Andy665

Owner is pretty protective of the cars but hopefully I'll be able to sneak a few pictures next Friday, apparently he has other cars in similar conditions in some of his other places!!!

Admittedly all had a handful of miles showing - probably less than 50 across all 3 cars - these cars are all totally factory fresh, run regularly, they even smell like new cars. Shame is that they will probably never be driven, if they ever came up for sale you'd lose so much of their value as soon as they were used - real shame Not at VW in MK, they don't care about history unfortunately

I'll take a few pics next week when I'm back there

...can't say where but had a good luck over a registered but zero mileage Corrado G60 today, parked next to a registered but zero mileage MK2 16V (Oak Green obviously) and a registered but zero mileage MK3 VR6 Highline.

But Jim, I bet you still look back at your Rado when you're walking away from it - I don't normally like red CXorrados but something about yours makes it look superb

If its the National Circuit you'll have great fun, easy to learn and really wide so plenty of chances to have fun in perfect safety

South Africa, also drive on our (the correct) side of the road too. Lovely car - blue looks like Raven Blue but even brighter

It certainly has the look and feel of being military - I don't mind as long as its not French, Italian or German military :D

Managed to get a Fluke 25 multimeter, excellent condition, in rigid case, probes and full instructions - seems really heavy duty - £29 off E-Bay which seemed like a good deal, seems to have a steady stream of them, link for anyone whos interested in buying one http://url.the-corrado.net/cef37d

Had free use of a new XK8 coupe for the day today. Much better car than I thought it would be. When I first saw photo's I thought it looked like an overgrown Hyundai Coupe but in the metal it is utterly gorgeous - more so in a light metallic with 20" wheels. The rear haunches are very muscular, the only weak parts of the external are the 70's style electric aerial and the internal detailing of the headlights is very weak. Interior wise, quality is a country mile ahead of the old XK8, space up front is very generous, the rear seats are still a complete joke, not totally unusable (as my wife will testify too) but not far off. The keyless go is neat, the way the starter churns for a couple of seconds after the starter button is pressed and the engine is blipped before settling down to an idle is a great touch. Love the electronic handbrake, pull back on the little lever and handbrake is applied, moving into Drive or Reverse releases it automatically. The touchcreen infotainment system is easily the easiest I have ever used, was able to get to grips with everything with no need to refer to the handbook. Nice to see no wood in the interior and the leather covered dashboard is a real high quality touch, general feeling was of a very well built and sturdy interior, little areas of cost-cutting were limited to a couple of rough plastic seams here and there but you really had to look for them. Driving wise, it was deeply impressive. 290bhp is not a lot nowadays butit felt quick, not massively so, there was certainly no kick in the back, it built speed very subtly, good job I was on a private road when I wound it round to an easy 140mph before having to back off. Standing start acceleration nothing like as impressive as its pick-up in mid-range, helped by the astonishing 6 speed ZF automatic. To be honest it felt plenty quick enough and I don't think that for most of the time you'd miss the extra 130bhp that the XKR provides. Gearchanges were totally seamless, and in Sport mode would always clip the redline before changing up. The paddles worked very well but would have preferred them to remain fixed on the column rather than turning with the wheel. The throttle blip on downshifts, whenever in auto or manual mode really helped set the car up for corners. Steering was a lot meatier and feelsome than I expected, helped by a very un-Jaguar like thick rimmed wheel. No real slack in the steering at all and gearing seemed just about right. Ride comfort was amazing, especially when you consider it was running on the optional 20" rims, you heard bumps more than you felt them - don't know how Jaguar achieve this with such big rims. Handling wise - lets just see that as I was on public roads (except for the speed test!!!) I got nowhere near the limits. No disercnible bodyroll, very little dive and squat, very unobtrusive traction control and monster amounts of grip. What was very impressive was the way the car seemed to shrink around you, was quickly throwing it around like the Rado, not intimidating to drive at all. Summary - never really been a Jag fan but at £60k the XK8 would be a strong contender if I could spend that kind of money. Great compromise between a refined luxury express and a true sports coupe.

Well, thanks to the selflessness of Phil and Royles of Wilmslow, today I was able to lift my dads spirits like you would not believe. Arrived at Royles to find a gleaming brand new XK8 coupe waiting for me. Formalities only took a few minutes then off to see my dad. He was released from hospital yesterday but the effects of the radiotherapy are really starting to kick in now, very tired and very frail. Pulling outside his house his first reaction was a huge beaming smile followed by floods of tears. Getting him outside we managed to get him into the drivers seat and showed him where the starter button was. As the starter motor turned over and the engine kicked into life with that glorious exhaust note, more tears flowed, setting off my wife and putting a huge lump in my throat. We spent a couple of hours tootling (!!!) around, visiting places from his childhood, old homes, schools, workplaces etc and then found a lovely country pub where he had his first pint for 2 months. Dropping dad back off at home, he was visibly chirpier and managed to get some really nice photos of us with the car. Arriving back at Royles, Phil refused to take any money for fuel and had even sorted out getting our own car cleaned. I will never be able to thank Phil and Royles enough for what he has done, not only has he made a sick man very, very happy but he has converted me to Jaguar, the XK8 is stunning to look at, sounds fabulous and is a fantastic all-rounder - all I need to find is £60k

Yep, just pull out and push back in - I'd advise you change the rubber ring seals on them - VW dealers usually automatically supply them with the senders

I believe the VR6 clocks will be incorrectly calibrated, also the fuel guage may read wrong if you have the 12 gallon tank as opposed to the VR6's 15 gallon one. Don't think theres a way of changing the mileometer reading either

Just won a G60 box on E-Bay for £60, decided to go down the route of VR 1st and 2nd ratios with a Peloquin diff - nice little winter project

Heard it from someone I know who woks at Autocar mag, believe its on nthe Autocar website now as well. If anything I think this improves TVR's credibility in the marketplace - wonder if prices will need to rise again though!!!!

What is it with E-Bay idiots - so damned annoying.

News update on this and it's positive Apparently the 2007 TVR's are going to built by Bertone in Italy whilst the engines are going to be built by Ricardo down in Worthing. Two top class companies who really know what they're doing - certainly bodes well for improved quality and reliability

Definitely a Camaro - live axled, cheap and crap muscle car

If I could be sure of a quick sale on my Aqua G60 I'd buy this - lovely car

... http://www.liquidmetalrefinement.co.uk Lots of Volkswagen chrome plated stuff - looks high quality and reasonably priced - shame that there's not more Corrado stuff but I'm sure we could persaude them to do stuff if anyones interested.

I have had three blue senders from various suppliers, all have given inaccurate readings - OE ones are more expensive but whats the point of having a temp guage if its not accurate

I'd love nothing more to see TVR grow and prosper but we'll have to wait and see. I heard today that the Sagaris has just increased in price from £49k to £58k. I'm sure this involves more equipment but its no longer a bargain supercar, theres no active safety equipment on them - its 911 money and I seriously doubt whether there are ever going to be enough people brave enough to sink their money into a TVR rather than a similarly priced TVR - I know I would if I could afford to but how many TVRs need to be sold every year for it to remain viable. The world would be a poorer place if TVR disappeared - it will be interesting to see where production does move to

Who'd bet on production being moved to Russia - that will really doa lot for the build quality and reliability. Long been a fan of TVR but I fear this is the beginning of the end - they have no real market outside of the UK and who in their right mind will buy a TVR whens theres so much uncertainty about their future., All of this makes me realise just what a good job Peter Wheeler did

Blue sender is the one to start with - its not cheap from VW but at least its accurate, both times I've had temp concerns I have started here and its solved it on both occassions

Is it oil or water temp that is hitting 110. Worth changing the blue temp sender if its the water or the oil temp sender if its the oil I replaced mine with non OE and get readings that were....lets say, inaccurate - now have OE ones in and much more accurate