The Car Thread

[VR46]

See all One-77 Aston Martins have been secured via a £200,000 deposit, and I was just about to pop down the bank as well. Shame.

[charlesr]

http://www.harbourcars.com/stock/detailU47.html

Mmmmm. Nice.

Friend of mine works there.

[Alastair]

You've got loads of cash Charles (and you'd get a mates discount), buy it!!

I saw one exactly the same on Wednesday at the country pub I was having lunch at, it was BEAUTIFUL.

[VR46]

They do look amazing in the flesh, and they were about £90k a few months back if that helps justify it to the missus Charles.

My pet hate at the moment is reversing sensors, really detest them. Borrowed a friends car with them on the other night, seriously did my head in.

Does anyone actually like them/find them useful ?

[Alastair]

Never had a car with them fitted. Beeping when in others cars that do have them is annoying though yes. Guess they must be useful on a large car/4x4 with poor visibility but people coped before they were used didn't they.

Get an MX5 and drop the roof, you can see everything when reversing. It's so easy.

[VR46]

Seeing them on a tiny 2 seater Smart car just takes the pee and does wind me up, like I've said before, if you can't reverse one of those you shouldn't be on the road.

[Richard.John]

I had the option of fitting them on my 8 but someone suggested that they are for women and old men. Then again, the M3 has them as standard but I do feel they ruin the lines somewhat. I believe even 599 GTBs have them as an option these days. Ferrari knows its customers it seems.

Ultimately they are just another result of innovation. Sure, drivers coped before but they also did without ABS, power steering, air bags, aircon and all the other things we now take for granted as standard.

Changing topic somewhat, but the current global melt down is hammering crude oil prices. A barrel is now 77 USD yet in July it stood at 147 USD. Is that a good thing though? In the short term it could be like christmas come early for motorists, but there must be a darker side to it. Of course whether the oil producers and governments pass on those saving is another matter.

[charlesr]

Bizarrely I can reverse my impreza estate fine, but I've no idea how long the legacy estate is. I always stop miles away from wall/car/whatever but never have the confidence to a go a little closer the next time. It's a long car though.

[VR46]

Changing topic somewhat, but the current global melt down is hammering crude oil prices. A barrel is now 77 USD yet in July it stood at 147 USD. Is that a good thing though? In the short term it could be like christmas come early for motorists, but there must be a darker side to it. Of course whether the oil producers and governments pass on those saving is another matter.

Well, here, Unleaded has dropped from a high of about 114.9 to 108.9 (both per litre), though think that was mainly due to the Supermarkets having a price war than anything else. How nice the days were of fillling up your car for forty quid, can fit almost sixty quid's worth in a poxy 206 nowadays.

[merf]

My pet hate at the moment is reversing sensors, really detest them. Borrowed a friends car with them on the other night, seriously did my head in.

Does anyone actually like them/find them useful ?

Do you hate the function or the look on the bumper ?

I've got them on my BMW 645ci (my baby, lovely silver convertible one). It also has the same on the front but rather than just beep you get a radar like pic of the car up on the idrive screen and it shows you around the bumpers where the beeping is coming from using a nice picture.

I actually find it really useful as the front slopes away a little.

[Richard.John]

Took my baby up the mountains today. Mother of god, it was awesome. Chirping tyres and mini drifts yet the car never missed a beat. I accept it was a bit dangerous, but felt so ****ing good. A great car on a great road. That's why sports car must always be.

[Alastair]

Not discrediting your car at all RJ but imagine what it would be like in a 'real' sportscar, say a 355 challenge or a GT3 RS, drool!

I went to a rather special track day on Saturday to have a little look at the exotic metal on show. It's a charity, invite only thing at Goodwood organised by a local business owner that has a rather special collection of cars. I didn't have an invite by the way, it was open to spectators that knew it was on.

At the lunchbreak they sat them on the grid for everyone to have a look at. Too many great cars to list but the highlights were a Zonda and a Koenisegg. At one point we tried to tally up the new cost of the cars lined up in the pit lane and came to over 1.5 million for the 8 cars there. Made every other track day I've ever attended seem lame to be honest!

[Richard.John]

Alastair,

How dare you!

Nah, only kidding I was talking to my wife about that actually but given the roads and conditions, I can't see how much more awesome it would be considering the constraints. On a track it would be a different story of course. I mean, I was keeping a lid on it to some degree with both traction and stability control in the ON position. The reason being a) it's my car and tyres and b) the potential danger, my possible lack of talent and the thought of being nabbed by the police. The roads I drove on are the kind you see Japanese drifters doing there thing on. Swirls of rubber laid down on certain parts of the asphalt suggest doughnuts aplenty over the years. Battered barriers also suggest some over stepped the mark, particularly when descending which is the most dangerous.

To me it highlighted the fact that there is a limit to what is achievable on public roads, within the boundaries of the law. I was speeding as it was, but it was impossible to go over 50mph, given the short straight followed by twisties nature of the roads. Of course the limiting factor was my car and my fear of being in a head on with people carrier coming round a blind bend. A supercar would be doing over 80 or more in the same conditions no doubt.

With that said, back in the spring, I was contemplating which car to buy and was stuck between a city compact and and either of the two Mazda sports cars. My head told me to save money and go compact but my heart told me to go out and drive. I made the right choice.

I went to a rather special track day on Saturday to have a little look at the exotic metal on show. It's a charity, invite only thing at Goodwood organised by a local business owner that has a rather special collection of cars. I didn't have an invite by the way, it was open to spectators that knew it was on.

At the lunchbreak they sat them on the grid for everyone to have a look at. Too many great cars to list but the highlights were a Zonda and a Koenisegg. At one point we tried to tally up the new cost of the cars lined up in the pit lane and came to over 1.5 million for the 8 cars there. Made every other track day I've ever attended seem lame to be honest!

Great stuff. Zondas are so cool but I can't warm to the Koenisegg for some reason, it just seems too brutal.

[VR46]

Do you hate the function or the look on the bumper ?

Missed this post originally, just hate the function, most are quite discreet looking so no problem there.

Nice to see Petrol coming down in price again, 105.9 for unleaded and 117.9 diesel last night.
Hoorah for Supermarket wars

[ChrisF]

Nice to see Petrol coming down in price again, 105.9 for unleaded and 117.9 diesel last night.
Hoorah for Supermarket wars

It was 103.9 at a service station near me last night