All things considered then, I think you've frankly had an amazingly good result and it's always a pleasure to hear of a dealer doing right by its customers.

I think naming and praising is quite acceptable, it bloody should be if not.

Good show from them and I hope the car gives you no further grief.

Thanks!

Yes indeed. They made a point of telling me that they didn't do too well out of this sale (which I can certainly believe), but just wanted me to be happy and still offered me back into their dealership for a cuppa once I'd taken it for a test drive.

Anyway, the honourable mention goes to Bellevue Garage in Dunstable, Bedfordshire: http://www.bellevuegarageltd.co.uk/

Well done on a good result.

Good outcome in the end OP, perhaps keep us updated in this thread how the car's going over the next 12 months or so.

that wouldn't fall foul of any name and shame rules

Oh yes, my face (and tyres) have been suitably melted on several occasions! The amount of torque that this car has right from the off is simply immense.

The car has (touch wood) been totally fine since the gearbox fiasco. I've kept ahead of maintenance schedules in other areas replacing some of the 'likely to go wrong' stuff well before its been required and have even rebuilt the supercharger just for the fun of it. The engine is really easy to work on - even for a novice like me.

One thing I will say though is that contrary to what people told me when I originally asked if the car was easy to drive/suitable for family, I'd probably say it's not exactly ideal. The car wants to go FAST! And by that I mean it is very hard to pull out of junctions in it smoothly. Even using feather-like pressure on the throttle, it either barely moves, or launches forward like a scalded cat. I even replaced the throttle sensor/pedal assembly to see if it would help, but it didn't. It's kind of annoying really as the wife always glares at me thinking I'm trying to be a boy racer with the kids in the car, when I'm really not. However, when I drive the car alone and can 'press on' a bit more, its an absolute joy to drive.

I think the car could benefit from a 'snow mode' or something to significantly dumb down the throttle response for days when you want to drive Miss Daisy.

Other than that, the 12mpg on short runs is a bit of a stinger, but I knew what i was getting myself into with that anyway

Nope, not that I can seem to find. There is S (Standard - not sport), C (comfort which seems no different to S) and M (manual). I've not got any other winter related settings.

Even putting the car in M, it still controls to an extent what gear you are in and selecting 2 to pull away seems to be ignored.

I may well give that a try. I've used two foot 'driving' before for pre-loading the TQ converter to get the best launches, but never for the other end of the spectrum

Only thing is...i wonder how much additional wear that will have on the brakes?

Excellent, that's what it's for.

You obviously have balls for fiddling with the supercharger on a hand built engine. I would say that if you can't move at the right speed out of junctions either your accelerator control needs improvement or somethings not right - sorry to say