Commander

Hahahaaaa!

E46 M3?

THIS, is a great idea... thanks. The problem now is that I've realised just how many awesome cars you can get for <£25k, I'm beginning to doubt my commitment to the TVR idea! It'll only be a weekender, and it'll be garaged, but look at all the possibilities... Help! Aston DB7 Looks a bit old? Not really that fast... but it's got a V12! Future classic? Aston Vantage High-ish mileage for the money, but cool as owt, rare enough, should be a good drive. E90 M3 Common, but most reliable and most day-to-day usable of this whole list... Which somehow makes it less favourable?! M5 / M6 Not sure I want something quite this big? Powerful and practical though... Various Porkers Common + Engine problems? Should be a great drive though... If I fit in it (6ft 4, 15st 12) Jag XKR Looks a bit old? Not really that fast. Supercharged V8 though. Various Mercs / Merc AMGs Don't really do anything for me Various TVRs Look awesome, realiability concerns. Ariel Atom Track-only really... But Honda engine and very rapid. Lotus Will I fit? Noble M12-GTO More practical than the Atom. Looks awesome and gets good reviews. Ford V6 - should be reliable. Still no good for a weekend away. Bentley Continental GT 6.0 W12 Engine is almost reason enough, but it's probably too much cruiser and not enough racer Audi RS4 Big, practical, powerful - 4WD might make it less fun? Maserati Bit like the XKR - too old / slow? VX220 It's a Vauxhall... and a poor man's Lotus? VXR8 It's a Vauxhall... Lexus IS F Don't know anything about them. Probably boring.

You mean a Sagaris! :-p

Anybody ever owned a TVR? Ideally, a Tuscan Mk1 S? Just wanted to hear your experience of owning it... I know they're not an every day car, and I know they're not cheap to keep running, but what are they like to drive? Comfy? Noisy? Fun? Engaging? Scary? I've always liked the look of them and I'll soon have the money to buy one if I sell my Zed; I just want to know what they're like... Are they as awesome as the 390bhp / 1100kg / Straight-6 headline would suggest?

I've just posted my plan for 2014 as well - you could just sandwich the two together! Failing that - Google Maps and Street View are your friend...

Planning has begun! After last year's trip (http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/75633-2013-alpine-road-trip-pic-heavy/) we're keen for another It's largely the same crowd of people, although the Zed will be remapped and will have new K&N Panel Filters, HFCs, Tyres, Brakes, Brake Fluid and Brake lines fitted, the M3 won't have a passenger this time, the RX8 has been repaired, the Lotus remains unchanged, and an MX5 and an A3 have been added to the convoy. Our current plan is here; https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=znkYi6G2lv-A.kc1srSh8ieSw Estimated total cost (for absolutely everything!) is about £1500. August can't come soon enough!

http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/75633-2013-alpine-road-trip-pic-heavy/

I did Reading to Liverpool and back a few days ago - 433 miles, and still had 60miles left on the DTE (In a standard 2007 VQ35HR)

Alright chaps, here's the pickle... I've got a 2007 HR that I use for work (3-4days / week I work from home, 1-2days / week I visit customers all over the UK). I'm about to be TUPE'd with about 250 of my colleagues to another company and they have different car rules. "Must have four seats" is the main concern and "must not be extravagant" is possibly another, but as a standard car worth less than 10k I can probably argue the latter one. I can't afford to keep the Zed and have another car for work, so the Zed may well have to go if my appeal against this new rule fails, but what to swap it for? I'd like to keep something at least vaguely powerful and that I can at get close to 30MPG with on the motorway. We're also in the process of moving to a house that needs plenty of DIY so I wouldn't be adverse to a sporty estate, so long as it can still tick a few 'fun' boxes... and all this for less than about £12k. Here are my thoughts so far; E46 M3 - looking a bit old / high mileage now? E90 M3 - too expensive Audi S4 - too expensive / high mileage? Audi RS4 - too expensive Civic TypeR - too chavvy? Civic 2.2 CDTI - still too chavvy? BMW 330/530 Saloon / Estate - don't know much about these? Inifniti G37 - too expensive? Any other ideas?!

Love this photo! Been on two euro trips. Location?? I've got a similar photo - this is the 'other' (west?) side of the mountain from Stelvio in Italy - and the road is even more fun to drive than it looks.

The MD isn't daft, he's currently just CC'd on things and hasn't waded in one way or another. If he does anything, it won't be until Monday. Since all of these escalations took place she got her bosses / directors involved too and they've defended her actions, which has re-assured her a lot. The stress aspect of her job changes with the wind, some days are easy and some are stressful - it's no different than many jobs really - I just don't think she's used to criticism like this that's all... She's a bright girl so I think she'll learn from the experience in the long run. THIS! This is exactly what I ended up saying to her yesterday evening. She 100% stands by her actions, and indeed the e-mail she wrote was sent off the back of a phone conversation with the people concerned. I also agree with the face-to-face thing and suggested that next time she runs a big project like this, that she gets a 'war-room' on the go when important things are happening and that she gets everybody in it, instead of all working from home, in different offices, etc... Face to face contact solves more problems than anything else I know. Hah, and the ability to not say something is my flaw! I'd love to have more people like her working at my place too if I'm honest. Since this all kicked off she's brought her boss(es) in on it too and they're defending her actions rather well by the looks of it. So we've had our initial triage and I'm going to let it be... Cheers chaps.

So here's the thing... My g/f and I both work from home, we probably work in the same room for 4 days out of 5 and because this time together I get to hear her in work-mode. She's a bright and friendly girl, but she's also stubborn, blunt and head-strong. It's actually one of the things I like her for. Anyway, she's working her way up the ranks because she's good at her job, but as she's getting higher her bluntness and matter-of-factness sometimes don't cast her in the best light, especially when she's running some pretty stressful projects that have very senior stakeholders and large teams of people. Today she wrote a fairly straight-forward e-mail to a team about a failure they'd suffered at the worst time possible, and she's obviously put somebody's nose out of joint. This lead to her mail being forwarded to a senior Director in another part of the business, who's then gone on to criticise her rather harshly it seems, with the MD on copy. Needless to say she's not happy about the situation this has left her in as she doesn't really understand why this has happenned. Personally I think this will all be a flash in the pan that'll be forgotten about by next Friday, but I think she's in this situation because (a) this particular team working for her really is crap, and ( she's not very good at work-place politics. Or tactfulness. Or at hiding her feelings. How do I, without sounding like a condescending *****, tell her that I don't think she'd be in this situation if she chose her words more carefully? This sort of thing is something I've had to learn about the hard way in my career with a few bollockings coming my way over the years - some deservedly so and some not - and I find it hard not being able to help her... Help me help her?!

Never played with that app in particular, but two common problems with similar apps are bad GPS reception, and not entering / configuring the vehicle's weight correctly.

I can't believe we're on the second page and it hasn't been said yet.... "Additions"!

But nobody wants to be a plumber! I don't know anyone who enjoys it as a career. Do you know many people that enjoy sitting bored stiff in a cabin looking at a bright sky with nothing to do for 10 hours at a time, getting irradiated by increased cosmic ray exposure, spending a night away from everybody they know and love, just to repeat it all again the next day? Airline pilot career is an overrated taxi driver IMHO.

Why not just buy a samco liquid hose and run a stanley knife down its length so you can get cables in / out as needs be?

Perhaps... or maybe we didn't pick our cars, they chose us.... and they only chose decent people!

I think most are pretty crap to be honest! I used to be on the MLR forum when I had my Evo and that was good, but I just signed up to the Production BMW Championship forum and it seems pretty pants. I've also been trying to find out about Alfa Romeos for some research before my g/f buys a duffer to replace her written-off Fiesta and that's been pretty hard going too - some forums are so hard to navigate I've about given up!

Gutted for you. You've basically got three routes to a new engine; Buy brand new engine from a manufacturer and pay the earth for it - nobody would do this really! Buy a refurb'd engine from an engine dealer - should come with new bearings, new chains, etc... and also, a warranty. Buy a second hand engine from the forum, trader, or internet - probably won't get a warranty, but I think this is also the cheapest and most common option.

Thanks chaps - it was a brilliant trip. This year we're planning on doing something slightly different - car ferry to Bilbao, east to Barcalona, North through the Pyrenees, east along the south coast of France, through Monaco, through the alps up to Germany, then Autobahns and Black Forest up to Nurbergring / Spa before heading home via the train. This year, the RX8 driver will have a working car (he still enjoyed last year, but not to its full potential), the Elise will be upgraded to a Supercharged Evora, my Zed will have a few small upgrades (hfc, k&n panel filters, remap, brakes), and we might bring another car or two along as well. To anybody 'thinking' about it - just do it. Book some time off work, go on google maps, find all the wiggly roads you can, and get over there. Excellent driving, scenery, food, people, you name it... There are loads of Zeds around Reading and surrounding area it seems - I never manage to spot any out and about though! Wouldn't fancy breaking down where you did! lol - think I'll stick with my Jap reliability!

Doesn't even need to be luke warm - just water from the cold tap is enough to melt your way in.

I organised my own trip last year, all through Germany and the alps - brilliant - best thing I've done in ages. You'll love it.

I've got a persistent itch I need to scratch, and it comes in the form of racing cars... I've been looking at some of the low-end race series (cos I'm not rich or fast enough to race a 'proper' race car) and the Production BMW series looks like it's winning... You can pick up a race-ready banger for £3,500 and for another few hundred quid a weekend, you can go proper racing. The bit that worries me is, what are the REAL costs like? Is it actually competitive or even in series where you can't mod much, or do people still plough £10k in to their cars so they can win? Has anybody got any experience of running in a 'cheap' race series? Care to share your stories of glory and tragedy? Cheers

The HR cars don't seem to burn oil like some of the DE cars do. And the dipstick is easy to use