Just moved to London and hoped to find a good local community on PH, but it's pretty barren in the forum here. Perhaps just not a lot of pleasure to be had from driving in London? I think I can understand that.

Maybe I should say something to get us started. Well I'm in Fulham, renting, which from my outsider's perspective is an acceptable area but nothing special, in fact I'm a little disappointed. I enjoy walking from Kensington through Chelsea back home though - the number of nice cars you see. I wanted a Merc SL before I moved here and had to visit garages and forum members to just to see one. But In London I saw over 10 of them on a one hour walk last week. I'm still undecided, btw. It's a lot of money for an older car with a barely acceptable interior.

I don't have a car in London and feel a 190E 16v is not going to suit it well anyway. One reason for no car is the traffic and the Hammersmith flyover situation. Someone said it took them 4 hours to get across it once?! The other reason is Hammersmith and Fulham council and the parking permit situation - you need a lot of proof of genuine residency, which I don't have. My rent is all inclusive and my car is registered to my parents' business outside of London so there's not enough 'proof'. With the hassle, I have avoided it so far. Has anyone dealt with them? Or anyone selling a car with a permit .

There's a SIXT near me and, apart from Enterprise, they have proved the cheapest to rent cars from, on the occasions I've needed to. I've had a corsa 1.2 - quite fun, comfy, but surprising body roll and very slow; and an Audi A4 2.0tdi multitronic - disappointing and near sleep-inducing. It's cheaper to rent from Heathrow, but then you have to get out there and I'm not sure how much effort that would be. The standards of driving are very poor, and it's usually a certain type of car (a crap old shed or a base spec modern repmobile). I can't imagine what it's like to police the place, so the met have my sympathy despite their current difficulties. The tube is fine but I miss having a car outside that I can use whenever I want. I miss my driving fix but having something like my Merc to come back to at the weekends hits the spot. You can really have fun with it but still safely and without attracting attention.

What else? Well I have to get used to the regularity of murders. The free newspapers are nice but I'm not sure if I'm being brainwashed. My colleagues in London tend to be younger and I get on with them better. The cars here are nicer, and in much worse condition, than anywhere else. You see tasty cars, looking abused and a wreck, which makes me sad. And... that's about it.

There are loads of London based PHers.

Indeed, drinks are organised for Thursday evening in Mayfair although sadly I can't make this one. ( http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f... )

I lived in Fulham for the first 7 years I was in London, then Chelsea for 3 years and now Battersea. Never been a barrier to car ownership. All the challenges are resolvable. If parking is an issue, you could look into renting a space / garage somewhere?

I'll be living in fulham too from the end of the month and have an old SL

Regards the permit, it's meant to be a pain. You should fairly easily be able to get a H&F permit on a company car with a clever letter headed paper and v5 in company name. Anything comfy, old and auto gets my vote for London driving.

I guess any city is going to be pretty quiet on car culture. Obviously, with affluent areas come affluent people - some of whom will be devout petrolheads with Castrol R running through their veins and PH tattoos on their eyeballs, I'm sure, but many will simply buy a nice car to impress their fellow yuppies.

A lot of the remaining people will simply not bother to own a car in an area where parking is such a hassle, traffic is a constant pain and you rarely get to exceed 20mph.

As you can probably tell I'm not a fan of urban living.

On a more positive note, there are a few places. I've never been, but I believe there used to be 'city drinks' at Dirty Dick's near Liverpool Street and the Ace Cafe (once home to Fifth Gear, not to mention decades of cafe racers) is a decent haunt in north west London.

Large-engined auto Mercs hit the spot for me - bliss in traffic and handy when breaking out of the city. Plus a Clio for scampering about on very short runs. And a mountain bike for commuting and everything else.

I need to get something respectable on the road first! That said, I did turn up in the TopCats Suzuki Alto courtesy car once...

Just a quick note .... a supercar event is being held in Wimbledon SW19 on the 23rd June to coincide with the start of the Tennis fortnight and the Wimbledon Village Fair.

The event should be the perfect day out for PH'ers and thier families (if you want to bring them along !) as it is expected to have a great line up of supercars from a Pagani Zonda to a Ferrari Enzo and it is being held at the fabulous Cannizaro House Hotel overlooking Wimbledon Common during the Wimbledon Village fair (expected 20,000people !)
With up to 10 Supercars being supplied by Joe Macari Performance Cars London as well as up to another 10 interesting private entries it should not disapoint!
If you own an interesting vehicle .... let me know as there might be space for it at the event !

Might be available... not sure. As for an interesting vehicle, how about a rusty Golf with dented bodywork (not my doing!)? Certainly, I see people steering clear of it as they think the driver is registered blind so it turns heads, I guess.

I used to have a permit on my old company car in H&F. That was around 4 years ago though so perhaps the rules have changed? but, yes, it is designed to be a pain to get one. I have off street parking now which makes life a little easier...but, I have always had a car in London and have not ever seen it as a difficult place to own one.

From his website, it's free.

Upon re-reading his post, I realised it was a bit "marketing" even if poorly written (is the House only overlooking the Common during the tennis?) so thought he'd have a website in his profile... he did!