Post a picture of your car here, part 3 (Quote A Photo, GET A 24 HOUR BAN!!!)

bmoferrall · 21-11-2005 1:54pm

fletch wrote:

I'd say it was most likely him since he lives in the Blanchardstown area...(I know where he lives cause I recognised the appartments behind the car & pass by them every day)....to clarify I am not a stalker

So it's you in the bushes with the feckin' binoculars

I suppose I could have made more of an effort to disguise the locality.
Hopefully, it's just decent law-abiding folk that visit these boards

HungryJoey · 21-11-2005 2:21pm

bmoferrall wrote:

Yep. Blanch would be her regular stomping ground alright. Probably just out for her daily exercise .

Wow, Cool. I gotta say, I was standing there and I seen you car sitting at the lights In the village and said " Hmmm Where have I seen that before " It caught my Eye, Its very Nice suttle Body kit you got on it. Looks well especially the wheel's. And Them apartments I also know where they are, But wont say

Dont live there though.. Down by roselawn/delwood I am. Anyway, Looks well the car does.

Hj

bmoferrall · 21-11-2005 2:42pm

HungryJoey wrote:

Its very Nice suttle Body kit you got on it. Looks well especially the wheel's.

Body kit and 'teledial' alloys are all completely standard for the GTA. I wouldn't dream of fiddling with the original design.

HungryJoey · 21-11-2005 4:58pm

OHh ! I was wondering.. As I said very suttle, It just suits it perfectly, Not a Boy racer type body kit that sticks out 2 ft from the front bumper and side skirts

I dont know much about the GTA, what kind of BHP and engine has it got ?

Hj

maidhc · 21-11-2005 5:15pm

mike65 wrote:

Thats a 1990 Merc 190e 2.0ltr with subtle mods.

Mike.

Fine looking machine, although I hate the black indicators.

Are parts expensive for it?

bmoferrall · 21-11-2005 5:51pm

HungryJoey wrote:

I dont know much about the GTA, what kind of BHP and engine has it got ?

It has a 3.2L V6 engine with 250bhp and a (sophisticated) front-wheel-drive configuration.
I've had it 3 yrs now and it has never let me down. It still feels as solid as a rock. Like a fine wine it's getting better with age.
With the heavy engine up front and fwd layout it does understeer a bit, but that's a minor issue representing only a fraction of the ownership experience.
IMO, the engine is a masterpiece, with an incredibly addictive engine note - no need to abuse it, as it sounds great even at modest speeds.
It was a limited edition car which they stopped making earlier this year. It was especially successful in mainland Europe and Australia, and sold quite well in the UK.
There's an even quicker 147 variant of the GTA, with the same engine; like the 156 it's as rare as hen's teeth in Ireland.
Finally, there's a fire-breathing 330bhp version of the GTA, still fwd, made by London-based Alfa specialists Autodelta. You may have seen it on Top Gear.

Here's a few Irish reviews of the 156 GTA:
Car enthusiast
Car buyer's Guide
Irish Car

...and a brief review w. pics of my own car.

You'll find some good videos on this site.

HungryJoey · 21-11-2005 5:57pm

Very Very nice, Must look out for you again, Funny it didnt sound like a 3.2, But then again.. Known Blanch.. Full of traffic. Mabe I might see you around sometime, I'd have to take a nosey in, Im always around there somewhere... Probably will see you

( I hope that doesnt sound like im going to go around looking for you, I dont mean it litreally :P )

Hj

bmoferrall · 21-11-2005 6:01pm

HungryJoey wrote:

...Mabe I might see you around sometime, I'd have to take a nosey in, Im always around there somewhere... Probably will see you

No problem. I'd be happy to give you a closer look, and maybe go for a quick spin.

mike65 · 21-11-2005 7:04pm

Greenman wrote:

Looks very well.
Is it your first Merc?
What mileage?
Are you happy with it?
How long do you have it?
Any problems?
As mentioned I would hope the next car is an old Merc!!!

Thanks alot JD!!!

Er Yes its my first Mercedes and has about 200,000 miles/320,000 km on the clock (the odeometer is broken common, 190/W124 issue).
I'm pretty happy with it, its old and has had lots of bits and pieces replaced
(I'm about to renew all the front braking parts except one caliper!) and I suspect the previous owner did'nt spend to much time or money on it but it starts, goes and stops! If you fancy buying an old 190 model then take your time there are plenty out there and check out the Mercedes messeage boards on the web like Mercedes190.co.uk and 190revolution.

Mike.

Funxy · 21-11-2005 9:12pm

This is my baby, a lotus elise 111r. From the first moment i saw the mark 1 elise it was my dream car. 8 years later im lucky enough to finally be driving the dream

qz · 21-11-2005 9:14pm

Gorgeous.

TempestSabre · 21-11-2005 10:56pm

qz wrote:

Gorgeous.

Ditto

ds20prefecture · 21-11-2005 11:08pm

Funxy - would you mind describing the ownership experience of an Elise?

e.g. What's good, what's bad, which myths are true and which are nonsense, performance, comfort, reliability, practicality, etc.. For example, are they as twitchy on the limit as occasional drivers would have you believe, or is that something you learn to work around/through?

If I were to buy a modern sports car, the Elise would definitely be on my shortlist, largely because of their minimalism.

junkyard · 22-11-2005 12:14am

L O T U S .. Lots of trouble usually serious, the older ones lived up to their reputation but the new ones seem to have got their act together in fairness. I had an Esprit for a short while in 2000 and I had a fair bit of trouble with it and found it hard to get anyone to work on it. Parts seemed to take an age to get and were very pricey. I assume things have got better these days?

TempestSabre · 22-11-2005 1:44am

Theres a dealer in Dublin now, Chapelizod. Has to make it easier. Kinda getting off topic no? Why not create another thread?

Funxy · 22-11-2005 3:45am

Thanks temp and qz

ds20prefecture ~ At the beginnning i wondered weather id have much trouble moving to a two seater car which wasnt known for comfort. I was coming from an Audi TT which is not to everyones liking but the interior is gorgeous, very spacious and comfy. Plus the boot was massive. On first impression the boot seems small in the lotus but i can gaurentee youll be surprised at how much you can fit in when you want to! My suitcase even fits in there, one of the plane wheel along types. Its small in the cabin, but very comfy. Lots of leg room for passenger too, but not the easiest to get into. Its great seeing people trying to get in and out and having a little giggle at their expense but once people get in they always remark on how comfortable it actually is.

Performance is amazing. Its feels like its on rails around corners and has never once stepped out on me. Only on track and thats becuase i wanted to push it

Ive been on track a few times too and that really showed me what it can do and helped so much. I can see now how much you can actually push it. Also got a great oppertunity to drive it in silverstone with an instructor and it was the wettest day you can imagine, i wanted to get it to spin so i could see what it feels like if the worst did happen on the road. As id been told it was very twitchy and spins werent unheard of. We pushed it as far as possible with the wettest track and even the instructor was amazed he couldnt get it to do a spin properly. So that gave me a hell of alot of belief in it being a super safe car and not as twitchy as most rwd's.

The negatives for me would be the dealer. Also the audio. but i sorted that by installing a sub and a new headunit and its great. I can hear everything even with the roof off now. Also the irish roads are bumpy as hell. It dosnt bother me in the slightest because when im driving it i have a permanent grin and i really dont care about the suspension being quite hard but for passengers its the only discomfort. The car does draw alot of attention but ive been very lucky so far to not have anything bad happen. I do worry bout it but its pimped up with the best alarm and tracker anyway but dosnt stop you not wanting to park it on the side of the street sometimes

Reliabilty wise its been great apart from a fuse blowing, see below. But they have had a long long time to work on it since the earliest form and problems in the earlier cars have been sorted out. I would highly recommend the elise and i couldnt prise it highly enough. Much better then i expected and i expected a hell of alot!

junkyard ~ beautiful esprit! I have heard stories about the rovered lotus's being not so reliable but i have had no experiance myself. Id nearly put this one in a different catagory to the rovered one as its 8 years later and is a world away from where they started. Theres now a main dealer in dublin and a service dealer in belfast. The parts are average for mine becuase its toyota engined so easy to sort

So far its run perfectly, just had a blown fuse problem due to bad wiring with a cd install that a garage did. Unfortunatly the dublin dealer is short staffed and dont really have a clue what their doing, it took them nearly two weeks to figure it was a fuse :rolleyes:

Ive found all the lotus dealers i contacted in the uk when wanting to buy more then helpful and if at all possible i take a short drive to the uk to get it serviced etc in a specialist there. Plus i love to drive it and the uk is near enough anyway! Purly becuase the car is my pride and joy and i trust specialists more then any dealer ive ever dealt with. It also works out cheaper. However, servicing etc is simple with two places in ireland to go to and the toyota celica engine is extremly reliable.

But overall this is the most amazing car ive ever driven and ive had the pleasure to drive alot of nice cars. Sorry for such a long post :eek:

ds20prefecture · 22-11-2005 9:53am

Brilliant - thanks for a great post.

Alfasudcrazy · 22-11-2005 11:12am

Thanks for the detailed reply - just to clarify - did you buy your's new or used and if so what was the mileage when you got it?:)

Funxy · 22-11-2005 4:31pm

No problem hope it was helpful!

I bought it new for jan 05 registration.

ciarsd · 22-11-2005 4:56pm

ah yes, ive seen this lovely (and well capable) car at mondello a couple of times.

Funxy · 22-11-2005 5:12pm

Next time pop over and say hi! Though ive only been on the track a few times there, but its exciting geting a bit better each time! Roll on next season

ciarsd · 23-11-2005 4:01pm

Will do, it would be nice to take a closer look without being a stranger and gawking in, if you know what I mean!

FuzzyWuzzyWazza · 04-12-2005 2:40am

Here's mine.

Can't afford anything flashier then a 10 year old one.
Best drive of any car I have ever driven though.

HungryJoey · 04-12-2005 6:39pm

FuzzyWuzzyWazza wrote:

Here's mine.

Can't afford anything flashier then a 10 year old one.
Best drive of any car I have ever driven though.

What model/engine has that got ? Looks very well considering 10 years old, Paint looks well.. I take it she has been for a wax or 2

Hj

FuzzyWuzzyWazza · 05-12-2005 7:39pm

HungryJoey wrote:

What model/engine has that got ? Looks very well considering 10 years old, Paint looks well.. I take it she has been for a wax or 2

Hj

Yep, infact I had just finished waxing right B4 I took the picture. It's the C180 (W202) model, 1.8L engine, don't fancy paying any more road tax then that!!
Just ticked over the 150,000 miles mark a couple of weeks ago.