The Car Thread

[booth83]

Yea my mate who works at a garage got back to me and said the same, i'd asked him as well as here, and yes i did read it wrong, cheers though.

[Spooky]

Time for an update... For those that remember me!

A while back, took 4 year old Mini Cooper S for test drive... hated it...

This weekend, took brand new Mini Cooper, nicely specced with 17 inch alloys & run flats for test drive... Knew I was going to hate it...

Eek...

I loved it...

Getting one...

About a year...

Can... not... wait...

[charlesr]

heh. What changed? Was the car different or have your tastes changed?

[Spooky]

heh. What changed? Was the car different or have your tastes changed?

Hey, charlesr,

Well, nothing changed as such, I just wasn't convinced I'd been given the best car to give me the right impression of the mini. That initial test was with a 4 year old Cooper S that had done crap loads of miles and wasn't exactly in the best condition, so, just out of curiosity I thought I'd try a different dealer and try and get a test drive of a brand new one.

The difference in dealerships is incredible. The first one I went to, the staff had no enthusiasm & genuinely made a point of not going anywhere near the start of possibly even looking at figures for a deal. This other dealership I went to was super helpful, super friendly & great to haggle with, though, I'm going to have to wait a year due to the wonder of finances etc without putting myself in stress & grief.

This new Cooper compared to the old Cooper S just felt a lot more refined with a much more comfortable ride & I found my perfect seating position in less 30 seconds! I'll still try the Cooper S when it comes close to my purchase time, but I think the ride quality in the Cooper without the sports suspension makes all the difference, it strangely felt very much like a big car for ride comfort, but even better than my Yaris SR for going round corners.

I love my Yaris & how it handles, but trust me, it's an incredibly harsh ride.

I'm still, mad as it may seem, waiting for the launch of the Camaro in the UK next year... I'll definitely have a look... But yes, that would be a stupid, really stupid, but possibly oh so damn cool car to own!

[NW2013]

I wouldn't wait, the Camaro will be £30k plus over here I would have thought. Well, unless that's in your budget.

[Shozuki]

well, im still waiting on my R8 (wont be here till feb...) but I got this from Audi the other day - I pick it up next week and will get some proper pics then!





Audi S4 Saloon, really impressed with it - comfortable, enough toys to appease anyone and nicely fast too as well as decent economy - so thats a nice bonus

[Soundwave]

Farking Sweet Sho.

Jealous looks freaking lush, hope your enjoying it.

Off to look at a couple of new cars myself at the weekend.
I've shortlisted...

'05 reg Saab 9-3 Aero.
Got a nice 210Bhp as standard & a few choice mods will see it the right side of 230Bhp without too much hassle
Fancied one for a long time now & like the combination of wafty cruiser & street sleeping power

'04 reg Audi A4 1.8T
Again got a nice chunk of power to begin with 193Bhp IIRC so a tickle with the ECU etc. should see some nice gains & still be a good comfortable cruiser

Both cars are under £6k which is nice & reasonable for what amount to almost prestige cars.

Neil

[vanpeebles]

I'd be wary of the Saab purely because the gf's mam had one from almost new and it was a complete dog. A million things went wrong with it and nearly all expensive too.

[CMcK]

Watch out for the trim level on the A4. The S Line stuff with the, ahem, sports suspension is rather firm for UK roads. So much so it put us off buying an A4. The turbo engine doesn't rev far round the clock but the peak torque comes in early and stays there for most of the rev range.

[charlesr]

Ditto. Friend at a Porsche garage says he runs and hides if anyone drives in in a Saab, in case they want to try partX it....

[Yakumo]

Shozuki, that is one sexy Audi. You lucky bugger!

[Soundwave]

Ta for the heads up on the Saab guys.
The one I'm looking at is at a Saab main dealer so will double check the service book & that everything is upto scratch before I decide anything.
I have heard a few horror stories from my mechanic about them anyway so I'm kinda weary in the first place.

Watch out for the trim level on the A4. The S Line stuff with the, ahem, sports suspension is rather firm for UK roads. So much so it put us off buying an A4. The turbo engine doesn't rev far round the clock but the peak torque comes in early and stays there for most of the rev range.

No worries I currently drive a Seat Leon Cupra that has the same Turbo engine so know what to expect there & it's also running -20mm on coilovers so I'm more than used to a firm ride on our useless roads

Neil

[vanpeebles]

Also just to add their Saab was from a main dealers, had a full service history and was still under warrenty. The dealers were terrible and at one point lost the service book and demanded money for it to be replaced with an inferior copied one.

Just as it got out of warrenty the main computer failed at a huge expensive, it also had the clutch changed under warrenty and a ton of other niggly crazy faults. It made my 1999 Alfa 156 look like a japanese workhorse.

I said before they bought it that I didn't rate Saabs anymore as the good bits of Saab were long gone and it was all GM parts/designs after that. At which point you might as well buy a Vauxhall.

[charlesr]

Just got an invite to drive the new 4dr WRX STi



Whilst it's less plop than the 5dr, it's still just so incredibly boring to look at. Apart from the flared wheel arches, it has nothing. Even the bonnet scoop is almost gone. Might as well put the intercooler in the right place and get rid of the hole in the bonnet completely... No rear spoiler. Hideous rear end in general. Only redeeming feature is the front splitter which is quite cool.

[nakamura]

What a mess they made of the new Impreza. Almost everything from that pic looks dull bar the arches and the mean front end. Where is the spoiler?
To be fair though, I find the Evo X to be just as disgusting, that looks like a Mondeo.