diamondjo

Its a contentious issue I agree, however I think there is something inherantly wrong with undercover cars. Using marked cars creates a presence, using unmarked cars has an element of sneakiness about it. Mr Keets, your soccer-momish "Oh won't somebody please think of the children" will get you nowhere with me

Pheeww, finally back in town. If I didn't double check my visa before going to the airport I'd still be stuck there! Actually, I didn't see that many italian cars, but Germany seems to be to them what Japan is to us. I saw an absolute shedload of beemers (yes and a few new M3s - tasty) and VWs. On the british side I did get passed by a DB9 on the M8. What's interesting though is I didn't see any ubiquitous every-persons-cars like the equivalent of our Falcon or Commodore, there's a real broad mix of cars. That said though, there were a lot of ford escorts, transit vans and VW golfs. I was driving this . One thing I have to say though is that I found the drivers over there far more courteous than we are over here. Although they drive a lot faster than us down roads that would make you flinch to walk too fast on; slow drivers almost always stay out of the right lane, people almost always wave or flash their lights in thanks when you let them in (or let them pass on the single track roads) and generally everyone seems to encourage the smooth flow of traffic. Whereas over here its very much every man for himself, barge in wherever you can and make sure you're in front of everyone! That said though, there are a**holes everywhere and we saw our fair share over there too. For instance, we were driving at a leisurly 55MPH down a twisting mountain road only to be overtaken by a van and a car at the same time. As the van pulls in front of us, the car keeps going to continue overtaking the van. The van wasn't having any of this, so both vehicles were careering down this road (one on the wrong side) for what seemed like an eternity until the car finally pulled ahead of the van - just to prove a point. One thing that's awesome though - and I'd like to see that here - is before the traffic lights turn green, they turn red and amber at the same time to warn you before they change. You know exactly when the light is going to change, so you can actually start rolling beforehand. You can do that here too, but this takes the guesswork (and embarrassing rolls out when its not your turn) out of it.

Fantasic idea AFTAMATH, I'm all for that, it would be more useful than the current vanilla spotted thread. Hows about it Administrators... Dan?

Yeah, there's even a key for Euro's but I can't for the life of me work out what the key combo is € ... oh... its Ctrl Alt 4

This sucks I've been in Scotland for about a week now, with just under a week to go. I MISS MY CAR!! What's strange here is all the "boy racers" as they're called here, are getting around in Peugots, Fiats and Focusses (european rice) and there is a noticable absence of hot jap stuff. WRXs are very popular here though (or *ehem* Impretzas as they are called), but thats about the only type of hot jap car I've seen. I'VE SEEN NOT ONE SKYLINE! But the roads here are PERFECT for it, all twisty and winding with 60MPH speed limits. Can't wait to hop back in the line when I get home. I'm getting around in some vauxhall people mover which was supposed to be a VW Passat . Tell you what though, for a mum's taxi, it's actually quite fun to drive... except the indicators are back to front and upside down and the windscreen wipers are set to distract you at random. Cheers Iain P.S. The keyboards over here are weird

Man, I did exactly the same thing the day before yesterday in Perth. I was driving the folks car and I remember sitting on a hard plasic chair and the keys becoming a literal pain in the ass, so I remember removing them from my pocket. WHERE!?!? I only remembered that night that I had been to see a JP to get a Stat Dec signed. Went in the next morning and thank god! I spent half the night pacing up and down biting my nails. Going to cut some copies today. Never got a spare set when I bought the car.

Hmmm.. Mr Keets, you following this? I think we did a job for her back in the good old days.

You too huh?

Hey Kevin Don't worry I'm a cruise n00b too - the xmas cruise was my first. I'll keep a look out for your car. Any distinguishing features? My car's disinguising feature is that it has none! So just look for the stock Silver 33. Iain I'm glad to see you've been infected by the bunny virus also .

Yeah likewise mate. Get better!

Me Three!

That sort of thing really makes me mad. It's such jealous, petty and cowardly thing to do. These cars do not come easy to most of us and what looks like a flashy status symbol is normally someones pride and joy that they pour all their money into. I'm really sorry to hear of what happened to your car and I can only hope they get their just-desserts some day. I don't want to tempt fate, but I would die if anything happened to my baby . Call me paranoid but I normally do this whenever I can: When I park, I take a photo (with my phone) of the cars to the left and right of me along with their rego's. That way, if I return and there's a door mark of a certain colour on my car I know who did it. Also, wherever possible I try and park in a well lit area near a security camera. So hopefully if (god forbid) anything happened to it, it would hopefully be caught on camera.

Mate, I'd PM Slide, he's always in the market for Turbo's. He's pretty much bought them all up as far as I know. Iain

The FAQs state that they will fold if you tell them to take a posting about you down.

Gran Turismo Sports is what it stands for. From wikipedia (Link): Gran Turismo is Italian and Spanish for grand touring or "grand tourisme." These terms are used to describe long distance or endurance races like 24 Hours of Le Mans, Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, Carrera Panamericana and the high-powered sports cars which compete there. Some examples are the BMW M3, Ferrari 250 GTO, Porsche 911 GT3, Porsche 904 GTS, and the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640. After these famous races and cars, several road cars and even computer games adopted the Gran Turismo name: * Grand tourer, a car designed for comfortable long distance driving. * Gran Turismo (GT) series of video games for the Sony PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 systems. * Many automobiles integrate GT into their names or use GT to describe a particular trim level.

http://www.xspeed.com.au/ being down more often than it is up. Where is it hosted? Behind the outhouse under the leaky air-conditioner? P.S. If xspeed happens to read this: If you want cheap hosting and powweb aint doin it for you, I've been with 2mhost for about a year now and they've been pretty reliable for me. Although, I don't do much traffic, its just my non-existant porfolio that's there atm.

Just an update. I've been averaging around 300 - 320 km from full to fuel-light. I've run some injector cleaner through it and now I'm getting 350 - 380 km. I got the 380 after the cruise and a lot of freeway driving though so I guess that's to be expected. Hopefully early 2007 I'll be able to afford to let her breathe a bit easier, so we'll see what happens then.

So how long did it take? I'm considering buying a bike and riding to work too. It's rediculous man, I live about 5 minutes drive from work, I could walk it if I could be bothered. It would probably be much better for me and much better for the ride (cutting out the short trips). And also much better for petrol. Right now I'm spending around $50 a week just going to and from work, it's all that stop-start crap down Beaufort street. Hey also, reading the membership benefits page. The Dan you're supposed to ask for at Zest in Bibra Lake.. is that you Dan the Man? Reason I ask is, I've been going there for the past 4 years til I moved up here and now I'm going to the Mt Lawley one. I have to say, although the Mt Lawley one is bigger, the Bibra Lake one is much cleaner and better maintained. Wish I could still go there.

You guys should start harrassing your representatives. Here in WA we have Fuel Watch which tells you in advance what all the prices at every servo are today and will be tomorrow. The servos are also required by law to keep that price for 24hrs (i.e. they can't just change it half way through the day). What's happening now though is BP (effectively our only choice over here for 98RON) just has it's prices set exactly the same at every station - so for us, there really is no point in shopping around. Also I've been reading the previous posts and FWIW, enjoy these years while you can. We're going to be hitting peak oil some time in the next couple of years, some people say we're there now. After that, it's all downhill. It's not just a matter of "oh well, we'll just get around in electric cars" either. This is the stuff of the stone heads of Easter Island on a global scale. So why do I drive around on an RB25DET? Because we're screwed whether we drive our gas guzzler sports cars or not. To switch to an econocar is to miss the point. Read this for a slightly alarmist view of the whole topic. "Big deal. If gas prices get high, I’ll just drive less. Why should I give a damn?" Because petrochemicals are key components to much more than just the gas in your car. As geologist Dale Allen Pfeiffer points out in his article entitled, "Eating Fossil Fuels," approximately 10 calories of fossil fuels are required to produce every 1 calorie of food eaten in the US.

Oh, I was parked behind you at City West then. Nice ride.

So who's the guy with the white 33 and the blue graphics? I've seen him cruising around Kings park and hes pssh'd at me at least a couple of times on the freeway. *Shakes fist* you just wait 'til I get started on mine . Hey Mitch, I've seen you posting on here a fair bit, so that's you. Cool. I'll PM you (after all this Xmas this is over - I don't think I'm going to be getting much screentime) soon and we can have a chat. Look forward to it mate. Iain

HAHAHA, dude, I love your signature!

StageaGirl, I think I might have seen you at the cruise last night. Is your plate IMPORTD? If so, I photoshopped your wheels for you a while ago - check the appropriate thread. I was driving the Silver bog-stock R33 Series2 with my girlfriend and hanging around with Mr Keets. Think you parked opposite us at Murdoch. Excellent cruise guys and thanks Dan for organising it. We had to split at midnight as Anita had to get up for work at 6am, but will hopefully be able to stick around for the end next time. Also, the fella that Keith introduced me to with the RB25DET, sorry mate, I've forgotten your name and I never got your screen name. I'd like to talk to you a bit more about what you've done with it. Cheers guys Iain

I had a few spare minutes. Hope these are to your liking. Iain

Ha ha, yes mate you're quite right. I did sort of half wonder. My mate's 32R makes 300 kw at the wheels and he's pretty much reached the end of the road as far as mods go. So I was thinking shit, this guy drives the same car as me and is making more?! There must be something pretty special under there! Not that 324 HP is anything to sneeze at!