Working towards a 'fast road' Cayman + other toys
Discussion
I've been a member for many years, always lurking around, looking at other's build threads with envy and as I've not been well this week I thought I'd kill some time by making one myself to act as a kind of diary.
As with most people on here, in my years I've slowly gone through most of the hot hatches of the day - then onto Coupe's such as 3x Fiat Coupe 20VT's, a Bmw E46 M3, an Audi S5, Mercedes Clk55 Amg, Mazda Rx8 231 and the like. amongst those were also lighter cars such as a Vauxhall VX220 and a couple of Eunos Supercharged track warriors - all of which were veritable bargains at the time and now looking back, all seem overpriced... I guess you can't compare what you paid to what it's now worth or you'll end up with nothing!
Anyway...
I've recently bought myself a 987.1 Cayman S, low miles and FSH. I looked for one some years ago but decided on Audi S5 at the time. Prices are creeping up but haven't rocketed to the same degree as some other models or Marques. My intention is to convert it to a sort of fast road spec, nothing too outlandish but it's not a daily so I don't mind it being a little raucous.
The 987.1 is a small car. I love it, compared to my daily and work cars it's diddy and very go kart like. It's certainly a small package to fit a 3.4 litre in. I tend to drive with my lights on in daytime as well, kind of like rolling with DRL's as you really fall into other driver's blind spots being so low down.
It doesn't have a great deal of additions- so no sport seats here or Bose sound system. It does have the PCM2.1 with archaic sat nav functionality though which is perfect for the bin. It looks to have the Xenon's, are these standard? The last owner restores classic vehicles as a business so he reprayed the front end to tidy up the stonechips and might have removed the spray jets from the bumper.
It's nicely modified already, to my tastes atleast with the splitter and ducktail spoiler, it also sits well on staggered Bola CSR 19" wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport's, although I also have some OEM 997 Lobster Claw's too.
It's lowered 35mm on Vogland's I believe with OEM dampers. It sits beautifully and doesn't seem crashy, not too low for speedbumps either luckily as the GT3 esque front splitter is not overly flexible.
It also has a stainless sports exhaust, brand unknown until I get underneath it but it's quite loud, I tend to choose the daily to go to work at 0500 hrs...
The first thing I put in was an extinguisher on a quick release mount- I have them in all my cars. It might not do much against an inferno but could still save a life.
The leather seats are in good condition but I used some Auto Glym conditioner to bring them back to their best. I'm no detailer, very amateur but I enjoy seeing results from some grafting. I might swap them out for some nice Gt3 style seats at some stage but no rush there.
I found out that the front air ducts do not provide any protection for the radiators and worse still is leaf collection that over time blocks and can cause rot. The radiators are new so I thought I'd best protect them. I see that you can buy special grilles made for the job, but I thought I would make some. I also decided to tint the foglights, I am unsure about them at the moment though. If you have an opinion, let me know!
I've also done some fixes since I bought it, the last owner had it for a very long time but it wasn't driven a great deal so some stuff might have been missed. We're talking small stuff, the main one being an common spoiler related fault message at 75mph. it does have a ducktail fitted but that's no reason for it not to be working. I was going to buy a Foxwell NT530 and code it out but I think I'll try to repair or fix the motor first as it'll be cool to be able to drop it.
Not really a fix as such, but I really didn't like the PCM system, it really aged the interior. In the past I have bought some Android system's such as Pumpkin and was hugely impressed to the point that I think they're still better than the current ones being pumped out by premium brands outside of Tesla's infotainment.
I decided to try out a cheap Android 11 double din unit. I can't remember the brand but I'm sure they are all one and the same, just different boxes. I also bought the rip off Porsche cage and surround and the 987 specific ISO harness.
This should have been a 10 minute job but I had NO IDEA that these cheaper 'double din's are not actually regulation sized, it's about 5mm bigger in each direction so would never fit flush or even in the double din sized cage. I managed to get round the issue by carefully cutting and reshaping the cage to fit, then mounting the headunit behind the rip off Porsche surround instead of in it.
I would not do it again, massive ballache to make it work well but it now atleast looks good and is done right, I'd have just binned it otherwise about bought Kenwood or Alpine HU.
I'm using the AGAMA car launcher interface on it bought from Play Store, way better than the generic one that it came with. Until last week I didn't know you could buy differing car interfaces!
Oh and while it was all out, I replaced the buttons on the climate control unit.
Thanks for looking. D
As with most people on here, in my years I've slowly gone through most of the hot hatches of the day - then onto Coupe's such as 3x Fiat Coupe 20VT's, a Bmw E46 M3, an Audi S5, Mercedes Clk55 Amg, Mazda Rx8 231 and the like. amongst those were also lighter cars such as a Vauxhall VX220 and a couple of Eunos Supercharged track warriors - all of which were veritable bargains at the time and now looking back, all seem overpriced... I guess you can't compare what you paid to what it's now worth or you'll end up with nothing!
Anyway...
I've recently bought myself a 987.1 Cayman S, low miles and FSH. I looked for one some years ago but decided on Audi S5 at the time. Prices are creeping up but haven't rocketed to the same degree as some other models or Marques. My intention is to convert it to a sort of fast road spec, nothing too outlandish but it's not a daily so I don't mind it being a little raucous.
The 987.1 is a small car. I love it, compared to my daily and work cars it's diddy and very go kart like. It's certainly a small package to fit a 3.4 litre in. I tend to drive with my lights on in daytime as well, kind of like rolling with DRL's as you really fall into other driver's blind spots being so low down.
It doesn't have a great deal of additions- so no sport seats here or Bose sound system. It does have the PCM2.1 with archaic sat nav functionality though which is perfect for the bin. It looks to have the Xenon's, are these standard? The last owner restores classic vehicles as a business so he reprayed the front end to tidy up the stonechips and might have removed the spray jets from the bumper.
It's nicely modified already, to my tastes atleast with the splitter and ducktail spoiler, it also sits well on staggered Bola CSR 19" wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport's, although I also have some OEM 997 Lobster Claw's too.
It's lowered 35mm on Vogland's I believe with OEM dampers. It sits beautifully and doesn't seem crashy, not too low for speedbumps either luckily as the GT3 esque front splitter is not overly flexible.
It also has a stainless sports exhaust, brand unknown until I get underneath it but it's quite loud, I tend to choose the daily to go to work at 0500 hrs...
The first thing I put in was an extinguisher on a quick release mount- I have them in all my cars. It might not do much against an inferno but could still save a life.
The leather seats are in good condition but I used some Auto Glym conditioner to bring them back to their best. I'm no detailer, very amateur but I enjoy seeing results from some grafting. I might swap them out for some nice Gt3 style seats at some stage but no rush there.
I found out that the front air ducts do not provide any protection for the radiators and worse still is leaf collection that over time blocks and can cause rot. The radiators are new so I thought I'd best protect them. I see that you can buy special grilles made for the job, but I thought I would make some. I also decided to tint the foglights, I am unsure about them at the moment though. If you have an opinion, let me know!
I've also done some fixes since I bought it, the last owner had it for a very long time but it wasn't driven a great deal so some stuff might have been missed. We're talking small stuff, the main one being an common spoiler related fault message at 75mph. it does have a ducktail fitted but that's no reason for it not to be working. I was going to buy a Foxwell NT530 and code it out but I think I'll try to repair or fix the motor first as it'll be cool to be able to drop it.
Not really a fix as such, but I really didn't like the PCM system, it really aged the interior. In the past I have bought some Android system's such as Pumpkin and was hugely impressed to the point that I think they're still better than the current ones being pumped out by premium brands outside of Tesla's infotainment.
I decided to try out a cheap Android 11 double din unit. I can't remember the brand but I'm sure they are all one and the same, just different boxes. I also bought the rip off Porsche cage and surround and the 987 specific ISO harness.
This should have been a 10 minute job but I had NO IDEA that these cheaper 'double din's are not actually regulation sized, it's about 5mm bigger in each direction so would never fit flush or even in the double din sized cage. I managed to get round the issue by carefully cutting and reshaping the cage to fit, then mounting the headunit behind the rip off Porsche surround instead of in it.
I would not do it again, massive ballache to make it work well but it now atleast looks good and is done right, I'd have just binned it otherwise about bought Kenwood or Alpine HU.
I'm using the AGAMA car launcher interface on it bought from Play Store, way better than the generic one that it came with. Until last week I didn't know you could buy differing car interfaces!
Oh and while it was all out, I replaced the buttons on the climate control unit.
Thanks for looking. D
I mentioned in the topic other toys but then made no mention of them.
Presently I have the following, much to the missus' disdain.
2012 Bmw 530D M Sport Touring, remapped to 310bhp/650 Nm (479 ftlb) - it's a daily so modifications only stem to darker than OEM privacy glass, a removable OEM tow bar fitted and I also replaced all of the speakers with a Vibe BMW F series specific speaker and amp set. (way better than OEM)
Bike wise, haven't ridden properly for around 10 years so I decided to play it reasonably safe when delving back in and got myself an Aprilia Shiver 750. Some nice bits on it, top of the pile is the Memjet to sort the Aprilia fuelling issue (very lumpy mapping from factory with a flat spot in the revs if you don't have something like this). I think for a naked bike, for the money spent it looks great.
I also wanted to cause less issues on BOAT's (byways) and trails, so bought myself an electric dirt bike - namely a Surron LBX. It does around about 50 mph and can climb 45 degree inclines with absolute linear power...and in relative silence!
Finally, my cherished 1989 Mercedes 190E. I have spent a considerable amount of time returning this to it's former glory as it had been mothballed for 7 plus years. It worked, flew through it's MOT with no advisories this year.
It's a 2.0 8v with a genuine Cosworth bodykit, the Monoblocks were added fairly recently and do need a proper refurb but I think it sits just right.
It seems criminal that I can go out to the garage, having left this on a trickle charger for weeks and it'll start reliably everytime, waft about at 80mph with no issues in the world but then get into a 21st century car and face all sorts of woes.
I know I'm in the minority here, but one of my favourite cars that I've ever owned and still miss to this day is my old Alfa 159 2.4 Jtdm. Just digging through old photos for this thread made me think of it. I wonder who owns it now...
Presently I have the following, much to the missus' disdain.
2012 Bmw 530D M Sport Touring, remapped to 310bhp/650 Nm (479 ftlb) - it's a daily so modifications only stem to darker than OEM privacy glass, a removable OEM tow bar fitted and I also replaced all of the speakers with a Vibe BMW F series specific speaker and amp set. (way better than OEM)
Bike wise, haven't ridden properly for around 10 years so I decided to play it reasonably safe when delving back in and got myself an Aprilia Shiver 750. Some nice bits on it, top of the pile is the Memjet to sort the Aprilia fuelling issue (very lumpy mapping from factory with a flat spot in the revs if you don't have something like this). I think for a naked bike, for the money spent it looks great.
I also wanted to cause less issues on BOAT's (byways) and trails, so bought myself an electric dirt bike - namely a Surron LBX. It does around about 50 mph and can climb 45 degree inclines with absolute linear power...and in relative silence!
Finally, my cherished 1989 Mercedes 190E. I have spent a considerable amount of time returning this to it's former glory as it had been mothballed for 7 plus years. It worked, flew through it's MOT with no advisories this year.
It's a 2.0 8v with a genuine Cosworth bodykit, the Monoblocks were added fairly recently and do need a proper refurb but I think it sits just right.
It seems criminal that I can go out to the garage, having left this on a trickle charger for weeks and it'll start reliably everytime, waft about at 80mph with no issues in the world but then get into a 21st century car and face all sorts of woes.
I know I'm in the minority here, but one of my favourite cars that I've ever owned and still miss to this day is my old Alfa 159 2.4 Jtdm. Just digging through old photos for this thread made me think of it. I wonder who owns it now...
Thank you guys, appreciate your comments. There are SO MANY nice cars on this forum, its a cool place.
Glad people like the 190E, it's only done 67k miles so is in remarkable condition. I usually drive it to the gym and always end up looking back at it on the way in!
In regards to the 987.1 Cayman S, work goes on...
Small update, I got to the spoiler motor to test it for power, it was receiving 12v just fine but could not hear it attempting to operate. I gave it some taps with a small hammer in the manner you would knock an old starter motor to free the brushes and it did the trick! Not sure how long this will last or if I've managed to free it up after inactivity but I'll see how it goes. I'll be on the look out for a new motor to replace it potentially.
It's not all rosy though, as although the spoiler operates fine from the button manually by going up and down as it should, at speed it goes up but then does not come down automatically, meaning I have to use the button to bring it down. Not sure whether this is programming or motor related, I need to do some more researching to get to the bottom of it as it's odd. Anyway, is nice to be able to drop it finally even if its only manually.
In the mean time, I have ordered my self a Foxwell NT530, meaning that if the 75mph beep persists I can code it out easily until I replace the spoiler motor. I've heard they are really useful pieces of kit and compatible with additional software for multiple cars, I'm looking forward to testing it out.
In other news, I did not like the polished tail pipes, too many shades of silver going on with the paint, surround and tips. Matt black with HTP is an improvement IMO.
Lastly... I learnt a valuable lesson about cost. Usually I am not one to buy cheap (buy twice) but I took a gamble on an £85 Android 11 headunit (new) - it was nothing like the ones I had in an older car, albeit where I paid about £300 some years ago. This one looked good was so slow, terrible sound quality and as I previously mentioned, a nightmare to fit as it came up far bigger than it stated as 'double din'.
So, I am back with PCM 2.1 but with a Parrot handsfree I pulled out of an older cars and threw in the garage. it handles calls, Spotify etc and now teamed with a decent dash mount sucker for my phone, I am happy it will suffice for satnav duties too when called upon.
Glad people like the 190E, it's only done 67k miles so is in remarkable condition. I usually drive it to the gym and always end up looking back at it on the way in!
In regards to the 987.1 Cayman S, work goes on...
Small update, I got to the spoiler motor to test it for power, it was receiving 12v just fine but could not hear it attempting to operate. I gave it some taps with a small hammer in the manner you would knock an old starter motor to free the brushes and it did the trick! Not sure how long this will last or if I've managed to free it up after inactivity but I'll see how it goes. I'll be on the look out for a new motor to replace it potentially.
It's not all rosy though, as although the spoiler operates fine from the button manually by going up and down as it should, at speed it goes up but then does not come down automatically, meaning I have to use the button to bring it down. Not sure whether this is programming or motor related, I need to do some more researching to get to the bottom of it as it's odd. Anyway, is nice to be able to drop it finally even if its only manually.
In the mean time, I have ordered my self a Foxwell NT530, meaning that if the 75mph beep persists I can code it out easily until I replace the spoiler motor. I've heard they are really useful pieces of kit and compatible with additional software for multiple cars, I'm looking forward to testing it out.
In other news, I did not like the polished tail pipes, too many shades of silver going on with the paint, surround and tips. Matt black with HTP is an improvement IMO.
Lastly... I learnt a valuable lesson about cost. Usually I am not one to buy cheap (buy twice) but I took a gamble on an £85 Android 11 headunit (new) - it was nothing like the ones I had in an older car, albeit where I paid about £300 some years ago. This one looked good was so slow, terrible sound quality and as I previously mentioned, a nightmare to fit as it came up far bigger than it stated as 'double din'.
So, I am back with PCM 2.1 but with a Parrot handsfree I pulled out of an older cars and threw in the garage. it handles calls, Spotify etc and now teamed with a decent dash mount sucker for my phone, I am happy it will suffice for satnav duties too when called upon.
xstian said:
The electric dirt bike looks cool. How much does it weigh and is it road legal?
I think it weighs about 50kg. In comparison to my old DRZ400 it's featherweight. Basically a bike with a massive battery and motor... and no pedals.No it's not, although they do make road legal ones too with lights, mirrors, number plates etc. I had to wait like 5 months for it to arrive at the dealer due to demand for these things!
Diary update. Very frustrating, a massive speed bump that had three distinct sides to it cracked the hell out of my fibreglass front splitter yesterday. Got it home and it was in two bits but still held to the car.
It's fibreglass which although looks brilliant when perfect, it's not ideal as realistaically as should be made of some kind of poly/rubber material with a degree of flex in it- one wrong move when parking and it would suffer badly from a kerb anyway.
I will repair and respray it in due course but might also make a new one, something a bit smaller. I believe some people have taken two Gen 1 Seat Leon Cupra R splitters and made one for their Porsches? I did something similar to an Audi TT many years ago and ended up looking quite good.
Anyway, this is how it looks presently. Not ideal but gives me so muh more ground clearance at the cost of cosmetics.
It's fibreglass which although looks brilliant when perfect, it's not ideal as realistaically as should be made of some kind of poly/rubber material with a degree of flex in it- one wrong move when parking and it would suffer badly from a kerb anyway.
I will repair and respray it in due course but might also make a new one, something a bit smaller. I believe some people have taken two Gen 1 Seat Leon Cupra R splitters and made one for their Porsches? I did something similar to an Audi TT many years ago and ended up looking quite good.
Anyway, this is how it looks presently. Not ideal but gives me so muh more ground clearance at the cost of cosmetics.
Over the last few days I've been getting the 987 ready for a road trip next week to Germany. I was going back and forth over which car to take, but decided on the most uncomfortable sports car I own, complete with the loud exhaust and no cruise control, heated seats, decent stereo etc... Might regret it or it might be the perfect tool for the job. I've not done drives in it over 1 hour yet as anything long distance has always been done in my F11.
in preperation for the journey, a full overhaul was in order, replacing worn bushes, lubricating where necessary, doing fluids, underbody protection and generally going through the car, sorting advisories from the last MOT and getting to know it well on a mechanical level, so I will be able to trust it on a very long drive.
Whilst I have the car in the open air, I didn't like the two tone silver around the exhausts so have now used some plastidip to go matt black around the tips. Much better imo and very durable. Ties in with the black exhaust tips a lot better now.
in preperation for the journey, a full overhaul was in order, replacing worn bushes, lubricating where necessary, doing fluids, underbody protection and generally going through the car, sorting advisories from the last MOT and getting to know it well on a mechanical level, so I will be able to trust it on a very long drive.
Whilst I have the car in the open air, I didn't like the two tone silver around the exhausts so have now used some plastidip to go matt black around the tips. Much better imo and very durable. Ties in with the black exhaust tips a lot better now.
For those interested, I went to the Nurburgring on a flying visit recently, link here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
This thread needs some updating!
I sold the Porsche Cayman S, BMW 530D and the Mercedes 190E to get something more sensible, faster and able to fill the role of all 3. Well sort of. I also wanted to try electric, so went for a Tesla Model 3.
It was a great car, had the Acceleration boost upgrade, lowered on Eibach suspension, Eibach spacers, small cosmetic mods too.
I took this to Nürburgring for my annual trip. It was very quick through the bends as you might expect due to there being no tail off of rev build up. I did find the whole thing quite clinical though, not much fun with no noise or gear changes to be had.
I may have imagined this, but I also felt like a bit of leper at the Ring in it. Normally people come over and chat, not so in this!
Not that dog friendly...
Anyway, life altered somewhat since I bought the Tesla, this included both a baby and a large dog. Therefore, the stable expanded to also include this beast.
I LOVED this Scout, spent lots of time getting it just right too. The perfect tower too for picking up the odd project.
Surely that is me up to date?
No. I then decided to mix the fleet up all over again, in the pursuit of a fast estate that would be fun, fast and practical. My commute became tiny, so I was able to worry about MPG altogether, but it was never a deciding factor anyway.
I sold the Porsche Cayman S, BMW 530D and the Mercedes 190E to get something more sensible, faster and able to fill the role of all 3. Well sort of. I also wanted to try electric, so went for a Tesla Model 3.
It was a great car, had the Acceleration boost upgrade, lowered on Eibach suspension, Eibach spacers, small cosmetic mods too.
I took this to Nürburgring for my annual trip. It was very quick through the bends as you might expect due to there being no tail off of rev build up. I did find the whole thing quite clinical though, not much fun with no noise or gear changes to be had.
I may have imagined this, but I also felt like a bit of leper at the Ring in it. Normally people come over and chat, not so in this!
Not that dog friendly...
Anyway, life altered somewhat since I bought the Tesla, this included both a baby and a large dog. Therefore, the stable expanded to also include this beast.
I LOVED this Scout, spent lots of time getting it just right too. The perfect tower too for picking up the odd project.
Surely that is me up to date?
No. I then decided to mix the fleet up all over again, in the pursuit of a fast estate that would be fun, fast and practical. My commute became tiny, so I was able to worry about MPG altogether, but it was never a deciding factor anyway.
I also wanted a new garage project, I missed the 80's Merc badly, but needed something smaller to easily fit into the garage.
I also was pining to relive my youth. I used to own a 205 XS in maybe 2004/2005. I loved it, being 18 ish, it felt like a rocket ship and so easy to work on.
Getting hold of a 205 these days though is no easy task, there is a lot of s
t out there and some go for silly money. I knew I would never pay £500 quid again, but was unwilling to pay £10k plus for some ropey GTI, the search for an XS drew almost no results too.
My old XS back in the day, man I loved this. I had no money to do anything to it though, besides drive it.
So I eventually found one that was to my tastes, not a GTI. So therefore not the GTI tax, also it had a rather fruity 306 GTI6 under the bonnet and perfect bodywork, evidently having had a respray at some stage. The seller was a gent I also was able to contact the original builder and owner prior to him, whom also turned out to be a lovely guy and super helpful. This enabled me to work out some bits that had alluded me, being a transplant car meant that simple parts are not necessarily what they seem, being from numerous cars, GTI models etc.
The car is a reliable car, I can go out to the garage and it always works. I love that. I will say though that it is no cruiser, it's manic to say the least!
just look at those sills..!
I'll do a proper write up for this in time.
The stable increased again.... oops.
At this stage I decided to mix things up, the Tesla was not working for my family life.
Therefore, I got rid of the Tesla and went back to petrol, it was the right choice as was always concerned that if something went wrong, no matter how small- there is no where to turn but Tesla. Twice I tried to get a small part... once when the rear heat element failed and I need a new ribbon, they tried to charge me £900 for a new screen. Simple solder job in my garage fixed this as not paying that!
Another time, the drivers seat heating element failed, this time they wanted me to purchase a whole new seat to the tune of £950. It's an amazing car and overall reliable, but it's a part of a throwaway society, much prefer to be able to fix it myself or failing that, be able to take it to many specialists that can all access a large parts catalogue.
So anyway, I digress.
For the new daily, I went with a Mid 2020 M340i Touring. It's perfect for me and has most of the packages I wanted, the only thing I am a bit gutted about is no pano roof. It does have though:
Comfort Access
Technology Package
Visibility Package
Mine is July 2020, the cut off month. I am a bit annoyed it is this side of 2020 though as would have loved a slightly earlier one to avoid the ECU being locked to tuning without it having to be sent away to Finland.
So far mods have been minor, Eibach spacers all round, cheap but superb quality front lip and a Maxton rear diffuser. That'll likely be it for the time being as not sure I want to lower this, partly because its a daily and also its still under BMW warranty for the year.
Oh and I also did the exhaust flap mod, sounds good...all of the time!
I also was pining to relive my youth. I used to own a 205 XS in maybe 2004/2005. I loved it, being 18 ish, it felt like a rocket ship and so easy to work on.
Getting hold of a 205 these days though is no easy task, there is a lot of s
t out there and some go for silly money. I knew I would never pay £500 quid again, but was unwilling to pay £10k plus for some ropey GTI, the search for an XS drew almost no results too.My old XS back in the day, man I loved this. I had no money to do anything to it though, besides drive it.
So I eventually found one that was to my tastes, not a GTI. So therefore not the GTI tax, also it had a rather fruity 306 GTI6 under the bonnet and perfect bodywork, evidently having had a respray at some stage. The seller was a gent I also was able to contact the original builder and owner prior to him, whom also turned out to be a lovely guy and super helpful. This enabled me to work out some bits that had alluded me, being a transplant car meant that simple parts are not necessarily what they seem, being from numerous cars, GTI models etc.
The car is a reliable car, I can go out to the garage and it always works. I love that. I will say though that it is no cruiser, it's manic to say the least!
just look at those sills..!
I'll do a proper write up for this in time.
The stable increased again.... oops.
At this stage I decided to mix things up, the Tesla was not working for my family life.
Therefore, I got rid of the Tesla and went back to petrol, it was the right choice as was always concerned that if something went wrong, no matter how small- there is no where to turn but Tesla. Twice I tried to get a small part... once when the rear heat element failed and I need a new ribbon, they tried to charge me £900 for a new screen. Simple solder job in my garage fixed this as not paying that!
Another time, the drivers seat heating element failed, this time they wanted me to purchase a whole new seat to the tune of £950. It's an amazing car and overall reliable, but it's a part of a throwaway society, much prefer to be able to fix it myself or failing that, be able to take it to many specialists that can all access a large parts catalogue.
So anyway, I digress.
For the new daily, I went with a Mid 2020 M340i Touring. It's perfect for me and has most of the packages I wanted, the only thing I am a bit gutted about is no pano roof. It does have though:
Comfort Access
Technology Package
Visibility Package
Mine is July 2020, the cut off month. I am a bit annoyed it is this side of 2020 though as would have loved a slightly earlier one to avoid the ECU being locked to tuning without it having to be sent away to Finland.
So far mods have been minor, Eibach spacers all round, cheap but superb quality front lip and a Maxton rear diffuser. That'll likely be it for the time being as not sure I want to lower this, partly because its a daily and also its still under BMW warranty for the year.
Oh and I also did the exhaust flap mod, sounds good...all of the time!
Despicable said:
I also wanted a new garage project, I missed the 80's Merc badly, but needed something smaller to easily fit into the garage.
I also was pining to relive my youth. I used to own a 205 XS in maybe 2004/2005. I loved it, being 18 ish, it felt like a rocket ship and so easy to work on.
Getting hold of a 205 these days though is no easy task, there is a lot of st out there and some go for silly money. I knew I would never pay £500 quid again, but was unwilling to pay £10k plus for some ropey GTI, the search for an XS drew almost no results too.
My old XS back in the day, man I loved this. I had no money to do anything to it though, besides drive it.
So I eventually found one that was to my tastes, not a GTI. So therefore not the GTI tax, also it had a rather fruity 306 GTI6 under the bonnet and perfect bodywork, evidently having had a respray at some stage. The seller was a gent I also was able to contact the original builder and owner prior to him, whom also turned out to be a lovely guy and super helpful. This enabled me to work out some bits that had alluded me, being a transplant car meant that simple parts are not necessarily what they seem, being from numerous cars, GTI models etc.
The car is a reliable car, I can go out to the garage and it always works. I love that. I will say though that it is no cruiser, it's manic to say the least!
just look at those sills..!
I'll do a proper write up for this in time.
The stable increased again.... oops.
At this stage I decided to mix things up, the Tesla was not working for my family life.
Therefore, I got rid of the Tesla and went back to petrol, it was the right choice as was always concerned that if something went wrong, no matter how small- there is no where to turn but Tesla. Twice I tried to get a small part... once when the rear heat element failed and I need a new ribbon, they tried to charge me £900 for a new screen. Simple solder job in my garage fixed this as not paying that!
Another time, the drivers seat heating element failed, this time they wanted me to purchase a whole new seat to the tune of £950. It's an amazing car and overall reliable, but it's a part of a throwaway society, much prefer to be able to fix it myself or failing that, be able to take it to many specialists that can all access a large parts catalogue.
So anyway, I digress.
For the new daily, I went with a Mid 2020 M340i Touring. It's perfect for me and has most of the packages I wanted, the only thing I am a bit gutted about is no pano roof. It does have though:
Comfort Access
Technology Package
Visibility Package
Mine is July 2020, the cut off month. I am a bit annoyed it is this side of 2020 though as would have loved a slightly earlier one to avoid the ECU being locked to tuning without it having to be sent away to Finland.
So far mods have been minor, Eibach spacers all round, cheap but superb quality front lip and a Maxton rear diffuser. That'll likely be it for the time being as not sure I want to lower this, partly because its a daily and also its still under BMW warranty for the year.
Oh and I also did the exhaust flap mod, sounds good...all of the time!
That is hell of a driveway! That 340i touring looks superb too; very nice I also was pining to relive my youth. I used to own a 205 XS in maybe 2004/2005. I loved it, being 18 ish, it felt like a rocket ship and so easy to work on.
Getting hold of a 205 these days though is no easy task, there is a lot of s
t out there and some go for silly money. I knew I would never pay £500 quid again, but was unwilling to pay £10k plus for some ropey GTI, the search for an XS drew almost no results too.My old XS back in the day, man I loved this. I had no money to do anything to it though, besides drive it.
So I eventually found one that was to my tastes, not a GTI. So therefore not the GTI tax, also it had a rather fruity 306 GTI6 under the bonnet and perfect bodywork, evidently having had a respray at some stage. The seller was a gent I also was able to contact the original builder and owner prior to him, whom also turned out to be a lovely guy and super helpful. This enabled me to work out some bits that had alluded me, being a transplant car meant that simple parts are not necessarily what they seem, being from numerous cars, GTI models etc.
The car is a reliable car, I can go out to the garage and it always works. I love that. I will say though that it is no cruiser, it's manic to say the least!
just look at those sills..!
I'll do a proper write up for this in time.
The stable increased again.... oops.
At this stage I decided to mix things up, the Tesla was not working for my family life.
Therefore, I got rid of the Tesla and went back to petrol, it was the right choice as was always concerned that if something went wrong, no matter how small- there is no where to turn but Tesla. Twice I tried to get a small part... once when the rear heat element failed and I need a new ribbon, they tried to charge me £900 for a new screen. Simple solder job in my garage fixed this as not paying that!
Another time, the drivers seat heating element failed, this time they wanted me to purchase a whole new seat to the tune of £950. It's an amazing car and overall reliable, but it's a part of a throwaway society, much prefer to be able to fix it myself or failing that, be able to take it to many specialists that can all access a large parts catalogue.
So anyway, I digress.
For the new daily, I went with a Mid 2020 M340i Touring. It's perfect for me and has most of the packages I wanted, the only thing I am a bit gutted about is no pano roof. It does have though:
Comfort Access
Technology Package
Visibility Package
Mine is July 2020, the cut off month. I am a bit annoyed it is this side of 2020 though as would have loved a slightly earlier one to avoid the ECU being locked to tuning without it having to be sent away to Finland.
So far mods have been minor, Eibach spacers all round, cheap but superb quality front lip and a Maxton rear diffuser. That'll likely be it for the time being as not sure I want to lower this, partly because its a daily and also its still under BMW warranty for the year.
Oh and I also did the exhaust flap mod, sounds good...all of the time!
d_a_n1979 said:
That is hell of a driveway! That 340i touring looks superb too; very nice
Haha, back plot development! One in front of the other meant it was a necessity! 30+ tonnes of gravel and Building regs stipulated a fire engine had to be able to turn around at the end. A ridiculous clause but actually worked out well as allows for 4 cars to be parked alongside one another.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff