User Profile

[Captiva Fan]

Having driven a rental lower-spec Mk7.5 2yrs ago, I'm not entirely sure that I wouldn't have bought the Golf, unless I needed a wagon with more load space ... equipment levels were about on par with our top-of-the-range VF (the only thing the VF does...

[Captiva Fan]

Yes, Simmons shut up shop early noughties, five-ish years later Tempe Tyres (uleh!) bought the brand-name & started manufacturing ripoffs of the originals as well as ugly new designs in China out of Chinesium but at Simmons prices.

There's...

[Captiva Fan]

Anyone who's doing any sort of ownership of cars of that value, and never having one beyond 3-4 years of old, is gonna be paying that for 40 year's worth of ownership ... fuel, insurances, maintenance, rego, depreciation, tyres etc, all adds up....

[Captiva Fan]

I guess ... I was actually thinking more of storing/garaging than working-on though, there are a few valueless old things that if I had a place to put them where they wouldn't become piles of rust I'd probably have one on historics by now ... eg. an...

[Captiva Fan]

Mightn't need to be inner city though; out here in the Wild Wild West (to quote poet laureate Will Smith) we looked for a house in the local area with more than 2 car garaging for about 3 years before saying "buggrit" and building a place....

[Captiva Fan]

I thought the Model 3 was Tesla's "small car"?
Dunno, I reckon Golf "GTE" will happen before a Tesla competitor, IMHO at least.

[Captiva Fan]

+1.

The move upmarket surprises me though, it's not been that long since an R was ~$52k +ORC.
But I guess they want that juicy juicy big profit they used to get from R32 sales.

I hope we're not heading back into the...

[Captiva Fan]

As a 50yo-next-week ... I think that's 50yo's, what was my era.
So add 10 years.
It's probably about grey imports when I think about what was a Thing in the early-mid 90's, stuff like GTR's and Salivas.
I struggle to accept any widespread...

[Captiva Fan]

Berlina badge got ditched for VF, I think ... Calais effectively replaced Berlina, and then Calais V was the all-bells-and-whistles spec that a Calais used to be.

I agree, I'd be suggesting he also looks at ZB, should be good value &...

[Captiva Fan]

Shitload of people, having had an itch, will have scratched it....

[Captiva Fan]

It depends on what his needs are ... but I reckon the best value are the base model, the Evoke.
I think auto-only, and only the 3L motor but that should be fine if he's used to an Ecomoo.
Does he use (outdated because Holden are a bunch of...

[Captiva Fan]

A workmate had a fight with his Ford dealer because he fitted some boost-control kit or other that Ford offers warranty on in the UK but not here, and it spun a main bearing. About a year old. Forensic inspector person said the cause was oil-starvation,...

[Captiva Fan]

Yes, MX5 chassis with Fiat 1.4 L turbo engine & their own suspension tune.

The other is the current Alpine ... A110? The point of which is to be light & nimble, 1100kg or thereabouts aren’t they? And I think mid-engined?...

[Captiva Fan]

^ Isn’t a M’can double the price?

[Captiva Fan]

Are those elastic-band gearboxes actually potentially-unreliable in something that’s not 10 years or 200k kms old, or is it just that people think a slushbox should feel slushy in one way & don’t like it when it’s slushy in a different way...

[Captiva Fan]

There's a VIN-number checky-thingy on an HSV page somewhere ... and the VIN doesn't check-out as an HSV car.
I guess it's possible their DB doesn't go back to 2000....

[Captiva Fan]

You have just solved for me the mystery of why they named it Trackhawk, when it's been lowered so as NOT to work on an offroad track! ...

[Captiva Fan]

Nah, people wanted S15's ... have EcoBoost values gone up over 30c in the whole COVID nonsense? Should theoretically make for a bit of a bargain.

Still hope this 400Z isn't as limp-noodle as whatever Infiniti it's based on ......

[Captiva Fan]

Towing does work better when the thing doing the towing weighs a metric fuck-ton. Although a hulking great 4WD may suck to use when it’s NOT towing, it’s hard to go past one when towing, and that’s not just because they wander so alarmingly from...

[Captiva Fan]

They’re quite a lot more, because they don’t have a Ford badge.

There are petrol ones with the same problematic PowerShift gearbox as in a few x60 Volvos aren’t there, though? The lates turbo petrol ones, with the Falcon 2.0T turned...