GTAm

What an interesting thread. So I'm going to butt in with my two cents worth. .... I don't think you should worry too much about straight line speed. I would give more priority to how the car feels when you drive it eventhough its nice to have lots of power. Also any fool can go fast in a straight line. It takes some skill and a good car to go around corners fast though. I must confess that I have not driven a front wheel drive Subaru except for some very very old ones long ago. However I have driven a few 4wd non turbo cars. And I must say I have always been quite impressed with the cars. They seem a notch above the usual Japanese fwd suspects. Such as the EK3 Honda Civic mentioned. IMHO if the EK3 does not have a VTEC engine there would be zero attraction for that car. The ES is a lot better but again without a VTEC its very ordinary. The Subarus on the other hand feel a bit special with their flat four engine and decent ride. On our roads ride comfort is very important even from a performance point of view. I mean you hardly get a smooth road anywhere. And a car with a better resolved suspension set up will be quicker and more pleasurable than one with "Sporty" or plain poor suspension. So drive both and try to identify the differences and decide what you prefer before buying.

The Kln Park silicone ones are very noisy on my car.,

Ah so you are transplanting the Twin Spark 75 unit? Great mate. What do you think of that video I posted of Max Banks doing the Nurburgring in 8.22 in his TS engined GTA replica? Awesome don't you think? 8.22 in such an old car! Btw a few months ago I found an ex Italia Embassy ALfa 90 in SL. I was trying to get the engine and box as a spare for my Alfetta. But that moron who had it had sold them for scrap. Can you believe it!!?

Ok I agree that we disagree ! Damon Hill was below average for a world champion. The only reason he came close was because he was in the best car. Michael was an exceptional driver and the only reason Damon won in 96 was because Michael switched from a very good car to the Ferrari which was a dog for a few years, until his input along with the dream team of Brawn, Todd and Byrne etc. As for Benetton being the better car..... You only have to look at the team mates performances. Apart from the twice lucky Johnny Herbert (who profited from many retirements) they were well below the performance of their Williams counterparts. Does anyone remember Jos Verstappen? Again 70 odd wins ONLY as an engine supplier. Again it's only one part of the team and usually not the most important as described in my previous post. As contructors Renault has 33 wins to Honda's 3. 50 poles to Honda's 2!! Simply (only) as an engine supplier according to my calculations Renault has 80 wins. Even that is higher than Honda's total. The high performance Clios and Meganes are built NOT at the Renault factory but but by Renaultsport which is the is the link between the F1 team and road cars. Probably not many know these things and know only about Honda's Type R since in Asia Honda is a lot more popular than Renault. And they hardly ever marketed their success as an engine supplier and is largely forgotten. Only when they came back as a constructor did they get on a proper F1 to road cars campain. Finally I'm not really a Renault fan nor a Honda fan. But both manufacturers have a few good cars in their past and present. Anyway getting back to the topic. Looks like Renault is very keen to get Alonso back according to the latest news reports.

For 5 Drivers titles they were only engine suppliers. It was more the constructor. This was clear when they supplied engines in the 80s to quite a few teams including Mac, Williams, Lotus, and Tyrell. You probably know the exact years. It was always the chassis that set the winning team apart. After Honda withdrew after being comprehensively beaten by Renault in 92, they came back somewhat unofficially as Mugen with the most powerful engine on the track as believed but won nothing except a fluke by Panis in a Ligier in the rain at Monaco. As recently as the 2000s we saw BMW with the most powerful engine but with just a few wins. It was the superior chasis (and the genius of Michael and Ferrari) won the titles. In the 60's they only won 2 GPs. Even then one car was constructed by Lola. They are great engine makers for sure and they've gone into motorsport and tried to build up a heritage. But they make everyone believe that they've won more than they actually have. = Hype That's why I said it's great marketing! With all due respect to his great talent of Ayrton Senna was a real winger and cry baby anyway. If he did not have everything perfect he would cry and complain, not talk to his boses etc etc. Even in the year he died he was complaining about the Williams Renault despite it being arguably the best package all because he got thrashed by MS in a humble Benetton. So I would not take his crying too seriously.

......And Vettel. Well only recently have Renault actually even tried to put their racing tech into their showrooms with the Megane R26 and Clio 197 Cup. Until then they've been quite subdued instead of shouting out loud their achievements. Poor marketing. Just look at what Honda did though. They've much less than Renault as an engine supplier and zero titles as a constructor but they made the biggest noise and lifted up the Type R sub-brand. So much so that they are severely over hyped with regard to sporting pedigree. Great marketing. The Japanese are talented that way.

I would really like to see him go to BMW. They were the only other team on the pace this year. And so next year we could have 3 manufacturers fighting it out. Renault will make a comeback sure, but when is the question. Their budgets were pruned with the arrival of the new CEO Carlos Ghosn. I'm not sure he fully subscribes to the F1 spend. The other question is who will McLaren hire to replace him. While Nico is the best available, it will be detrimental to him as he'd have to live in the shadow of Lewis. And I think Nico is even better than Lewis. So I'd like to see Nick (Heidfeld) go to Mac.

You mean the wheel arches? I guess you would have to as these are GTAm replicas and the GTAm had this wide body. Can you believe that the GTAm s had 240bhp from 1962CC in 1971???!!!!

I have yet to drive a new Lancer but I doubt the handling and ride would be better than the Mazda 3 which I would choose. Also I have a feeling that the Lancer styling will date quite fast. What are the engine options on these cars for the permit?

You're forgetting Siemens Don. It's one of the biggest electronics companies in the world if not the biggest. At least in the auto industry. If you take most new tech for the auto industry they originate from Europe. A few examples are ABS, Common rail Diesel, Fuel injection, Turbo charging, variable valve timing etc etc etc. All the tech we take for granted these days. Europeans are better inventors. Japanese are better manufacturers and perhaps better businessmen. Well yes your observation about Euro cars being more complex is correct to a certain extent. However now I think ALL cars are very very complex.

Spot on mate. I had completely forgotten the E30 M3 and the Merc 190 Cosworth.

Hey you seem to find great bargains over there!! I'm ordering my engine rebuild parts from the US as it's cheapest over there. Not sure about the wheels mate. It looks something that would come on Cortina or Capri. I would hold out until I could afford a set of these - GTAm replicas.

Hey you seem to find great bargains over there!! I'm ordering my engine rebuild parts from the US as it's cheapest over there. Not sure about the wheels mate. It looks something that would come on Cortina or Capri. I would hold out until I could afford a set of these - GTAm replicas.

Hey you seem to find great bargains over there!! I'm ordering my engine rebuild parts from the US as it's cheapest over there. Not sure about the wheels mate. It looks something that would come on Cortina or Capri. I would hold out until I could afford a set of these - GTAm replicas.

Interesting observation. Especially since now car manufacture is globalized and even German companies get components from Asia as well. On one of my meetings with Micro creator Dr. Lawrence Perera he made an interesting comment about this. He said that the Japanese companies perfect their product before introducing them to the market while Europeans tend to perfect it while its in the market. He went on to say that the later cars from a Euro manufacturer tend to be better than the initial ones. I tend to agree with this. This could also explain why European cars are always first with new tech and Japs take more time to introduce them apart from the fact that most new tech originates from Europe.

I think it originally was a Lancer GSR a high performance Lancer. Correct me if I'm wrong but the first GSRs were Rwd right? Then with each "evolution" it got more and more distant from the Lancer. Now there's probably very little in common with the Lancer. Maybe some of the floor pan, windscreens and lamps etc.

That's the biggest joke I've read recently !!!!!!

Pardon my ignorance, but "Evo" is short for "Evolution" isn't it? More than being a name it is a word that describes progress on a theme. As this link will show "Evolution" was also used for the subsequent variants of the Lancia Delta Integrale (there was an Evo 1 and 2) which was a predecessor to the the Lancer GSR and Subaru WRX concept. Check this link - http://www.whalley-integrale.uk.com/hist.htm

Why not look at a CRX instead? Handling is a lot sweeter than a Del Sol (IMHO) and you should be able to find one well below 1m.

Well electronic glitches are ok as most Euro cars seem to be cursed with them. However what's really scary is the cracks in the chasis. This reminds me of the Lancia Beta which rusted so badly through the bulk head that the cars broke in two on the motor ways. That said I recently drove my ex 323i E36 and really played with it in corners and was so impressed with how sorted the chassis is at high speeds. Something that fwd will probably never achieve. Btw I kind of like Uma Thurman's large toes !!!

I'm guessing the diesels should average around 1.5m.

Thanks guys. This is scary stuff. Makes an Alfa look like a Toyota in terms of reliability ! It's not for me though, just finding out for a pal. I wouldn't spend over mill more than a 156 for a car that's less enjoyable to drive anyway !!!

No way mate . Just checking on behalf of friends!!!

Does anyone know how much used 407s are going for?

What would be the price of the earliest pre-face lift petrol E46s? Any major issue in hot tropical SL weather?