rickya

Bringing back this much loved topic that I spend sleepless nights debating in my minds private forum... I have now come to a two new front runners to the "what next in a year or twos time".

Criteria:

Must have at least some kind of rear seating (Hence Europa/Z4M/CaymanS is out)

Must look beautiful

Must be as powerful or more powerful than zed

Must have some luxury & prestige (hence my earlier thoughts on Mitsus & Scoobys are out)

Budget approx £35k & prefer manual gearbox.

I have now come down to these two:

1) 2004 Porsche 996 Cabriolet (not 4 wheel drive, though the C4S looks the best IMO)

Though I am a bit of a tart & miss having a convertible, a coupe would be approx £1k to £2k cheaper & have bigger rear seats & handle better.

2) OR a 2005 Mercedes CLS55 AMG

Ideas & thoughts appreciated

I live in London & fit the age range but am a lazy bugger who lives in Herts, sorry! Goodluck anyway

I think this a modders taboo subject....Im not adding it up!!! (My Mrs may read this!!)

 

Judging from your sig, I would guess about £50?

How'd u guess!

I think this a modders taboo subject....Im not adding it up!!! (My Mrs may read this!!)

I do like these cars & would be happy to get, but the only thing that stops me is the small high, reving engines they use, I prefer my engines big & torquey with low down grunt.

I warm up for a 1 min or so in idle, then build up slowly, not going over 3k revs till properly warmed up.

More importantly who lets their engine cool down for several minutes at least before turning off, after a good thrash or motorway run? I do.

Thats a bargain, I thought they were about £25k min. ps dont u think the back looks a bit like an Audi R8?

Paint the rims, so long as the painters use a good key coat you will not have any probs.... also when you kerb them next it will be easier to touch them in

+1

See this from BMW forum , my mate Steve did his wheels & finish is perfect, though darker than envisaged due to excessive lighting inside paintshop when deciding colour. Though to be fair BMW did the job so should be good

http://forum.bmwcarmagazine.com/viewtopic.php?t=44039&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=100

http://forum.bmwcarmagazine.com/viewtopic.php?t=44039&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=140&sid=4b6501e9aba4c72e48c40696a1d5634a

I dont think you should think about 4 yrs down the line as youl probably want to change it 10000 times by then!

Also IMO 400 bhp is the maximum useable power the car (chasis etc) can handle, this is from various posts & reviews by people who have gone down this route. When I say useable I dont mean being able to use 500 or 600 bhp only in the dry, in a straight line, & probably only after 3rd gear.

If I was in your shoes I would think of 400 bhp as being the cars maximum, (especially if you want it as your daily drive) full stop & plan according to that only. If you want more power in the future I would sell the zed & buy something that was orginally designed with more horsepower in mind. e.g new Nissan GTR / Porsche 997 (S/GT3/turbo) / etc

12th of what?

On the 12th day of xmas my true love gave to me........ a kinetix plenum in a pear tree

sorry, I havent got that xmas bug out of me yet

I think we should set a deadline for everyone to book, otherwise some may book others may not or placesmay get filled up. Maybe this Sunday?

Also we should make sure exactly how many places are remaining from Donnington itself, in case ther are only a few place left now.

Got mine today MartinMac, cheers mate

Yeah April does ruin it

Pity Kev, cant u bring your Exige, wanted to see that in the flesh

PS I am only paying £5 more to do Le Mans Bugatti during July....that day does seem a little expensive.

£195 for Donnington is too much IMO

Maybe with a bit of tee cut & 4000 grit pads etc

Iv we go on 98db day, I will be borderline but shold be ok as long as I dont put in my ususal Tesco 99 Ron & instead put in Shell V power or BP Ultimate. The Tesco 99 Ron makes the car quite a bit louder & more poke too

I think ur right H5, it seems the law doesnt state its illegal nor doe sit say its legal, so I would have to say at the moment it is probably legal .I think the faq I found from that Nos company was just covering its own back.

http://www.akamoto.co.uk/resource-faq.htm

Seems not legal to use on road

Saying that if you put your foot down in an already fast std zed that then has a Twin turbo or supercharger setup with 400bhp plus, your no doubt going to be in illegal speed territory in a few seconds just the same

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HKS-GT3037-Bolt-On-Turbo-kit-Fairlady-Z33-VQ35DE_W0QQitemZ8073968578QQihZ019QQcategoryZ43120QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/JPS-Trading-Limited_ECU-Computer_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ4QQftidZ2QQtZkm

I think Big Phil has one, Jay havent u got one already?

The Carbon fibre rear hatch must be lighter I imagine as I recentlt fitted new struts & when I removed old struts I reckon the hatch probably weighed about 40kg or more!!

If not going down turbo route I would not bother with new mapable ECU, not £1500 plus cost. I would rather spend money on lightening the car e.g approx (£400) on carbon fibre rear hatch; bonet; wings maybe.

In fact it may be a bad idea & look again at supercharging instead, would only need to retard ignition, if that. Or maybe a 50 bhp (or max 75 bhp) shot of NOS.

Thanks

I have a HKS Speed Defencer (unfitted at the moment) which will de-limit my Jap Import from 112mph. But does it increase the rev limiter also in every gear?

Thanx mate It goes well as my surname begins with A

When DVLA first opened website about 7 years ago I bought it at a steal, £250 inc Vat & transfer! Iv had a few people stopping me & asking if for sale, a couple of yrs ago this lady who lives near me offered me £3k for it for her husbands birthday present

True, but I always like to try & do my own mods. On my old Honda Civic, I hacked a hole on front bumper & fitted mesh then added a lower lip which was actually a lip from another standard civic bumper joined on, filled, smoothed & painted. Also colour coded all plastic bits on car.

Did a similar job on MK2 Golf I had when young colour coded all inc front grill & attached a front lip spoiler on rear as common Golf mod.

On my current BMW 330d I had a Fibre glass Alpina front lower bumper/spoiler fabricated which I had sprayed & then I fitted myself. It goes over existing OEM Se front bumper.