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

Or if you want cheap speed find a jag xjr100 (x308) with a little help from a bigger exhaust and removing the limits in the ecu 400+ bhp.

!60 arrives a lot quicker than you expect.

that racing bit from 94 was fantastic. very impressive from the 850. Is it really still FWD in the racing form? It's not AWD or something? I can't believe how well it pulled out of the apexes.

Yep, that's an FWD racing car. You had RWD in the BMW and AWD from the Audi- whatever the road car came with, it was part of what made the racing so interesting.

Or buy an 850R, and spend the money you'd put into fuel costs of a standard Monaro into tuning said 850.

With numbers on the decline, values of good 850R's must be due to climb. Theres some incredibly cheap looking ones on Car & Classic at the minute.

They're all automatics- which were mechanically the same as the T5 apart from a one-step larger compressor housing, the factory manual was the more desirable car as it had the go-faster parts like the LSD. Mine right now is probably a four grand car, if we can get the interior and exterior to match the mechanicals it'll be an eight grand car. Which came as something of a surprise and is why I am keeping it.

Ahhh I just presumed they were the same and it was just the box. Still it's a fairly iconic car which should always have a value. I'd love to buy one at that kind of money and just keep it. When you compare them against other performance/limited run estates (Audi S4/RS4/RS2, C43AMG etc) it might lack a little in performance but it's got tonnes of character, should be similar interns of build quality and looks super cheap in comparison.

Around Lake Garda last week, superb road, rotten traffic.

Spotted these - all full of computers, screens and wiring, this looked the most interesting

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The car I went to look at today had two Nexen tyres on the back (two Conti sport contacts on the front), I've never heard of Nexen, any good?

From a quick Google they seem to be on the cheap and nasty end of the spectrum.

Looks like driverless cars are actually going to happen. Whoop!

A few pics from today at the Kop Hill Climb

Just spent the afternoon romping around on highways, country lanes, dirt roads and lake shores in Virginia in a Dodge Ram 3500.

I literally can't believe how big and thunderous these things are... Part of me wants one but then logic kicks in.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M

Some stunning stuff there. Love the M3 and the Espada. Classic 911's are beautiful too but that goes without saying.

The new pickups are ridiculously competent. I've not driven a ram, but even the bum basic Chevy and Fords from U Haul are super grunty. Especially the Ford. You can rent them for 20bucks an hour - most amusing.

The Espada is a really rad looking car. Great styling.

Not as good as a Land Rover though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDhI-K0aAk8

ANYTHING by Bertone / Italdesign is a rad looking car.

:o)

That's not quite true. I had an '88 Vauxhall Astra Bertone convertible. It had a Burberry interior and was hideous. Fun though :)

Hey, I'll put my name to anything if u pay me.

I think it was Opal who fucked that one up tho. :o)

Might have to give it a go when I get to California and have a few mates and bikes with me.

Bloody love a good defender.

I'm still keeping an eye on the market for when I get back. Still not as easy to take 4 mates and 5 big bikes around in but the NA diesel 110s go really cheap at the moment.

Sorry, quick question, just bought a lovely 1990 mk2 Golf 1.8 carb, driving today I noticed the water temp doesn't get up much on the gauge when driving but when stationary climbs to about 6/8ths or more. The hot when stationary bit makes me think it's the fan but the cool when running makes me think thermostat.

I topped the coolant up, it took about 1/2 litre so I'll see how that goes - start with the low hanging fruit. Any thoughts welcome. Ta.

This one. Gold, brown dash, auto, everything nobody wants. Appealed to me.

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just do the usual checks - make sure the fan comes on, is blowing the right waty, etc. oil cap, water level, etc. if the rad is hot, the thermostat is working. i doubt it is that.

it'll always run cooler on the move. sheer volume of air moving through it. it's when it goes into the red you need to worry. in areshole italian traffic, in baking heat (boast post), the b sits right up near the red, but doesn't go into it. that is as cool as the fan can keep it.

nice car, btw