Kevin Bacon

lol, that S3 engine isn't doing anything until 5000 and as for the S/C comparison, that is confirmation right there that SCs are a waste of time and money (imo) :D That is going to feel night / day faster than your old S/C setup mate :)

Value Line doesn't extend to things like Air Flow meters, interior plastics / trims or other large, not often changed components. Those items cost huge sums. Try £450+VAT for a retractable load cover for my old 5 series Tourer (why you see so many tourers without load covers). Try £550+VAT for a wiper Mechanism. Try £100 each for ignition coils, etc etc. And don't even ask about replacing recirculating ball steering boxes or A/C parts. This is what I mean about German cars costing you regardless and it just so happens that the 6 cyl ones are more expensive because everything is over-engineered on those and there's 6 of everything. BMW also totally over wheel and tyre their cars, which prematurely wears out control arms. Using like for like parts quality, BMWs *ARE* more money to run than a comparable VAG, no question. And shall we mention the cracking boot floor E46s suffer from? Sure there are cheaper aftermarket parts but you'd be a plum to fit them to a BMW, Ms especially. Ms rely on their chassis being tip top otherwise the handling goes to c0ck. Cheap febi or Meyle arms with the pre-fitted bushes are a false economy as you'll be replacing them again after 2 years. E46s handle OK but in common with virtually all BMWs, there's bugger all feedback and a horrible vagueness on the straight ahead, and the engine is suprisingly flat below 4000rpm for a 3.0. My old 325i E30 felt gutsier low down than the 330s I've driven. I'm sorry but I just don't like E46s at all, except the M3. I'd take an E34 5 series over those any day. They are the last of the properly built BMWs imo. The only BMWs I'd ever own would be an S54 engined Z3M Coupe, an E39 M5, once the big end shells have been done and the rust cured, or a mint E34 M5 Nurburgring edition.

I can't give it 10 out of 10 due to using a rice paper printer, which is cheating :)

If everything's tight and the geometry is good, and there's still some wayward behaviour, I usually put that down to tyres. VWs like R32s and Corrados that run 0 front toe can be quite picky with tyres and there's no suspension thrust angle to force the car to run true, if that makes sense. I know F1s used to be shyte on my Corrado but they were a highly regarded tyre.

Konis and H&Rs eh? Welcome to crash city :D Nah, they're a great combo actually. They get better the faster you go. Works really well with 15" wheels.

Yup! I see the same in Essex as well. They are everywhere. The M3 is a very fine car indeed, but the 320, 325, 330... they all feel the same to me. They're not bad cars, just not exciting either! You can get some nice turbo kits for E46s though :D

MPG doesn't have to be woeful. Remember I was averaging 27mpg in my VRT run by a standalone. During my experimentations the VR6 runs a LOT better when fuelled richer than standard, especially in the idle.

I wasn't talking about the engine specifically, but the whole car in general. No German car is cheap to own, nor completely reliable. I've owned 6 cyl BMWs and know what some of the parts cost. DSG issues are blown out of proportion. TT pods, yawn, that was fixed years ago. Central locking issue, £100, hardly the end of the world. Rattles, you only get those when previous owners have f'cked about with interior and that goes for ANY car. I think N3P hit the nail on the head. The E46 is OK but hardly blows your skirt up. Same can be said of all BMWs unless they're M models imo.

O2 kicks in at 70 deg but yep, that's what a VR6 feels like when it's running a bit rich. i.e how it should be run! As soon as the O2 kicks in, the change is immediate. Less responsive, lumpier idle etc etc.

As a package, the TT with it's better interior, R32 noise, DSG shifts and 4WD is the better of the two imo. Fit a blue haldex, defcon bushes and MK4 R32 struts to the TT and you'll have a very tidy handler indeed. I don't really like TTs that much but I'd take that over an E46. Don't be put off by DSG issues. Anything German and 6 cylinder is going to cost you regardless.

They don't solve that noise, as I said previously. The MK4 calipers on my old Corrado and my current MK4 make the same noise when things get clagged up back there. Strip it all down, grease it up and it's quiet again. It's got nothing to do with the caliper version itself, but rather the design of the whole setup. Rebuild or replace - http://brakeparts.co.uk/#page=parts&pageSection=BHR&mancode=VW&brand=VW&model=CORRADO&modelversion=CORR*(92-95)+VR6+COUPE

I was quoted £45+VAT per strut back in 2008ish from KW directly. I didn't need mine doing but was just curious. You don't need a rebuild because of tatty springs though. If the damper isn't leaking oil, they don't need rebuilding.

Erm, no it won't! :D It's just a schitt design. VAG tried all sorts of methods to try to quash the groaning, ranging from heavy rubber weights on the Octavia to super strong springs on the R32, but nothing stopped it. I believe the MK6 has moved to an electric rear caliper (for the handbrake) but MK2 to MK5 all suffer the same w@nky rear brakes. If the calipers are clean and rust free inside, a rebuild kit from Bigg Red or Brakeparts4less may solve it, but if they're in a bad way (usually why they sieze up in the first place), only replacing the entire thing will work. By the way, those sliding pins and the pad tracks in the carriers should be serviced every year. Cleaned and lubed with silicon grease.

And a year on I still get out of the car, pick up the pump nozzle and realise I forgot to hit the flap button! Too used to the Corrado's manual flap still!

I must admit, when I got my R32, the first refuel was like that as I had no idea where the petrol flap button was either! I don't know why car makers deemed that necessary. What was wrong with opening the flap with your hand?!?

Yep, the R32 does handle better than the Corrado imo. Well, to be more precise, it's far easier and smoother driving point-to-point quickly. It just doesn't throw you all over the shop like modified Corrados do on bumpy turns :D

I'd go with wavetrac personally. Quaife are typical miserable English bar steward gits and Peloquins are American, so you have to import it, but it does come with ARP crown wheel bolts, where the Quaife does not. Both the Quiche and the Pelly rely on some traction on the opposite wheel, so they are no better than the stock diff in ice and snow. I know, I've been stuck in the snow many times in my VRT with a Quaife. Wavetrac is unique in that it still works in no load conditions. The only thing with the Wavetrac is it's a new thing, so long term reliability isn't known yet. That's not a problem with the other two. Still, for Quaife owners there is a way to simulate the Wavetrac..... load the brakes up a bit. The quaife will then see the brakes as 'load' and do it's thing.

Only a few companies make turbo kits for R32s, which swings the supply & demand ratio in their favour. There are some truly ridiculous prices. JBS being one example! Yeah I remember that video. I hope that was an Z4M because that MK4 didn't pull away *that* quickly from it. Well, I didn't think so at least, but then I do have an all or nothing attitude :D I have a big soft spot for the 1M. It looks proper butch like the Corrado and with some chipping, has the power to match. I think they're pretty weeny turbos on that engine as 380ish is the most I've seen remaps offer? A VR6 turbo barely breaks into a sweat making 400hp from a large turbo.

I think women (sorry, SOME women before we're scalded by the female contingent for generalising) just attract bad luck when it comes to cars. But whilst we've got a free pass to slag them off, what is it with women tailgaters these days? I often glance in the rear view during my commutes and see some Golf steaming up to my backside and I think, oh here we go, chav alert.... and it's a bloody woman!! Do they have some kind of attraction to rear ends, or do they love to huddle together in queues, don't they like being all alone on the road or something?! Truly odd creatures. If they didn't have somewhere warm and moist to stick my sausage, I wouldn't bother with them at all!! :D

Or worse, a 120d :lol: Yeah sold mine in 2012 but I still haunt this place :D I bought a MK4 R32 as a boost project but I'm struggling to find a turbo kit I'm happy with at the moment, and one that isn't massively over priced! I had a little tussle with a 135i Coupe yesterday morning on the way to work. Pretty quick those things. I could just about keep up if I rowed the gearbox :lol:

I'm just waiting for my missus to do this. She scraped both sides of her car recently, on the same wall, on the same day! Thankfully it's only my old schitt box Rover 25, so care I do not :D Women with common sense? Where can these rare creatures be found?

If it's an AUE 2.8, there's not much you can do with it. If it's a BDE, that will chip up to about 215-220.

Yawn, a silver BMW. Slumming it indeed mate :lol: Only kidding. Long time no speak mate, glad you've still got the old Curryado!

The current one is good fun. Punchy engine, well made (for a Fiesta) and corners like a good un..... but errr, you wouldn't want to do a long journey in one. Droney exhaust and rock hard suspension.

Bought mine with 73K on it and sold it at 200K.