LINCOLNSHIRESLUPOGTI

From when I had the Lupo on the ITB's. It was sat idling and it was gargling a little as the engine was cold. The conversation went something along the lines of..... Old guy "You're car sounds like it is running very badly. I think you have an engine problem" Me "It always sounds like this at idle, it is the throttle bodies" Old guy "Well at least you know what is wrong with it"

MattyB Awesome car for the cash, looks expensive, sounds and goes great and the later ones look quite tasty. Not very 'evo' though is it, straight line shove would always make you smile but the auto and the handling would most likely make you bored. Totally different ballgame but for a big cc engine in a small roadster I would opt for the uber rare Z3's that were fitted with the 4.4 V8 from the BMW range. There was a red one on Pistonheads recently, they are a factory conversion too.

Long time no hear from... You covered some miles in the 2.2, well done for staying faithful to the lightweight, real deal, sportcar club and buying another one. The new car spec reads like it is a very well sorted car (apart from the horrendous rear spoiler - would have stopped me buying the car but only my opinion). Very much liking all the other modifications, especially the engine and suspension modifications, I bet it goes and handles fantastic. Silly question but does it feel silly fast? My Elise is 200bhp and that feels quick enough for now (have been looking at the 260bhp charger conversions) so 275bhp must be fantastic fun, maybe even scary fun. Hope you enjoy a-plenty.

For an individual those bits would add up in price but for manufacturers with big order quantitites I bet they are 1/3 of what we buy for. (A good example is the cage option in the R26R at £700, you could nearly triple that to buy and fit a cage to a car if doing it aftermarket). I bet the diff, brakes, suspension and seats cost less than £1500 to Ford. I know it is not anywhere near a comparison but you could get a £3500 ST170 (old shape Focus) and Cosworth 4wd it for real fun. I would fully agree with Tigz on that one...though that is because we both love modified cars so much. I didn't mean make a replica from an ST, I realise that would not really be a good option. I meant that I think for the £10,000 saving I think the ST is a close enough compromise. Think back to when the Escort was being made in the mid nineties. Now compare a MK5 Escort RS2000 with the Escort Cosworth, look how much more you got there for the Cosworth premium of about £9000. I just think the RS is not really different enough to the ST.

Very nice, looks and sounds great. A very tidy looking installation, you should be very pleased (as I am sure you are). I love the whine.

Buy a Focus ST for £15,000 from a car supermarket and smile at how you have saved £10,000 over the price of the RS. I know the RS has 300bhp but that was hardly difficult to acheive considering this engine has been at 300bhp in Volvo's for ages. What exactly is the £10,000 premium covering that the ST does not have? Maybe it is the spoiler that is not even colour coded so it looks like a badly bodged on bodykit that the youth didnt bother to get painted...where have I seen this before? Hang on, the spoiler goes with the mirrors that they didnt bother to colour code either. Maybe it is the bespoke interior with nice touches to make it a little more special? How about we just put some nice seats in the normal interior?

Mine is the 2.0. Auto as well which ruins the fuel economy, averages about 26mpg regardless of it I take it easy for a full tank of fuel or thrash it for a full tank of fuel!!! Auto makes life easy for commuting and the manuals are not that good anyway. Not sporty in any way (read: rubbsih acceleration and slopy handling) but will cruise at 100mph all day every day in a smooth and relaxed fashion regardless of how many passenegers it is carrying. Timing chain as well so no timing belt worries or bills.

I have run a 190e for just over 2 years now as my daily driver. It is a top spec (well electric everything inside, ABS - on a H reg so quite rare etc) and wheel trims and bland blue paint on the outside. It does everything I need it to, looks plain and not tempting to steal, has been bullit-proof reliable for the 30,000miles I have done in it and never gives me any hastle. 1991 H reg now with 193,000 miles on the clock. Did I mention it does not use oil or water, tight as an ant's arse...oh and it went through the MOT last month needing nothing more than rear brake pads and discs. For comfort and dependability I would say get the Merc, a good one really will last you forever. HOWEVER, if it was to be a main car or for fun purposes I would get the E30. Yes the Merc will go sideways easily enough but the E30 looks nicer and with 325i or M-power it would be much cooler. A subtle modified E30 always looks good and if you want right hand drive (ie: not the M3) then a 325i sport is plenty good...awesome infact.

We do not need winter tyres in the UK, we do not have weather bad enough to need them. Just learn to drive to the conditions and concentrate more. I have two cars and both are rwd, they both slither around and one of them has wide soft compound "summer biased" tyres and it is still ok if I take it sensibly. I will accept there are some exceptions to my above statement such as the Exige with A048R tyres and the M3 CSL on it's cup tyres but there are owners of these cars that use these tyres all year around, they just take it easy in snow and when there is lots of standing water.

I am with Tigz in a way. I love the R26R but also understand that it is very compromised and will appear to a very small window of people. I have 2 rear wheel drive cars (have done 45,000 miles in them in the last 2 years), my Mercedes which is pretty steady and my 200bhp Elise which is pretty quick. Both are a handful in the wet and both have been sideways when I did not want them to be sideways. I therefore fully agree about how moderm fast fwd hatches can be pushed along quicker than a rwd with the *average* driver in control. Fwd just inspires more confidence whereas rwd always makes you wonder if it will suddenly break rear traction and spit you off. I have driven the 'Ring and Snetterton this year and I think I could have lapped the ring way quicker in that Megane. Howver after half a day at Snetterton I think I would have been quickere in the Elise. Anyway, enough rambling, yes I do like the R26R. Any car where you can have a full cage and harnesses as an option is cool...haha.

Not much use here but I have a credit card for the sole reason of using it with companies that I have no history with. If the company do not deliver, mess me about or spin me some line that sounds strange then I just ring the credit card and tell them to revoke the cash and then I cancel the order. Lots of incompetant companies out there and with so much competition there is always another company who are happy to get your business and treat you like the paying customer that you are. In the instance of this post I would have cancelled the order by now.

Don't want to go off topic for long, this is about your car. There is a thread on here covering the Elise. It is the 'R' with the sports pack and touring pack. I have a Mercedes 190E (had it 2 years now) for bad weather, leaving places and also when I need more space but the Elise is used all year when it is not real bad weather. Good idea to get new tyres this time of year, more so with it being a new car that you have not learnt yet. I am sure it has traction control (probably stability too), how good are they? By this I mean are they quite leanient or do they cut in quick before you get in a mess? Elise has traction but it will doesnt cut the power too much, still had it powersliding at Snetterton with the traction switched on.

Nice choice, looked in one of these a year or so ago when I was looking for at a CSL. Felt very well put together and looked a quality piece of kit. BMW straight six motors have been creamy, smooth and very responsive for years now and I am sure the 3.0 is lovely. They make such a great howl too as the revs get towards the high end of the range. Is the hi-fi upgrade a Harmon Kardon system, if so then you will enjoy that during the roof up steady winter journies. Remember it is winter, wet and lots of leaves on the road, you are as aware as I am that rwd can be a backstabber. ps: I do not think a non Gti Lupo would see which way a 2.5 or 3.0 Z4 went.

I think you are being a little keen. Give them a few more days and think yourself lucky you are not dealing with this company. http://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?sho...mp;hl=rennsport

Back in the day I used to run mine like this. In fact I ran it like this for 20,000 miles and about 15mm higher for 45,000 miles before that.

Sounds a good price to me. I would question if you really need one though. I never found the Gti had a problem with traction, be it with 125bhp or 167bhp. Sure it would spin the inside wheel leaving a junction from a standstill with some steering lock applied but apart fromm that I though it was pretty damn good at putting it's power down. A good suspension and geometry set up can help traction without the effort of taking the gearbox out of the car, stripping out the old diff, fitting a new diff and then putting it all back together. That nice part price will cost you much more to actually get it fitted to your car. Please do not think I am being negative here, the price for the diff is very good and I am sure it will be an excellent piece of kit based on their reputation for other products. I just personally never felt the car needed one.

Two that I always enjoy: Freefaller - Skydive Rank 1 - Airwave Both absolute classics.

I am going to be brave (and probably take a slating here) but I hate it. I would have a 3 door mk5 Golf Gti without even going over to look at the Rocco.

IMO ITG are up there with the best filters. I had ITG when I had my throttle bodied GTI and I have an ITG panel filter in the Elise now.

Regarding the ECU I would say Motec everytime. It is not the cheapest but it does exactly as it claims it will! The extra you pay for the product is offset by what you save when having it mapped. The quality is excellent too.

It might be those photos but it doesnt look any lower than most standard cars do from the factory.

As with many of the other kind posts, I too am sincerely gutted for you. I would literally break out in tears if this happened to my car, paint stripper is worse than having it stolen and never seeing it again in my book. I would politelly go round to see the neighbour, tell him about what happened to the car but assure him you are releaved that the whole event was caught on CCTV and you are fully aware of who did it (say this with a wry smile as if to imply you know something). Watch closely how he reacts to this as it may give something away. The people who do this sort of thing surely deserve a 'like for like' punishment. Tie them up naked and pour acid all over them just so they appreciate what they did to your car.

Was the white one an 08 plate and sporting a Nurburgring sticker by any change? When I was at the 'Ring a couple of weeks ago there was an 08 plate white GTR there getting a fair bit of attention.

Excellent. Some people are really screwed up. Read this about 3 minutes before this post, only just able to type again after laughing so much.