Fleet quandary - what to keep, what to sell...

I'm beginning to lean in that direction, at least for the moment. A more definite decision may well be made after a quiet word with the insurance in the next couple of days.

... but not for that. If I'll keep it for a while I'd probably end up fitting a rollbar, but not a full cage that makes the car unusable as anything but a racecar.

Not to mention that that build kits costs more than I paid for the car :)

Pretty useless rear seat and boot (see response to the same suggestion further up)

I'm not sure if all sports have them, otherwise the one I'm thinking about may be worth a second look.

318is are supposed to have one.

I'm not overly enamoured with Scoobies in general, especially since I blew up the gearbox in the Legacy TT I had.

Actually I've just come back from driving an Evo III and I know which one I'd prefer. Useless for drifting, though.

... and I should've pointed out that the money should buy a decent example of said vehicle. Not superb, but pretty decent. After all, I'd like to see the drive vs fix ratio tilt towards drive, otherwise I could just bid on the Jensen Interceptor I'm currently watching.

Erm, guys, you're all missing the point by the looks of with (with a few exceptions).

I've already got a bunch of impractical sports cars with no space for a decent suitcase - I don't need *more* of them.

I need the RWD equivalent of a hot hatch (and no, I don't want a Lotus Sunbeam either).

The Sierra has more power and more torque in a lighter car, with much, much better steering, but that's because the Sierra is much more at home on a circuit (in standard form) than a 190 Cosworth.

If I was looking for a track car there's no way I'd pick a 190 Cosworth. The

190 is a nice road car, but no more than that. Making one into a half decent trackday car would cost HFM and it'd still be inferior to a Sapphire Cosworth.

For a decent track car you want something with a lot of driver interaction, good steering and generally a lot of responsiveness, not a quickish saloon with a steering box.

There are loads of things out there that would be a hell of a lot more fun than a 190E for the same money, and Timo already has an MX5 that'd be perfect.

Perceived snob value doesn't count for shit when you're driving something genuinely fun.

Clio V6 :-p

You won't get a reliable Sapphire Cosworth for under £4k, but that's where my money would definately go.

I /so/ miss my Cosworth.

I will have another one, but I need to concentrate on other things first. An immaculate 2wd in Moonstone or Magenta, with leather, air and around 320 bhp would quite possibly get the wallet out though.

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Iridium, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

Celica GT4s are getting stupidly cheap now. I bid £1500 for a Sainz edition one in the trade and very nearly got it. The dealer got £1800 out of another trader for it.

I'm beginning to notice that. And the feedback you get from it is superb, especially since I swapped out the standard plank of a seat for a bucket seat.

Trouble is that this seems to mean that I'd end up with four cars and that's something I really don't want at the moment.

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Iridium, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

XR4i !!!

If you can find one with the 24v Cosworth lump in, they're properly good fun.

Care to drop by so we an see if we can get a decent-sized suitcase in?

:D

Actually the bloke I just bought a hardtop off has shown me the luggage rack for his MX-5. A lot bigger and sturdier than the normal chrome & wood jobbies you see on ebay. Definitely big enough to hold the problematic suitcase.

If I could find one of them, this may become a non-issue.

If you put it that way, 4k doesn't seem to be too bad (but it's still over budget). Pity that I didn't get a bite on the Jensen ;)

I could, but you really can't get a suitcase in :-p

Doug has one, maybe he'll be along shortly to tell you about it?

I've got a lovely picture of the rear luggage area in Dan's car:

The front luggage space is a bit bigger, but not very suitcase shaped I think. Dan may elaborate.

I've got one of these:

's a genuine Mazda one. Rated for 15kg apparently, which isn't all that much.

It came from ebay for about £90 I think. Dunno if MK2 bootlids are different from MK1 bootlids (or indeed whether yours is a MK1 or MK2) but it seems well enough made.

Towbar/trailer?

(c:

snip

Sell everything and buy dedicated cars.

Buy a *new* Citro=EBn Berlingo to go shopping, generally farting around,= =20 big enough to seat 4 people and some luggage, etc et

Buy a second hand, sorted Lotus ELise S1 for the track and the week-end=20 runs.=20

Budget? 15 kUKP and you will end up with 2 very reliable cars with close=20 to negligent running costs.

Tom De Moor

PS : Forget drifting, that's something for wankers.

The moment you are on a circuit with an Elise you will know.

TDM

205's are were it is at. Best generation of the engine, alloy panels for lightness, better seats.=20 The only downside is the price of suspension struts if the shocks are=20 gone (add about =A31k onto the strut price of anything other than=20 replacement KYBs (and they are about =A3600 dearer than for the earlier=20 cars)), and the figure 8 joints which cost about =A31k including labour to= =20 have done because Toyota fleece you for parts and it is a really shitty=20 job.

But the upside is they really fly, grip like shit to a blanket and don't=20 rust. The engines get a bit leaky but as long as watched and topped up=20 they don't die. The guys at Fensport even get a reliable 600bhp out of=20 heavily modified 2.1 litre build.

Couple of K for a cheap one, =A35-6k for a decent one, whether UK, or JDM,= =20 they both have similar pricing.

One thing about the ST185, early imports have crap brakes, but later=20 ones have decent brakes upto UK spec. Sainz and the import versions the=20 RC have better brakes still.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

Some import scoobs have adjustable biasing of the 4wd so you can set the balance more toward rwd and make it more drift friendly.

205's are were it is at. Best generation of the engine, alloy panels for lightness, better seats. The only downside is the price of suspension struts if the shocks are gone (add about £1k onto the strut price of anything other than replacement KYBs (and they are about £600 dearer than for the earlier cars)), and the figure 8 joints which cost about £1k including labour to have done because Toyota fleece you for parts and it is a really shitty job.

But the upside is they really fly, grip like shit to a blanket and don't rust. The engines get a bit leaky but as long as watched and topped up they don't die. The guys at Fensport even get a reliable 600bhp out of heavily modified 2.1 litre build.

*****************************************************

Worth noting though they're hugely heavy, and seem to lose a LOT in the transmission. I.e. a standard Integra Type R DC5 - the 220bhp one, will keep with it a straight line (example I'm quoting was a 300bhp rollered ST205 as welll...).