Modifications you have made?

Well, sort of. Not an 8-series, they hold their money far too well for my liking. Lovely cars though. An old 5 or 7 will do the trick though.

How many miles per year are you going to do in this car? Because stuff you've mentioned there is very modern, and hence pricey. The 307 and Corolla are going to be minimum £4k, and the Civic CDTI minimum £6.5k. Ibiza TDIs are great little cars and have been around a while and a 90bhp one (which most are) would be an excellent used buy.

If you're considering spending 6-7k on a car, then work out how many miles you're likely to do in it, work out difference in insurance costs, and you will realise there's not a lot in it between getting a new-ish small hatchback and an old-ish big BMW, as long as it's been looked after. They generally have timing chains, so no cambelt to worry about, don't have a lot of things go wrong, which is generally a lot more important than fuel consumption in the bigger picture. Anyway, you want a small hatchback, fair enough. Just don't spend 6-7k on one. Get an Ibiza TDI - you'll get one for around 1500-2000. It'll be reliable, good to drive around town, and still powerful enough on the open road, and very economical.

How much time are you going to spend in this car? You can't watch DVDs from the driver's seat unless you're pulled up, and then it'll use a fair bit of battery power. Just forget all that, put a decent stereo in (a small fridge might be handy, but space is limited in a small car) and leave some space for when you might need it.

I'm sure there is a list, but it's currently running at around the 2 x A4 length :)

That's a bad start! :)

Yes. That's prudence. We could advise you to spend £30,000 on everything you want and be left with a four year old car worth £1,000 more than a standard one of the same age, of course.

That statement is absolute tosh. Your career has sod all to do with your car. Understand that one point.

That's irrelevant to your job or career.

If you sincerely believe that only management and above get to ride about in "executive" cars you have much to learn or relearn.

That's great. You must rack up a huge mileage then?

This is irrelevant, though. We discuss modifications to vehicles. Some people (rightly) point out that you're going to spend a huge sum of money to do what you want to the sort of vehicle you want. You wrongly assume that you need to be a manager to run a BMW. We've explained the difference between depreciation and other running costs. No, no, we've tried to.

Get over the fact that insurance and fuel are you biggest running costs. They likely are not. Instead, financing the debt to buy the car and funding the depreciation. If you modify the vehicle your return on investment is usually zero if you're adding to the car. It's not always this of course, but often is.

There are many "classic" rules of modification. Replacing a standard part with an uprated one is one. Not fitting bigger wheels than your brakes need is another.

People who buy used smallish economical hatchbacks buy them because they're small and economical and *not* because they have funky interior additions. They buy them because they get good mileage, because they can get to and from the supermarket with three weeks worth of nosh in the back, not because the beers can be kept cold on the way back.

Blinging the interior out with £6,000 is absolutely fine but your return on this is likely to be ten percent. So, £6,000 on the car. £6,000 on the interior. Trade it in after four years for say £3,000. That's £9,000. If you've had to borrow money for any of this, add it on top.

£9,000 buys a hell of a lot of petrol and insurance.

We are trying to help. You need to open your mind and consider the wider scenario. I don't expect to get anything back of the things we've done to Kermit. But I've done the things to him because it's what I wanted, not what I think other people want to see on a modified vehicle. Almost everything has a functional purpose (there are, of course, the "styling" exceptions, heh). I don't disagree with you there. But I've also applied prudence to the modification decision!

I disagree. Big wheels look better :)

Only looks crap to geekish types who think 'That still has standard brakes". And let's be honest - who really cares what they think ;-)?

With stupid small standard brakes behind? It looks cack. It looks like some Muppet has ticked the "I'll have me bling wheelz cuz dey is kool innit?" and they've not thought about what they're doing.

Heh. Not to mention that silly big wheels on small cars ruin the handling and acceleration thanks to high unsprung weight. If it's a poorly built thing, the poor ride will shake it to bits too.

Wouldn't know about that, never been in a modded Ford with big wheels ;-)

You should blag a trip in the RS Focus.

I like BMWs (and Mercs) a lot. They're great to drive and

*inexpensive* to own once they're a few years old, especially 5s and 7s.

Most of us are more into enhancing performance than looks.

My current car is so modded it had a new VIN issued.

BMWs and Mercs need not be expensive to run, especially the bigger ones.

None of them are going to be cheap.

Cutting holes in your interior is very expensive.

The things most worth uprating IMO are

1.1 Brakes 1.2 Suspension 1.3 Wheels/tyres (as required by 1.1 and 1.2) 2.1 Engine 2.2 Transmission/final drive 3 Cosmetics

In the past I've had a Scirocco TS with uprated shocks, springs, ARB and brakes which required 14" wheels. It also had a fast road cam, tubular exhaust manifold, gas-flowed head and twin 40 carbs - sounded great, went well. Its next owner gave it a five speed gearbox and a trick paint-job.

Nothing since has been quite as modded and my current ALPINA is exactly as the boys in Buchloe built it, and gave it a new VIN. :)

A

There are some pics of my 3 door 1985 golf mk2 8v gti somewhere, it is currently being stripped and renovated as is the engine atm.

Currently it has:

Big valve head with stage 2 porting and polishing from what I can tell, along with 2 knackered valves :) but nothing else wrong. Kent cams Scorpion exhaust from the manifold back with a 2x3" tail pipe Koni adjustable with a -30mm drop Several sets of alloys inc 16" OZ volcanoes, 16" Team dynamic multi spokes and a set of Quattro 15" alloys which I will be spraying matt black to fit during the winter.

Plans

280mm brake conversion inc a 22mm master cylinder (speaking to a guy about parts today), although I won't have enough money to buy uprated pads and discs off the bat :( Chrome GL bumpers, polished Porsche 924 door handles and mk1 spec chrome door mirrors. Eventually a 5 stud conversion to fit Porsche alloys, not sure which style yet since I like allot of sets & G60 arches once I get the Porsche wheels. Re-spray in vw atlas gray, but not for a while yet since the current finish is in good condition.

There some old farts (in mind if not in body) who "Can't see the point, get a car with it all already".

1990 Toyota Celica GT4 ST185. Mongoose stainless exhaust. Simota cotton cone filter. SARD R2D2 dump valve. Some stainless underbonnet dress up. Removed the charcoal Cannister and the underbonnet lining (both weigh). Samco hoses. sFs Silicon vacuum hoses. DBA slotted discs and Akebono Ceramic pads. KYB 20% uprated struts with Eibach Pro 20% uprated springs, TRD front top mounts. Whiteline front ARB bushes and adjustable rear ARB and bushes. Superpro rear trailing arm bushes if I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

What about the V6 engine?

Missed a cpl of bits off:

Plans:

Samco coolant hoses Dark euro style crosshair head lamps Eibach strut brace kit Debadgeing

Long term, once I finish uni (if I don't crash it/stolen)

n20 & controller

2.0 conversion

Alfa 75. Bog standard bodywork. Uprated audio. Koni rear shocks. 'Gabriel' uprated gas front shocks.

Erm, that's about it. Other than possibly having the only remaining 75 TSpark with a working gearbox after last year's rebuilt.

To be fair, though, I have started with a decent car to begin with, so it's a case of rapidly diminishing returns when modding it.

What about the VR6?

By the time you've done all that, you could have bought a decent car, ffs!

You're into Corrado VR6 / tidy Porsche 944 money there.

Nothing wrong with thrashing the 16V, it never feels like it is being thrashed, it just loves to rev all the way to the red line. If you're planning on going the turbocharged route it'll be much easier, cheaper, more reliable and you'll get more power by just getting a 1.8T engine to start with.

Isn't the TDI quieter, faster, cleaner, smoother, cheaper, more reliable and kinder to little fluffy bunnies?

oops... wrong thread.