Craig.

With an undergraduate degree and a trade under my belt I believe I am probably edumacated enough thanks! Regarding my last two posts here. I actually apologized to Senna and was trying to explain my previous post and what I meant by it. I was not trying to insult anyone, so find it quite strange that you are personally attacking me regarding my skills or professionalism. I don't appreciate the insult, especially as I was not trying or meaning to be insulting with my initial post. Whats more, it wasn't even directed at you, so WTF is with the attitude toward me!! Why don't you go back and re read my last two posts here. Nothing nasty was meant by them. Read them with an opened mind rather than a defensive one and you might actually understand what I was trying to say. I never said salesmen were unprofessional, just that in the traditional sense it wasn't regarded as a profession. You don't need a degree to do it. In fact a year 10 student could leave school and make as good a car salesman as someone with a degree. In the traditional sense, professions were always careers where a hell of a lot of study is required to gain a qualification before ever being able to work in that field. Careers like medicine, law, finance, etc, where leaving at year 10 is not an option. My comments aren't aimed at a particular occupation and there level of professionalism, so I was not making sweeping scomments. In fact as you state, there are some pretty learned people in sales positions that display a lot of skill and professionalism. I agree with your statement. Its just that it isn't neccesarily a requirement that they study like it is for a doctor or lawyer, therefore it is an occupation and not a profession. There is a difference. If you have failed to see my point then maybe you do need to revisit my previous post. If my meaning is still lost on you check the dictionary for the meaning of profession.

Senna, when I say non-professional ( I never said unprofessional, you did ) I mean in the context of someone who spent the greater part of their 20s at uni and are now a doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc. These are known as professions. People in these professions are known as professionals. Same with the unskilled comment. When making that comment it was in regards to tradespeople, which are referred to as skilled labour due to the amount and length of training undertaken during an apprenticeship. Sales falls in to neither of these categories, hence the non-prfessional, unskilled remark. I in no way meant to imply that sales people are un proffessional though, just that it isn't a profession in the traditional sense like the above mentioned examples. I also didn't mean to imply that you guys didn't work hard either. But it isn't heavy toil like digging trenches by hand or shearing sheep. Hope that clears up what I meant in my post. Sorry to offend. It certainly wasn't my intention.

Actually for non skilled, non proffessional work and the fact that no actual toil is involved ( they do just sit on there butt talking to people after all) the pay isn't too bad from a discussion I have had with a car sales person. The salesperson in question was a youngish saleswoman ( probably around 30 yrs old) who sold me my wifes last new car in '06. While not spilling her exact income, she did tell me she paid just over 30k in tax in the previous financial year. That equates to somewhere in the relms of 80-90k income for that year. Admittedly it was a Honda/Merc dealership and she did admit that it took a couple of years to get up to that level but so it should. After all you don't get that sort of coin first year out of uni, or as a first year apprentice either. Maybe not all salesman get that sort of coin but a good living can be earned.

I could say the same about the MW shifter. Slammer, unless you can get an opinion from someone who has owned both and can compare the two, you are only going to get subjective opinions about the one that each member owns mate! Pick your shifter and run with it.

Mate I understand how you feel, but keep in mind that that $18000 includes a GST component which goes straight to the government of $1636.36, so really they are selling your $14000 trade in for $16363 plus GST. that's a $2300 profit, which equates to less than 20% mark up. And they have some overheads to cover with that profit too remember. Hate to say it but you probably purchase stuff all the time with much greater mark ups than that. Food and clothing for example often has 100% mark up. In some cases much more. As for not talking them down from your new purchase, why didn't you give it a go mate? Car purchasing isn't a popularity contest. Screw em down as much as possible because they will return the favour regardless when you come time to trade in. You sign on the dotted line when you are happy with the price, not before.

I'm intersted to know a few things Steve. What did you think it was worth? If you check redbook out I think you will see that 14K is actually pretty generous. See here : http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/vehic...es.php?id=57373 Trade in value for an '03 is $8100-$9500 If your expected trade in value wasn't anything like 14K then why not try to sell it privately? You always have the choice to not accept the trade in figure. Some bunny might buy it for what you wanted if you are willing to be patient. Why did you leave the mags on it, especially if they were almost new ( if I'm reading your post correctly they were a week old)? There was an extra couple of grand there you could have made selling them seperately. The car yards aren't going to give you any more for a car with mags mate. Why get a car resprayed just to trade it in?

If that is your main concern ( being just one of the crowd) why not just get a Force 6? Not too many of them on the road so it is a rather unique ride and it is hardly a car that screams 'LOOK AT ME'. I have yet to see one anywhere other than the showroom floor actually.

Nothing wrong with one or two subtle mods to change the appearance . It still looks like an XR and wouldn't really draw too much attention ( wanted or otherwise) in that trim. At a glance it looks like it has aftermarket wheels and has been lowered a touch ( obviously for performance in both cases more than bling Of course if the hat fits mate!

Yeah go the power mods. Zing over bling! I have noticed from modding my motorbike that very few people notice the bling mods, unless they are a real enthusiast who actually recognizes a non stock bit of kit. Power mods on the other hand are noticed by many more people. Especially if you just left them behind. Your car will get the tag 'sleeper'. The cops will leave you alone if you don't modify the look too much either as it will just blend in like any other XR except possibly for the slightly louder than usual zorst note. Whats more, you will really apreciate the power up mods every time you push the right pedal down, more so than a bling mod which you kinda just don't notice after a while. that's my personal experience anyway. Leave the bling mods for the try hards!

Another very relevant thread to this topic right here. http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/index.ph...mp;#entry593830 I bet your tuner didn't tell you that your rear tyres might wear out quicker with those mods either did he?

Yeah I agree! Did he advise you that these mods may shorten the life of your tyres? I bet he only said that it might but nothing definite or set in stone right! What an f*cktard. If I were you I would definitely be taking that bastage to court. Sue his ass bigtime!

Honestly, how can a tuner advise you with any certainty without knowing the condition of the box before mods. Did you have him open it to check the condition? You say that your tuner said that you might have a problem. Isn't that advice? He can't say for certain as there are a raft of different variabes, but you might . Sounds fair enough to me. He can't guarantee you will nor can he guarantee you wont because he doesn't know the history of the box or your driving style. Nor did he build it. And did you really believe that it's life would be unaffected by such a huge power/torque increase? Most people here accept that they will be affecting the life of some of the driveline components and then be thankful for the borrowed time that they are living on without performing modifications to the driveline. Knowing full well that eventually they will have to shell out for a rebuild. Its why my first mod is going to be a heavy duty clutch. I know from reading many posts here that it is barely able to handle the stock power levels of this car. Failure to replace it will lead to problems. Sounds to me like you are looking to blame someone else for your own naivety, or unwillingness to accept that this is ultimately your responsibility. After all you authorised this power upgrade work on your car without taking the whole package into account. All of the clues to this type of thing are contained within this forum. Yet you chose to ignore them and instead look to blame your tuner because a component that was never designed to have a long life at that power level miraculously failed. Go figure!

Mate I would be but it's the distance thing. It's pretty much a days drive down and back to rocky alone, without then going on a cruise. TJ, I might be interested in an Airlie run though!

Autobarn are a fine company at what they do. What they do is sell oil, polish, wiper blades and other associated car accesories. The instal thing is just a sideline though to try and increase profit margins and I wouldn't imagine they would be paying top dollar to recruit the best instal guys, nor would they be spending a lot on training up guys with no experience. You would be much better getting someone who does this for a living to instal audio equipment or gauges. Sure it will be a little bit more expensive, but chances are you won't get dicked around like you have with this mob of amatures either! Hope that you have some luck when you eventually get someone from head office to call you back. If you want a quality job, go to a local business who just installs car stereos for a living. Same with the gauges. Try an auto electrician or a mechanical business who specializes in mods, etc.

Leave it. With the UV we get up this way it should start to break down all on its own. Just before christmas try picking it off. In the mean time, drive more, worry less. What ever you do, DO NOT use Acetone as it will remove paint. I have used it to do just that on a set of stainless powder coated handle bars on my road bike.

Oopps. Now that I have read the whole thing I have to agree with you Dave. Must learn to read all of the sentence! I didn't get down that far, I stopped at "standard turbo". :o :o Sorry for the confusion guys. Cheers, Craig.

I don't know mate but then I know SFU about turbos and actuators. The actuator is part of the turbo is it not ( I am not 100% sure as my ute is totally stock and is the first turbo engine I have owned)? The question in the first post related to how much power with a standard turbo. Did I ask a silly question? If so then I am sorry. Please educate me.

Is that with absolutely nothing done to the turbo Dave? Original actuator?

Do a few test drives in small cars before you decide. Are you planning to do big HWY miles in the runabout sized car? We looked at a Mazda 2 last year for my wife and while it was great around town, we both found it a little unnerving when driven on rougher roads (you know thew type of road I mean, because they are everywhere up here) at highway speeds. In the same category and money bracket, the Honda Jazz sat better on the road and we peferred its list of standard features too. The wife ended up settling for a little Civic but if we were buying this year I would probably be taking a good hard look at one of the new breed of diesel cars that have entered the market. Awesome fuel consumption and decent performance all things considered.

For those of you with the quad exhaust on a ute, what is the go with the rear bumper assy. Is there someone who makes an aftermarket part to take the quad exhaust ( 2 pipes per side) or is it just a case of modding the one fitted at the factory? Pics would be good!

Don't be too disheartended. Keep an ear to the ground in your local area and see what pops up. The sedans do depreciate faster but they are also more expensive initially. Worst case scenario, you may be out of pocket a couple of grand or maybe not but without leather, or one of the other options you were after.

Awesome footage Groper. What clutch you running mate?

[quote name='Adrian6T' post='580222' date='Oct 2 2007, 12:14 AM']I hate to do this but i'm out. Sorry Going to look at buying a Harley soft tail.[/quote] WHY?

ugly

Sorry. Going to have to pass this time.