Hertz Donut

"The crowd gathered in the carpark at Al's Diner with breathless anticipation, as Fonzie prepared for his finest stunt yet - jumping over a shark tank on his motorcycle. Fonzie later stated he was inspired by a thread he had seen on an Internet forum that suddenly turned lame and pointless. Furthermore he postulated as to whether "jumping the shark", as the thread did, is what led to the unfortunate deterioration in quality of Happy Days episodes. To this day debate rages[citation needed]: did the thread inspire Happy Days, or vice versa?" - Source: Wikipedia. Honest. Still, Ron Howard got out of it okay, Except his hair. I mean, really, wtf is up with it? It looks like he's got about 300 hairs in total on his head, and they're all scared of each other so they've scatterd themselves as far away from each other as they can. Come on Ron, just shave it like a real man. Then again, maybe bad haircuts are what is required to make a bajillion dollars as a director in Hollywood. I mean, Peter Jackson looks like a Wookie with a high-riding Brazilian and he got a frickin' KNIGHTHOOD!

Just for lulz, you can get a GTR badge on a factory Commodore over here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/holden/auction-676101562.htm Only a stickers 'n' trim job of course, which sucks. Not only does it sound lame (since it's slower than most other Commodores of the same era) but it's disrespectful to the old Torana GTRs. Perhaps the most galling thing of all though is people try to charge $5-6K more for them than the equivalent SV6 Personally, I'm of the opinion that you can put a GTR badge on a non-GTR if you want, but you've got to be prepared for everyone else to exercise their right to mock you for it.

Me rikey.

I'm generally happy to offer "advertising space" to clubs like SAU (as above) because it enhances the enthusiast community and can even help build friendships when you come across someone else you otherwise didn't know was a member. I'll allow stickers from tuners etc if they've offered me a discount or I'm particularly happy with their work. Other than that I can't stand them. There's a large chain of tyre stores (Tony's) in NZ that put a sticker on every car that comes through them but I pull them off straight away because I can't stand that I've had to haggle them down on price to start with rather than them just giving me their best price up front. Also, their wheel alignment skills at the local outlet suck balls. But if you're after a maximum aggravation sticker, go with something like "IF ITS TO LOUD YOUR TO OLD", complete with spelling errors. Guaranteed to annoy 94% of people with an education.

My K20A-swapped EK4 was a high-13-second car with a crap driver (i.e. me), a "soft" launch (2500rpm) and no real suspension fiddling other than Spoon progressive springs and Koni shocks, so they can still be fairly quick. It's not the sort of swap you want to undertake lightly though, much better to buy a car that's already had the work done. A DC2R will get into the 13s as well with a modicum of fettling. I've never driven the DC5R and EP3R so I can't comment on them but they're a nice piece of gear. /anotherHondatragic

Nothing wrong with Hondas. DC2 Integra Type R would suit your needs. Not super-fast but quick enough and a lot of fun on twisties. Other Honda options of course are EK9 Civic Type Rs, EK4 Civic VTiRs, not sure if you have any EG6 Civic SiRs over there. None of these are as quick as the DC2 (EG6 is probably closest) but all can be a barrel of fun and cheap to buy, run and maintain. Downside is they're all FWD and some will mock you for this factor alone but wgaf, they're still fun. Also look at MX5s if you can withstand the "gay" comments.

I've always used a general rule of thumb to keep it under about 3,000rpm and half throttle until it's up to temperature, then go for broke, but really it boils down to not driving like a dickhead until it's warmed up.

*Francevic. Yeah he raced a 240T back in the mid-80s, won the first Wellington 500 race in 1985 and even took out the 1986 ATCC in it. Was probably the coolest car ever styled by the Lego company.

If it's only legal in your state then does that mean you can't cross the border into another state in it unless they also consider it legal?

I have a PNM35 Stagea, which is effectively a 4WD V35 wagon, and I'll probably be doing all my own servicing, but just out of interest what are the dealerships charging you? It sounds like in Aussie they turn their noses up at imports but what are the NZ dealers like?

Agree with most others, but I'll add to buy something you won't be tempted to modify in any way, like a Camry. Reliable, big enough to cart stuff around in, dull as ditchwater.You may grit your teeth every time you drive it and cop some flack from (idiot) mates but wgaf, you'll have freedom of mobility and can save money you would have wasted on pointless mods towards something decent. And as Alex said, you won't care so much when you gutter the wheels and round off the bumper corners.

I have a 350RX Four with electric seats, they can drop a fair amount, not sure how low though. I'm 5ft 11in but have gorilla proportions (short legs, long upper body) and while it seemed a little tight at first I got used to it.

His mentioning "240s" suggests he's from North America, not Aussie/NZ. Not to mention his postnic...

Whoever designed the location for the dipstick hole on the PNM35 should be shot. Had to use the light on my phone to find the damn thing after checking the oil in fading light tonight. I'm always paranoid I haven't put it back in properly too.

There's a guy advertising on TradeMe who does translations for Nissan screens, can't remember the keywords for how I found it though, sorry.

Sweet, I'm 40, it's nice to be number 1 for a change.

Tried to rationalise that it's just a car and was not worth commiting murder over because my mother-in-law didn't even notice she'd clipped another car with it pulling out of a car park. Nice little dent right on the crease above the driver's front wheel arch and scuffed up paint on the front bumper. Mother-in-law is now banished to driving only the Commodore battle wagon which, every time it gets damaged, only elicits a "whatevs bro" from me.

I take it these would be fine on a PNM35 as well? If so then I may be able to convince the Mayoress of Funpants it'd be a worthwhile upgrade by Q2 FY14.

Wait. Didn't the Winfield GTR just sell? ... And it's staying in Aussie ...

Exactly this. Hate 'em or love 'em, they handle abuse and neglect better than almost every other vehicle out there. Our VS Equipe has 280,000km on the clock, the last 80,000km without a single oil change (keep putting it off in the hopes it'll die) and a trans flare on a hard 3-2 kickdown for the past 180,000km that hasn't got any worse despite towing heavy loads on a regular basis. The first owner towed a boat 100,000km with it in 3 years with no trans cooler, and it's been thrashed like a stubborn mule for 14 years by us with near-zero maintenance and it just keeps going. Why won't it die? WHY?! Meanwhile my Stagea's nearing 7,500km since its last oil change and I can't help but feel like I should do something about it for fear of damaging it.

I've always thought if I decide to heavily modify my PNM35 I'd just go RWD and 350Z manual box, but you really have to weigh up the cost of getting the car to a state you're happy with in terms of fit and finish vs the cost of sourcing and bringing in an Autech 350S. I guess you guys in Aussie have to worry about complaince though so it's probably not an option for you.

Well let's see...on Thursday I inspected the bolt that had pulled through the rear left mud guard moulding after she-who-controls-the-marital-vajayjay back it into the garden edging, and yesterday I inspected the damage on the right rear door after my 5yo daughter threw open the left rear door of the Commodore with nary a care in the world. Today I'm coming to terms with the fact that It's Started - that long, inexorable slide that a vehicle goes through from pristine fresh import to pile o' crap when it is subjected to the rigours of family life. Sigh.

*click* Oh right. good thing he suffocated it with a plastic bag then.

I'm rather sleep-deprived so I can't quite make out what that is, but I'm pretty sure it wants to eat my soul.

Win.