I caught the car bug :P

[Koing]

After only owning the S2000 for 4 weeks I want another car already!

It's just really fun having a car that drives and and handles well 😀. The car puts a smile on my face everytime I drive it and give it a bot of oomph.

29-31st August me and some friends are going to the Nurburgring for some fun and I have a track day planned for 14th September. I'd hate to have a fast car and never really take it to the limits so the Nurburgring trip is the ideal way to take it to speeds that would get me in jail fast!

I hit 150mph 18months ago in my mates S3. It felt fast but I haven't beasted it on the track. His car feels really planted but my car at speed feels dangerous 😛. It could be that the rears need replacing...I'll get them done before the trip.

Next year I'm thinking of an M5 if my stocks go back go back to book cost 🙁. An M3 is a possibility but if I can get the M5 I'd like to try that out.

I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

 

[aleckz]

What about a Vette? Those more expensive than an M3/5 over there? Possibly a year or 2 old Z06 would be fun 😀

 

[overst33r]

So basically you want a car that can do 150mph comfortably?

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

mate who said new car?!

S2000 = £10.5k, reasonable fee for what it is. Cheaper is better but I can't get it cheaper

M5 ~ £32-35k now, next year it'll drop some more and thats to a level of what I can afford. Brand new it's £65k or some rubbish?! I'd NEVER pay £65k for an M5!!!

Originally posted by: aleckz
What about a Vette? Those more expensive than an M3/5 over there? Possibly a year or 2 old Z06 would be fun 😀

Vettes are comparatively priced but it isn't my thing for the £££

Originally posted by: mariok2006
So basically you want a car that can do 150mph comfortably?

The M3/M5 has always been my dream 'affordable' car 😛. I'd love to own an F430 but thats way out of my price range. But maybe if I win the lottery I can get one 😛

The M5 is suppose to be fun to drive and if it turns out to be a turkey I won't get it. The M3 I'll test drive also but they are pretty common on the roads now.

I can't say the S2000 has been a car that I wanted to own since I was younger. It's definately fun to drive and it puts a big smile on my face when I smash it about a bit. No doubt it will be really fun on a track 😀

Koing

 

[radioouman]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

But you drive a Prius! There isn't a better car for economy! 😛

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: radioouman

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

But you drive a Prius! There isn't a better car for economy! 😛

Prius is looooong gone. We sold that in Sept. of last year!

 

[geokilla]

Nissan GTR! You'll be able to hit 150mph very quickly. I'll take the GTR over the M3 or M5 any day.

I was watching Best Motoring last night, the latest edition. The guy (forgot his name, not Tsuchiya) was driving on the Autobahn at speeds ranging from 50mph to 180mph. Damn that car's fast and quite.

You can always tune your S2000. Give it like 300hp, tune the suspension, etc. S2000 are already a nice ride, and it gets better when it's tuned.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: radioouman

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

But you drive a Prius! There isn't a better car for economy! 😛

Prius is looooong gone. We sold that in Sept. of last year!

Wow, really? Why? I'm toying with the idea of selling my TL for a Prius, so I really would like to know.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

I don't think there are many vettes in the UK 🙁

 

[Chunkee]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

How very nice for you.

 

[ponyo]

That's a very expensive bug to treat. The only known cure is to be broke. Money attracts it.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Koing

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

mate who said new car?!

S2000 = £10.5k, reasonable fee for what it is. Cheaper is better but I can't get it cheaper

M5 ~ £32-35k now, next year it'll drop some more and thats to a level of what I can afford. Brand new it's £65k or some rubbish?! I'd NEVER pay £65k for an M5!!!

I meant new to you, not new-new. 😛

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: radioouman

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

But you drive a Prius! There isn't a better car for economy! 😛

Prius is looooong gone. We sold that in Sept. of last year!

Wow, really? Why? I'm toying with the idea of selling my TL for a Prius, so I really would like to know.

It was a great car, I enjoyed all the gadetry, plus the MPG graph really put your mileage in your face, so it was something to attain. We got rid of it because commutes changed and 4 miles roundtrip didn't exactly require a hybrid 😉

Originally posted by: Chunkee

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

How very nice for you.

I am just here to help people like yourself generate opinions. 🙂

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: geokilla
Nissan GTR! You'll be able to hit 150mph very quickly. I'll take the GTR over the M3 or M5 any day.

I was watching Best Motoring last night, the latest edition. The guy (forgot his name, not Tsuchiya) was driving on the Autobahn at speeds ranging from 50mph to 180mph. Damn that car's fast and quite.

You can always tune your S2000. Give it like 300hp, tune the suspension, etc. S2000 are already a nice ride, and it gets better when it's tuned.

The GTR is too pricey. It will be £52-55k in England and my budget will top out at around £32k tops. But in 3-4yrs the GTR should be around my budget so maybe then? 😀

It would be the one to go for, but it is too much for me. I'd take one over the M3 and M5 also!

That guy Tycuchiya is a sweet driver. I could get a £3.5k turbo kit to get at least 400BHP out of the S2000 but I would probably sh!t my pants. Pushing around a box junction from a stand still the back end slides, granted the ground wasn't even and I wasn't hammering it really hard. But I of course handled the back end stepping out 🙂

I'll keep the S2000 stock for resale. I really like it and only competemplating the idea of an M5 for next year. Trying to look at sporty cars in that range without insane maintenance.

Koing

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Koing
I've always been a car fan, but I was never in a situation to afford a decent car.

Koing

Funny that you always bashed people for getting new cars 😉

It's not worth it to me to drive an boring economy car because I consider driving to be a hobby and a pleasure.

QFMFT... my commuter car is a Porsche 944. Whenever I get it running that is.

 

[ponyo]

this guy has done it as have several others

If I lived in the UK, I would import my car from the US. With the pound being so strong vs the dollar, you can get some great deals on used cars here and have it shipped. I know there are companies that specializes in this kind of thing and prices aren't bad at all. I know couple of UK people on the Corvetteforum have done this for the C6 and the Z06, and I think they said it only cost like $5k total to ship it and have them convert it to the UK standard. Plus it would be cool to drive a rare car and one with the steering wheel on the otherside.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: Naustica
this guy has done it as have several others

If I lived in the UK, I would import my car from the US. With the pound being so strong vs the dollar, you can get some great deals on used cars here and have it shipped. I know there are companies that specializes in this kind of thing and prices aren't bad at all. I know couple of UK people on the Corvetteforum have done this for the C6 and the Z06, and I think they said it only cost like $5k total to ship it and have them convert it to the UK standard. Plus it would be cool to drive a rare car and one with the steering wheel on the otherside.

I'm not keen on LHD cars due to the issue with visiblity with over taking 🙁

The Z06 doesn't float my boat. It looks pretty dam beasty but I can't imagine buying one. It would probably be a sweet drive though!


Koing

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Naustica
this guy has done it as have several others

If I lived in the UK, I would import my car from the US. With the pound being so strong vs the dollar, you can get some great deals on used cars here and have it shipped. I know there are companies that specializes in this kind of thing and prices aren't bad at all. I know couple of UK people on the Corvetteforum have done this for the C6 and the Z06, and I think they said it only cost like $5k total to ship it and have them convert it to the UK standard. Plus it would be cool to drive a rare car and one with the steering wheel on the otherside.

They're sold officially so while rare they are about.

Driving a left hooker is not a bonus. I drove a LHD 996 Carrera 4 for two weeks and the worst part was filling up at the gas station, paying then returning to the right hand side, openeing the door, then realising the steering wheel was missing. The people queuing behind me got a LOL out of that! 😀 Also, parking is a bitch, the machines are always on the wrong side!

 

[Koing]

9months on still really enjoying the car a lot. I appreciate the car more now that I have driven a few mates car and theirs seem savagely poor in comparison and I've had time to get to know the car.

When I drove my mates Fiesta it felt really sweet compared to my 96 Astra 1.4 😛, the gear box on the Fiesta felt really tight and it was relative to my car and it felt that it handled well. The Astra was like a barge with jelly for tyres. Now from the S2000 to the Fiesta that drives rubbish. The gear box feels like a bucket of jelly with a stick out of it. The S2000 has relatively hard suspension and I love it. I like feeling all the bumps and knocks when on crappy roads but I'm use to it.

I've done 2 track days and man it's such fun! I can push the car as hard as my balls will allow and spin out safely if I push it too hard 😛, but it hasn't happened yet. The back end has gone out a lot of times when the track is moist. The car pretty much feels 'dangerous' when on moist/ wet track, not sure how other cars fare in the wet

Things I have learnt:
The back end is savage when the road surface is remotely wet
2-3mm of tread is not enough and the backend is very tail happy but when I got new tyres (REO50A) it felt a lot more grippy and the backend was kept more in check

I can control the backend sliding out well now

I get okay mpg even when redlining often 😛 and it gets good milage on a track day but in the end I don't care too much as the difference isn't huge and I plan to rack every 6 weeks or so so it isn't going to break the bank

I do feel the lack of torque but it's still a lot of fun, just a different type of feeling compared to my mates S3 or E39 M5. They pulled a lot harder and didn't feel like stopping, more so the E39 for obvious reason. That thing really just keeps going on and on and doesn't feel like it would stop. If you want to over take you just need to work the gears properly and keep the car in the correct powerband, namely 5.5k+

5.5k+ revs the throttle and engine feels very sharp and responsive to the pressure I give it. It isn't as dramatic as my mates old skool DC2 where it sounds VERY different. It does sound different but I'd say it's more subtle then the DC2 in terms of it's VTEC and I find it smooth all the way up to redline. I only feel a bit more of a kick at 5.5k onwards.

The gearbox is SO sweet, Very tight and crisp.

The brakes on the car are pretty amazing for the road coupled with it's relative car bodyweight, and for my skills on the track they are fine also. I can get 6 hard laps out and it feels fine

The car is stiff and tight for road use but it doesn't feel as stiff as I'd like for track use though

I love having the top down and it just feels great on a sunny day with the top down and the sun out

I've got to take the car to Europe in the moutains when the weather picks up and make a trip to The Ring 😀

I'll be hopefully upgrading to an E46 M3 next year for more power, more torque, 2 rear seats and a more useable boot but saving that I haven't missed not having a bigger boot that often. Just that I can't drop my dad off at the airport on the odd occasion or carry a suitcase in the back of the trunk that is any decent size. It has a bottom bit that is about the perfect shape for putting a carry on stroller for the plane though.

Koing