mystery machine

Bike sounds like a great idea! Much the same benefits as the cheapo car suggestion, but you get to enjoy the bike days as well as the Scooby days - cool! (I'd love to do the bike thang, but just too feart of breaking my spine). I can see why you were looking for options, BTW - "less than half a tank" sounds like crazy daily petrol consumption at today's prices

Look forward to seeing the Hans Blix. That training course must be dragging along something rotten!

That's fine as long as you're confident that they won't involve the police after you scud ten shades of sh1te out of them – sad fact is you'd likely end up in a lot more bother than the vandal

Annoying! Doesn't sound like vandalism though, more likely sheer carelessness.

Get a second motor that is cheap to buy, cheap to fuel, cheap to tax and cheap to insure*. If possible, find one that handles well and you'll still enjoy driving it – you seldom get the chance to use big power in rush-hour traffic anyway. The Scooby will feel all the more special for not driving it every day 'just because you have to', plus you'll keep the mileage down, the services further apart and reduce general wear and tear. If you don't like the idea of it sitting all week every week, you can always take it to work on the one or two nicest days of the week and you'll still be keeping the costs down. P.S. I take it a move to Fife's out of the question? * That's 'cheap' as in 'relatively cheap', nothing's every truly cheap these days where cars are concerned!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-12598242 What a tube.

Cool, I just ordered a set of RE070s to replace my slightly tired (and 25% punctured) Avon ZZ3s. Due to be fitted on Wed – looking forward to it. Like yourself I don't push it much in the wet, only tend to go for spirited runs in the dry weather. Sometimes like to drive enthusiastically on 'slightly damp' cold roads in winter though... have you had much experience pushing the RE070s in that weather?

Erm, looks like between the first pic and the second you bricked that works van up in an outdoor sh1tter! The new splitter is nice! Always an improvement to a newage bumper IMO I'd fit one to mine, if not for it being lowered 4cm... plus the lowering kind of has a similar visual effect anyway. Is that Bridgestone Potenza RE070 rubber you're running on?

Very handy to know for sure that it passes the MOT!

Do you have any links? I'm interested in finding out more about this, as you can imagine Cheers.

Cheers Alastair! I am sorely tempted...

Even if someone is a bawbag for an absolute fact? Just kidding

P.S. Wonder if I could buy one of them to fit the standard centre section... should be OK as long as it's 3", right?

That sounds like a fantastic price, Alasdair. I take it that excludes fitting? Did you fit it yourself? Oooooh this is becoming very tempting...

Hawkeyes or hatches with crap maps? It's an important distinction to make! I've also read plenty of first-hand tales about hatch engines going south because of the faulty map, but none that I can recall about standard hawk STIs or RB320s blowing up, and very few about modded 2.5L hawk STIs falling to bits...

I don't really get along to the meets, Alastair (bit of a loner that way ). Might go along to the Falkirk Wheel one again in the summer, mind. Who supplied your sports cat and how much was it if you don't mind me asking? Is it the type that replaces both cat pipes with a single section? Cheers again

I'll maybe have to source something a wee bit more conservative than yours!

True – and forged pistons aren't necessarily always desirable either. I remember Dunc from Hypetech telling me that after replacing cast pistons with forged, the motor will tend to sound a little more noisy and clunky than before. Maybe that's a price well worth paying... maybe not...

Is that a loud system, Alastair?

Aye, I've heard both being referred to as 'chocolate', but aye – the pistons are supposed to be the "Achilles' heels" of the 2.5L... To me, any engine that can reliably develop power approx 25% above its manufacturer's spec (as suggested by the reports above and plenty others) is made of anything but 'chocolate' Plenty of stories about Hatch 2.5L pistons in bits, but give any engine a duff map that causes detonation and/or a rev limiter that's too aggressive and you stand a good chance of running into reliability issues somewhere down the line. Put forged pistons into it and run with the same map and you're probably just masking the problem and delaying the symptoms. Now the newage shock absorbers, that's a different story...

WRC homologation I'd have thought, sure the rules still state they have to use an engine based on a production car? (prob had a load left over after they packed it up too). Don't take it personally – the 2.0L I'm sure is a great engine, and it sounds like it is built a bit tougher than the 2.5L. I'm just a bit wary of folklore that's repeated around and around on forums about 'chocolate' engines, often based on very little actuality – e.g. "I knew one guy who had a 2.5 blow up"... as if, never in the history of Subaru has a 2.0 turbo engine failed! Watch this, after me defending the 2.5L it'll go up in smoke next time I fire it up

Please don't delete or lock this thread. Among other things, it has aired many valid opinions and points of view, and there may be more to come. JMO

P.S. And I'd be joining despite — not because of — statements made by some of the mods/admin earlier in this thread (not yours, Gus).

I'm a fast typer, Gus In all seriousness, I tried both the forms and neither worked for me. I was told this is a 'known fault' and that I should raise a ticket. That's when I began to lose enthusiasm If you can arrange to have the form fixed, then I'll happily revisit it with my 20 bucks in hand... Cheers.