Ekona

Stay away from the M25 and M20 at all costs, that's probably the best thing to do I'm only half-joking, most people are finishing work tomorrow so those roads are going to be absolutely manic. Other than that I'd just load up the iPod and be prepared to do a lot of waiting around, just in case. Hope it goes well for you though mate, have a good trip

Bugger, I was hoping you were going to say that the 050s were pretty good in the cold, I want to make a trip down to Brighton on Friday Just another thought as well: Instead of the cost of snow tyres, buy a shed. If you buy right at the bottom it'll cost you a couple of hundred quid for a FWD bucket with skinny tyres that'll get you places the Zed will refuse to go, and you can sell it on afterwards for what you paid for it.

Mine can be used again though, yours is more a one off

Get yourself a wire coat hanger and use that instead

That is an absolutely stunning '5. Well done sir. As far as your question goes, it depends on if you can afford to lose £3500. That's working on the basis that you swap your insurance over to the Zed and don't take out a new policy or a multicar one to cover the MX-5. Best case scenario someone buys it without driving it and you're quids in, worst case it gets nicked and you've got no comeback.

Don't force them. Spray a load of WD-40 in there and leave it.

It's not your own driving you've got to worry about, it's everyone else's. What happens if some idiot pulls out in front of you and you need to make a very quick manoeuvre to avoid him, but because of your mixed tyres coupled with the dodgy weather and road conditions, the back end steps out unexpectedly and you spin 360? Now what if the same thing happens but there's a child on the pavement and you wipe them out with your spin? Change them all and change them now. For the sake of a couple of hundred quid, it's just not worth it.

If you have to ask, then you know the answer.

That's not how I read it. It refers to the 'higher rate' after it refers to the 'higher "First Year Rate"', which I took to mean that they're the same thing. As such, you only get anything back if the vehicle falls into the latter three categories. Bloody DVLA never made anything simple!

I have the answer! Copied from DVLA form V14, application for a refund of road tax: If you paid a higher “First Year Rate†for a newly registered vehicle’s first tax disc, you will only get a refund based on the higher rate if the vehicle has been stolen, scrapped or the vehicle’s tax class has changed to a nil value tax class such as ‘disabled’. So basically you get f*ck all unless your car has been nicked or written off.

Interesting question, and a bloody good one too! I'd love to know the answer.

Deffo vinyl. MX-5 is canvas IIRC, so are Elises.

Glass window, and Autoglym Vinyl And Rubber Protector or Renovo (if feeling posh!).

Vinyl.

Just for clarity, the OP is after the small flat bit of metal with holes in that pretends to be a brace, and not any of the GT-Spec/Summit bracing.

Also worth moving the headlight adjuster up to the maximum legal limit, or ask a friendly MOT garage to do it for you.

I think they're very solid cars, but a bit lacking in soul and that's probably exacerbated by the DSG 'box. You can do better than an R32 Rich I reckon I'm not overly keen on the Haldex 4WD stuff, but in the wet it's certainly useful enough.

I've always been allowed to go wherever I want on test drives, unless I'm driving somewhere I don't know in which case I go on their route. Nissan were great with the Zed: With the coupe they just threw me the keys and I went off by myself, and with the ragtop the salesman was hungover and just let me get on with it!

Bright blue?! What the bloody hell did they put in there?! Seriously though, anyone know who makes blue brake fluid? I'm more curious now than anything.

Nissan themselves put the 370Z in the firing line when they started advertising it in comparison to the Porker and the Audi, so they can hardly have any reason to complain when TV shows put the cars up against each other. People in the know are aware that it's a bit of a mismatch, but the vast majority aren't. That worked both for and against Nissan here.

Is it possible that there was another vehicle coming towards them and they had to pause briefly in the road, not long enough to warrant turning the spreader off but long enough to cause the build up on the car?

Have you actually checked the brake fluid yet? What did they put in there? You don't drain fluid for a pad change but you do for a brakeline change.

Yup, the first Porsche I ever drove was a 987.1 S and it was fabulous. The general consensus is that the Boxster/Cayman chassis is better than the 911 and I'd have no arguments with that, it's got the engine in the right place for a start so you don't have to engineer around that issue. That said, for me car ownership is more than just having the best chassis or having the best handling (I'd have bought an Exige if that was the case). The 911 has character and history and a certain style that the newer Porkers just can't match, plus I've already owned multiple MR cars before and really wanted to try an RR setup. I'd have been very happy with a Cayman S (it's a beautifully designed car, there isn't a bad angle on it) and if the 911 hadn't been possible that very likely would've been the car I'd bought instead, however Id always have been wishing I'd got the 911. IMHO a 911 is a car you dream of owning when you're a kid, a Boxster or Cayman isn't.

What was it up against? Didn't watch it, y'see.

*Boxster Wouldn't have worked with a 911, engine is in the wrong place. Like the numerous MR2 Ferrari/Lambo replicas, I can appreciate them for their immense craftsmanship but the second you put the actual badges on there it drops straight into the 'Trying Too Hard' pile for me. Leave the original Toyota (or in this case Porsche) badges on there and it's actually quite a comedic little thing.