rabbitstew

I would doubt it. Ive fitted a 7" android tablet into my 123d and the screen on that was like 5mm thick with litterally no surround. I expect an ipad mini will be bonded to the screen and no chance. Besides not much point as yourd be restricted to the apple approved apps rather than all the free android ones.

Good result for all! Reminds me of when i used to be a debt collector and have to repossess peoples belongings. Remember once some guy trying to set 3 Alsations on me not knowing im a dog lover and they soon had their tails wagging!

Sounds ace! Mrs Rabbitstew came back from the shops yesterday and has bought me 3 new pies to try, so im just cooking one now for my breakfast!

Ah... ive got one of those in the freezer ready to try. I actually was speaking to my brother about pies yesterday and he also recommended that one - he had a freezer full of them! (must run in the family!). I await to read what you reckon then I tried this pie and it was very very good! Ive a review on the blog of it somewhere. In fact I liked it so much i bought another pack of them!

Thought id revive this thread as its coming up to Xmas and there maybe a few people looking for pies! Its been an interesting week for me, and just goes to show that my friends must know me too well. So far this week I have had 3 different friends come around knocking on my door and bring me pie`s for Christmas Pressies! Amazing! Ive got a Hollands Potato & Meat Pie this weekend to try which a friend bought me. Haven't had one before so im really looking forward to it. The blog is still going well, ive even got Pukka Pies, Greggs and Pieminister following me on twitter as well as a load of restaurants and food journos. Even Sainsbury`s retweeted me to their 17,000 followers earlier in the week and ive had Pie manufacturers email me thanking me for my reviews! I might get festive and start reviewing a few minced pies.....

Probably an innocent random post on a forum and the other guy tracked him down. [rabbitstew thinks twice now before giving a pie manufacturer a bad review......]

Yep the 320i is a cracking car and 42mpg is awesome. I got the 123d because its one of the quickest diesels you can buy and once its out of warranty you can remap them to nearly 300bhp and 500nm of torque which will just be staggering in a car like that. I did consider a 330d coupe or 335 for a bit, but I prefer smaller cars and felt the 3 series was a bit too big for me atm for what I want. If i was only doing 3000 miles a year I definitely would have kept my zed i think!

Welcome! I used to work with a girl whose name was Ruth Slater.

Thats well shocking. I think after the guy fell off the bonnet of the yute id have reversed over him. Makes you wonder what made the other driver get so wound up!

In a 2007 sales brouchure i had it said the variable speed power steering was "new" for 2007, so whether it was just revised or whether it was just introduced then I dont know. As others have said, the zed was "uprated" from 276 to 300 in 2006 along with a facelift - alloy dash trim, slightly different bumpers, xenons (i think) etc. Then in mid 2007 the 313 engine was introduced to the range along with a host of other improvements to the suspension, dual xenons and other stuff. Theres a thread on here if you can find it about "things you didnt know about the zed" and a lot of the differences between the models are covered in there. As already said, you may as well forget about anything other than the 276 model on that budget. 2007 cars will be 10k upwards. The 276bhp car is a perfectly good car for your budget, and gives you some scope to improve performance through modifications. The later 313 car you really struggle to get much more power out of without spending big money as Nissan already did all the performance improvements they could. For that budget id be looking at trying to get a model with brembos (not all of them had these), possibly the leather interior. If you can get one, a UK GT car would be great. Id say FSH is more important than mileage - read up on what services the car should have had to make sure they are okay, and also read up on what other stuff needs doing at various miles, such as brake fluid, spark plugs etc.. so you wont be hit by surprise bills and can check the cars been looked after correctly.

Or you can probably ditch the OEM satnav screen completely and replace it with a 7" Android tablet like ive just done on my BMW 123d... has the advantage that you can catch up on Eastenders using iplayer whilst you are stuck in traffic.

A good part of the saving is my fuel costs, I am saving about £250 a month on fuel alone which isnt to be sniffed at. I looked at depreciation figures over 3 years. Looking on Autotrader, based upon me doing about 20k a year for 3 years my 123d would loose maybe 2500->3000 a year. Insurance is 1/2 the price of the zed, the road tax is 110 compared to 460. Tyres are more expensive, servicing is about the same. No MOT costs as the cars not even a year old atm, plus I still have dealers 3 year new car warranty to cover any defects which arise. Actually, ive just roughly recalculated and its about £600 a month its costing me atm. Of course, figures vary all the time, so when i come to sell things may turn out different.

Excellent news!

I agree. Its a totally different type of driving experience. My 123d is only about 0.5 seconds slower on 0-60 than my zed was and has more torque. Even now when i boot it to over take the acceleration really does surprise me, it just pulls, pulls & pulls. EVO magazine comparing the old 123d hatch (mines a newer coupe) against a Mazda RX8 123D RX-8 R3 0-30 2.3 2.5 0-60 6.5 6.5 0-80 11 10.5 0-100-0 22.5 21.6 1/4 mile 15.0 @ 94.0 14.9 @ 95.8 20-40 2nd 2.1 3.1 30-50 3rd 2.9 4.1 50-70 3rd 3.8 4 50-70 4th 4.3 5.6 70-90 4th 5.2 5.6 70-90 5th 5.9 7.4 Results surprised me anyway, I assumed the RX8 would have been a bit better. Anyway, results aside, the driving experience is nothing like a high revving petrol like my 313 zed was... when you`d floor it in 2nd, the engine would rev quickly round to 7500rpm and you`d get that sensation of a quick car. The 123d isnt as bad as some diesels as its got 2 turbos, and so there totally no lag at all. At any speed in any gear, you floor it and instant power / pull and you end up constantly hitting the redline in each gear and having to change up. The way the engine delivers power though is more suited for lazy commuting, so you can leave it in 5th or 6th and know if you want to over take you have more than enough power to do the job. Roundabouts you can leave it in 4th if you want as long as you are above 30mph. As for running costs.... my running cost spreadsheet tells me my zed cost me about £1400 a month. The 123d currently will cost around £800 using the same factors - although i`ll have a more accurate figure after 12 months of ownership. I think when your talking of performance cars, the line between diesel & petrol gets smaller as the diesels start to loose their economy advantage. Although for me it works well as im saving quite a lot each month on fuel costs, whilst can still have fun when I want.

Welcome!

From my experience the metals Nissan seem to use rust like mad. When i changed the exhaust on my 20,000 mile old zed i was shocked at just how rusty the exhaust, brackets and bolts were. Shocking. Id replace the system with a nice stainless one - something like a scorpian one. Much cheaper than OEM system and not too loud.

These are pretty easy to fit yourself, my mate who knows nothing about car electrics at all managed to fit one on his car earlier in the year!

You sound very patient indeed. Ive got a 100% positive ebay feedback on just over 1000 sales. Never had any problems at all or had to do any refunds. However, this last week I sold an item to someone and I described it as in good used condition. i.e. its been used, its 2 years old, so its not perfect or in excellent condition. However it not in poor condition. Buyer buys it, asks me no questions relating to condition. I bend over backwards shipping it next day to him ready for xmas. He then moans its not as described. Sounds like he was expecting a mint condition item and his definition of "good condition" seems to mean "mint perfect brand new condition". Anyhow. I didnt hesitate to offer him full refund. I even say i will pay for the return postage - even though ebay says the buyer should pay for that. Even through i replied to the buyer instantly, he still raised an ebay dispute straight away. - so for you to wait this long, is amazing!

Petrol cars have really come along now no end, but apart from my zed, the last 3 cars ive had have all been diesels. It really depends on how many miles a year you do. I once worked out that you need to do over 12,000 a year in order to make the diesel be cheaper - when you factor in the mpg & cost of diesel. Most modern diesels dont seem to be as economical as older ones. My 123d and my wifes Juke are both just doing 48->50mpg average. Whereas, my old mk4 Golf TDI used to always do 58mpg on average week in / week out. It often used to do 65mpg and even 73mpg once average door-to-door on trips out. My mates just bought a 53 plate Vectra 2.0DTI and even though he says he cruises at 80mph everywhere, it still showing him 56mpg when we worked it out. When you compare that against the 35mpg you used to tend to get from 2litre petrol cars its a big difference. Modern petrols also now seem to be more economical. You`d have to have got a 1.2litre car to get anything which could do 40mpg a while ago, but now a lot of the bigger engined cars are hitting that. The difference between the 2 isnt as big as it used to be.

Hahaha.... ive a mate who does just the same with his Mazda 6. He can wedge his mobile in the steering wheel just like that without any blue tack.

Depends on the insurance company really. In the past with vehicles ive had some insurance companies who will load up your premium for any non standard bits you fit - regardless of whether they actually increase or decrease the performance. Others have been more sensible and when ive explained that ive fitted an after market exhaust as it was cheaper than an OEM one and no performance increase, they have said "fine, no increase in premium". Funny really though, as if you took a car into Kwik Fit to have a new exhaust fitted, 9 times out of 10 the exhaust they take off the shelf and fit will not be a manufacturers OEM exhaust. It will be made by any one of a dozen companies out there who make replacement parts. Same as with your tyres, brake pads, air filters etc. etc.. And I dont think anyone rings up their insurance company to inform them that they have just had a new exhaust & a set of tyres fitted down Kwik Fit.

My missus has already finished now until the new year, but I just get Xmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years Day off. Rest of time its in the office as my bosses are slave drivers. Even on my days off i`ll be monitoring & answering work emails.

Hello!

Hello!

Just don't leave the can of lock de icer in the car like a mate of mine did You laugh but i did just that last week. Left the de-icer & scraper inside the front of the car.... last time i make that mistake.