It's now four years since my last motoring conviction so my license is now officially clean!
I got my conviction before I'd even passed my test (I was doing up an old MK2 Fiesta on the street outside my house ready for when I passed when plod did me for parking it on a public road without insurance). Believe me, ignorance is no excuse and I've had the stigma of an IN10 on my license ever since. My current insurance docs say "Convictions: Driving uninsured" and it's ugly. Mind you, the insurance bods still want to know about the conviction for a further year don't they, damit. So they can whack an extra =A3150 on my premium (that's been the average premium hike over the years, on top of the original =A3150 fine when I got the 6 points).
It's just under four years since I passed and I realised today that the Ti is my tenth car since passing my test. That's a new car every 4.8 months.
Am I on the way to becoming the next PeteM in terms of frequent car changing or do I need a much higher average?
As you have had nearly as many cars in one day as I have in 25 years maybe you can help find me my next car to replace the one I've had 5 years? Sort of like a Capri only better, faster, sleeker and could do with same or more room. Up to £25K (about 2x as much as all 8 cars before have cost in total).
1: 3 door 2+2 fast back with usable back seats.
2: O-60mph sub 7sec or very cheap and easy to tune to give this - like exhaust and a few other bolt on bits.
3: Decent load space for racing bicycle without removing the front wheel or a 6ft shower door. Boot not full of fuel tank or spare like Supra and 300ZX.
4: Low CdA under 0.58m^2.
5: Small turning circle under 10m.
6: Less than 10 years old.
Out of the 8 cars I've owned in 25 years they were
1 3 door estate (hatchbacks are not big enough)
2 coupes (useless as no load space)
2 5 door (utility only no style)
3 fastback 3 door (1 tigre size, 2 capri size)
1: 3 door it's usually accepted that it's a hatch at the back.
3: That back window is sealed shut. Maybe get a bike in across the rear seats or though whatever letter box slot it has to the boot with the front wheel out but no way will a shower door go in.
5: 10.6m I think. Inexcusable for a rear wheel drive car but better than a lot of the curent crop.
Saab 9000 Aero later model. It's a 5 door but you wouldn't care after driving. Or if age not so much of a problem Saab 900 Carlsson later model (1993)
if you have =A325k to spend, I can get you about 500 reliable BHP for=20 about =A38-10k
Saab 9000 Aero =A34-6k (maybe even less now). Maptun Stage 7
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11,145.97 EUR =3D =A37,608.924 GBPExample
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Lesser Maptun options are available.
Even at the upper end of the price for the 9000, where else could you=20 get Electric adjust luxury leather "Unique" Recaros with winter heating,=20 aircon/climate, solid build quality and safety, good ride and handling,=20 economy when off boost and not playing, loads of luggage capacity and=20
500 horses for =A314k
--=20 Carl Robson "Sorry Sir the meatballs are orf" (The poster formerly known as Skodapilot)
3 door 2+2 coupe means 4/5 door saloons and estates are out - right out OK. Even the BMW 2 seaters and 2+2 coupes with boots don't make the grade.
BMW have never made a car that meets my requirements. The 3 door models were chopped down at least 6 inches too much and maybe as much as 1ft. They never put the higher performance engines in them. Most BMW coupe models are based on saloons and like the saloons have barn door frontal areas and barge like turning circles. The Z3 coupe is the best 3 door BMW but has no back seats or proper load space and inexcusably crap aerodynamics for a 90's car.
BMW Z3 3.0i Coupe Width 1740 mm Height 1306 mm like all newer cars about 1" too tall Kerb weight 1405 kg maybe 100Kg over weight Drag coefficient 0.370 needs to be 0.33 or less for frontal area Frontal Area 1.83 m^2 CdA 0.68 m^2 no better than a saloon or estate with decent Cd from the last century Turning circle 10.00 m YES!! it meets the spec on this BMW solution is to just throw loads more power at poor aerodynamics.
Newer stuff like the 645 Ci has better aero but it's not quite there. Has enough seats but lacks the 3rd door, sit up and beg frontal area means it fails on CdA and turning circle is rubbish too. Width 1855 mm Height 1373 mm oops about 4 inches too tall this is about the same height as a 1980's Bluebird coupe - AKA a taxi [1] Kerb weight 1690 kg bit of a fat pig Drag coefficient 0.290(good but needs to be 0.28 as Frontal Area 2.15 m^2 excess height makes this too big CdA 0.62 m^2 close but still not under 0.6 Turning circle 11.40 m sad
850 CSi is let down by huge turning circle and still lacks a 3rd door. Width 1854 mm Height 1341 mm Kerb weight 1865 kg and it's a fat pig Drag coefficient 0.290 good Frontal Area 2.06 m^2 OK Cx 0.6 m^2 Yes!! Turning circle 11.50 m boo hiss
[1] I had a 910 series Bluebird SSS coupe - it's lower than a stock saloon or estate, has a different windscreen with laid back rake angle, doors had frameless glass, pilliarless with wind down rear windows and a very nice waparound rear screen totally different tothe saloon. One Saturday night in town centre as my friends and I were getting in it after it had been parked up for over 3 hours, I was approached by a young copper and asked "Excuse me sir, are you using this car as a taxi?". Utter f****it - who on earth uses a 2 door car as a taxi? How many taxi's park up for 3 hours on a Saturday night?
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