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How does all of this affect insurance? Have you all fitted V rated tyres to your VRs? Also, does fitting non-standard sizes to your 15" wheels not have insurance implications? I've been hearing that some insurers actually INCREASE the premium for fitting winter tyres - seems insane to me.

Does the VR sound different in a good or bad way with the 263's? I've still got a set of these in their box from the first GB but haven't fitted them yet. I don't really have the cash for that just now.

Thanks for the feedback. The V3's are certainly out of budget but perhaps the V1s would be within range. Any thoughts on bushes at all? Are the standard ones worth another look or is there another softer option than the poly's that's worth considering?

I've read through this entire thread now as I'm getting fed up with the poor ride quality of my car. When I got the car, it had Eibach lowering springs fitted but was otherwise standard. The original dampers were shot so about 5 years ago, I replaced with Bilstein dampers. This improved things somewhat. I then fitted poly bushes around the same time and regret this. While they definitely sharpen the car up, the ride quality is terrible. I think things have got progressively worse as the Eibach springs have worn out and not it's time to do something about it. As I'm becoming an old fart these days, ride quality is increasingly important. The roads around here are also terrible which doesn't help. Reading through this thread, there are lots of good things to say about various coilover setups but they all seem to be quite highly priced for what I'm after. Then there's the Koni TA and H&R route which gets praise but the ride quality is said to be stiffer than standard so I'm still a bit undecided. I've been thinking of reverting to a totally standard setup. I can live with the high ride height although I wouldn't mind dropping the rear down a bit if possible. Could this be done with earlier standard springs as mentioned a few posts ago? I assume my newish Bilstein dampers wouldn't work properly with the longer standard springs (they were ordered through Star Performance, presumably to match to the Eibachs). Any advice, much appreciated.

I'm no expert but your symptoms sound more like a bad earth or something if you've got slightly lit lights as well.

OK, thread revival time! After 3 years of perfect behaviour from my speedo, this problem has come back. It's probably got something to do with the fact my car has been off the road for over 6 months for a full respray (more on that when I get a few minor niggles with the job sorted out). Pretty certain it's some sort of problem with the speedo itself. The spoiler goes up and down as my "real" speed increases/decreases and my mileometer seems to be accurate, despite the speedo reading. The speedo doesn't "bounce", it seems to stick (see previous posts above for more details). And can still show a speed when the engine is switched off and the key removed. Looking at Henny's post above, it seems like getting the clocks out for a look sounds like a plan. How easy a job is this? Any pointers much appreciated.

http://scip.channel4.com/4car/news/news ... s_id=15637 From this, it seems to have originated from The Scotsman newspaper. I hope you are right though!

Yes, I think they'd really struggle to implement something like this. They'd face a massive backlash. It's worrying that they'd even consider it though IMO. I've got a few friends who live in Edinburgh City Centre with much older classic cars (Alfas etc) who would not welcome this if they did implement it.

Not sure if this has been brought up before: http://www.mycarcheck.com/news/2007/02/ ... scrapheap/ potentially very grim for most of us here :-(

Bit of an update here, 2.5 yrs on! I never did let them take the head off and continued to run the car as I couldn't really afford it at the time. Now showing 125k. Oil consumption remains much the same. I am about to fork out on a full, glass-out respray and wanted to get the car checked over before spending that kind of money on the car. I had Star repeat the compression test (as well as check underneath to ensure that the car is sound before the respray): This time I asked for the figures: #1 175PSI #2 185PSI #3 175PSI #4 190PSI #5 190PSI #6 190PSI To me, these are good figures no? I'm not sure so any feedback would be appreciated. As #2's value doesn't exactly stand out, it certainly re-inforces my view that the original results were distorted, possibly due to waiting for things to cool prior to removing the Schrick manifold in order to carry out the test? On a side note, the car goes into the body shop in June. It's currently Flash Red (well.... pink). Any other shade of red that suits the C but is less prone to fade?? Suggestions ;-)

No question, the Integra is the more track-focussed car but with regards to the VR being nose-heavy, I'm sure I read somewhere that the VR6 has almost identical front/rear weight distribution to the ITR?

Seems differnent people are getting quite different MPG figures. It could be down to driving style I guess. Did ALL VR6's come with a 70 litre tank?

I've had 500 miles out of a tank once. It was pretty tight though! It was during a return trip last summer to Beverley in 30degrees heat up the M1 (A1). Was doing a steady 70-80mph most of the way. I typically get more like 400 miles but with a few longer journeys thrown in, 450miles isn't uncommon. Hardly had less than 350 miles out of a tank. I've been criticised in another thread recently for my obviously light right foot! corozin, what are you driving these days after the demise of your old VR?

On the way in this morning, a truck coming the other way passes me... loud bang... I think what the f&^k. Then notice a large spidery mark on my windscreen. 30secs later and crrraraaaaccckkkk. Big windscreen crackage! I'm hoping this is covered by my insurance - will check when I get back home. I might have a £50 windscreen excess but need to check the policy. If it's not covered by the insurance, it might be time to bite the bullet and get the car resprayed. They'll be able to get a much better finish around the screen if it's not in when the car is resprayed I guess. Not yet sure if the car is safe to drive - any way of checking? I've heard that if you can feel the crack with your finger on only one side it's ok to drive or something??

Storm Warning, glad to hear you had a great time! So, how did the Corrado fair overall? Or are you sworn to secrecy ;-)

Wasn't the Calibra V6 also FWD? Still, I can't see them bringing a Calibra along. It was never praised for its dynamics and was never really viewed in the same regard as the Corrado as a driver's car if you read any reviews from the time.

craigowl, yes, might just do that. It's going there for it's 120k service in 1000 miles time anyway so I'll keep a very close eye on the noise between now and then and if it gets worse, I'll take it in early. Thanks.

err, yes bars.. Sorry about that and thanks for spotting it!

Sounds like it is nothing to worry about then hopefully. Performance is still as good as it's ever been, not that I'm obviously using the loud pedal enough ;-) In the winter and if I've used the car a bit more as it was intended, mpg will drop to 350 but never seen less than that from the tank typically. Thanks for the reassurance guys.

mtc R32, thanks for this info. I'll investigate a bit further. Is there anything else I can do to check if the oil pump is on its way out?

Yeah, I know!! If I boot it everywhere then obviously I don't get that! I don't like giving a cold engine a hard time and on my short commute, it doesn't get much chance to warm up.

it seems to, yes. I'm going to have to investigate a little more I think. If it was the bottom end, would I be losing oil pressure?

VW Synta Silver. I've got the VDO Oil pressure gauges and my readings seem to be what they've always been: 5-6 psi at idle on cold. 4psi at 3,000rpm when warm 1.5-2 psi at idle when warm. I'm hoping it's not something sinister. EDIT: Above pressures are in bar, not PSI!

When investigating a fuel smell tonight (which was caused by one of the fuel pipes to the injector rail having perished), I heard a faint knocking/tapping noise from the engine. This isn't the usual tappets sound that you get from cold, the engine was hot as I checked it just after returning home from work. It seemed to be coming from the passenger side of the engine and was regular, probably once every half-second at idle. It kind of phased in and out. I went back out to the car a couple of hours later and started her up again. Initially no noise, but then after about 2-3 minutes of idling, the noise returned. It's not a loud noise and it's too regular to be the VR6's chains (they were replaced at ~80k, we're now on 119k) and it seems to only happen when the engine gets warm. It's not overly loud and seems to stem from near the back of the engine area. I can't even tell if it's coming from the main block or not as it seems difficult to trace. It's not overly loud and I doubt you'd hear it without the bonnet open. When I brought the revs up to see if it became louder/more prominent, the engine noise drowned it out so I couldn't tell. Car seems to be running as normal and is returning 400-450 miles per tank from my 8 mile commute with a few longer journeys thrown in. Could this be some dreaded bottom end problem? If so, what other symptoms should I look for? Or is this noise just a characteristic that I've missed out on before? thanks, paranoid VR6 owner!

Storm Warning, was the test yesterday or is it next week? If the former, how did you get on?!