shadowninja

Umm did you notice that in the pic that car is driving at 80kph with the doors open? (tell me thats not photoshopped)

Sounds like you're with State.... (you get what you pay for) Bad luck dude.

The latest Driver mag (I subscribe) had a section on the new BMW 1 series, it looks a lot like a Mazda sports hatch to me. Lets hope the look & pricing is sharper than the current compact.

May as well just put a Honda badge on it.

... and it blows that Government departments are immune from the Human Rights Acts for equal opportunity employment. eg- Ministry of Womens Affairs can place an ad to recruit a maori woman if they want to. (not that I want to work there or anything)

Make sure you let that exhaust cool off enough sic before you go making sweet sweet love with your car again ... could end up with some nasty burns otherwise.

Haha then you gotta put chromies on it too... and a pimpin sound system.

Less than $500 for rears at R18 255's... hmm... they were quoting me $600 for rears & $550 fronts per foot, and no discount for buying the whole suite. So you went for the Conti's anyway M3AN. I guess I better shop around.

... my wife rightly pointed out that women BMW drivers didn't feature at the top of the list... and made a suggestion that many BMW male drivers weren't having sex with women...

Yeah for retreads! I remember putting those on my first car (1987 Toyota Corona). I also remember the tyre blow-out that resulted from cheap retreads, that almost put me in the way of a large bus.

The tyre guys suggested some Goodyears ~$1400, similar stickiness, feel & quiet on the road but don't last very long... only 25,000km expected life. He also suggested some Dunlops at $1,200, last a similar milage as the Conti's 35,000km but much harder, lack some of the grip & have heaps more road noise.

Close... $2,200 for the set. ... but the sad thing is they are probably almost worth it.

I noticed the tyres on my baby are starting to show a little bit of wear (26km) & called up my normal tyre supplier. Note this is the first time I have contacted them about my bimmer, was normally shopping for tyres for my celica or 200SX. 225 / 45 front 245 / 55 rear R17 rims all around Conti-sport rubber. Any guesses as to what they want to charge me for the set?

... but here is an odd one for Lexus: IS200 - 2.0 inline 6 IS300 - 3.0 inline 6 GS300 - 3.0 inline 6 ES300 - 3.0 V6

I stand corrected. (you are my hero ) One of my workmates spouts BS about turbo cars too, shouldn't knock it until you try it.

03 XR6 is a hot car from what I've read (haven't driven it) Did he get the turbo model?

yeah I think you're right Dave, but the Mercs are all V's now. My father drives a Ford Fairmont 4.0L I-6, bad electrics, bad ergonomics, bad transmission, bad road handling (I call it the oil tanker) ... but not a bad engine.

Hows this for ninja stylz

Isn't a flat 6 the same as an I-6 but put sideways?? And yeah those RB Nissan engines in the Skyline were pretty hot. Aren't most of the Subes are 4's not 6's.Agreed that BMW & Volvo are two of the only makers that remain very loyal to the I-6 platform, and so far have been able to get away with it because of their safety reputation. As far as I am aware one of the reasons many people strayed away from I6 engines is that they take up so much length in the engine bay, leaving little room for crumple zones. I6 engines can also be harder to cool than V6 engines. However they are the smoothest & most balanced engines around.

...or stay in 2nd gear the whole time.

Try the Porsche GT3, Lexus GS300, Volvo S80, GM is producing a new I-6 too.

I'm thinking Mitsubishi, Ford, Porsche, man theres a bunch of L6 engines out there. But who am I to talk, I bought a 4-cylinder.

BMW make the best straight-6 cylinder engines in the world. Go for the 323. Oh & gidday & welcome to the crew.

I think everyone has one of those jobs at one point in their life. Mine was working in the Telecom 026 paging service. Definitely my worst job ever.