scathing

If you re-read the first post, selling the Skyline is already a given. He's asking if he should buy an Audi Quattro or a Nissan Skyline, so comparing it to a R33 or R34 is pretty much moot. Admittedly this is no chick magnet oil painting either, Euro badge notwithstanding: but a true car enthusiast will wet themselves if they saw a genuine one on the road.

You need to ask if you'd buy an Audi Quattro? The Audi Quattro is an absolute legend. It may not be particularly quick in modern terms, but its got a heritage few cars can beat. Whereas the V35 is a whitegood in comparison. Just surprised that you'd be comparing a 20+ year old car against a newish one. The Skyline will be a far more reliable car, that's far more comfortable, and a lot cheaper and easier to maintain. I'd only ever buy a Quattro as a toy car - if someone damaged it I'd have a heart attack.

Their answer is to not get part-owned, and run, by a bunch of cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

Is "extremely few" one of those opposite slang phrases (like how "bad" was good back in the 80's) for "common enough to kick off a class action lawsuit" that I have yet to hear about? For your information, a "class action lawsuit" is one where multiple plaintiffs combine their individual complaints into one single suit. That gives these several people the ability to combine resources, to bring stronger legal representation to their cause. Or, in the above case, owners of 3.5 million cars....which of course means that there might be people out there who didn't join in the suit. And that was for North America only.

I'd say the same thing about a Commodore fresh off the showroom floor....

What can I say? I'm an eternal optimist whose faith is sorely misplaced.

There's an article in this month's Motor magazine about the cops' undertakings to combat "street racing". They've got their Exige, and the Bankstown cops drive it around on patrol. The purpose is to use it as an "ice breaker" with hoons, to engage them in conversation. Reading the article just shows off its typical non-tuner bias. The cops crapped on about drive-by shootings and carjackings before they went out, but in the end all they did was pull over a bunch of Japanese sports cars and defect a guy in an Integra that had lowered suspension and Vault Crystals. Funny how none of these cops managed to pull over any cars matching the descriptions of the two Commodores who crashed into that elderly couple on the Great Western Highway, killing them both, but they pulled over a WRX doing laps and a stationary RX3. The article also shits on about how all modifications to a car (including wheels) must be approved by the "Department of Planning and Infrastructure". Since the article is written about operations in Bankstown, Sydney, the context is we're talking about NSW government departments (in WA and NT the name for their version of the RTA is similar to "Planning and Infrastructure"). And if you look at the NSW Dept of Planning's priorities, its (at best) tangentally related to motor vehicles. Right, like the guys who determine the layout of Sydney have shit all knowledge of cars. They can't even do their proper jobs correctly, if you have a look at the dog's breakfast that is town planning and public transport design in Sydney. Maybe they should worry more about how to get a f**king rail network to service more of metropolitan Sydney on time than people with lowering springs and shitty wheels. It also totally ignores the RTA's VSI (Vehicle Standards Index) No. 6, which covers light modifications to cars. Wheels up to 25mm wider do not require certification by an engineering signatory, and neither do a host of other mods. Quality f**king journalism there, guys. Especially from a specialist "enthusiast" mag, that had the gall to publish a "Hot Tuner" edition that actually said what mods did and didn't need to be certified. And feature advertisements from a variety of car modification companies. I wonder if CAPA's Flash Tuner for the Falcons is legal, or Powerchips? Considering they just sell the box and not a custom dyno tune, I wonder if the product also includes the cost of running an emissions test? Who's promoting "amateur modification" now, you hypocrites? This one's definitely worth reading at the newsagent's, just for the perspective, but make a stand and don't buy it. Motor, who I generally have a bit of respect for, can go f**k themselves with this one.

I've driven a 350Z that had the HKS supercharger, and then the HKS single turbo kit, and the turbo is far superior. While they both made the same peak power the ST feels a lot stronger, and is easier to crank up the power on. I'm not a big fan of centrifugal superchargers, either. When I run my 1:09 at Wakefield in street-legal NA tune, I'll probably investigate the HKS ST.

Unless they've fixed it, the GReddy kit isn't a complete kit. I forget what parts you need to get on top, but when you spec it out it ends up being almost the same price as the APS. And I've read mixed reviews about it.

You need to be there. Give Narada a call.

Unique Auto Sports is in the Hills district. As for Hills, G3TFKD is the only person I've ever heard say nice things about them.

Unplugging the power / data cable from the pump under the bonnet. Once again, not sure about the V35 implementation (the Z33 and V35s I compared weren't identical but I think the latter had VDC) but on the Z33 the fuse for the ABS is a combined one piece with some other systems, that the car cannot run without. I tried to pull the fuse, and the car wouldn't start.

The headlights are horrible, and with the way the front of the bonnet slopes down around the sides from some angles it looks like a person with fat lips blowing a raspberry. From other angles it just looks like someone sat on it and squashed it.

And, if you have dead old aftermarket suspension, Buddy Club Australia is offering $500 cash back.

They could have made the front end look less retarded. The back end is fine. Its not beautiful, but it can look quite aggressive (especially from low angles). But the front of the car looks like it was designed by a bunch of people who've never talked each other, or seen what beauty is. Aside from that, I think the car is a handsome looking grand tourer.

EDIT: Beaten by lingeringsoul

Its a Multi-Club supersprint, which I'm attending as a NSCC member. With Oran Park closing at the end of the year, I think I'll be trying to go out there as often as possible.

If the V35 is anything like the Z33 (and it should be), then the only side effects when you unplug the ABS is that you lose the speedo (and the Odo).

Don't be soft Raul. I had a track day last weekend, I've got one on next Monday, Circuit Club that Saturday, and then Oran Park GP the weekend after that. I'm hoping I still have pads, rotors and tyres at the end of it.

Last news in the car mags is that the car with that shell will be sold here as a Camaro. They may also give it a "Monaro" body as well, but that's less guaranteed.

Basically, yes. Swaybars improve response, at the expense of grip. The stiffer you make one end of the car, the more that end wants to push. Stiffen the front, better steering response but more understeer. Stiffen the rear, the back will want to come around faster but you'll find power-down isn't as good as it used to be. Stiffen everything up, four wheel drift time. When I put adjustable swaybars in my car with stock suspension, I ran them at full stiff and it was great. When I installed my coilovers (where the spring rates are 2.5x stock), a light touch of the throttle would have me simulating Tsuchiya (actually, more like Lucas Black in the S15). Now I run the fronts full stiff and the rears full soft, although I may peg the front swaybar down a notch and see if my steering is still as responsive while making the car a little more neutral.

Solid bars are stiffer but heavier.

Did you want to wipe his arse while you were at it? If he ran a search in the White Pages web site for PAR in Ingleburn NSW, he would find that PAR Engineering comes up as the first match (and only match in Ingleburn). Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, etc....

Its a Commodore with a new body. But its still a hottie.

Doesn't Tempe sell Nittos?