soviet_merlin

The wagon? Very nice, I'm a fan! They seem a great mix of looks, performance, comfort and enjoyment. Without the ridiculous price tag that the RS6 has. Looking forward to see how you find it when you buy one some day. Had an S5 as a rental a few years ago and fondly remember the grunty engine start. Instant smile every time. It feels like the main drawback is that they are too good with their engineering. With quattro and whatever other handling magic they have it feels so stable and safe that it takes away from how fast it actually is.

Nice one, the setup looks great! No worries re the certification. Have never done it so I'm just curious.

Ooo, sounds pretty good @SLIXK! Do you have any photos? Also, which oil cooler did you get? And did you go with a kit for oil filter relocation? These two things are on my wishlist for when I have some more funds. Haven't done too much research yet though. Would also be interested to hear how you go with getting everything certified when you get there.

Hmpf, it's bucketing here so won't head out for this one

In case someone else is using a fruit computer and the image doesn't show. This is the photo.

Can I ask how you put up with this yourself? That sounds terrible and it would drive me nuts as well

Hah, OP is driving a GTR after all. I doubt it'll have the (grand)parentals squeezed in the back to drive out for lunch

Makes sense, thanks! I wish them all the best because the coilovers are great. Super happy with the Pro Comforts on the wagon. Forgiving enough to transport the aging in-laws but still feel good in the twisties. At least at the level that I'm driving. YMMV.

Understated excellence is what I would call it. Love it!

Which ones are their purple ones? Pro Comfort? This is the one thing that bugs me about MCA. Whenever people talk about them I find it difficult to translate different model names to their current lineup. Not sure if they keep changing it or if I'm just dense. According to the paperwork mine are MCA Street Essentials. I presume that's Pro Comfort these days but don't know for sure.

This was good fun, thanks for bringing it back! Some photos from our end as well.

Just following Duncan's lead on possibly not being very helpful. What happens when you select Pair Phone? If the previous pairing got corrupted for whatever reason and the car can pair new devices, you need to go to the phone's bluetooth settings and forget the previous pairing. Then pair again. Apologies if this is obvious.

Great comments and food for thought everyone! Good stuff!

Maybe a stupid question, but do people stick to just 3-4 laps like that in a session or repeat it? For example in a 15 minute session there would be time for more than 3-4 laps. Do you then do something like warmup, hot lap, cool down lap, hot lap, cool down lap and so on?

This one's coming up on Sunday. Looking forward to it. I don't think I have been around there before.

Probably worth mentioning https://www.hpacademy.com/ as well. Haven't tried it myself but people here have been recommending them. Been meaning to look into their ECU tuning courses...

Check out these guys. They are making them already or have it planned. https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/484505-nissan-stagea-manual-shifter-surround-now-for-sale

Measured this at some point in my car. I think it was 9 minutes to get to 65°C on a 12°C morning. City-driving. And it feels like an eternity.

Hah, someone also please let Chris know. The time has come for the ute to shine. It was made for this.

Thank you! I like your style. I had kms left last year and just felt a bit bummed. Your approach is so much better. I'm saving this route for future trips. Also thank you for reminding me that the mountains in VIC are nice for driving. I have been around the Snowies before years ago in a Subaru wagon shitbox running on 3 cylinders. It was a mix of worrying about overheating before making it up and toasting the brakes going down. But thinking back on it, the roads were great for the right car. I would feel much better about it now. No worries about my Canberra drive as it was really just an example of one thing for us coming up. I started using the 'avoid freeways' option in google maps whenever we are going somewhere at a time without traffic. It already makes it much nicer.

Just as an aside, it is going to be double demerits still on that day.

Thanks for mentioning it again! Just booked my ticket. Hopefully it works out this time. @Nyoom I question you'd want to be splurging on track days right now but pinging you regardless. This might be much more enjoyable in a RWD Skyline.

Haven't driven it but would love to try it. I mean the GR Yaris is homologation so that makes it cool by default. At that price tag it's pretty much competing with the Civic Type R. Personally I'd probably lean towards that more. Have you considered getting your wife to learn to drive manual? I have been pushing for that with my partner. We did a few hours on a parking lot and she's had 10 lessons with an instructor. The problem is that we only have the Stagea and it's not very forgiving to drive for a beginner. And I care about the car a lot. So she hasn't really driven much since. But the intention is there! A modern manual would be super easy. Pretty much drives itself

Oh wow, I thought they weren't going to sell them in AU and NZ. I more or less stopped following the news on them because of it. This changes... not really anything for me... but makes me want to read up on some more impressions of it. Fingers crossed it'll work out for you. Have you had a chance to drive one? Or the GR Yaris? Looking forward to see what it will look like in person. At least on the photos the GR Corolla seems to look just like a Corolla. Except for the triple tail pipes. The GR Yaris compared to base model is quite different and has a lot of road presence I find. This might be a proper sleeper I guess.