GDH

I reckon it's OK...will want to see one on the road, but the front looks less stylised and fiddly than the VY. Colour's good...reckon we'll be seeing a lot of that blue. GDH

Agree 100% Have seen a loonie in a ute who was so peeved about one of those airport transfer buses (the 20 seaters with the tralier out the back) sitting underspeed in the right hand lane of the freeway, that he passed him down the centre median, spitting gravel and garbage everywhere, pulled back in front of the bus, then jammed his brakes on. Bus went basically sideways to miss him, and almost collected another car in the process. I was about 5 cars behind, and MOST unhappy about the gravel shower...I became most happy with my ABS about a second later. Some people just shouldn't be out there...at all, let alone the roads. GDH

If I could get away with 2 seats, I'd certainly go a 350Z...but last I looked they're dearer than a T by some margin, so perhaps that's not quite a fair comparison. A fairer comparison is probably a GT Liberty...I drove a B4 before getting the T (no comparison), but the GT is meant to be better, so I'd certainly look at one of those now. I would not consider an RX8 - I've had the "pleasure" of an RX7...reliability wasn't its strong suit. It was a lesson for me that Japanese doesn't necessarily translate to good. GDH

Would definitely buy a T if I had my time again...there was nothing at the price point to compete with it at the time, and for my money that's still the case. If I won lotto then all bets would be off! GDH

I usually run BP Ultimate, but have recently changed to Optimax (absolutely nothing to do with the 4c vouchers...). My economy's not quite as good - same driving style - but I reckon that's mainly to do with the high temperatures around here of late knocking the stuffing out of the turbo. Haven't tried normal ULP (shudder!) GDH

Too true. Good on those here who can and do trade their cars in regularly to get exactly what they want - but that's the only reason...to get what you want. Rationalising the decision to upgrade to a GT by believing it will suffer less depreciation (due to relative rarity or whatever) is most definitely not a winning financial strategy, and nor is optioning up a car with every bell and whistle - never has. As an example, earlier model HSVs have terrible resale %, because each new model has more power, better performance and equipment levels, and that's just to keep ahead of std issue SS's. In the end, I need a car for transport, and I want something that appeals to me. In my price range, the XR met my needs and wants best. The train/bus will depreciate a lot less than my car will, but I wouldn't swap my drive for a few grand a year. GDH

Find another dealer... I had a stacker fail in an AU, and Ford replaced it under warranty no questions asked. I use CDRs almost exclusively in my BA and haven't had a problem. GDH

Sounds a pretty fair price...might look into those myself (shortly...) GDH

Hey Daniel - great stuff...have fun! Painting of the engine bay was one of the running changes (post June 03, because mine's black). For a few extra bucks of paint I think it finishes the car off much better. GDH

Went yesterday - definitely worth a look - especially the "assistants" at the Smart stand... GDH

Very happy with blueprint too...lots of em around, sure, but I suspect that's because the car looks great in the colour, it's limited to XRs/FPVs, and they don't show the dust as bad as others Next Falc will be a yellow - I reckon Citric Acid or its equivalent in a few years time... GDH

At $200/month, I would have thought you're the sort of customer they'd really take care of...unless you have to be with Telstra for reception coverage, I'd be looking at taking your business elsewhere. GDH

Congrats Peter - that is a magnificent result! (looks in the piggybank...not enough for a phase 3 kit, but enough for a copy of Motor) Looking forward to the magazine coming out! GDH

And a few years on, they stop pretending about liking you or your car, and assess you based on the real target, your wallet... Debt city here - I had to promise my wife the new kitchen she wanted before I got the car...I think my half of the deal was better. GDH

During the day - 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. I like the XR dash, but if my pride and joy were an SS, I would equally like it...they both do the job. At night, it's no competition... GDH