My VXR Nurburgring #626 Replacement
Discussion
Well, the time came for the Military dealerships to start phoning me and giving me their best efforts to sell me their cars! I swear they have spies gathering information on what i'm looking for.. Firstly Griffen phoned me and offered me some 4WD beasties..
Subaru Impreza STi £23,000 Stock
Subaru Impreza STi 330s £27,000 Stock
Mitsubishi Evolution X FQ300 £28,900 Stock
Having recently been at a Subaru dealer looking at RB320s (finding they retail for similar sums to the 330s still..) i had a test drive in the STi. Admittedly, it felt like nothing i expected it to. Masses of grip, but i didn't know when it would end, and that put me off.. I acquired a test driven/drive in my friends Evo X FQ360 and found the same feeling, that, and the FQ was out of my price range for sure. So that left the STi. Even with no options, Subaru wouldn't give me an inch on the price, and the less than helpful further enquiries department of Griffen meant that i decided to wait for a better offer from another company..
Eastbourne Motor Company gave me a bell and asked if i was looking to change my car ( http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...) to which i gave them a list of possibilities. Again, despite being cheaper than Griffens quote, the Evo X was out of my range, and they provided me further information on its servicing prices (later, an insurance quote in the regions of silly money ended all ideas). However i came up trumps on one of my choices.. Ford's Focus RS for £22,000 Stock. Initially i was apprehensive, having the 'Burg running close to 300bhp was bad enough for a light FWD car, and the RS was obviously punching out 301bhp.. A quick drive of one (again a friends car, Ford wouldn't let me drive one as im only 23) without being too aggressive did wonders to quell the apprehension. So i furthered the deal by asking for:
Performance Blue
Lux Pack 1
Bluetooth
iPod connectivity
The response i was given was £23,166 with £14,000 for my 'Burg (what i paid new for it in December the year previous) and a build date for September, delivery 5th February. A quick numbers session and i called them back and the car was entered into Ford VISTA. Eventually, the news came that my RS was born on the 22/12/2009 and waiting for pickup. Due to BFG regulations i had to wait a year and 5 days from my BFG registration which meant that i was going to have yet another tight period of time to get things sorted in.. In which BFG did their usual attempt at ruining my plans.. But i managed to pick her up...
Initially, i had excitement as i drove the 'Burg down from Germany, to the UK, re-registered in DVLA Maidstone and then went to EMC some 60 miles away, without issue.. However.. Things, were not to stay this way. Within 20 minutes of being at Eastbourne Motor Company i was fuming. Apparently they had not recieved any of the 3 spec sheets i sent, post/email/email and were not therefore expecting a tuned car. Instead of dealing with the saleswoman i had dealt with the year before and up to the pickup of the RS, i was now having to deal with a young man who was rather ignorant of the world of tuning. His phrasing and my response will be long burned into my head... "We weren't expecting a car to come with tuning upgrades, especially black lightweight wheels, and we won't be able to make the price we were going to sell it on for"... "No, you'll easily make more, just like you did with my friends Stage 3 car" i replied.. He became flustered at my angered tone and tried to defend his part of the conversation, which did nothing but make more more angry. He suggested he took it to the workshop for an inspection to ensure "everything was in the right place", his tone suggested i was an idiot, so i gave him the keys and walked to the tea machine... At this point, Dominique, the saleswoman came in with my RS documentation and brought around the RS for my viewing.. I had previously made a 30 point list of possible issues to check, and spent a good 30 minutes in the rain checking the RS. When i returned somewhat wetter, the man was back with "Bad news, i'm afraid"... "The two front tyres need replacing as they are under 4mm, but still road legal".. In the ensuing arguement i approached him, got so angry with him that i had to walk to the tea machine again and eventually head outside into the rain again. They charged me £300 for Toyo T1-R tyres because for all intentions, they hadn't made it clear that the car was to have 4mm tread minimum. My anger had brewed to the surface by this point, and the man, now visibly unsettled went about his buisness with the part ex rather sharpish, then dumped Dominique back in front of me to sort out the RS... I had asked for a full tank of fuel, but instead recieved a £24 iPod connection cable gratis.. which was better than sod all.. And off i went into the wild murky rainy yonder.. I went back the long way and had quite possibly the best drive i had ever had at that time.. The noise from the 5pot turbo was amazing!
A few weeks later i was contacted by a man off VXRonline, reference my 'Burg asking for a proper spec. He'd hunted me down over the forums for a week, as he was interested in buying it off them. They were advertising it as having a Big Brake kit and all sorts, so i sent him a copy of the list.. He also quizzed me on the tyre choice for the front wheels.. Saying "Think the car is a credit to you. Very clean and very tidy, but the tyre choice is strange on the front wheels"... "They are cheap Nexun tyres".. Oh really.. i'm sure i paid for Toyo T1-Rs... I suggested to him he used it in his bargaining tactics, and told him how much i sold it to them for... with 21k miles on the clock.. The last i heard is he was picking her up on that friday for a good price.. As so often is, my 'Amy' disappeared into the ether and is yet to resurface..
Fast forward a month and after rocketting back to Germany, registering the RS, i was deployed on exercise for 4 of the longest weeks i have experienced.. Booked leave and drove to the UK, where i had booked a trackday at Brands hatch for some morale.. Went to SCC Performance in St Albans for a quick track day quiz and to look at the possiblity of a Cat Back exhaust.. Returned with a full Milltek decat.. Somehow.. So to the trackday... A full rookie day, i arrived at 0730 sharp, got my lid, got in the car and loved every minute of the day, getting faster, better lines, and putting up a good fight to all the other cars on the track, regularily passing some of the Caterhams who were nice enough to realise i was going faster than them and have the grace to move over for me to pass.. Mind you, i was routinely demolished by a Porker that apparently was running serious BHP.. Unfortunately, not every day ends well.. Somehow, i managed to Shunt a Porsche Boxster when i had just decided to go home.. Bad times.. £600 damage to the Porker, £300 to mine.. Luckily, i got some discount on mine and reduced that figure to £165.. Alls well that ends well, and now i've learnt my lesson that no matter how tired i feel, i must stay vigilant.. and so, i'm booked back in for another day in August!
Got some pictures from the professionals of me on the track, and returned to Germany where i managed to reach a whopping 170mph (clock indicated) with my mate in his tuned 2.0T Impreza STi in tow.. Then on to another month long stint on exercise, miles from my RS...
All in all it's been a hectic few months, and an amazing 5000 (yes 5000 from new) miles... After my trackday the only thing i'm going to do is get some uprated pads, discs and fluid.. i could essentially smell it all cooking... I don't believe it needs more power, just to be driven right
Only time will tell however.. I'm sure somewhere in the future there will be some mapping and intercoolery affairs going on
So, to the meat.. The rollers at AMD Essex ran 300bhp on a hot day, decat in place, which i'm not overly concerned about, knowing that T5 Duratecs throttle down often on RRs..
AMD Essex Dyno run.. Unfortunately, my cameras microphone isn't good enough to register when it gets really loud on full chat!!
http://www.facebook.com/v/390433840847
And some photos...
The Long extinct M25 Ring decal!
As always, comments are welcome, even the negative ones.. I'm sure someone will be incapable of controlling themselves and post something along the lines of "Yeah, but it's still FWD" or "Should have made it 4WD" lol! Oh and being in the Army and based in Germany i have Dual Plates.
Si
Subaru Impreza STi £23,000 Stock
Subaru Impreza STi 330s £27,000 Stock
Mitsubishi Evolution X FQ300 £28,900 Stock
Having recently been at a Subaru dealer looking at RB320s (finding they retail for similar sums to the 330s still..) i had a test drive in the STi. Admittedly, it felt like nothing i expected it to. Masses of grip, but i didn't know when it would end, and that put me off.. I acquired a test driven/drive in my friends Evo X FQ360 and found the same feeling, that, and the FQ was out of my price range for sure. So that left the STi. Even with no options, Subaru wouldn't give me an inch on the price, and the less than helpful further enquiries department of Griffen meant that i decided to wait for a better offer from another company..
Eastbourne Motor Company gave me a bell and asked if i was looking to change my car ( http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...) to which i gave them a list of possibilities. Again, despite being cheaper than Griffens quote, the Evo X was out of my range, and they provided me further information on its servicing prices (later, an insurance quote in the regions of silly money ended all ideas). However i came up trumps on one of my choices.. Ford's Focus RS for £22,000 Stock. Initially i was apprehensive, having the 'Burg running close to 300bhp was bad enough for a light FWD car, and the RS was obviously punching out 301bhp.. A quick drive of one (again a friends car, Ford wouldn't let me drive one as im only 23) without being too aggressive did wonders to quell the apprehension. So i furthered the deal by asking for:
Performance Blue
Lux Pack 1
Bluetooth
iPod connectivity
The response i was given was £23,166 with £14,000 for my 'Burg (what i paid new for it in December the year previous) and a build date for September, delivery 5th February. A quick numbers session and i called them back and the car was entered into Ford VISTA. Eventually, the news came that my RS was born on the 22/12/2009 and waiting for pickup. Due to BFG regulations i had to wait a year and 5 days from my BFG registration which meant that i was going to have yet another tight period of time to get things sorted in.. In which BFG did their usual attempt at ruining my plans.. But i managed to pick her up...
Initially, i had excitement as i drove the 'Burg down from Germany, to the UK, re-registered in DVLA Maidstone and then went to EMC some 60 miles away, without issue.. However.. Things, were not to stay this way. Within 20 minutes of being at Eastbourne Motor Company i was fuming. Apparently they had not recieved any of the 3 spec sheets i sent, post/email/email and were not therefore expecting a tuned car. Instead of dealing with the saleswoman i had dealt with the year before and up to the pickup of the RS, i was now having to deal with a young man who was rather ignorant of the world of tuning. His phrasing and my response will be long burned into my head... "We weren't expecting a car to come with tuning upgrades, especially black lightweight wheels, and we won't be able to make the price we were going to sell it on for"... "No, you'll easily make more, just like you did with my friends Stage 3 car" i replied.. He became flustered at my angered tone and tried to defend his part of the conversation, which did nothing but make more more angry. He suggested he took it to the workshop for an inspection to ensure "everything was in the right place", his tone suggested i was an idiot, so i gave him the keys and walked to the tea machine... At this point, Dominique, the saleswoman came in with my RS documentation and brought around the RS for my viewing.. I had previously made a 30 point list of possible issues to check, and spent a good 30 minutes in the rain checking the RS. When i returned somewhat wetter, the man was back with "Bad news, i'm afraid"... "The two front tyres need replacing as they are under 4mm, but still road legal".. In the ensuing arguement i approached him, got so angry with him that i had to walk to the tea machine again and eventually head outside into the rain again. They charged me £300 for Toyo T1-R tyres because for all intentions, they hadn't made it clear that the car was to have 4mm tread minimum. My anger had brewed to the surface by this point, and the man, now visibly unsettled went about his buisness with the part ex rather sharpish, then dumped Dominique back in front of me to sort out the RS... I had asked for a full tank of fuel, but instead recieved a £24 iPod connection cable gratis.. which was better than sod all.. And off i went into the wild murky rainy yonder.. I went back the long way and had quite possibly the best drive i had ever had at that time.. The noise from the 5pot turbo was amazing!
A few weeks later i was contacted by a man off VXRonline, reference my 'Burg asking for a proper spec. He'd hunted me down over the forums for a week, as he was interested in buying it off them. They were advertising it as having a Big Brake kit and all sorts, so i sent him a copy of the list.. He also quizzed me on the tyre choice for the front wheels.. Saying "Think the car is a credit to you. Very clean and very tidy, but the tyre choice is strange on the front wheels"... "They are cheap Nexun tyres".. Oh really.. i'm sure i paid for Toyo T1-Rs... I suggested to him he used it in his bargaining tactics, and told him how much i sold it to them for... with 21k miles on the clock.. The last i heard is he was picking her up on that friday for a good price.. As so often is, my 'Amy' disappeared into the ether and is yet to resurface..
Fast forward a month and after rocketting back to Germany, registering the RS, i was deployed on exercise for 4 of the longest weeks i have experienced.. Booked leave and drove to the UK, where i had booked a trackday at Brands hatch for some morale.. Went to SCC Performance in St Albans for a quick track day quiz and to look at the possiblity of a Cat Back exhaust.. Returned with a full Milltek decat.. Somehow.. So to the trackday... A full rookie day, i arrived at 0730 sharp, got my lid, got in the car and loved every minute of the day, getting faster, better lines, and putting up a good fight to all the other cars on the track, regularily passing some of the Caterhams who were nice enough to realise i was going faster than them and have the grace to move over for me to pass.. Mind you, i was routinely demolished by a Porker that apparently was running serious BHP.. Unfortunately, not every day ends well.. Somehow, i managed to Shunt a Porsche Boxster when i had just decided to go home.. Bad times.. £600 damage to the Porker, £300 to mine.. Luckily, i got some discount on mine and reduced that figure to £165.. Alls well that ends well, and now i've learnt my lesson that no matter how tired i feel, i must stay vigilant.. and so, i'm booked back in for another day in August!
Got some pictures from the professionals of me on the track, and returned to Germany where i managed to reach a whopping 170mph (clock indicated) with my mate in his tuned 2.0T Impreza STi in tow.. Then on to another month long stint on exercise, miles from my RS...All in all it's been a hectic few months, and an amazing 5000 (yes 5000 from new) miles... After my trackday the only thing i'm going to do is get some uprated pads, discs and fluid.. i could essentially smell it all cooking... I don't believe it needs more power, just to be driven right
Only time will tell however.. I'm sure somewhere in the future there will be some mapping and intercoolery affairs going on
So, to the meat.. The rollers at AMD Essex ran 300bhp on a hot day, decat in place, which i'm not overly concerned about, knowing that T5 Duratecs throttle down often on RRs..
AMD Essex Dyno run.. Unfortunately, my cameras microphone isn't good enough to register when it gets really loud on full chat!!
http://www.facebook.com/v/390433840847
And some photos...
The Long extinct M25 Ring decal!
As always, comments are welcome, even the negative ones.. I'm sure someone will be incapable of controlling themselves and post something along the lines of "Yeah, but it's still FWD" or "Should have made it 4WD" lol! Oh and being in the Army and based in Germany i have Dual Plates.
Si
Edited by Havoc856 on Monday 10th May 20:36 for proper URL linking
Edited by Havoc856 on Monday 10th May 20:38
-Ad- said:
Havoc856 said:
-Ad- said:
Sunglasses inside.
Cool!
You know it Cool!
Car looks awesome, almost deep purple!
It would be a crime to not get even more pics up
And a "Daddy or Chips" moment!
How hilarious: sales boy, knowing that you've travelled long way, decides to try and shaft you on a deal you thought was done!
Still, you do get the last laugh safe in the knowledge that you have a nice car and he's a t
t. Did he have spiky hair and an ugly tie?
PS - that video is terrible, you really need to add about 12 more...
Still, you do get the last laugh safe in the knowledge that you have a nice car and he's a t
t. Did he have spiky hair and an ugly tie?PS - that video is terrible, you really need to add about 12 more...
Animal said:
How hilarious: sales boy, knowing that you've travelled long way, decides to try and shaft you on a deal you thought was done!
Still, you do get the last laugh safe in the knowledge that you have a nice car and he's a tt. Did he have spiky hair and an ugly tie?
PS - that video is terrible, you really need to add about 12 more...
Indeed.. Yeah unfortunately, Blackberry phones aren't the best for videos! Currently WIP.. maybe tomorrow i'll get a decent video lolStill, you do get the last laugh safe in the knowledge that you have a nice car and he's a t
t. Did he have spiky hair and an ugly tie?PS - that video is terrible, you really need to add about 12 more...
Waugh-terfall said:
Looks lurvely! Explain this 'dual plates' business to me, please?
Basically when we buy the car, you are registered on the DVLA UK Network, but in order to qualify for Tax Free, we export, then re-register on the BFG 'DVLA' Network, which gets us a new number plate, whilst retaining the old one for when we re-register on the UK Net when we get posted back. The new plates also incorporates security issues with number plate tracking, but unfortunately the BFG plate also doesn't register with the plods ANPR stuff properly, resulting in me getting pulled up and having to explain that my car is insured and taxed, and im in the BFG network. We always have to carry insurance cards etc.
russy01 said:
Kiddie at eastbourse wasn't jimmy was it? Bought my astra there 2 years ago, had lots of problems with them. Untruthful garage, really bad attitude.
I didn't catch his name, i used to recommend people to EMC, after that, i haven't. Wouldn't like to see my mates go through the same farce i did.John D. said:
Made me chuckle that you felt the need to give the exact number of your VXR in the title.
And again when you referred to it as a light FWD car. Heavy in my book!
My writeup is already on here for that car, under that name, so it's a low level link if anything. Yeah i suppose in reality a 1200-1300kg kerb weight is heavy!! And again when you referred to it as a light FWD car. Heavy in my book!
Edited by John D. on Monday 10th May 22:46
Stedman said:
Lovely car, the dealership lad seems like a cheeky tit though. I hope you've called them regarding the tyres?
Unfortunately there is nothing i can do, contractual agreement. Still uber annoyed at it, but what can you do! I've still got a whack off the RRP price for my car.Track day pics are uploading, because of the snail like pace of my internet, they should be up later rather than sooner lol
Edited by Havoc856 on Tuesday 11th May 11:45
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