Steeps

Just a handful of pics from the meet, didn't go all out taking photos of everything as the cars were a bit scattered

I can't think of anything worse. All the "speed control" areas I pass through people sit bumper to bumper, HGV sandwiches and no one paying attention just waiting for an accident to happen. When you get a good variation between 60-80mph there are good gaps between cars and lorries to feel safe.

They don't even have a bracket for £130 on their fixed price servicing, so looks like you have a good deal GT86 10k service is at most £169 from a main dealer.

I have a photoshop filter that cleans the cars, don't worry about filthy pics (unless it's really dirty, where I'll just shop the car out of the pics )

I'll be looking into it just to put my mind at ease, it's certainly a looker and the 2.3 doesn't break the bank... but would I be able to live with saying I have a 4cyl Mustang when I can have similar performance from the GT86? It's probably better suited to A road fun rather than B road dashes.

Will need to double check calendar, but so far 21st is good, 28th evening only for me.

I emailed Fensport today to see if they were having one fitted to a car in the near future to get some feedback. Do you know roughly when fitting might be?

£18k of mods at new price to a 16k car... it's going to sell in no time

The gearbox in my car was terrible, could not even select 2nd at all within the first 5 miles but they assured me this was "normal". They loaned me another GT86 while investigating which had no issues at all so the best solution they would offer me was to swap the gearbox between the two cars. In 9 months I have not had an issue since. If the dealer is inexperienced with handling issues like this it might need a side by side cold test to compare gearboxes so they can see why you're unhappy with it.

It seems far too many people think the limit here is 45mph on NSL roads even without L plates

Came to have a look in this thread as I got a death stare from a mother at some traffic lights who didn't approve of my squeaky braking style, my local dealer already hates me (gearbox + satnav) so I'll wait until the pads need changing before trying anything else, then again I'd rather have the performance and live with the noise personally.

Uploaded a few shots to gallery: http://dansteeples.co.uk/portfolio/index.php/galleries/gt86-gprm-factory-tour.html

You could, but I suspect the dealer might see through this and add 2k onto the price Would be interesting to see, as the GFV has dropped 2k on current new cars compared to ones bought last year.

Mine once read a text out (windows phone, thought it was unusual as it can't use the internet from it for the "&go" satnav), but it's not done it since.

Not sure how to go about writing this as this upgrade came about sooner than I'd hoped but as the modifications have begun it's time for a thread. This is my first "serious" car (if you can call it that, the amount of fun it is) and I hadn't planned to mod it until I was sure on what I wanted, then Cosworth came along but the prices were silly. I made the mistake of saying when the price is dropped to a more reasonable level I would start investing in the kit, and I hate saying I'll do something then not do it, so I did it. Had the kit installed on the 19th (Stage 1.1, I'm not that flush with cash!) which was an awesome Birthday present to myself, followed with a driver training day on the Sat with Cat which allowed me to learn more about the car in a "safe" environment (tractors!) Anywho, you're only here for the pics, so here's a link: http://dansteeples.co.uk/portfolio/index.php/galleries/gt86-cosworth-stage-1-1-install.html hopefully more to come

It's not quiet, especially on startup. Either it's settling in, or the cold weather helps, or I'm just getting used to it but it seems better after this time. I can try and get a recording but it's not really going to give a sense of volume unless I can record it side by side with another stock car. As mentioned above, I've always had the sound tube muted as I like the sound of the engine. Once it gets to 5.5k revs I can finally hear the engine over the exhaust. If I get some time this week I'll see if I can get some filming done, I'm about to get sacked so will probably have more time on my hands

I think the price of 2.0 is very good, but the numbers look scary when factoring in the cost of 1.3 to get the full 280bhp (stage 2.3). It's only slightly more than the HKS system excluding the cobra kit (1.0 + 2.0). This should be a "shut up and take my money" upgrade but I think for now I'm going to hold off and spend on driver training/track days.

Apparently the kit will work on the stock exhaust but 20bhp down, but I agree I'm not too keen on doing half a job of it. Already got 1.1 so need cat and manifold (2.2k on top of the 1.6 already spent), supercharger kit (5k), then the BBK too, but I'd have to change my wheels for that. There's suppsedly a smaller brake kit coming out for those staying on 17"'s. Could flog the camera kit to pay for it, but then no more pictures I could have enough saved within 6 months to get just the supercharger, then add the cat and manifold at a later date but it's a lot of work doing it that way.

Cosworth have updated their site with the information and brochure: http://www.cosworth.com/products/power-packages/fa20-platform/stage-2-power-package-range/ Hoping a supplier or two will make a car available for testing, shamefully I've never driven anything petrol with a turbo/SC to know which I'd prefer as a daily and eventual track use.

Amber are reporting £3995 plus vat (£4794 inc vat) + installation as a 6 month limited offer, would like to know their full price too as 6 months is too early for me to upgrade.

Fensport had some listed on behalf of a customer for about £600 (full front/back set), with the new "budget" range of cars to get more people buying there might be more demand in a couple of years time.

If only you could knock £240 off my quote, I'd love to be paying £30 a year for insurance

Is it worth getting winters for 3k (winter use) miles a year? Possibly changing job which means I can fall into work so no essential winter driving required. Storage isn't an issue either.

I ran quotes last time I renewed for mods and without mods, Aviva always had the same price for both. When I added the Cosworth kit I called to confirm the changes and they said with this type of car a handful of mods were expected. If I added a whole load from a shopping list I'm sure the figure would change, but for a few simple mods it didn't affect the price.

It's the heated seat honest...