Cowboy1600

Pearl white S2 RS4S Dayz on Diamond Creek Road this arvo, bout 5:45pm. I was the dude on the R1 who gave you a toot and wave as I passed you. Very, VERY neat car. Wish mine was that clean Damn not having a garage!

Squire's Loft - Goldie Place. Best steak you'll find in Melbourne. Master Dumplings - King St. Not sure if they are open for dinner. There are shizen loads more but I'm too busy to try and think of 'em

I'd seriously consider an XR6T or XR8 in a heartbeat if I was in the market for a new car. In fact, assuming I was looking to spend that kind of money, it would be an almost certainty that that's what I'd buy. Unfortunately for Ford, I'm happy with my Stag

Loach's picture said it all. How about you do some research? Ford workers agreed to a six month wage freeze during the GFC and then agreed to a 9% rise in the two years after, meaning a 3% rise each year for three years. That's inflation so they went nowhere. The average Ford worker is on Around $55k-60k. That's hardly a King's ransom in this day and age. To insist people work for less is insisting the live as the working poor. Holden have just signed off on a 3%pa wage increase over the next three years. Again, barely covers inflation. Bonuses have risen but these are all reliant upon the companies financial position. The company goes nowhere, people don't get bonuses. The unions also worked hard to help Ford and Holden during the downturn by pushing employees to take unpaid leave, work essentially "for free" and to agree to wage freezes. As for government support, there is not a major car manufacturer in the world not being propped up by it's government. Germany, China, Korea, US, England etc, etc all prop up their car manufacturing and most of them to a far greater extent than what Australia does. Do the research, as I have and you'll see what I mean. That they do it necessitates that the AU government has to follow suit or else we have no car manufacturers. No cars being built means half a million unemployed people. For the time being our economy needs car manufacturing. I think we should slowly pull away from it and entice industries that require less assistance and help them to flourish but this would be a 50 year proposition so as to not crash the economy. Moving half a million people from one industry and spreading them out across the rest of the economy is a massive undertaking.

Custom or off the shelf?

If you want to have a spastic amount of fun in the twisties look for something like a Hypermotard. It'll run out of puff down the MS of PI but you won't need to brake to T1 The rest of the track will see you eating sports bikes I'd have one in a second only all my bikes end up rooted due to getting the flogging they cop in peak hour everyday. Commuting is hard on bikes so I can't bring myself to drop $20k on something I know will be stuffed in three years.

Your fuel gauge is f**ked. If you're getting near on 500ks out of a tank, even going light on the wellie, you're doing very well and likely running the tank just about dry. My 33 on 98 would struggle to get 400 and my Stag on 98 gets ~430. The fact you're on E85 means you're potentially using up to 30% more fuel than you would on 98 meaning you're running the equivalent of about 600ks from a tank. Your car is magical. There's a leprechaun under bonnet and he's pissing E85 into your intake. Readjust your brain to accept that 1/4 = empty and you'll be right.

Fair enough. I've got a 10 month old so the R33 went and was replaced by the Stag. My wife hates it (low, hard to get in and out of, bumpy, too fast etc etc) but I love it. I've also always loved station-wagons. No idea if and what the tell might be but I'm sure someone will chime in. One other thing, if the price is "good" then it's possible the car isn't. Remember, if it's too good to be true then it probably is. There should be a fairly significant price difference between a 260 and S2 C34 should you be comparing like for like.

There's likely a tell in the VIN number but failing that, post VIN in the "FAST" thread in the General Auto Forum and someone will tell you if it's a genuine 260. Again, unless you have a real boner for 260's, you'll get much, much better value out of an S2 RS4S. Mines got almost 130,000 on the clock, heaven knows how many it's actually got, but it's holding up fine. It's got the standard rust under the left side mirror (common) and has had the rear wheel bearings replaced as well as the coils (also both common). Aside from that it's still tip top and holding up well. There's minimal wear and tear on the interior and not much in the way of rattles and squeaks. It's also had pretty much all the suspension replaced with whitealine/bilsteins so I'm not sure how it'd feel if it still had the original on it (which I have in the shed and it all looks fine - no leaks or anything).

Gah, right you are. Getting my kiddie speed mixed up. If anything, that lends more weight to Stoner replacing Whincup at 888 at the end of 2013.

But you and OH missed one important piece of the puzzle: cost. Everything you say is true if comparing stock cars, but then that wouldn't be a fair comparison as it's not like for like. Spend the difference on the RS4S and it'll smack a 260. Personally, I prefer the S2 DAYZ to an Autech lookswise.

I don't think anyone is against them, they are brilliant cars, but in a money for grunt comparison they do not stack up against an S2 C34 RS4S. All Autechs are converted autos where as S2s are manual from day one. An RS4S' has everything a 260RS has apart from the RB26 and brakes. Arguably, unless you chasing massive HP, the RB25 Neo is a better engine than the RB26 thanks to better head design. Single turbo means much cheaper to mod, too. Autechs go for ~$18-20k whereas you can pick up a tip-top RS4S for $10k. Spend the difference on the C34 and the C34 will thump the 260RS. Assuming the standard exhaust/FMIC has been done, I'd do the following: RS4S - $10k Brakes - $1k ECU + Turbo - $2.5k (personally, if starting from scratch now I'd grab the turbo/adaptronic combo from Stao) Injectors - $1k Fuel pump - $400 Coilpacks - $600 Suspension - $3k Fitting everything - $1k Service and Dyno Tune - $1k For about the same price as a Autech you've got a solid 300+rwkw plus well setup suspension/brakes and the baseline to push harder, should you want (ie, ecu/injectors). But if a 260RS makes you hard, go for it. They are shit hot cars.

Hardly.

Hrmmm, well his english seemed pretty good here: Oh, and here: Seems his english skills left him the moment he started outing himself as a Mac fan....

Exhibit B.

Exhibit A.

Holdens. This will likely be Whincup's last year before he choofs off overseas to Nascar or Indy. That frees up his seat, possibly, for Stoner. Of course, Stoner has Monster as a personal sponsor, so I'm not sure what'd happen there. He might switch to RB or drive a third car out of Triple 8? Or he might go some other way Will be interesting.

Unless you absolutely yearn for a 260RS, get an RS4S. Save yourself a motza. By the time you've spent equal amounts on an RS4S you've got a car which will thump a 260RS. The towbar is a conundrum, however. I've looked into it and at this stage the best option is to get one imported from NZ for ~$650. It won't be engineered for AU and therefore not roadworthy, but I'm personally not concerned about that. I would like a local option but they simply don't exist or run into the thousands as they properly engineered "one offs".

Lol. I love Redbull Racing. If anyone hasn't already, subscribe to the Redbull Ewechoobe channel. It's non-stop solid gold. The world be a far more boring place without Redbull.

Tough to say, too many variables. But a clean, flip headlight could fetch near $20k.

A friggin' legendary bike. He doesn't still have it? The pop up headlight 1100s are worth a pretty penny these days.

The Beemers are pretty crazy bikes, but for a solid $6k premium over one of the Japs, combined with questionable reliability, I'd go a Jap four any day of the week. If you are hellbent on gadgets, wait until this years bikes roll out. Kawashitty have gone down the TC, ABS etc, etc route and Honda et al are rumored to be following suit this year. Gadgets are good but a 'blade with $6k dropped on it will spank a Beemer. Then again, at the end of the day unless your name ends in "'obert" or "oner" or "han" it's unlikely you can push any of the modern 1000s to within 80% of their capabilities so it's really all much of a muchness. If you love the look of the Beemers and don't care about throwing $6k more on it, then go for it. The only thing you should be concerned about in that situation is reliability/quality. The S1000s have had some issues.

I think you'll find any aftermarket add-on which can cause injury to a pedestrian will be deemed illegal and open you to a defect. If I could be bothered, I'm sure I could find the relevant road rules about body modification,s but TBH I can't. I've been around long enough to know that what you are proposing is most likely against the rules in pretty much every state int he country. I got pulled over a couple months back for speeding and told that my GoPro which I had stuck to the front of my bike between the headlights was illegal as it's a hazard. I think a carbon fibre blade would do more damage than a GoPro. I also got defected in my Datsun 1600 once cause I'd removed one of the driving lights to make a CAI and the copper was concerned that if I hit a pedestrian his/her hand could go up it causing a greater injury. Cutting out the bottom of a milk crate and sticking it in the hole fixed that one.

If I still had my 180b I would have snapped these in seconds. Hawt wheels on an old school Datto, Mazda or Toymota with a 5 stud conversion.