OV9

Swervin_Mervin wrote: Thu May 14, 2026 2:54 pm All Ferraris pre-456 should be Rosso or Yellow in limited cases. Oddly I think anything post-456 looks cack in Rosso.

And a 456 should never be in either Rosso or Yellow

GG. wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 1:24 pm
- is being sold from a Thatched barn conversion...

Blimey, good spot on the silica water absorbtion. My old 987 had issues with trapping moisture and I don't know if it is just the way the hoods are as they age and the thing needs to be garaged, or if it's a loss of tension somewhere.

I phoned up and they gave a slightly suspicious story of they had bought it for an employee who has handed it back now and are selling it on from him and gave me a company address for contact. The company's website states that they are a storage business although on companies house they are listed as selling cars.

Beggars, choosers... keep saving?

Either keep saving or haggle a bit on something like this that is mint and hopefully (as it says for cars up to 20 years old, which this is exactly) with 6 months warranty. The '06 and on also have dual row IMS bearings so likely a better bet all round (twice the load capacity of the 2000 to 05 cars apparently).

https://www.mortimersprestige.co.uk/use ... -s-manual/

Mortimers always seem to have lovely stock.

Explosive Newt wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 2:54 pm I phoned up and they gave a slightly suspicious story of they had bought it for an employee who has handed it back now and are selling it on from him and gave me a company address for contact. The company's website states that they are a storage business although on companies house they are listed as selling cars.

Ah, yeah, that sounds a bit sketchy. Good work teasing that out before making an abortive journey to view it !

mik wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 11:49 am

Explosive Newt wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 11:36 am
The owners sound like proper porsche geek

Not sure if you have the add-on that shows the price history, but he had it on at £10,695 earlier in May.

I had no idea that was a thing but I've downloaded it now, thanks

Explosive Newt wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 2:54 pm

GG. wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 1:24 pm
- is being sold from a Thatched barn conversion...

Blimey, good spot on the silica water absorbtion. My old 987 had issues with trapping moisture and I don't know if it is just the way the hoods are as they age and the thing needs to be garaged, or if it's a loss of tension somewhere.

I phoned up and they gave a slightly suspicious story of they had bought it for an employee who has handed it back now and are selling it on from him and gave me a company address for contact. The company's website states that they are a storage business although on companies house they are listed as selling cars.

Beggars, choosers... keep saving?

Nah, just buy this:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 4121487229

and this:
https://www.mstyle.co.uk/products/ess-t ... ystem-gen3

That'll be entertaining enough. Or spend a bit less on a convertible, I guess.

Supercharging a 200,000 mile BMW is brave. It’s the type of thing a base jumper would do for fun.

Mito Man wrote: Wed May 27, 2026 10:11 pm Supercharging a 200,000 mile BMW is brave. It’s the type of thing a base jumper would do for fun.

Don't be a pussy.

(Amazingly, I'm not being entirely serious )

Got me looking at Z4Ms, seem to be at the bottom of their depreciation curve.

I've had a test drive in a Caterham today and now know that I definitely want one.

Caterham are holding various test drive events at dealers around the country so I put my name down and received a phone call arranging it at my "local" dealer. This was at Northwich in Cheshire which although not that close the journey through the Peak District was pleasant enough. My Caterham for the test drive was a bright orange 420R SV, not my first choice but it was this or a 170R powered by the 84bhp Suzuki turbo three pot. The 420R had the carbon bucket seats and with the car being longer and wider it did feel slightly too large for me, I could reach everything OK but after sitting in a S3 after the test drive that is definitely the one for me.

After being shown the various switches and getting the harness set up correctly it was time to hit the road. The test drive consisted of a very nice chap from Caterham in a lead car and two of us were to follow him in our Caterhams, that came as a surprise! The R versions have a lightened flywheel so that took a mile or two to get familer with plus there was quite a bit of drive train shunt until everything had warmed up. Once out into the countryside it was time to get a proper feel for the car, the Caterham fella had told me to drop back from the little convoy if I wanted to get a feel for the performance of the car by slowing down and then powering up through the gearbox. It'd be rude not to after that invitation The 420 is 220bhp and is more than enough for fun on the road, second gear is very impressive and it pulls effortlessly through the rev range and is very torquey. As we were on public roads I soon had to ease off the power and this is why I'm looking for a lower powered model in the 152bhp of the 310. The 620 must be laugh out loud fast but I imagine the squirts of the accelerator are even shorter

So now I need to make room in the garage and bore my wife even more than I have done already

Nice one

(Although when I read you were testing a 420 I thought you might have flipped desires to one of them).

It was very very good but too extreme for the (my) road

220bhp 4 cylinder is a bonkers engine and even more so in a half tonne car. Not surprised you feel the way you did about the 420R. Took me six months to get used to 200bhp in mine and even then it very much had the ability to scare you!

Ohhhh this is sick