Ponsonby

Good call. Would be on my list for sure.

The Zed's are addictive, that's why I have had several of them. However, if you are purely after a weekend B road blaster then you may find them a bit heavy. My weekend toy is an Abarth 124. Probably out of your budget but really is awesome on said B roads. Small, light, loads of torque, cheap tax, cheap insurance and good on fuel if you want it to be. The only problem with B road blasting at the moment is that every time you go around a bend you run into either a peloton of overweight middle aged men, or someone wearing a mask walking in the middle of the road - what is it with people wearing masks just stepping out into the road without looking?

Very nice. Rather different to the Triumph Daytona Super 3 I had back in the 1990's which was the bike equivalent to a Zed - great looking, loads of torque, fast in a straight line but a bit of a lard arse handful when cornering.

Going back to the original post, I decided at age 17 to start paying into a pension. I worked for British Coal where many people were taking early retirement and decided that I wanted to be in a similar position so set a retirement age of 55. I have always aimed to be paying around 10% of salary into a pension scheme, so I always topped up my employer contributions to 10%. I also wanted to be mortgage free by the time I retired. I have always bought houses that need a little work that I can add value to and continually upgraded. First house was bought in my late teens, worked double shifts 'at pit' whenever there was a colliery emergency to save up for the deposit. I have never earned a huge wage so the above is achievable for a lot of people if they put their minds to it. Must admit that the idea of a wealth tax makes me feel sick. Most of what I have has been achieved by sheer hard graft and has been achieved on a modest wage. My pension pot and house alone will be worth close to £1M, money used to buy the house has already been taxed, money in pension will be taxed when I start taking it. At 5% they would want £50K from me, for being sensible and ensuring that I am not a financial burden on society when I am old.

Turbo kicks in at 2500rpm in sports mode if you have the Abarth 124. The Abarth was sold with the Monza as standard in the UK which gives a reasonably loud (but not droney) exhaust sound, not raspy its a deeper tone with burbles (not pops and bangs) on the overrun. I don't know anyone who has changed the Monza for a Ragazzon - think that is more in the US where the Monza wasn't standard. I have watched a few video's of the Ragazzon and really don't like it.

Hi Andy, The email actually states that your ticket from last year is still valid. I got an email too.

The heritage pack does make the Abarth 124 look more aggressive and yes, aftermarket. I felt I needed that after the Zed's but as time goes by I could take it or leave it. Built in Hiroshima alongside the MX5 so yes, build quality is good. Not tuned mine yet - will wait for spring / summer when it is drier and skinny tyres are not so overcome by the boost.

After owning 6 Zed's I thought that I would try something different and bought an Abarth 124 late last year. I actually thought that I would be disappointed and really miss the power of the Zed's but the Abarth has continued to surprise me. It weighs bugger all and has masses of mid range torque (being turbocharged). The 30-70 times are pretty good, far better than say a GT86. The 0-60 does not look impressive on paper (how many of us do that anyway) but is hampered by the fact you have to grab another gear. An additional 30bhp and even more torque easily and cheaply attainable by a tune or plug in tuning box. The Abarth is well specced with LSD, Bilsein shocks, Brembo brakes and a Record Monza valved exhaust (fitted as standard and sounds superb). Tax is cheap, insurance is slightly lower than Zed, and far less trips to the petrol pumps. Gets loads of positive attention, can't park up (even at a petrol station) without people coming to ask about it - I did get white with the heritage pack (black bonnet and boot) so it does stand out a bit. Ideally I would like a Zed as well but for now enjoying something different.

Its a wrap. Says so on the advert. Normally I would shy away from a wrapped car because you don't know how well it has been wrapped or the condition of the paint underneath. But then the previous owner may have had it wrapped from nearly new in an attempt to preserve the paint. £26K is a lot for a second hand car when a new one can be had for £30K with proper warranty etc. I would not consider that the wrap 'adds' value - they have a limited lifetime and then either needs to be re-done or removed.

You can find pampered ones with very low mileage for around £20K. I bought my 2015 Nismo around 2/3 years ago for £23K with around 10K on the clock - one owner and absolutely A1 condition. There are a couple of brand new ones on autotrader for just over £30K and probably still room to haggle (they will want shut of them now).

After several Zed's I decided to try something different for a while and currently have an Abarth 124. Far more fun than I expected it to be and a really addictive drive. My son commented that out of all the great cars I have owned in the last few years (Zed's included), this is the one that I drive for the heck of it more than any other. MX5 felt a little to dainty for me but the Abarth is a bit of a hooligan.

Our mobility scooters (electric) will be self driving and will take us home when we forget where we live.

They are going to need one hell of an infrastructure to charge all of these cars. Given that CV-19 has screwed our economy and racked up massive debt it will be interesting to see where the money will come from to pay for the infrastructure.

I think lockdown messed with my head a little and I have now parted with both the 370Z and 350Z. I had picked up the 350Z from an auction, unseen gamble but cheap, had it been perfect it would have been an absolute bargain. It was mechanically great but was cosmetically challenged and playing havoc with my OCD. Got quotes to rectify but not easy with Temper Orange and financially did not make sense. I made a few quid on it when I sold it so nothing lost - and yes, buyer was well aware of cosmetic issues. I decided to try something a bit different and have never owned a lightweight sports car. I am not a massive fan of the later MX5 looks so have bought an Abarth 124 Spider. Not many were sold in the UK due to their crazy new list price but at 2 years old and 10K miles they can be had for less than 50% of the new price. I picked up a fully loaded bargain in immaculate condition and it is remarkably good fun. Easily and cheaply tuned due to it being a turbo. It may be italian design but it is built in Hiroshima so hopefully wont fall apart and I can still attend Japanese car meets. I will end up in another Zed though. I am keeping my eyes open and if the right one comes along I will buy it and store it until I get bored with the Abarth. For now though it is fun and interesting to explore a completely different style of motoring.

That's been for sale for as long as I can remember - wonder why??