keep it in perfect condition. Theres also the hassle, inconvenience & cost of any repairs should someone run into it with their trolley etc.

Think apple are a bit late with this really. Most android phones have had really good voice controls on them way before apple came out with siri. I can just tell my phone "text wife im running late" or "navigate home" and it does it all automatically.

Be interesting to know. I think as the miles pile on, the engine will obviously be running slightly differently to how it previously was. I remember reading about a race team who did the Isle of Man TT races each year. They used to rolling road test their bikes before & after abusing them around the TT races all week. Very often the bike would be producing more power afterwards than before.

I was unfortunate enough to get 3 points a few years back and it increased my insurance by 30%. Mine was the same, I have fast motorbikes & cars but I got flashed by a mobile camera as I was over taking a lorry on a piece of dual carriageway in an old Diesel golf! The most annoying thing was I was in no rush that day so I was just cruising at 70mph for miles & miles. I pulled out to over take a lorry who was doing 58mph and because I was doing 70mph I ended up with a queue of cars right up my back side all itching to get by me as I overtook. So, foolishly I tried to get past the lorry slightly quicker to let the cars past and my speed crept up to about 80mph. Once I got by the lorry I slowed back down to 70mph but it was too late, the mobile speed trap flashed me at 80mph in a 70mph so 3 points & fine. Talk about sods law.

Mind you, the Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi I used to have back in the day had exactly the same problem. They had such a lumpy idle that in traffic you either stalled it or kept kangarooing forward.

Another thing to note is that the MOT place really doesnt care what they write down for the miles or what it was previously. I have had 3 different set of clocks on my R1 motorbike since ive had it all with various different miles showing. In fact, this year the mileage on the MOT is about 10,000 miles less than it was last year. The only time I can see it being a problem is if I was to ever sell the bike, it looks extremely dodgy to a new buyer - but then ive no intention of ever selling it so it shouldnt be a problem. As a side note, the reason ive had 3 sets of clocks on the bike is that the rev counter keeps breaking due to landing too many wheelies.

The 1M certainly would be a good car to have. Im more than happy with my 123d coupe - theres a video on youtube of a 123d against a 350z around the nurburgring and its neck and neck. Im considering having mine remapped atm which will take it to 270bhp & 400ft/lb torque. BMW are also just releasing the M235i which promises to be good, and its predecessor the M135i was an awesome car for the money - very quick and not far off the 1M in that aspect. Although with only 400 odd in the UK, the 1M will always hold its value. The E9* M3 is getting cheaper, so might be worth a consideration although personally I prefer the looks of the 1 series. The E46 M3 CSL is another car to consider although they seem to be going up in value atm. Some say the M3 CS is a good compromise between the M3 & CSL and represents good value for money... A lot to choose from really!

I wouldnt bet on it! When I looked at mine the dealer had to look in the manual to workout how the roof operated, then it got stuck half way down. Okay, so it was freezing cold and Nissan dont recommend you operate the hood in the cold, but even so!

Thats pretty impressive. I had a run in once with an Amg C63 when I was driving my 313HR and he totally urinated all over me. Left me like I was standing still.

I find that hire companies usually end up fighting over you to try and offer you better and better cars as they know they will just claim the cost back from the insurance company. Hopefully you`ll end up with something decent.

I was wondering that, as if not, if i buy a car which i intend to keep off the road, id have to agree a price with the seller, then buy some road tax on it, in order to drive it home before then declaring it sworn and cashing the remaining roax tax in, loosing 1 months tax in the process. Sounds like a lot of hassle. Also just means when you buy a car now, you`ll always have the additional expense of having to get road tax, whereas 9/10 when ive bought a used vehicle its had tax on it already.

Cant beat a roadster, I miss my 313 Roadster when the weathers as sunny as its been today!

When I was running my zed for my daily commute it was costing me £500 a month just on fuel. So if they added road tax to that, it would be cheaper for me to stay in a hotel near work all week!

I get mine off ebay. £10 delivered for a pair.

I guess it depends on how much you value driving the car. Last July I dropped 750quid on doing work on my Yamaha R1, then spent 4.5grand on a Ducati 996 on which I then dropped another £1500 on overhauling with the plan to enjoy a good few rides out over the rest of last year. Ended up only getting out on them about 4 or 5 times since then. I guess you can look at it that thats a lot of money just for a few rides out, but from my perspective it was worth it and hopefully I can get more moneys worth out of them this year.

I think its very much down to each particular car and as you say individuals personal preference. When I was looking for my zed I started off actually looking at E46 M3`s. I then saw a 350z Roadster in the corner of a garage and that was it, my search for a zed started then & there and I actually bought a 313 HR Roadster the following day. For me, looking for a big engined 2 seater RWD sports car, it was a toss up between a Porsche Boxster, a Z4 or Z4M and the 313HR. There was really very little between the Z4M and the 313HR performance wise. Looking on autotrader they were both as rare as each other, with only a handful of them for sale within 100 miles of my house, but on the other hand there were literally thousands of Z4`s and boxsters for sale. Again, for me personally, I found the BMW wasnt as much fun to drive as the zed, it lacked a certain something. I prefered the styling of the zed - the Z4/Z4M looked too angular. I also prefered the rarity of the 313HR and indeed any zed in my area where I live. People wouldnt give the Z4 or boxster a second glance, but the zed on the other hand made people stop and stare. I also preferred the actual driving experience of the zed. Sure, the build quality is shocking compared to german cars. I was amazed at how rusty my zed was underneath after just 20k miles and 4 years old - it looked like some 30 year old Austin Mini, and things tend to rattle and feel plasticy/tacky compared to a bmw or even a VW. But does that make it better or worse? Again, its all down to personal preference.....

That front splitter looks like it could chop you in two!!!!

Welcome! Gunmetal is one of the best colours!!!

I dont think they would have to put that much on fuel to make it viable, when considering it you have to take into account the savings made from scraping the whole tax disc in the window nonsense and associated sorn paperwork rubbish, think of the savings in getting rid of a whole dvla department, chasing people for not paying tax, paperwork, postage, no anpr camera vans, the list goes on. Unless you have stolen your fuel, anyone on the road will have paid their duty and its completely fair, the ones who do high miles and have high polluting vehicles pay more. The system for collection is already in place with fuel duty! I think the gov are aware the ved or whatever you want to call it these days is completely archaic and unfair, there have been mutterings of trying to eliminate the tax disc recently! Only problem, it cant go out on fuel, because of those whos cars are tax exempt! At the end of the day its just another motorist tax really along with all the others. If you buy a new car you pay tax on registering it, then you pay road tax (or ved depending on what you want to call it), then when you insure it, you pay insurance tax, then once you have the car on the road you pay fuel tax per litre of fuel you buy. So thats 4 lots of tax just there to get the car on the road! .......Not including the tax you paid on your wages, plus the tax on the money whilst you were saving it in the bank.

When I took my HR for its first belt replacement at 22k miles, Nissan said that the only time they`d need to replace the pulleys is if the bearings were worn and causing alignment problems. On the other hand though, they also told me the belt should last about 60k before needing replacement and had absolutely no idea why it was falling apart after just 22k miles.

Have to say the only "chick" who commented on my 350z was my boss. So whether thats a good thing or not im not sure. However, I lost count of the number of blokes who commented on my 350z. Most saying how rare or how nice it was. Id have complete strangers stopping me when I was buying a pint of milk just to comment. Not had that with any other car ive had.

Hence 3rd party only.

I sort of get you but the "tax" doesn't pay for road maintenance. The point about insurance is invalid as your vehicle is insured when you aren't driving it. It could still be hit by someone else who drives off, stolen or burst into flames as a giant walkie talkie shaped building focused the suns rays on your pride and joy. I see what you mean "road tax" is these days more of a vehicle tax you pay to entitle you to drive a car/bike on the road. But still seems unfair that if you have more than 1 car you pay more than 1 lot of road tax. As for the insurance side of things, I only insure my bikes third party only. So if it catches fire in my garage, gets rammed by someone else or gets stolen by aliens it makes no difference what-so-ever to the insurance company as they wont pay out. So the only risk they ever have is that I may crash whichever bike im riding at that particular moment in time. So logically thinking the insurance company should workout what risk I am based upon the vehicles and charge accordingly. Unfortunately insurance companies & logic never go hand in hand.

Having owned an HR roadster, check that the hood works nice & smoothly when it goes down and doesnt "stick" slightly half way down. Its a common problem. If you also look above your head in the car, the metal roof support which goes from side to side, the metal can "fold" back on that due to the strain of the roof working. Outside of that, the HR Roadster is a nice car, I really enjoyed mine. On a 57 plate car, the spark plugs will be coming up to being changed - they are outside of "normal" servicing, so check they have been done - they arnt cheap. Also, check the rubber drive belt at the front of the engine - mine used to shred itself every 20k miles. Other than that, just look out for the normal stuff, like tyre tread, brakes etc. Set of tyres will be £650, set of decent ferrodo brake pads will be £250. Have fun!

To be honest, ive never been one for bmw`s either until I bought my bmw 123d coupe 18 months ago. The difference in quality between that and any other cars ive had (incl other German makes) is like night & day. Makes my 350z feel like a rusty old transit van in comparison.