Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

actually, fuck that. get a sports car hoops, not a hatchback.

Mk1 GTI's are great cars.

i'd love to restore one...

To be fair I've never driven one, I had a 1.6 which was brill.

s2000?

no convertibles - they are for posers

The hard top ones look amazing.

Impreza Turbo, however I noticed you don't want to lose your license, so mayhaps not

Fastback hardtop?

I was going to say this. 205 GTi. Just don't lift off mid corner.

Is it that deadly? I want to try one.

There were loads of conflicting reports at the time regarding the 1.6/1.9 argument and the outcome was that the 1.6 was more than adequate - the 1.9 was just too much for the chassis.

Choice between the two? 1.6 - they're less expensive to run and insure and still loads of fun.

I'm sure I've read about people putting 1.6 boxes in 1.9s

Just went to try and get a new DAB head unit and speakers fitted at Car Audio Centre in Ilford.

The guy told me not to buy speakers until he'd tried just a new HU first, then have me a massive discount on the HU - cheaper than Amazon etc - and an Alpine aerial cheaper than their website.

Fitting wasn't cheap but it sounds amazing, I was pleased with the service.

http://jalopnik.com/a-mazda-767b-race-car-bites-the-dust-at-goodwood-1714126499

Was it Derick Bell Driving?

1.6 had 14inch wheels while the 1.9 had 15inch wheels. Fit shitty cheap tyres and they handled like shite. The 1.6 was supposed to be revier as the 1.9 had the longer stroke, but as discussed on here I think. Later 1.6 had a larger valve head I think, with the updated interior and exterior.

There was one model of 1.6 that was fitted with a closer ratio box??? or the 1.9 was taller gears so the 1.6 box made the car quicker but lower top speed http://www.205gti.com/techgearboxUK.htm

Beggars can't be choosers these days but I would always look for a late model with the black plastics and interior, they just look a millions times better

Or get a rust free late shell, 2.0 xud turbo engine with 1.9 GTI suspension and brakes, as the 1.9 had discs alround.

^This may well be more cost-effective.

harsh!

but, yeah...

^Depends on how fast I can get Hefty 10k and say "best 996 you can find please".

I'd estimate just under a year.

in a year's time they'll all be gone and you'll have to stump up 15k - strike while the iron's hot

Buying a series III Land Rover - good idea or bad idea?

I love as original as possible, unfiddled about with, 70s/early 80s series 3's. So many Land Rover's have been messed about with, had all kinds of things bolted on and suffer from 'chequerplate rash', but you can still get nice original vans that have been left alone and used as intended for reasonable prices if you know where to look, and they always come in the classic green:

Or marine blue:

The 2.25 petrol seems to be the one to go for, and I'd want an 88" station wagon for 7 people lols/ease of parking. There are some obvious cons, which I'm aware of: it's basically a tractor with seats, in stock form it won't go faster than about 45mph, thirsty, sod all security and people like pinching landies, I live in Hackney, etc.

But the pros are you can fit seven people in with the rear seats, road bikes in the back with the front wheels off, a fairey overdrive will take the top speed to c.60, mechanically simple, parts are cheap, plenty of advice/publications/mechanics/aftermarket parts available, a slightly tatty landy basically looks better than a pristine one, and finally that with Defender production supposedly ending this year (it might go abroad) an original as possible series 3 doesn't seem like a bad buy for the right price and definitely seems to have 'future classic' potential. Also I could always stick a TDi engine in (or buy one that's already got one) and have something a lot more usable.

I think the real problem is that I haven't drive one since I was about 1o and need reminding what the experience is actually like, and hire prices are ridiculous. You could easily pay about 10% of the purchase price to hire one for a weekend!

not so good for drifting though, fox, unless it's snow drifting

Fox, we have finished our family affair with landies now and switched to Suzukis.

We had a SIII airportable, a 109 and a SIIA 24v and 3 Range rovers (not all at once mind)
Fuel costs are crippling if you do loads of mileage, 2 Rangerovers got converted to gas, think the first one paid for the conversion in 8months on saved fuel costs....

Expect wooly steering, a metronome speedo if you go over forty, crap fuel economy and bits randomly dropping off. Get a haynes manual and they are more fun if you can little jobs yourself.
They are slow, hard to drive(no power steering) archaic beasts, but like many things very collectable, working landies can be found fairly cheaply but done up show ponies get silly prices.
They are 100% rebuildable which is part of the charm.

I still have my flying helmet and goggles and white silk scarf from when i had the airportable lightweight, no roof, no doors, and no windscreen, rollbar and roo bar and firestone sats, was like something from mad-max.
Always got stopped and breathalised by the police for some reason :)
You gotta love em to want one.