Porsche

Porsche 911 Carrera S

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After pondering £30k cars for some time now, a change from my usual BMW M3 camp was iminent.

Requirements include hair raisingly fast and exciting through the corners but reliable and well built, a Porsche 911 seemed the way to go! The purchase however, was quite random. Dropping off the M3 to have the rear tyres changes at Guildford tyres, I took a wander to Porsche Centre Guildford while I had an hour to kill. It was this or sit in Frankie and Bennys.

Porsche 911 Carrera S

I took an immediate fancy to an Artic Silver 997 Carrera S Cabriolet with a 6 speed manual, 19’s with 295’s on the rear, iconic red calipers, Bose, NAV and a very swish contrasting dark navy interior and canvas roof. With 35k miles (and the same in £’s), 2 owners and 6 years old, there was not a stone chip, scratch or dent in sight. I kept noticing people walk over and look at the price and take a seat in what I was already calling my car, so a test drive was scheduled in straight away.

Porsche 911 Carrera S

Setting off very gingerley towards the A3 the first thing I noticed was how planted and solid the car felt and I’m coming from an M3, not a floppy Citroen. The peddles, steering and gearbox all required more pressure and there was nearly no body roll. Turning off the A3 onto the country roads towards Clandon the sales guy pushed the suspension button, which hankers down 10mm and firms everything up. From standstill I floored it in 1st, no traction control lights, no slip, just amazing acceleration and a racing car feel. The M3 wouldn’t do this, maybe 295’s are required on all cars or maybe its the weight over the rear. The power just builds and builds and hitting the limiter in 2nd felt odd as the power wasn’t tailing off. The engine and exhaust note is much better than the M3, it sounds like a supercar, it sounds expensive. I can’t imagine what you have to do to get this car to slide as 50mph around a small rounabout didn’t even produce a tyre squeal. If Top Gear give the M3 15/20 in the new car section, surely this is a 19/20. By far the most accomplished car to drive on the roads. Effortless at low speeds, epic at high speeds and corners, buttons to firm up the suspension when required and roof down blasting when it’s not raining. Boot isn’t bad either but don’t think anyone will be sitting behind me.

The main thing I missed about my old Corrado VR6 was the button that made the spoiler go up and down and the 911 has this also.

By far my favourite automotive purchase.

Stats:
Engine: 3.8L 6 cylinder, 355bhp
Performance: 0-60 in 4.7 and 188 mph
Time owned: 10/2011
Purchase Price: £34,500
Mileage owned: 35,000
Parts/Servicing costs: TBC
Insurance: £890 with 6 year NC

BMW

For Sale – My E46 M3 Convertible

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By far the longest I’ve ever owned a car and still not 100% sure that I want to sell but here is the info:

With a 3.2l straight 6, 343 bhp engine, this is a beautiful, E46 M3 Convertible in excellent working order with no modifications.

Details – Titan Silver, 6 speed manual, Black Leather, Sat Nav + TV, Harmon Kardon, 6 disk cd changer, 19 inch wheels, hard top prep, parking sensors, heated folding wing mirrors, xenon head lights, rain sensors, call assist, tracker, air conditioning, all facelift items such as the rear LED lights and so on. I’m not aware of anything that this car doesn’t have.

Recent work – over £3000 has been spent within the last 4000 miles including disks, pads, hubs and sensors all round. Rear springs, engine cooling fan, battery, trim parts, exhaust components including back box. Wheels refurbished by Lepsons to original spec i.e. diamond cut.

I am an ex-BMW employee and have only used genuine BMW parts in my near 3 years of ownership. The car has full service history from main dealers and specialists only.

There is over 13000 miles indicated until the next service, MOT until 15/03/2012 and Tax until September.

I believe this to be a genuine original condition M3 and I have the HPI clear documentation from when I purchased the car. Private plate included in the sale.

2000km/1250m running in service carried out on time and by BMW, Wheatley Hall.

E46 M3

E46 M3

E46 M3

E46 M3

E46 M3

E46 M3

E46 M3

E46 M3

Reviews

German Grand Prix Road Trip

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With a team of 14 we left London in an 11 plate Mercedes E250 Estate on 19’s and air ride (very comfortable for 4 x 6ft+ 14st+ portly squires), 03 Audi A4 3.0 Covertible (not so comfy for 4), MK1 TT 225 (very comfy for 2), big Citroen (carrying 2) and a very masculine looking Mini Cooper S (also carrying 2).

Convoy

On Route

Helicopters

Driving in convoy and catching a 16:20 train to Calais on Friday 22nd July, via the Channel Tunnel, we stopped off in the Novotel Centrum in Bruges, Saturday in Koblenz (Hotel Haus Morjan on the river) and over to Nurburg Sunday am for the F1.

Koblenz

Even after the overhaul of Silverstone, a few of the guys commented on how organised everything was including nearly no traffic into or out of Nurburg. Map at the top outlines the Nurburgring and park zone B area 5 and 5a were excellent and free.

The days time was spent between the Info Centre, (where you have to buy cards to put money on before you can purchase food/drink – a bit annoying), gawping at the Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW M Power, Ferrari etc stands and then sitting in Tier 6 and later sneaking into 4.

Hamilton Wins German F1

German F1 Nurburgring

Can’t believe how close you can sit to the track and everyone needed ear plugs. Awesome race to be at and so much suspence with Hamilton storming into the lead in the first corner (why can’t Webber ever start well?), constant battle for 1st place with Hamilton re-overtaking Webber after he broke too late. Webber and Alonso pushed Hamilton back into 3rd and with some good strategy and tyre choices by Mclaren, Hamilton took the chequered flag with only a few laps to go, incredible! Not so much luck for Button with hydraulic issues and Vettel was off the pace. This is a fantastic venue for the F1 and we did see a ‘Save the Nurburgring Brigade’, so hope it’s not the last. Ears are still bleeding but left the F1 at 17:00 and made a 21:20 train – took 7 hours from Silverstone to Guildford I hear.

Mercedes

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Experience

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An awesome experience at Mercedes-Benz World brand experience centre in Brooklands, Surrey! This facility has been setup as a Marketing front for Mercedes-Benz and allows drivers of all ages to experience beginners vehicles right up to the £168k SLS AMG.

Starting off in the E63 AMG, I drove the usual AMG drivers package including straight line performance and breaking testing, wet circle and experiencing black ice simulation with driver aids switched off and finally the race circuit.

E63 AMG

SLS AMG

The 575bhp 6.2L Mercedes-Benz V8 is a monster and is such a different animal to the usually refined AMG cars such as the E63 I drove. The E63 was incredibly fast but the handling was very smooth and the suspension had an every day feel to it – I’m used to the E46 M3 ride as my every day car. The SLS on the other hand, had a much more uncouth idle and low speed engine noise and at full throttle there was a fantastic gurgle and crackle from the exhaust. The only car I can compare this to is a TVR Tuscan with the low windscreen, long bonnet and savage acceleration. The grip on the corners and steering feedback through the handling circuit was very impressive and didn’t feel as tail happy as was portrayed on Top Gear. It’s officially on THE list!

While you can’t experience the top end thrills in comparison to the likes of Silverstone and other track days, it is the only track experience I’ve encountered where you can drive a performance car with traction control turned off, have guides assistance at ‘hanging the back out’ and feel the thrills of actually driving 0-60 mph (and more) in 3.8 seconds while hanging on to the steering wheel. I never really did feel like I truly got to explore the Ferrari 355 at the Silverstone track day, whereas I had an E63 AMG in a full 180, a 3/4 wet lap with the back hanging out and really gave the SLS some stick and this means tyres screeching, the back stepping out and full throttle in 1st, 2nd and 3rd rather than just 4th-6th gear around a track. Missing the acceleration already.

Stats:
Engine: 6.2L V8, 563 bhp
Performance: 0-60 in 3.8 and 197 mph limited
Cost: £168k + options