mystery machine

350Z

That's some good advice right there. I would certainly have an independent check (AA, RAC, etc) carried out on any car with an asking price of much more than a couple of grand. Absolutely for any car being bought privately or from a non-franchised dealer - some of the latter don't do much more than pick cars up at the auction, give them a wash and some tyre-shine then sell them on to you, and some of their warranties aren't exactly 'comprehensive'

Welcome, Stu FWIW, I wouldn't get too hung-up on the PPP - you can have the car remapped by a third-party mapper such as Andy Forrest (Subaru specialist near Edinburgh) and you will most likely see higher performance gains than the PPP manages... and it'll be custom-tweaked for your car. A '03-'05 will be out of manufacturer's warranty anyway, so why not? http://www.andyforrestperformance.co.uk/16226.html Happy hunting!

I can't help you with sourcing the parts, but just wanted to welcome you to the forum and wish you the best of luck getting everything sorted

Sorry to hear about the bother, mate - hope you can get the Scooby all square again soon. Certainly a good time to buy one!Wish I'd been similarly enterprising and bought a job-lot of plastic snow shovels back in July.. if only I'd paid heed to the old fable about the 'industrious mouse', etc

You need to buy a cheap 'runabout' second car to stop you getting bored of that STI (it really works!) What are you thinking of replacing it with?

Oh, ma ribs And if that wasn't bad enough... ...he's got her mashing up a cauldron of soup in there Just kiddin', John - sounds suspension-related to me, but let us know how you get on

Looking spangley, Craig I'm hoping to give mine its first proper wash of the year this weekend - taken it to the jet wash for a hosing-down a few times over the last month, but it's just not the same... Moan the spring!

I had to jump the STI a couple weeks ago. Jumped cars many a time before, but was a wee bit concerned about damaging electronics etc in a modern car, so followed these handy instructions from the AA: http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/break...-jumpleads.html Both cars still seem fine!

Hi Richard - welcome to the forum

Hi Shandy, Hello and welcome to the forum, glad to have you here The GXes have to be criminally underrated motors (outside the Scooby fraternity) - surely a great buy for anyone who wants a fine-handling car with fantastic grip and reasonable engine performance - without the higher insurance/fuel/tax/maintenance costs associated with the turbocharged models Cheers. P.S. I had a cracking run up through Callander on Sunday in the Scoob - long sections of great twisty road and not a soul around!

You're quite right, Steve - it's not a debate I'd get into either - just passing on some objective info. You pays your money, you takes yer choice Good luck with whatever you end up with going for, looking forward to hearing about it and seeing some Stevie Nicks

Something that's not often mentioned in the "classic vs newage" debate, and perhaps worth considering if you're driving on public roads (esp with passengers who are also family members), is crash performance. It isn't always easy to obtain objective data in this area, but the Australian 'USCR' ratings are interesting because their assessment is based on the outcome of real-life crashes: "Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR) help you identify safer second hand cars. The ratings illustrate the likelihood of a driver being killed or seriously injured once a crash has occurred. The car's handling, drivability, distance driven and the driver's behaviour have no influence on the results presented. The latest UCSR are based on statistics collected from car crashes in Australia and New Zealand between 1987 and 2005, where someone was killed or seriously injured. Over two million police reported crashes are analysed in the latest UCSR." Impreza 1993-2000: 2/5 stars Impreza 2001-2007: 4/5 stars I'm not suggesting that this should be the last word when choosing a vehicle (who would ever ride a motorbike if it was ), but it is an interesting consideration to make when comparing these two similar (in the big scheme of things) cars

Howdy

Best driver, in almost every respect: Most reliable: Vectra SRi 150 - great dash, stereo & ergonomics too Prettiest: Calibra SE4 - pearlescent blue paintwork with cream leather interior Best value: MkII Astra 1.3L - had 165K miles on the clock when sold and never gave me any major grief Worst (in every department): Early '80s Nissan Sunny - spent more time in bits than it ever did on the road

This has happened to me twice - once with the WRX last winter, and again this year with the STI. My advice is to leave them well alone - they'll return to position perfectly after thawing (whenever that may be!).

Total waste - just disgusting

Hi Kenny, That's apparently quite a common fault with your model/age Impreza (i.e. raw fuel smell in cold weather) - some info here on the 'official' fix: http://bbs.scoobynet.com/showpost.php?p=76...mp;postcount=24 Cheers.

Personally think it'd look best with a 'mid-level' classic spoiler, but if it's a choice between 'high-level' or 'nowt', then I choose high-level

Aye - any opportunity to raise revenue through taxation... What troubles me more deeply is that the electorate seem to tolerate - support, even - many of the tax hikes that are implemented in the name of environmentalism (road tax, petrol duty) Honestly, if the government were really so interested in 'saving the planet', would they have concocted a scheme like the car scrappage allowance? Consider the impact on the environment from the manufacture of thousands of new cars, bought to replace older items, many of which might have been perfectly servicible... Expect more of the same if/when the tories take the helm again

Pleased to make your acquaintance