Ekona

So 26mpg then? Not bad, sounds pretty average to me

I'd say you've got three choices: 1. Take it back to your guy and let him have another go at fixing it. 2. Take it somewhere else and let them have a crack. 3. Get a new 'box installed. How much is a new one? It might be worth considering, but you've still no guarantees that it'll be 100%. I think I'd consider option 2, or at least find out who is considered to be one of the experts in Merc 'boxes in the country. You might pay a bit more for their expertise, but that's gotta be better than constantly worryiing about where it'll break down next. I feel your pain mate, truly I do. I went through the exact same thing with mine, and it took me a good 6 months to get over any worry about it breaking down again. I'm glad I stuck with it though.

Whatever you buy, at that price point from what they were you're always taking a massive risk, but you knew that before you got in. Sometimes it pays off (for the most part, I'd say Rich has been very lucky with his XKR), and sometimes it doesn't. It's at what point you quit and just accept that throwing money/time at it isn't reaping any rewards. Stick with it Ricey. Go back and read your posts when you first got it, and remember how excited you were. Remember how good it can be, and that this is just a blip in the road. It's an awesome car, it would be a shame to see you move on from it so soon.

I had a C220 (I think) as a loaner when the 911 broke, and it completely changed my perception on Mercs. Best seats in a car ever, pliable suspension and even the paddles allowed for the gearbox to be fun, although not a patch on a proper dual-clutch 'box. I really loved it.

But he loved the diesel, just not the SLK. We still don't know if the oil-burning roadster is a decent alternative to the traditional petrol ragtop

Looks like a Z4M in that pic, and that's quite a compliment.

When I'm finished with her.

I still maintain if people are too dumb, lazy or rich to haggle, then that's their own fault. Very, very unlikely to get 40% off though, unless you've got experience of that.

Link fail, but I'm assuming this is a pearoast of the McLaren cartoon? Second part is on SSF1 tomorrow at 12pm.

They should do something like that here, only put the tax on cars that aren't made in the UK. So a family could buy an Astra or a Qashqai, a Rangie if you wanted a bit more room, or an Aston or Lotus if you wanted something fun. Could improve the economy over here without reducing choice too much, and let's face it if you can afford a brand new car then paying a bit extra won't hurt the coffers too much. I'm not talking about a silly tax like the above, maybe just a couple of percent. Might also make other manufacturers move production here if it made a noticeable difference to sales figures. Sadly it's probably illegal under EU laws.

And on the subject, we've just had the renewal notice come through for the Impreza. First price was £1090, one Meerkat search and one phonecall later and we're down to £814. Job = carrot.

Love that small penis one

I hate it when people ask me what it is, or rather which one as I never know when to stop. If I say "oh, it's a 997 gen2 C2S PDK" then normally the other person has nodded off to sleep before the end, but if I say "oh, it's a 911" I get the look that says "well duh, but which one?!" The junction thing is hysterical, it really is. You always hear about it, but until you witness it you don't realise just how funny it actually is to see

And? He'll end up with worse brakes than come with every UK version of the 350Z ever.

So if you're going to do it, then do it with the Zed ones. Nice info there Wasso

I did my search on the iPad, no excuses

Both front seats are identical in movement, and they're heated too On one hand I love them as they're infinitely adjustable which means I can always get comfy, but on the other hand they're incredibly heavy which does blunt the performance a fraction. I'd love to get a set of the carbon sports buckets that Porsche do, but not at £6K for the pair. They're only manually electrically adjustable, if that makes sense: When you set them up, that's how they stay until you move them again. They don't alter on the fly under cornering, like I think some Merc seats can as an option. I've got three memory settings for them, so I use one as my relaxed position, one for when I'm on a blat, and one as a combination between the two. Craftsmanship isn't even in the same league as the Zed, but then I'd be pretty annoyed if it was tbh. Don't get me wrong, the interior was okay on my facelifted 350, but the interior plastics marked far too easily. None of that in the 911, it's all leather or soft-touch plastics. I'm not sure it gets as much attention as the Zed if I'm honest, but I've had more compliments on it that I did with the big Nissan. Mostly on the wheels, which I wasn't even that keen on at first. You definitely get used to people not letting you out of junctions as much, but you get far more thumbs up from petrolheads when you go nailing it past them as most Porsches don't ever get driven hard I guess, or at least you never see it.

Found in a 2min Google search: http://www.performancealloys.com/hub-Ad ... spx?ID=386 Search for 5x130 to 5x114.3 adaptor, click only pages from the UK, it's on the third link.

Ship them over from the US?

Which wheels? Manufacturer may be able to make them to your spec for about the same cost.

The options list is over a page of A4! Things of note on mine: PASM (switchable suspension) Adaptive Sports Seats (14-way electrical adjustment) Sports mode (sharper throttle and aggressive gear changes) PSE (sports exhaust) Carrera Sport wheels (means I can run wider rear rubber) PCM3 w/nav (touchscreen audio and sat nav) TV tuner (crap) Sport Design steering wheel (flappy paddles) Red stitching throughout (Porsche Exclusive option, don't ask the price kinda thing!) Sunroof (rarely ever use it) Love it. Still.

Little update for those still interested... The 911 has obviously sat around in the garage for the last 6 weeks doing nothing, but is due a 4th year service in early August so I've booked her in for that today. Bearing in mind that the 4th year service is a major one (but only the second service the car will have had), and includes all the obvious fluid changes + air filter change + adjusting of various odds and sods but also needs a brake fluid change and (the biggie) a full spark plug change, guess the cost? £864. Was going to be £960 but I asked for a discount and got an instant and easy 10% off. To me, that's a bargain considering that's main dealer pricing and the car itself. Also managed to blag a new 981 Boxster for a day and a half as a courtesy car too. Just so we're all clear, this does now mean that it's going to rain all day on the 8th and 9th of August.

Blimey, it's like PH on here sometimes. Fun cars are not about practicality, or common sense, or anything boring. They're a passion from the heart, and if someone wants to put themselves in a fair amount of debt to finance their one true passion then I see that as totally up to them. No point in being the richest man in the graveyard.

It's not structural though, just for added rigidity. I bet that 99% of people (probably myself included) could drive two cars back to back, one with brace and one as above, and not notice any difference. Shocking thing to do though.

Guys, insurance is not alone on having to haggle. That is pretty much how 99% of business works, as any business person in here will tell you: You never pay the first price. It's always about haggling, and getting the best deal on big purchases. For most people on here you're looking at spending between £700 to £1000 on insurance, but if you walked into a furniture store and wanted to buy a particular sofa marked up at £950, you'd haggle. If you were buying a secondhand car for that money, you'd haggle. For anything above the usual £100 weekly shop in Tesco, you haggle. Companies work on the principle that you set a price but you don't expect everyone to pay that. You might get a few that do that are too lazy/stupid/rich to care about the cost and on them you make a lovely great profit, but you expect the majority of people to try and knock 5-20% off. You barter as much as you can without wanting to lose the sale but still retaining a good profit (see: selling secondhand cars). Insurance companies aren't evil or money-grabbing tosspots or trying to fleece you out of every penny. They're simply a company in business to make a profit, and if you were trying to make a profit you wouldn't be offering your best price straight off either. If they give you a silly quote of £2K then it's because they don't want your business, and the extra cost/risk involved in taking you on is why they're charging so high. I've done that before, put in a daft high price for a job because I didn't really want it, but if I got it then I wanted to make a nice little earner on it to account for the ballache. That's life.