billybunters - from a bmw z4 to a mx5 se

[Daffy]

They always seem give their 8 pots a right foot hit just prior to going a diffrent direction- I take it as a V8 owner's way to say "respect dude" on the road

[93_Clubman]

Reckon he took one look at those beaded taxi seat covers in a SC'd Lotus & thought no contest!
Btw, good news that the covers have made those seats more bearable for longer drives.

[billybunter]

or he looked across and thought.............what a waste of car with that old C... driving it!...well that's what I thought anyway I should show my photo on a lotus forum so they can get an idea how to improve their seats

[93_Clubman]

should show my photo on a lotus forum so they can get an idea how to improve their seats

Good for a laugh, but I'm sure there'll be others that would find they improve comfort, which means more driving, which = Win!

[Danny]

or he looked across and thought.............what a waste of car with that old C... driving it!...well that's what I thought anyway I should show my photo on a lotus forum so they can get an idea how to improve their seats

The best Lotus forum if you're not already a member is

https://www.thelotusforums.com/

[billybunter]

will give it a look

good day today for bikes. one I assembled myself and rode via pedal power 9 klm and the other was dealer delivered and I gave it a burst and ran it about 30 klm

[billybunter]

plus another. did the same photo twice

[StanTheMan]

did the Lotus make love to the new pushy & you enede up with the above?



LMAO at my own lame jokes

sorry....

[billybunter]

dunno about that but I didn't mind the 9 klm ride on the push bike. actually better than expected. bought one of those cheap digital wireless speedometer and at one stage had it to 33 kph with a slight downhill assist so for what I cost I am pretty happy with the value.

also arrived with water bottle holder and chain lock too. funny thing about it the delivery driver dropped off the wrong bike. I took no notice and left it in the lounge room and 20 minutes later he was back to pick up and cover his mistake.

lucky I was in no hurry and the box was still intact

[billybunter]

motorbike is gone after 130klm so it didn't last long but I still have the pushbike. lotus moved out today for the northern territory. no regrets on moving either of them. I ended up with 5 reserve interested parties so it eventually had a bit of interest. I think if it had been the RED SE i'd been a bit depressed by now and I am very rarely depressed! annoyed quite often but that's about it.

I want to try a fiat abarth 595 and they are on special at the moment at 28500 drive away BUT every dealer I try either has not got one in stock/can't get it or wants to sell me the 43k performance model

I could go in that direction and get the top model but that friggin thing rides like a brick. the basic model has softer tuned suspension too. bottom model put out 140 bhp and the performance model get 180 hp one does 0 to 100 in 7.9 and the other 6.7 and apart from a few extras only 15k splits them. although the top model has the monza exhaust which is almost a $3000 option on the standard car.

meanwhile I have done my homework and it gets interesting. all 3 abarths run the 1.4 turbo motor in different states of tune. the same motor fitted to the 124 spider.

if I go for the standard model with 140 hp I can up the power via a fueling chip to 170 hp for a miserable $250 without touching intake/exhaust. selling in australia wanted $850 what a friggin bargain at the lower price with 100's of good reviews that mod would get me to the 7 second mark

plus even if I bought the 180 hp model I bet compared to the SE it would feel pretty slow plus the hard ride thrown in too. it may also sit for months. I only drove the lotus 80 klm in the 6 months mainly because of the ride and entry point.

so i guess if I can't get the right car and the right colour I will have to take what's out there and do the usual mod....re-paint the crap

ive only ever had two fiats. an 850 sports and an x19 and nothing good I can say about either of them. the only good thing going for the abarth is the standard model was 34k last year and this year they dropped the price to 28500 - and that's only if you can find one and find the right one.

I wouldn't mind getting one and painting it yellow either. as for the 124 sports its underpowered compared to what I already have so that buy is pointless. it would play up on my mind and i'd be doing comparisons '

[billybunter]

this could be the good life after a lotus good base colour with plenty of color choice upgrades

[StanTheMan]

Im going to say it. Please do t take offence .Its a buzz box


Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[billybunter]

no offence taken but say if I threw a bit of money into it I bet I could have a very quick little buzz box I know to some it probably doesn't look as cool as the lotus BUT I think it has heart -character and maybe the possibility of even RUSTING OUT

like all fiat's in a few years time it could live up to it's name and eventually end up being - Found In A Tip . that's actually my saying. on the fiat forum it's Fix It Again Tony.

[billybunter]

told the dealer today i'd like better photos of the car.....to appreciate it's beauty anyway he got into it and half hour later sent some back a few. happy with his second attempt and I dropped a deposit for next weeks pick up.

so I guess shortly I will be playing with two turbo cars. pity that open limit is closed in the northern territory I would have chucked a few quick $$$ into this car and took it on a good long run

I also joined a fiat abarth forum and in time I can explain to them how good a mx5 is although some guys are running 225 to 250 hp. not sure what's involved there but following their advise with a tuning box purchase for a mere $250AU that will grab me an instant 30 bhp with no exhaust or intake mods.

much better I think when compared to spending big $$ on mx5 upgrades - plus on the new forum I came across another fiat brand of humor - Fix It Again Tomorrow.

hope I don't experience that possibility too early in the ownership just in case I abort the project

on another note -no lotus withdrawal symptom . actually glad to see it go! in my case a pretty useless purchase and was lucky I picked the right car and got out of it easy. in the end I had 5 interested parties waiting to see if the buyer paid on time or it fell through.

still don't know what happened after it left here. you can see by the above photos the weather was miserable when the guy was loading it. at that stage I had not been paid for the car. wife asked what are you going to do.

I said stuff it let him take it and if he doesn't pay I will have the car held in Sydney and keep his deposit BUT all went well and today all money in the a/c

about 30 minutes after the loader left to go to a local car yard the daughter arrived. did you get that big hailstorm she asked. It hit the school two blocks away and really big hail stones too. well I replied I didn't see any hail our way but hopefully neither did the lotus on the back of that loader that would certainly be disappointing to me and the new owner!

competition was strong in the standard lotus cars and some I noted had not been sold 6 months after I bought mine. maybe or I know for a fact they were asking too much for what they have but the R or the supercharged is the only way to go - my advise would be buy neither

[Nevyn72]

I also joined a fiat abarth forum and in time I can explain to them how good a mx5 is although some guys are running 225 to 250 hp. not sure what's involved there but following their advise with a tuning box purchase for a mere $250AU that will grab me an instant 30 bhp with no exhaust or intake mods.

From the little I know about the 500 the two main issues are a really restrictive exhaust and lag problems due to the convoluted twin intercooler intake path. Obviously with a car of that size packaging is a bit of a problem!
I think you also have to go for a larger turbo to get those higher numbers too......