Ekona

I know, I really gotta stop driving the oil burning versions of these cars! Not a review that will appeal to many on here, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on the car anyway. I managed to blag a Cayenne for Saturday after asking Richard at OPC Colchester very nicely, and we picked up a fully loaded one first thing which went straight down to Costco for some shopping, and then onto seeing some family before being returned. Sorry for the low light pic, and that is indeed in comedy-high suspension mode: Look at the one behind for how they're supposed to be. So, bad points first. It's not the most refined oil burning lump in the world, and that clatter makes itself pretty well known at high revs in the first couple of gears. The 'box seems to be a bit tardy at shifting cogs at those speeds too, and the go pedal has a bit of a dead spot of the top of travel that makes pulling away a bit awkward. The brake pedal is far more Audi than Porsche too, as it's too sharp for my taste. And on the other hand, it's absolutely brilliant. Now granted, this car was fully loaded with air suspension, fancy wheels and a panoramic sunroof which push the cost quite high (£45K base, gotta be £12K of options at least), but other than the above points I cannot fault it at all. The 8 speed slushbox never seems to be in the wrong gear, and shifts quicker than you might expect in manual mode, which coupled with the massive shove available from 1500 to 3500 revs means that this behemoth can really get a move on when requested. At motorway speeds, you wouldn't care that it's a V6 diesel and not a V8 petrol. The ride is outstanding in all three modes too: Comfort soaks everything up but tends to wobble too much over speedhumps, Normal is what you'd expect it to feel like, and Sport is as firm as you'd want. Truth be told I left it in Sport, as it gives you a tighter chassis feel but the extra bumps just make you feel more connected to the road. Coming from sports cars, I wouldn't remotely call it hard or harsh, certainly not on the 20" wheels it was on. Throw it at a corner and there's precious little understeer, although to say you cannot feel the diesel engine tugging you through at all would be a lie. Accepting that this is a 2 ton SUV and not a lightweight track special, it's simply astounding. The steering could probably do with a little more weight at speed, but it's accurate and feelsome. The interior is typical Porsche, and that's as much a compliment as a complaint. It's the 991 dials and a plethora of buttons on the centre console, some of which can be fiddly to find. No arguing with the quality though: This is top quality leather and soft plastics in here, and it feels like it would last a lifetime. Good driving position too, with plenty of adjustment in the seat and rack to get you where you want to be. It doesnt feel as big as you might expect either, certainly no bigger than my 997 feels which is peculiar. In terms of practicality, the load space is sufficient if not exactly cavernous, but the power tailgate and lowering rear makes filling and emptying the rear of the car a piece of cake. As a replacement for anything sporty, forget it. As an all-rounder that can ferry folks in comfort, handle the motorway schlep but still leave you in the mood for a blast in a car with a very well composed chassis, I'd struggle to find a better vehicle. Well, actually I could, as I'd drop a V8 in it instead as for me personally, a diesel powerplant would never be my choice unless I was doing plenty of motorway miles.

Stock badges or nothing IMHO.

Couldn't find an XFR for less than £24K on PH. Can you get an E90 M3 for that sort of money?

Sums it up nicely, good post Chris. On the roads, the biggest factor between something like a Golf GTi, a Zed or an 800bhp Evo is the driver, the size of their cojones and how much they value their licence.

I would, I used to own no. 20 Stock VXR vs stock Evo I'd be putting money on the VXR anyday, but the Evo responds far better to big power mods so once they've been tweaked they'll walk away from most things on the bigger tracks. I think the OP does make a valid point, in that a lot of folks do come on here complaining about the performance aspect of the Zed when compared with other cars costing the same and offering similar levels of comfort. The turbo nutter barges are good examples of this, but as he says (and as my own little survey on here proved a while back) most people buy the car for the looks. This can lead to being disappointed with the straightline speed of the Zed as standard pretty quickly if you're expecting it to go as quick as it looks, but then as Dave says there's so much more to the car than that.

Budget? Must haves/have nots?

It's there because nannying powers consider it necessary despite people driving much more agricultural cars with far more power for years with no issues. You simply don't need it at all. That said, if it's activating frequently then you're not driving the car correctly. In normal use, even spirited(ish) driving, it won't interfere if you're being smooth. That comes with practice though. On track it goes off, on the road it stays on.

I hate Renault, but Kimi is an absolute legend! Poor ol' Webber, but come on Seb!

Sue them??!! :lol: One of those things, suck it up and get it redone.

Alcocko will win, mark my words. Vettel to score points though, possibly 6th if he gets lucky with pitstops and traffic.

Blast and buggerations! On the upside, even if Alcocko wins and Seb doesn't score, as long as the German wins the last two races he'll still be champion.

Hurray, it's finally fixed! Or at least it will be when the MAF is done, good work mate. Not keen on the carbon fibre at all, but the purple looks lovely and a much better idea than some of the brighter colours you were looking at. Top job I reckon.

Do Saga cover you for the value of the mods though? I'm assuming CK do as a specialist, unless anyone knows different.

Static isn't a problem at Bedford, it's the drive-by that gets everyone. And of course, you can't tell that until you get there and get black-flagged, by which time it's usually too late to do anything and your day is ruined. As a trackday-using community, we should all be trying to make an effort to reduce the volume of our cars whenever we go on track so as not to give the NIMBYs any ammo. It's easy to pop a stock backbox back on, or refit the cats if you've got decats on there, before the day itself and that way you make life a lot easier for yourself as well as protecting the future of trackdays. Besides, once you've got your helmet on everything is muffled anyway, so the only person your car sounds nice to is the marshall waving that black flag at you!

It's the same everywhere, 'cos if you don't fit it and have a car/scenery moment then they'll tow you out by anything they can find: Wishbone, ARB, straight through the bodywork...!

Ah, God's Own Corner. Love it. Just a thought: You can do Lands End to John O'Groats in one day.

A tad over the top, it's only a bloomin' Nissan. Any idiot can service a car, not sure where all this stuff about cars having to go to specialists has come from in the last few years. Not that that's what you're saying Vik, just a rant in general. We need much more detail here. What service was done? What 'other bits' were changed last time? What did they give as the reason for a clutch change after a service?

I can't speak for the Zed, but I have added an expensive forced induction modification to a previously NA car in the past. From that experience, I would say that unless you're intending to keep the car for a long time or really get a massive buzz from doing the work yourself, then you will always be better off just buying a quicker car in the first place. I did that eventually, but not before spunking a good few grand up the wall. The man-math will never work, so it's a leap of faith into the deep for a passion. If you love the car, then do it. If you have any doubt, don't.

Either Bedford or Anglesey. Bedford is very safe as there's masses of runoff everywhere because it's purpose built, sadly that does make it a bit lacking in excitement at times. The first half of the GT circuit up to the long straight is good fun though, as is the final corner that Daryl mentioned above. I'm tempted to drag the '5 back there again at the start of December, depends on whether funds allow or not right now.

I met Jo via the guitarist of the band I was in at the time, she's his cousin and came to one of our gigs. She was only 15 at the time and I was taken so didn't go any further, but a few months (and a birthday and a separation later!) we met up again when the guitarist threw a halloween party and she was there again. We hooked up and got married 7 years later. If I was single now I'm really not sure how I'd go about trying to meet someone, can't be bothered with trying to pull in pubs or bars and interweb dating doesn't hugely appeal. I'd probably just be happy to stay single and if someone fell into my life then great, but no worries if not.

Yup, time to send him on or send him back to me.

+millionty Is that more than a billion? It's more than a billion, but less than a quadrillionty

+millionty

If you roll your ball rather than twist your ankle in the Zed, then I agree the RS pedal won't be of much use to you.

It makes a massive difference. Anyone who says otherwise is a fibber. The Zed was the first car I learnt to heel and toe in, and the pedal was a huge help. Now I can do it without on any vehicle, but as a tool to learn with (or make life easier) it's a no-brainer.