Dan

I missed that bit. How far do you really think £9k will go to putting one of these cars right ? It's not like you can take it to your local grease monkey, it will have to go to Lambo for any serious work. I've sold lots of prestige and performance cars in the past and just looking through the Service Histories on some of those cars you come across bills that would make a man weep ! It's not just affording to buy these cars, it's affording to run them. You really do need to be brining in the dollars to keep one of these on the road.

I did tell you about my next door neighbour didn't I ??? He bought a Gallardo brand new, in Silver. He bought it on finance with a £10k deposit and was paying about £2000 each month in payments. He owned one of these "no win no fee" legal claims companies and bought the car for his 30th birthday. Anyway, long story short. During the first 7 months of ownership he had the car 3 months, the rest of the time it spent on the back of a recovery truck going to and from the dealers for repairs. The recovery truck was a regular sight at his house, collecting the car every time it wouldn't start and bringing it back days, or weeks later when it was allegedly repaired. He eventually handed it back and is attempting to sue the dealer for the payments he made while he couldn't use the car. He now drives a Land Cruiser. It was his dream to own a Lambo and it broke his heart. Anyway, my advice is buy from a dealer and get the most bullet proof warranty you can. The reliability of these things is legendary - it's THAT BAD ! If you buy privately you are on your own and I personnaly wouldn't touch one that didn't come from a dealer because you really are going to need that back up. Just my 2p.

Seconded, we are far too tolerant and "stiff upper lip" for our own good, but don't get me started on this stuff, lets talk about cars

Or would be used to increase his commission Or is that just me being cynical... As a car dealer I sell car finance, quite a lot of it in fact. We are given a base rate by our lenders and our commission is paid on the difference between our base rate and the rate we charge our customers. So basically, the more we charge our customers the more we earn. Some customers are so naive it's only common decency that prevents us taking the pxss. When I worked at Perrys I once signed someone up at 55.9% APR which was ludicrous.

Signums are a bit of a lemon as far as the trade is concerned and as such they are excellent value. It should serve your purpose well just don't pay a lot for it and don't expect it to be easy to sell on afterwards.

I am FSA qualified and used to work as a financial advisor. My experience of this industry is that a broker will sell you the product that is best for him, in terms of commission and bonuses, and not the product that is best for you. We used to get incentivised promotions through from certain companies for selling one particular product over another so of course if your interested in earning money thats the product that you push. To be honest I don't see the need to employ a middle man these days when it's so easy to shop around with the internet etc and the high street banks practically giving money away !

Slightly off topic, but that last post reminds me of a little "incident" on my wife's bike. The Wife has a 600 Thundercat and hardly ever rides the poor thing, so one sunny evening I took it out for a blast just to give it a run. I wasn't rounding a bend next to British Aerospace at Salmesbury at 110mph when I spotted two Pigeons frolicking around in the breeze. All of a sudden I realised they were heading in my direction. The first one swooped straight at me and I ducked my head. It went straight over the top of my helmet leaving the odd feather or two stuck to the vents at the top of my visor, but there was no discernible impact. I had just a moment to count my chickens when it's mate decided it had seen enough of this big bad world and developed suicidal tendencies. It flew straight at me, passing through the gap between the left mirror and the fairing and smacking me square in the left chest and shoulder. I don't know how much Pigeons weigh but at 100+ it hurt like hell When I got back I had to explain to the wife what all the blood and feathers were doing plastered across the front of her pride and joy and realised that was not a good time to ask her to scrub my leathers ! That bike really did catch Pigeons

As a dealer I have to say please don't buy a none GT Pack car mate, you will never sell it

I don't remember ever not maybe perhaps exceeding 140 or so in a 350z and this may or may not have been on a public road which could have been called the A59 between Preston and Clitheroe one sunny evening when some dreamer in an IS200 decided to have a go. This would of course have been highly irresponsible so I definitely maybe didn't do it. I may not have had my M3 convertible on the limiter showing about 160ish at which speed it would allegedly have felt very composed and "not bovvered" and I also never had my chipped Sapphire Cossie showing 160ish on the clock before I had to pull over and top it up with Oil for the 4th time that day Bikes make all this look very tame however. I may not have had 3 new R1's in a row, each one might not have been quicker than the last and the final one might not have shown me over 170 on several occasions, in fact pretty much every time I rode it ! I also may not have had a new Blade which made me realise how quick R1s actually are, and I may not have had a 999 which made me realise what corners are all about. One Sunday morning, very early, I rounded a bend into a traditional local bikers meeting place ( Kirby Lonsdale ). I was doing 90, banked a long way over and my toe sliders making a nice display of sparks along the road. As I cleared the bend I spotted PC Plod and his pal hastily deploying the speed camera but sadly they were moments too late and I gave them a cheeky little wave as I passed. This was quite frustrating however as I was busting for a pee and this was at my wee wee stop. I obviously couldn't stop just then, so had to cross my legs - which is a neat trick on a bike - and hold it until I was well away, just in case Anyone that thinks 150 or whatever is silly on a bike really needs to ride one. These sort of speeds are surprisingly easy to attain and come up on remarkably short straights where a quick car could maybe see the ton, and modern bikes have the brakes to match. Just so I don't sound irresponsible, I would now point out that I have a clean license and firmly believe in "time and place". And of course, none of this ever actually happened

Thanks for taking the time to post that up, it's very interesting to read about long term ownership and much appreciated Nissan paint is decidedly average on all models I'm afraid and stone chips are always going to be a problem. I'm surprised at the fuel consumption, I seem to remember averaging about 26 with my last Zed but then I live in a rural area so perhaps its that ? Hope you enjoy your next years motoring just as much and the car remains trouble free

Those head up display gadgets are very cool, how do they do that ?

Nah, firstly he said he "hadn't" and second he didn't admit he was riding, he just "experienced" 165mph. Maybe he was an unwilling passenger trying desperatly to get the maniac rider to slow down

I wouldn't dream of doing such things at 7am on a Sunday morning when nobody is around

I'm a great believer in "Time and Place". 140 mph on a modern big bike is no big deal at all it just depends when and where and how much traffic was around him. It could well be that it was highly irresponsible, or it could well be no great shakes and he was just unlucky to get caught.

Liverpool Airport was closed for 8 hours yesterday due to a suspicious car being spotted outside. Apparently it had Tax, Insurance and the Radio was still in it...

You might aswell, I always forget the damned things anyway I go to Nissan and Motability auctions in Scotland most weeks and quite often go on the train so I can drive one back. Almost every bloody time I get settled on the train and somwhere around the lake district I realise I've forgotten the trade plates again

I can't find another thread discussing the 350z review on Fifth Gear last night, so here is one. Vicky Butler Henderson drove a new 07 model and loved it, apparently the 350 is one of her all time favourite cars. She raved about the new model and gave it the big thumbs up. The review certainly made me want another Anyone want a Land Cruiser

I love speed cameras, I've said it before and I'll say it again. They keep Traffic Police off the roads so we can all drive as we like as long as we bahave for the 50 yards in front of the camera And yes, that is meant to be sarcastic. Traffic Police have judgement and reason, a camera does not. If the Government insists on continuing on this course of action we will end up with no Traffic Police at all and the roads will be chaos. I particularly like cameras because as a car dealer I have never been sucessfully prosecuted from a camera because none of my cars are registered to me. Cameras can't stop you by the side of the road and take your details so I have absolutely no fear of setting them off. Happy days.

When I go to the Scottish Auctions ( twice a week usually ) I stay in the Travelodge directly across the road from Glasgow Airport, which is a bit scary ! We had an Asian on the phone this morning enquiring about a Jeep Cherokee we have for sale - which is even more scary. I have never seen an Asian in a Cherokee, except for on the News footage from Glasgow Airport ! I told my salesman that it was probably a wind up, but if the guy buys the car and asks directions to Manchester Airport we should call the Police. And anyway, these terrorists have no respect for the law. It's been against the law in Scotland for ages for people to smoke in public...

My first course of action would be to go in person to his shop and simply take it, assuming it's still there. Otherwise get a Solicitor on his back straight away. It may even be worth talking to the Police and your local Trading Standards office. If he is/was a limited company and has gone into liquidation you will struggle to get anything out of him. Good luck mate.

I can't understand why they have done that, isn't it going to compete with their own 3 series Coupe ?

I guess that makes sense, maybe I have just been lucky. Again for me it's just the comfort thing, I find seat belts very restrictive, almost claustrophobic and I don't like the pressure on my chest. I suppose I could always diet

Thanks lads, I'll take a look

I just sold a Passat TDi 130 Sport and that thing was quick ! I'm sure there was something wrong with it A mate has a Golf GT TDi PD ( PDI, GTDTD, I, GTD, PD, IPD, DTPDGTI - WTF !!! ) and the Passat was quicker than that. I took it to Scotland a couple of weeks ago and did 90+ all the way there and all the way back and got 51 mpg. I was very impressed. The 130 bhp models are actually better on the fuel than the 115, especially if you can track one down with the 6 speed box like this one had.