147 & other Alfa owners

Mayu handle well in the US for a US vehicle, but, UK roads are narrower and we have corners and twisty roads. It doesn't quite have the precission needed for a vehicle that is so big compared to the road it needs to be driven on over here.

Fuel costs. Makes the difference. The difference between £35 a week in the Celica, and £28 in the Saab. Also, the celica is losing/burning oil. Not enough to kill it, but enough for it to need almost weekly/200 mile topups. The Saab was totally rebuilt and is completley oil tight on full synthetic.

Actually considering selling both now (or advertising both), drive the one that doesn't sell, keep advertising that one, and when it goes get something, silly, small, old, cheap, diesel, and run it on vegetable oil mix or bio diesel.

I think mine was from changing shocks on a car (crawling on the floor), and driving it with motorsport bucket seats in.

Got better after I got my first Saab. Has slowly crept back since owning the Celica and having the suspension put right. the more I improved the handling, the worse my back got.

Guess I need a Bentley or something else with air suspension "honestly dear, for health reasons" ;)

Don't they build Combines?

Ya, dot too....

One thing about Euro (esp Swedish) cars is that they ARE comfortable!

Right. "Honey, I need to unass $275,000US for a Bentley cause of my bad back..."

Drove it on an old US (two lane...they were just marking the Brand New pavement (uh, that's NOT a sidewalk for those of you from Yirrup...) and then on the Interstate. Pretty good to me.

Uh, he had made some 'mods', like exhaust and chipping the thing. Est. 425 HP...

Please explain how you 'chip' a '68 Corvette.

I have to say, you've obviously never had much experiance with high-end vehicles then. Turning is sloppy and vaugue, suspension is floaty and nausia inducing, unless its in a sports car where they've decided that shock absorbers are a weighty extravigence. Build quality is usually poor, and engines are usually detuned to give more torque low-down for the ubixuitus slush-boxes to work best.

in 99, i used to drive a 98 TVR cerbera for a daily driver, the speed8 with the 4.5 I think.I had to make a trip to LA. I was staying with a friend, and he let me use his car when i needed to (a brand new, 2000 corvette) First time i drove it, I thought it was in limp mode. I took the cars owner out in it later that day, and said 'can't you feel it?' "Feels fine to me". A small fibreglass car with that big of an engine should not perform that badly. It was on a par with a delorian, and that should say something.

yeah, i gave you the weblink, wasn't sure though if it'd been on the discovery channel yet.

No, no, no! Please DO try to keep up!

I said the performance of the LIGHTENING was the same as a '68 Vette.

He Chipped the Lightening to 425HP

Sheesh!!! ;)

(the trick here was; look at my first sentance. Then in the second one I said the truck was pretty good for a '68 Vette...because that's what it felt like I was driving...sorry for the confusion!)

Damned right. The seats in my 340 i can take for 9+ hours easily. Never managed more than 3 in anything else without back pain, unless i've 'modified' the seatback to match the volvo's, with a towel or similar.

its possible to redo suspensions to totally different systems. Not sure on the air-ride, but I did modify some citroen stuff for my MG metroTT, to give it the power hydraulic suspension of their old Bx series, with the activ system they fit in their xantia's (meant I could alter the ride height, and it had an active anti-roll system, giving 1deg of body-roll max.) Was a very comfortable and smooth ride.

Wasn't easy, not entirely trouble free, or low-maintaince either, but works VERY well. I'd suggest you looked into it trueno, but i assume you're in NA where citroen parts are hard to find.

I was working in an auot parts store 2-3 years ago and a guy came in looking for a brake light swtitch for a Citroen XM.

Right...

He pulled the old one out on the spot and we matched it with a Ford switch.

Said there were HUNDREDS of

I am not postulating anything, simply stating a fact. Anti SUV haters aside, the larger the vehicle the less likely properly belted passengers will be injured or killed in the most common type of accidents, period. Obviously even a semi looses to a locomotive. Once again the engineer will likely fair better than the truck driver even without crumple zones. One simply can not defy the laws of physics. ;)

mike hunt

HOLY CRAP!!!! I've never even SEEN one except for the magazines. Fire-breathing monster, from what I hear...

Or simple practical realities. You're quite right that in the initial impact they will sustain less injuries. HOWEVER the vehicles do ahve a tendency to roll afterwards, as they ride over smaller vehicles, causing much greater secondary injuries. As someone who's claimed to work in this field, surely you should know this fact which has been widely known and documented for over 20 years (and has been a facotr in millitary vehicle design since the late 20s)

this is why there have been postulations about an 'impact bar' of a suitable height on all vehciles, so they all impact with each other with matching strength. Problem is, where do you put the bars on an elise, and a Land rover defender, so they match?

not a big fan of modern Rally cars. They're getting to be so sensitive, and delicate, and computer controlled. I'll stick with

Was it '88? '90? '92?

Ford RS200 Rallye car. What a machine!

yeah, and what a shame the 6R4 metro kept kicking its backside

the escort was a 1971. (hence '71 escort')

most of the 6R4's i've driven were 83-84ish, groupB like the RS200s