Grrrr...

I've had both... I miss both.

Yes and no; if you get one and keep it in good nick, it's hardly likely to depreciate, is it...

Yup.

I hadn't see it listed at that price - last auction finished without any bids, at £1000

in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, "JackH" slurred :

Fair point. On the other hand, you'd be driving a maestro instead of something nicer, quicker and more reliable. Also, you probably can't rely on cult-followings. I can readily imagine the appeal fading as they get more tricky to fix and other more modern cheap tat takes thier place. Or something like that.

Oh righty ho, level pegging in that case.

6.7 to 60, *standard*... spend a few minutes adjusting the actuator for the princely sum of sod all, and you're looking at a noticeable increase of power when booted.

The engine takes it reliably with ease, it's the intercooler that's the weak point if you go this route, and half an afternoon of fettling, (if that), sees a nice strong alloy one in its place.

Yes and no - the craving for Mk1 VW Beetles seems to have subsided, with the Mini taking its place - I have seen some vastly overpriced ones of late, covered in bling etc.

There were only ever 505 Maestro Turbos made as you rightly pointed out elsewhere... I think most have survived, and I really can't, given how mocked the cooking versions were in society in general and how quick these are when in fine fettle, see them becoming left by the wayside.

I take it you're not all that familiar with them mechanically then; piece of piss to work on, and quite strong mechanically.

None of this new fangled injection rubbish, either.

Unlike certain other Turbot cars of their era, they will take a fair bit of tweaking without blowing up every five minutes.

Whilst they might not be all that common these days, the Montego Turbo sold in fair numbers during their run, and were rarely seen advertised in their day in need of major mechanical attention, unlike things like the R5 GT Turbo (which to be fair, probably didn't rot as quickly).

But it won't, will it - the Montego Turbo which was basically the same car, albeit slightly heavier, isn't nearly as sought after. Why? Because amongst other things, they weren't as widely mocked by the general populous as being piss poor.

I'm at a loose end to think of any other cars produced in recent times where the manufacturer has taken something with as piss a poor image as the Maestro, and tweaked it *that* much.

It's somewhere in the mid 8s, actually.

Standard that is...

It doesn't cost that much to get much more power out of any turbo'ed hot hatch - the trick is to do it whilst retaining sensible reliability... which most scrotes sadly don't.

So whilst I'm sure you'd like to see an RS Turbo beat yours up a muddy farm track in the middle of winter, I'd like to see you produce the same power to weight gains you can with most turbo'ed hot hatches, for the same money, or perhaps beat them on a quick lap, at a trackday. ;-)

in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, "JackH" slurred :

Yebbut, something like, I dunno, a s14 200sx can also be fairly easily tweaked, and would probably be quicker round the bendy bits too.

Just up there a few lines^^ :-)

Nope, never looked at the oily bits of any maestro - haven't a clue about them, but I was thinking more along the lines of parts becoming more scarce.

Eh? Really? They had carbs on the turbo, but EFI on the non-turbo? I'm surprised, look- :-O

Yes, but in their price range they are competing against things from a newer, more japanese era, which blow up even less frequently.

Yeah, I know - it was digging out that finished auction that led me to the relisted one.

Peter

-- "The humble bic biro draws 13 beards, 9 devil moustaches and 49 penises on newspapers in it's lifetime."

*wafts 525i 24v under your nose again, as the reason its on my drive, is I lent the owner some money, and until that is sold, I can't bid on anything else*

Anyone fancy a nice CBR600FM???

That's strangely almost as tempting as the 525i, worryingly.

Peter

-- "The humble bic biro draws 13 beards, 9 devil moustaches and 49 penises on newspapers in it's lifetime."

Lovely old girl it is... but someone has just offered a deposit on it, so it's all but gone I'm afraid!

Out of interest, what did you get for it?

Peter

-- "The humble bic biro draws 13 beards, 9 devil moustaches and 49 penises on newspapers in it's lifetime."

£200.

Needs the engine changed, engine supplied.

Something decided to hammer the end of one of the injectors the other week, meaning the engine is U/S, but fortunately I had in the meantime acquired my last TD, which the person who bought it off me graciously used to argue head-on with a transit fitted with bullbars, a few months ago.

I just don't have the time or patience to do something like that - we're well busy at work, and I need the space back on the drive it's taking up.

Hmm, nitrous anyone?

The Eaton supercharger for the Exploder is quite a reasonable price too, and the engine takes all the go faster bits for the Mustang so it could be fun. I suspect though that the scope for boosting the output of a 4.0 N/A V6 is greater than that for a turboed four pot.

Hmm, having just checked upon the new Explorer I'm tempted. The stock

4.0 V6 now does 7.7 seconds to 60.

And a nitrous Explorer has made a 1/4 in 12.8 seconds. Hmmmmmmmmmm......

Yes, that can be fitted to anything though, within reason.

Probably cheaper to fit to a four pot, too.

Not £ for £ it isn't, or at least not in terms of actual performance figures increase, rather than actual BHP gains.

Yeah, great til you get to a corner... ;-)

Besides... all city dwelling 4x4s will be banned soon, if the eco fraternity have their way. :-P

I've never seen someone turn Burberry before. (c:

Douglas

in news:1go6ke9.1tj97bc13yokxbN%%steve%@malloc.co.uk, %steve%@malloc.co.uk (Steve Firth) slurred :

Um? For the 2005 Explorer, ford give a 0-60 figure of 10.2 secs. No wonder either, since it only produces 210HP and weighs in at 2000kg. Factor in transmission losses (4x4, automatic), put a couple of people and a full tank of fuel in, and you are looking at an effective power:weight ratio of about 70BHp/ton. Even without transmission losses, passengers or fuel, you've only got

105BHp/ton, so there is no chance it's gonna get there in 7.7s

It's absolutely piss-poor - the 1.9 205GTi made 130bhp as standard, and could easily match those figures - and it was normally aspirated :D