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What a fabulous week for new experiencesZak has been smoking used cars around, buying and selling, and generally having a ball
In the last 7 days, these cars have been unfortunate enough to be under my bum, and here's the brief on what they went like:
BMW 535 T reg V8. 135,000 miles, worth about £6500. Manual, with leather. This thing is a rocket ship. It feels like new, it goes like a normal car until you unleash the right foot AND the revs. It feels nothing like a big olf V8 of yesteryeatr, it feels like a detuned race engine.the sounds are ok....not what you'd dream of at all, but hell, when you drop to 2nd to ovetake a dawdling Metro, the thing literally takes you'r breath away. Nice and stable, comfy over pot holes, and even with low tread tyres, dead easy to drive smoth and fast and safely over wet twisty roads. It keeps up with the traffic with no effort and I think I'd get abot 23 mpg from it in daly use cos the thing pulls with no effort as long as its over 1500 rpm. No lurid tail slides, uness you look hard for them and typical BMW "is it run in yet" feel. Power....real subtle energy. NICE CAR.
Audi TT Roadster Quattro 225 02 reg, £20k. Hell I thought the BMS was fast. Mental tool. I go years sometimes without driving the real 4x4 thang....the Quattro, and then I reember why Audi still do it and sell so many. Mini roundabouts are like being on a funfair...the lateral G force and you explode out of 180 come-backs are incredible. I wish it didnt have leather cos even with sports seats my bum slid sideways more than the car. Neverone for 4x4 in the dry, and always cautious in the wet, cos there is only SO much you can ask of a tyre, spreading the power like this car does with such ease, I had to re evaluate my thoughts of cars with no hood and too much grip. It SHOULD shake overthesebumpy rough roads but it laughs at them. I know the Tigra is an under-ling in comparison, but that car feels like an open McDonalds box the way it flexes and this feels like a rigid little alloy flight case. Did I mention the sexy controls, the ok ish hood and the power? No? Right....when its warm, and al 225 horse are ready it REVS and BOOSTS like a star. If it was dry, the BMW would be all over it like a rash up to the really twisty stuff, and after the legal limit the BMW would start hawling this in, BUT as SOON as the rain falls...oh this is TOO good for a tarts posers car
Elise 110 New Shape 51 plate £16k
No brake servo, direct input in everything you do, including the right foot loud and proud pedal. It is stll the finest. I would rather a Vx220 cos I like the 2.2 Vaux engine in it, but when it comes to engine gears and body weight combo, this cat owns most cars. But the real reason to own it. Sexy looks. Its good in pictures, it's better in the flesh but after you've driven in and you et out and look still smiling it IS the prettiest car this side of £20k.
Jag S-type 3.0 Auto 51 plate, 73k £11k.
Why? Why Ford keys? Why? I'm gnnaleave it there. Made me sad. A great name in our history of UK cars, with a Fiesta key.
SLK320 : £17500 Oh yes. OH YES.........smooth, quick, not brutal but no one gets away from you (well me) in this, and you get out feeling.....smashing
Almera 53 plate thing. oh. not sure what to say, so shant.
Mondeo V6 P plate face lift. Well it started and after I'd pumped up the tyres, but the throttle does nothing. I suspecteda snapped throttle cable but following it, it ends in a metal cannister. Eletronic fly by wire throttle maybe? Who knows. Mondeo V6 leather interior for sale. Needs towing
Cavalier 1.7 TD GLS K reg. Speedo head FLAKING with no numbers visible!!! and suspension off side front knocks but starts and drives (puts two fingers up to the Fraud Mondeo) so I used it asa steam roller and compressed sme gravel I had delivered to cover some mud. Cavalier Steam Roller for sale. Turbo Diesel. offers
So where did my heart get taken this week? Elise? Close...but no suprise really. BMW 535 ...sooo close. Almera?.....you want a smack?
Nope.....MR2 VVTi 2000 X . My heart has been stolen by the least likely car. Smooth, fast, powerfull in moderation and balance. Oh the balance. Poise is the word. More than the Elise really. Not as fast, not as sporty, not as grippy and therefore not really as good....so how come I feel I could get her home in the snow and I'd bestuck in the Elise?
How come I can powerslide this MR2 in the carpark at work between parked cars, (embarresingly spraying all the neighbouring carswith mud) without actually thinking about it. 5 mph, turn between two cars, boot in, round she comes, ease of and steer and be alingned with the slot up the nextrow of carswith no though, one handed, while thinking about tuning the stereo to Radio4? The boys and girls at Toyota did something special the day this went out for a track test. Something rare. They went for tractable drivability, with no attempt at beingthe fastest or firmest or even best. They went for ease of access. I'm no race driver, ad have let the arse go waaay too wide on that Elise within 15 minutes of driving her. Never would have happened in this MR2.
I hate to admit it then, but the MR2 is this weeks car of the week. So enthused was I that when a lady with an old Xj6 came to buy the S type and within 10 minutes told me how crap she thought it was!! I suggested a change of lifestyle and the Mr2 now has her name on it. Thing is... was right too. In the way the old Corolla GT RWD 1600 twin cam feels right from mile one....so does this.
Originally Posted by Advice Trinity by Knoxville
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