Ekona

Ooh, good shout.

Not even close, 911 wins for me. Just as much road prescence as a GT-R, just in a different way. That said, I'd be trying a Cayman as well on that budget. And saying that still, try as much as you can, you might be surprised at what tickles your fancy. AMV8 wouldn't be as nimble, but it would certainly stir the soul. Or an R8 could tick all boxes. Age is nothing, buy on condition and that applies equally amongst all the cars you've mentioned. I wouldn't even look at an M2 if a GT-R was on the cards though, competent but not exactly thrilling if it's remotely close to the 240 when sat inside.

I agree, any crash can cause injury. However, if the airbags go off in the Zed and the child is too small to be sitting in the front seat, then the safety systems will likely do serious damage if not kill them. I wouldn't want that on my conscience. Just take it out or disable it, is it really worth the risk?

Erm, exactly! How can you plan for the idiot to crash into you when he doesn’t look coming out of a junction, or the person who suddenly loses brake pressure? It’s not your driving that’s the issue, it’s other people. Unless the child is big enough to sit in the seat normally or you disable the airbag, then taking kids out is really not a sensible thing to do. Unless it’s a totally empty airfield and you can see for miles and you’re never going more than 10mph etc.

Insurers don’t care if you remove airbags. Well, sensible ones who cover mods don’t, so no issues doing that if you want.

YAAAASSSSSSS GIRLFRIEEEEEDNNNNDDDD That sounds proper lush, that does. Now it just needs a turbo...

Fast != fun. Well, not always anyway. I wouldn’t buy any SUV for the driving dynamics, and whilst a Cayenne Turbo is quite nippy it’s also huge and heavy: An MX5 is far more entertaining. When I mention engine noise I’m not talking about a four pot with a six inch can attached to it: I’m talking about feeling the gentle pulse of multiple cylinders through the seat back and throttle pedal, and the ability to gently blip the throttle just lightly when sat in traffic for no other reason than entertainment. No mention of speed, those are pleasures that count as much in central London as they do at Spa. Ultimately I see cars as a passionate hobby, whereas GZ sees them as practical transport. That’s fine, each to their own and all that. As I’ve said before I’d happily have a little EV as a city car get around, I’d just never have one as my hobby.

Acceleration is fun for the 2 secs you get before you're ready to lose your licence. Having something that makes a wonderful noise even when pootling around at 30mph and that is nimble in the corners at the same speed is something that you can appreciate constantly.

That nut was a disaster waiting happen! Thank god for your carefully pre-planned maintenance schedule. Also, we need vid clips of the new noise plzkthx. Does the secondary cat do that much then? We've not got a 2nd one on our Scumbaru, but then that gets removed as part of the PPP which ours had from day one. No issues ever with emmisions in 110k miles, but I do appreciate that every car is different and the FA20 is a significantly different lump to the EJ20

Sorry man, but this just sounds like sour grapes to me. You didn't have to sell to them, but the deal worked for you at the time and clearly you were keen to sell and such didn't really haggle over the prices or look elsewhere. That's not EH fault at all. To point the finger at them is grossly unfair. Hope you enjoy the A7, which engine did you go for?

No, he would have to spend money, he can't just punt it off in the same condition you sold it to him in. At the very least he's got to valet it, even if you don't think it needs it, plus pay for staff and a nice showroom etc. Do you not think you just might be a bit wrong on this one? How much did you get off the new car, and how hard did you haggle the PX on yours?

Another fan of the Scholl stuff here. Doesn't contain fillers, so what you see is what you get. S17+ can also be helpful on some of the tougher scratches, or if you have had a panel resprayed. I use that a lot, it's my go-to polish that does wonders on most paints. I'd be happy recommending that for a beginner on a DA on the Zed, but not on a rotary unless you've had previous experience. S30 far more forgiving, even on a rotary.

It would appear so How much is OEM? If you're not massively FI, of course.

Did you buy it direct from them then?

They’re not though, are they? As has been pointed out to you, they’ve got to spend money to get your car sellable which if nothing else involves labour time which has a cost, and then they will be knocked down on the selling price too (or the buyer will expect other stuff done instead, like servicing or fuel etc). Then you’ll have presumably haggled down the cost of the car you bought too, and they would have had to spend money to get that sellable too. There’s also the risk that something doesn’t sell, or they get their pricing wrong and just want shot at no profit, or the car breaks down two miles down the road after the new owner buys it. They then have to get it recovered at £200, spend four hours diagnosing the odd engine noise at £200, then repair the engine at £1000, and suddenly there’s no profit at all. I dont understand why why you’re struggling with this concept. I’m not sure what you do for a living, but do you work for free? Or charge customers only enough to ever break even? Assuming your figures are right, 11% profit on the £35k sale is utter peanuts. That’s not a huge profit margin at all! in the case of high value stuff like a 993 Turbo, how is it the dealer’s fault that the other guy was happy to sell for much less than market value? You were happy to sell yours for much less than it might’ve been worth, so why surprised when others do the same? Plus there’s always the risk the arse falls out of the market tomorrow, and suddenly he would’ve been £115k down... The riskier the road, the greater the profit (Ferengi rule of acquisition 62 ).

Business in trying to make profit shocker.

Nah, the SR20 is more HAAAAAWWWWNNNNN but really nasally First vid I will admit has some decent sounding cars on, fair play. Second vid though, at 0'30" and 1'10" describe exactly how most of those cars sound when tuned, just horrendous! #imgettingtoooldforthissh*t

The RX8 was a great car, and the engine was pretty decent too: the trouble was the marketing and after sales. People just expected to treat the engine like a regular 4 stroke, and weren't told that it was designed to chew through oil and need a rebuild every 20k miles. Off they went, never putting oil in it which exaggerated the tip wear, and then they moaned at Mazda when their cars broke. It's a beautiful handling car, the RX8, and the engine is something very different that's well worth experiencing if you're a keen driver.

Same reason the Cosworth lumps were/are so popular: Massive tuning potential.

See, I have no preference over type of engine, more specific engine. For example, I’d pick the noise of a carb’d up Pinto over the DE, but I’d choose the DE over a VTEC four banger. Youll struggle to ever beat the sound of the Aston V12 from their LMP1 entry a few years back, though. Utter perfection.

They do sound like a fog horn! All volume and no tone. BLLLAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

I've never ever heard a nice sounding 2JZ. Then again, I've never heard a nice sounding RB26DETT either: Maybe it's a Jap I6 thing? They may be tuneable, but by god do they sound like a foghorn when you strap a decent exhaust to them.

For someone who allegedly loves cars, he sure is trying his best to get away from driving: First no engine, then it’ll be the autopilot, now he doesn’t even want to touch it... I’ve never worried about my cars getting nicked. If someone really wants it they’ll find a way to take it, so aside from locking it to deter the opportunist I do nothing else. Keys are left downstairs so if someone breaks in they can get them without physically threatening me or Jo. I’ve no interest in keyless entry stuff either, extra cost for zero benefit. Besides, that’s what insurance is for.

Merc have lost the plot on the rear of their cars this styling cycle. C coupe, A coupe, both just as ugly as this one.

Head in, arse in, legs in, shut door