francis

When I was last purchasing I was torn between the M5 and the Supra. I eventually chose the Sup and haven't looked back. An M5 can be had for similar money, perhaps a little more if you want a good example... The insurance was also coming out at a fair bit more on the M5. Fuel economy probably about the same. The thing that detered me were the reliability issues some owners were describing - apparently the VANOS (BMW's version of VTEC) is prone to going wrong and is a £2k job to fix. This amongst other things is why an unexpired BMW warranty on M5s is almost essential and those without are worth much less.

Well I don't know much about the NA, but as a TT owner having come from an old Honda CRX, servicing doesn't seem too bad as long as you go to a place who will do a good job, know what they're doing and charge a resonable price (eg. Phoenix). The main cost for me is definitely fuel - I generally do around 16-18mpg mainly around town with a mix of some medium distance driving. I don't boot it all the time either. Regular oil changes will cost you a bit if you're doing a fair few miles. Otherwise discs, pads, etc are all resonable, especially with the prices from Steve Manley at Toyota. My last service at Phoenix was about £320 for all fluids, a change of plugs discs and pads (own parts). Of course the real costs come when you start modding.... 620 quid for a SMIC, 300 for HIDs, 240 for new headlights, etc

If you could get to Phoenix in Watford they could take care of this for you no problems - they charge 35+VAT/hr labour and know exactly what they're doing - they've done all of the above for me in the past... might involve you spending a day wasting time in Watford town centre though

Did you try http://www.easier2move.co.uk? London shouldn't be a problem for them, they did me on a leasehold property.

Hmmm sounds like you might need new looms with bulb connectors. When I swapped for facelift lights the loom with lights was already there so it was simply a case of disconnecting the old ones at a large connector lower down and plugging in the new ones.

Get the stuff from Steve Manley, he does it for about 13 quid a litre!

Easier2move.co.uk refer you to a conveyancer...in my case it was Last Cawthra Feather (http://www.lcf.co.uk) who I was quite impressed with.

I used http://www.easier2move.co.uk/ a couple of years ago, pretty decent service, charged about 900 quid for a 350k property which didn't seem too unresonable considering the amount of paperwork they had to go through. They stuck to their original quote which is always reassuring, and nothing is paid unless the purchase goes through.

Ohh who have you been hosted with in the past? I used to run Shell Review

Nice clip China-man.... managed to get me in right at the end!

Try this too: http://www.packeted.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album23

On this topic, I am thinking of replacing my fuel pump solely on the basis of its age (12 years + 106k miles UK-spec), the Toyota pump is coming out at around £200 from Mr Manley, but the Walbro can be had for around 80 - which should I go for? Is the Walbro a lot noisier than stock? Cheers, Francis

So are there two O2 sensors in a UK spec? Should both be replaced? I'm also considering replacing the fuel pump, however it turns out the UK-spec Toyota relpacement part is rather expensive (near £200) which makes the Walbro at around £70 seem quite tempting, but I've heard these are noisy and not necessarily better... any ideas?

I'm considering replacing my oxygen sensor... but I've discovered that on the UK spec, there are two - which should I replace or is it a case of doing both?

I got pulled on the M1 a couple of years ago in my CRX doing 110 leptons at about 1am on a Sunday morning Silver unmarked Merc C-class... 6 points and a 150 quid fine...could have been worse though. Thought they'd let me off, but about 7 months later a court notice came through the post

With an Xbox 360 you're entitled to a month free trial which I'm on at the moment, it's quite good - once you try I'm guessing you'll be signing right up

Not a fan of shopping lists either... Is there not also an issue of fading here? What happens when you want to sell your car and the buyer doesn't like the graphics or you remove them to make it more desirable.

I'd consider this too... have a few very small dents in the doors which I'd like to get rid of and also a mini dent on the bonnet as well as a few stone chips. What sort of dents are they able to make disappear? Anyone given Toyota touch up sticks/lacquer a try? I've got a set matched to my paint colour here, haven't gotten around to it yet though - any tips for the application?

Michael, do yours fire up fine once they've been running and have warmed up?

I saw a Nail Salon called You've been Nailed a few months ago, made me laugh..

One of mine seems to do this... It's always the same one, and it seems to happen when it's cold.. If I leave them on for a few seconds, or try to restart them a few times it will always work.... and once they've been running for a while, they'll fire up first time. I've tried improving the grounding point on that side, it's still not ideal, but the other side is pretty similar... Any other suggestions? I think Michael also has this problem. PS I just changed my battery so it shouldn't be that.

Nice one Nic, I think I'll have a big order for you Cheers, Francis

Considering fitting a boost gauge, quite like the look of the Defi ones - was wondering if anyone has a photo of one mounted in the console air vent? What exactly's needed if I fit one of these - the gauge, the control unit? Are they difficult to wire in and do I need to chop up hoses under the bonnet to connect it? Cheers, Francis

Hi there This is normal, when I first got my Supra I had problems getting in to sixth as I thought it was all the way to the right and down - but it's actually down and a little left from 5th. If you're shifting from 5th, just gently pull the lever down and it should go right in... Just takes a bit of getting used to, especially if you're not shifting from 5th. Regards, Francis

Red was the only colour I'd have, so now I have one When I bought mine, all my less car interested friends assumed it was brand new, who would have thought it's 12 years old!