Grant

It's on a yard, so I'm sure the price is suitably inflated.

Didn't the speedsters have a whale tail, probably where the hood drops into, then the engine is back there. Undisputed best model name for a car Speedster.

There were two versions, one in a turbo look a like body, and one on standard body. About 90% had the turbo look a like body (although I'm not sure they never had a factory whale tail). Also generally they had a plastic cover at the rear that housed the roof

edit: I just looked it up there were 2,104 of these built, all in 1989. About 170 were the narrow body, the rest with the wide body, with the turbo look.

its more that it has lost its originality, I would want to have the whole car refinished.

How? Surely removing the standard Porsche OEM fender and replacing it with another standard Porsche OEM fender (painted with OEM specification paint) maintains its originality.

I am pretty sure the damage is not to a Speedster exclusive part. As far as I'm aware the only difference is the lowered roof line.

I do have a bit of a soft spot for the Speedster, when this came out I was doing a school project on Porsche. As a part of it I wrote to Colin Giltrap, Porsche AG and the Porsche club. I was overwhelmed with the response. Porsche AG sent me mountains of brochures, posters and information (I still have them all somewhere at my parents). The Porsche club sent me a heap of stuff, and I got invited to Giltraps, and got to see the first of the Speedsters in the country. However the highlight was the 959, which they brought in to show me (It may have been Giltrap's own one, I can't recall).

Even though New Zealand is mainly full of shitty badly maintained goat tracks that pass themselves off as roads, I do miss them when it comes time for a good fun drive.

Now, 99.9% of my driving is on multi-lane freeways, or in cities. This means you get to your destination quickly, but it is as boring as bat sh*t.

I can see why most old American cars are huge comfortable land barges, there is no reason for most people to own anything else.

Function > form.

Keep it up Graham best of luck for the Targa.

You're wasting your time, apparently he has "f**ked off" (unless he is lurking anonymously hoping no-one puts two and two together?)

Realises how useless completely useless Bimmersport is and f**ks off

Don't do that, unless you are French as your car, throwing up the white flag like a surrender monkey.

It seemed like pretty harmless banter, or offering of opinions to me.

That's what i was kinda trying to say above

You did provide more detail than me (as I wouldn't know where to start, outside of knowing that it didn't look like it damaged more than one panel)

It doesn't look that bad. Not much more than a replacement panel should sort it.

Nice work!

Jiffy Lube

Anyone else feel that this thread is like flogging a dead horse?

I thought Clarkson was very complimentary of the M3, in fact more so than nearly every other car he reviews.

I gave up after about 10 seconds. What was that recorded with, thew quality was so bad it was unwatchable?

To be honest the last time i had a proper fight would be 'bout 15 years ago, so not too sure i'd know what to do now lol.

My poison is coffee (haven't had a drink since '89) and you would get my respect if you have something to say that may piss me off but said it to my face.

That is funny. I'd still put my money on you to win the fight!

TBH, I actually think if we sat down and had a coffee, I'd enjoy the conversation a lot, although our method of getting our points across differs, I think we would fundamentally agree on most points.

Yep it pisses me off, for the pure fact that NONE of the big mouths on this forum would or will ever say the things to my face that they say here.

Whereas if i have something to say i will say right to your face.

So tired of the "keyboard warriors", they have big mouths but sadly f**k all else.

Fair enough. I agree completely, but yet you are so quick to react, and take offence. This situation is one that is so innocuous, that to even react is crazy, and seems a bit thin skinned. It looks like a perfectly normal house, in a perfectly normal country road, certainly nothing to get pissed off about.

For the record, I'd say this to your face, not because I want a fight (I'm pretty sure you would kick my ass, as I have never been in an actual fight in my life, and wouldn't know what to do), I'd expect to talk about it over a beer, coffee or whatever your poison might be.

Apparently

I just find it amusing that Bimmersport's biggest internet "don't f**k with me, I'm a tough guy and know people" wannabe is so easily offended with a relatively harmless light hearted comment.

What a dead thread. Times have changed. Deal with it, and get over it.

I'm in the older side of the general population (but not so old I fall into the grumpy old man population), and with everything I do, if I plan and organise it, I expect to either do the lion's share of the work, or I actively ask for assistance (and not expect it to be offered automatically).

I normally find if I ask people to help, and assign specific tasks, people are more than willing to help and do what they are asked.

Even though this is the third repost, I still like the look of the car. If only it was a reality and not a computer generated concept.

Considering it's a BMW and a hideous one at that, i don't think so.

PS: If you wish to try and poke fun at someone you should at least get the name right aye?

Jesus - grow a thicker skin. Is that your best retort?

Try calling an events management company. If they don't actually have them they will soon point you in the right direction.

On the Passat, I have had a couple of worn front suspension pieces replaced as well, and a new wheel bearing, and other minor bits and pieces replaced but these have been nothing outside of normal wear and tear items for the mileage, like changing brake pads, or changing the oil.

The only time that it has let me down was my own fault. I wasn't worried about the valve cover gasket leak, as it wasn't using sufficient oil that it needed topping up between changes. However where it was leaking, it leaked onto the starter motor and caused it to fail. So althuogh it failed prematurely, it was due to me and not the component being bad. Even that wasn't too bad. I just gave the starter a whack with a hammer and it loosened up enough to start the car (otherwise I could have also push started it).

Again, I'm not sure what components are shared between the A3 and the Passat, I know that the Passat and the A4 share a lot of components (in fact nearly everything I have seen on the car has both Audi and VW branding on it)

Random question @ Bellicose....... How tall are you?

Do you want to know if he likes candle lit dinners too, and long walks on the beach?

How is this topic still even going?

How has it got so far off course, that it has deteriorated into a crappy pointless argument that no-one wins?

If there is no evidence (receipts) of replacement, the cambelt is overdue... its every 5 years or 120k whichever occurs first... and 5 years is critical

Glenn, correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the same engine in my Passat and at the same time as you are doing the cambelt you should also replace the tensioner and water pump. All three were replaced on my Passat when I bought it.

The other common issue I have read about (and sure enough I had it too) is a leaking valve cover gasket. I just replaced mine on the Passat, and it is nice to no longer have the smell of burning oil wafting into the car.

In saying that, my Passat has 144,000 miles on the engine, and it just flew through the very thorough California smog test (I had to have the most comprehensive test as well, as it is classed as a "potential gross polluter"). The readings from the machine read 0.0, or barely registered on all of the tests. As Sacramento is in the California's Central Valley (so has bad air quality), I'm ptretty sure that the exhaust emissions are cleaner than the air that the car breaths in.

As far as all of the things Brent mentioned, I'm not sure what components are shared between the A3 and Passat, but none of these have failed in my car (although mine is a 5 speed manual, and not a tiptronic).

I watched this on my laptop, while my 4 year old was watching Yo Gabba Gabba on telly. He suddenly started laughing like crazy, and I realized he has stopped watching Gabba and was glued to to crashes.

We then spent the next 1/2 hour finding similar videos for us both to enjoy.