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

They are close enough in colour for me!

This year is the year I relearn to drive maybe get a run around for summer time excursions I've been putting it off for years.

something....eight

Pontiac Eight.

Thanks, excellent work, thread delivers :)

In case anyone wants to go, as I'm now a full Goodwood member, I can now buy unlimited entry tickets to Goodwood Member's Meeting, just send me a PM and we can arrange.

https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/members-meeting/

I am also at Snetterton in May for an afternoon/evening trackday and Cadwell in June for a full day trackday if anyone else wants to come to one of those days too.

I haven't booked yet but I should be going to Croft in August too, so that's another date on the calendar.

I'm up for other days as well, so shout if you've got one planned and I'll try and make it.

Can we also all convince @amey he needs to buy a Honda FRV. I've sold him on the 6 full size seats but he needs encouragement to sell the Fabia estate and buy an FRV.

How much was the day your doing at Cadwell just out of interest.

£164 with the Opentrack boxing day sale, but Opentrack's Trackstormers discount code is out for this year now and it's 10% off so it's not much more to book with that (£189 - £19 = £170). I won't put it on here because I don't want to get blacklisted by Opentrack but PM me and I'll share privately (open to anyone, or just join the Trackstormers facebook group and it's easy to find).

I might well come and see you at Snetterton, I have reasons from my mis-spent youth for loving/hating the place.

Wed 10th May 23

How much does he want for that Fabia estate (assuming ULEZ?).
Need a logical dog/ bike car.

Can we also all convince @amey he needs to buy a Honda FRV Fiat Multipla. I've sold him on the 6 full size seats but he needs encouragement to sell the Fabia estate and buy a Honda FRV Fiat Multipla

Can't argue with that either.

Comon hive. I'm stuck...

1 Attachment

McLaren 12C / MP4 12C

Winner.

Anyone got experience of van remaps (or remaps in general)?

I've just upgraded to a newer (euro 6 cos ULEZ) Citroen relay from my old Euro 4 version. Like it, apart from motorway fuel economy seems worse -33 MPG Vs 38 or even 40 in the old one. This is cruising around 60.

New van is a 6 speed too - which I thought would help. MpG seems good round town, maybe even better than the old one - just crap at higher speeds. Apparently I can get a remap that takes it from 110bhp to 180! Would that help?

No experience of remaps for performance. But be warned, you should tell your insurance.

Would that help?

No.

The logic for better economy from more power and torque is that you’ll be accelerating for less time and using fewer revs as you can change up sooner. It’s all a flawed theory in any situation as it’s all to do with how you drive, but on a constant throttle on the motorway you’ll definitely be no better off.

Is the van a manual?

Is there a sensible way to hire a car in the UK for a week?

Need to ferry 3 of us from Kent to the lake district for a week in March, train currently going to cost 270gbp

Have you seen the rental car prices in the UK? A week is going to cost about 270GBP even if you rent a tiny shitbox like a Clio.

https://www.rentalcars.com/?cor=gb&preflang=en&prefurrency=GBP will search them all, but just remember that many of the smaller companies (e.g. not Avis, Budget, Hertz, Enterprise, etc) will have depots in the middle of nowhere and also try and stiff you on damage. So budget in Car Hire Excess Insurance from someone like https://www.insurance4carhire.com/ to mitigate that, mention that you've got separate care hire excess insurance, and take lots of photos before/after, etc.

I picked a random week (11-18 March) and Maidstone, Kent and you can just scrape in under 270GBP although most have limits of 700 miles (some have 1400 miles). Most of the cheap deals are with greenmotion who are on the trickier side of them to deal with (I rented from them a couple of years back and survived). Many of the pickup locations for Maidstone, Kent are actually London City Airport, so note the exact locations too.

Sorry to piss on your chips but I have an frv, had to buy a higher car for elderly parents to be able to get into and I probably would not recommend them. Space in the back is tight with the front seat all the way back (and mine is even though I’m only 6’ 1” ish) the middle front seat is small and when I’m position I find it adversely effects rear view when turning back to look out the rear window for reversin (it does fold flat) The handbrake is a really shit design and so drivers don’t use it and ride the clutch. The vehicle feels really wide and it is quite awkward to judge where the front and rear ends of it are (worst of any car I’ve had). Apparently changing the clutch is a big job. It’s a Honda so some cunt will steal the catalytic converter, which will be over a grand for aftermarket replacement
Plus points 2.0 Honda is fairly bulletproof, comfortable if not exciting ride, big boot.
It’s not the worst car but in town i prefer our Skoda roomster bike hauling car.

Yes.

@Hefty - that makes sense. Thanks.

It all seems a bit odd, as economy is excellent when pottering, but falls off a cliff over 50. 6th gear just doesn't seem to provide the economy that I'd expect/hoped for.

Oh well. My fear is the DPF is not helping and may be slightly clogged - so when exhaust pressure is higher, the economy suffers - though revs are still pretty low (2k ish) at 60 in 6th.

Dream absolutely shattered :-(

Excellent insight and experience though, thanks.