Best performance per £ competition

to put into perspective though, they're lighter than 3000 GT / GTOs. But still yes they are heavy.

There arent really a lot of faults, they were extremely well built cars and the exhausts as standard fully stainless steel. The undercarriages were all undersealed in Japan too so rust is very rare (which is quite uncommon for most early 90s Jap cars.)

do a google for the digi dash they all come with - you may or may not like it, I think its great.

Mine has electronically modulated suspension which when turned on stiffens up the outside springs/ dampers when cornering so theres not a hint of body roll (its called TEMS)- which feels really weird given how comfy the cars are - i've surprised a lot of other cars with its handling. Most seem to have this - you'll see the TEMS sticker on the struts.

if you do fancy one i'm sure I can dig out the list of things I checked for when I got mine.

the lexus badging thing I'm not sure about really, it feels like you're trying too hard to look posh / snobby / alan partridgised - they certainly ARE lexuses in the sense of ridiculously overbuilt mechanics and obviously badged lexus in the US but i'm leaving mine as a toyota or may debadge it.
 
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silversurfer said:
I knew about those, they are like the Jap 7 series. They come with double din radio and all the onboard computers are in japanese with reverse camera screen and everything all ready to go wrong on you :D
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heh but unlike the 7 series they pretty much all work!

Also fairly cheap to run, around 20 - 25 mpg though insurance group 20.

I'm paying £600 TPFT on mine, thats age 24 with 3 yrs NCB.
 
My Dad's Lotus Excel was tbh - a bargain.

1987 Lotus Excel SE
Engine rebuilt less than 10k and 2 years ago.
Only done 65K from new
VGC bodywork
Mint Interior
Very rare car as it's got Black and gold badges *to remember Jimmy's death* and a fag lighter and ashtrays *very expensive optional extras - Chapman didn't like people smoking in the car*

Needs a couple of bits - but is generally very very good

Was £1695

Simon/~Flibster
 
Gotta be looking at a GTO for that sort of bang. Mine is running around the 340bhp mark with replacement filter, customer exhaust and a decat - total cost to me is £3.5k but they can be had much cheaper - I'm looking for just under £3k when I sell mine later this year.
 
How about a Mercedes-Benz 600 SEC, 5.8L V12, 362bhp, 0-62mph, 6.3secs, absolute luxury, every thing you could ever wish for, can be had for around £5-7 K, that is a lot of car, in every way, for the money.
 
Chris1712 said:
Well considering the Veyron costs something like £8,000,000 to build (inc R&D) i THINK, i'd say the Veyron at 10% of that brand new is pretty good value for money :p .
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Compared to that a brand spanking new Vauxhall Monaro 500 for £36,000 is the bargain of the century then.
Half the power of a Veyron for around 4% of the price.
 
Kitchster_uk said:
Gotta be looking at a GTO for that sort of bang. Mine is running around the 340bhp mark with replacement filter, customer exhaust and a decat - total cost to me is £3.5k but they can be had much cheaper - I'm looking for just under £3k when I sell mine later this year.
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GTO's are what i was pretty much set on beside an E39 540i (i know they sound like oposite ends of the scale, but performance is similar and they cost similar money) The GTOTT is 280bhp stock, does an exhaust, decat and filter really give an extra 60bhp?! Thats amazing. Does the decat affect the MOT exhaust regs at all?

Issue with a GTO is that strangely i can insure a UK 3000GT for around £800comp, but an import GTOTT comes in at £2500TPFT as none of the normal companies seem to want to touch me on it. So it would have to be insured as a 3000GT which is leaning towards dodgy should i have an incident :( E39 540i on the other hand is straight up insured for £750 with no discrepancies.

Soarer seems very expensive to insure too, only admiral will touch me @ £1500 :eek:
 
Jez, the standard trim GTO TT as an import is strangled by the exhaust. Decent breathing mods are between 50 and 60 ponies, even some half assed attempts will see a reasonable gain. Look at how much the cat will strangle even some NASP cars and then consider how new the CAT was in 1992 and you get the idea. Modern cats tend to be better (ala racing cats etc) and inhibit the car less.

The decat means no passing of the MOT but all yo gotta do is have the cat bolted in once a year, thrash about for 2 weeks and hey presto, emmisions are fine.

Insurance is a nightmare on the GTO - I am with Skyinsure and that's 900fc with 4 years ncb, 26 y.o, driveway, 10k a year.

Funny you should be looking at the 540 and the GTO TT - I had the same debate with myself back in April and (just) wne tfor the GTO. What I will say is that the handling is excellent for the size/weight and no scary stuff jumps out and bites like the MR2 tubby etc. The 3000GT is the way forward tbh.
 
agw_01 said:
Someone on Rovertech just bought a Rover 220 Coupe Turbo, lowered, stainless cat back exhaust and 17" alloys... T&T for £170.

I think that makes me the winner :p ;)
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A bargain :) I was happy with my 18 month old 9000 mile ZS 180 for £7200 :)
 
Jez said:
:)

Out of interest what finally swung the decision towards the GTOTT over 540i?
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The 540 is a Biiiiiiiiig sallon that will be required sometime in the future with family/getting older and more sensible things to think about. The GTO is a nut case psycho-mobile that is also a good daily driver. I'm young and it's a toy. No one EVER wants to sit in the back so you don't have to run people about. Fuel economy isn't miles apart but at the end of the day, people actually cpome and chat to me about my car in the petrol station/car parks etc and are genuinely interested and that's nice. Won't happen with a 540 I'm afraid.
 
Kitchster_uk said:
The 540 is a Biiiiiiiiig sallon that will be required sometime in the future with family/getting older and more sensible things to think about. The GTO is a nut case psycho-mobile that is also a good daily driver. I'm young and it's a toy. No one EVER wants to sit in the back so you don't have to run people about. Fuel economy isn't miles apart but at the end of the day, people actually cpome and chat to me about my car in the petrol station/car parks etc and are genuinely interested and that's nice. Won't happen with a 540 I'm afraid.
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All absolutely true points :) I love the GTOTT's i really do, ive test driven more than i care to remember now. Its just whether i want to risk the insurance thing.
 
Kitchster_uk said:
Have you tried Skyinsure?

The best thing about the GTO has got to be the punishment you can give them in the wet - even on rubbish tyres.
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I know dude, awesome cars :( I will try skyinsure but i wont get my hopes up. Cheers for the suggestion.
 
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