Ekona

But aren't things supposed to look better after a makeover?

£20K buys a Cayman & £5K slush fund. Or an E92 M3. Or a TVR of some kind. Or a Supra and a big turbo.

Brave man, and I salute you and massively respect your decision sir! I've never done it myself (yet), but I've a mate who has done the same thing recently after being in the same job for at least 15 years, if not longer. It drove him to depression but once he left he's been a new man, and we think has now found himself an ideal job giving him more freedom and paying more, which is always a good thing. Sometimes you just have to make the jump because you know it's right. Good luck fella, keep us updated with how you get on.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/

In fairness it's been quite warm though lately, winter tyres are no good above 7c as a rule and it's been well above that in the last few weeks. Well, in the south anyway.

Second hand set of OEM would be my choice, if one has indeed gone. Also I'd only replace the one, no need to do both.

Oh I agree, I'm a terrible individual

I didn't get that at first! Git

New Corsa 1L is £18K!

If it's only for the odd trackday, then just slap some 888Rs on and you're good to go. As others have said, take too much out and you lose the usability, which would be a shame. Then again, I'm happy driving fully stripped cars without a care in the world, so if you're the same then do it! Take out anything and everything you can

Sssshhhh, don't let the unions hear you say that, you'll be lynched!

It's nothing special, just an Oyster from 2001. Blue pearl face, stainless strap. 21st birthday present from my folks, so more sentimental value than anything else. I used to wear it a lot, but I just won't risk it these days. If I lost it, or it got stolen I'd be absolutely heartbroken. EDIT That's close, but the face is darker in real life and the bezel is slightly different. Smoother, I believe.

I really should get my watch (Rolex) serviced at some point. Not that I use it that often, and tbh I prefer my cheapy Sekonda anyway as it doesn't matter if I get drunk and fall over and scuff it then

What's the total budget?

I didn't say it was stupid, I just said you might want to consider it as unless you've got the cash to burn, it's an awful lot of cash to burn!

Turbo is very different from SC in the drive. Most people prefer one or the other, so an SC may not suit your needs. Tbh if the car is stock then you really need to be doing the suspension, brakes, clutch & fly etc before thinking of going FI, else you're not even close to maximising the investment. And at that point, I'd be seriously considering if it's worth it as £10K+ is a lot to drop on a 350. You could get a seriously quick pre-turboed car for that + whatever you get for yours, if ultimately you feel you want more power.

What exactly is a 'stage 3' then?

Better the car you know than the car you don't.

Blurgh

Again, it's other people that are the problem. That's the unknown factor. Without them you could bumble around at 10mph everywhere and drive as cautious as you like, but that's not the real world.

The car at 6'50", what's the reg? The grey car to the left at 7'01", what's the reg? The green Xsara at 7'32", what's the reg? This is the point I'm making. Not stalking you tonight btw, you're just making interesting posts I want to comment on

So consistently wrong is better than possibly correct? Nah, the analogue one doesn't differ by that much unless you're going from being 4' tall and sitting two inches from the wheel to 7' and laying down drug dealer stylee! It's just an ordinary car, the angles do not differ by that much that it makes any difference whatsoever.

It's not your driving you need to worry about, it's other people. If someone does something unexpected and you need to make a sudden move, that's when you're going to get caught out. Nobody wants to say I told you so, we're not like that here. We'd much rather prevent the incident in the first place. If you're not driving the car then that's fine, but please ensure you get the tyres sorted before you consider driving anywhere other than directly to get the black round things keeping you in contact with the road changed.

And you think the digital speedo is that accurate? Brave man Chuck a TomTom in your car and you can have three speedos all saying something different. Which one do you trust?

A dashcam is only as good as the quality of the footage it provides. If you can't identify a numberplate in the dark with it, then it's useless. This is why I ended up with a Blackvue. Pricey yes, but the quality of the footage day or night is superb and leaves me in no doubt that I could happily rely on it in court. Plus the software package on both PC and iOS is extremely comprehensive. Personally, I would rather spend another £100 and get something I can rely on then have an accident with crappy footage and curse myself for not spending the extra whilst paying out £1000 for repairs.