Jay

Or have the spark plugs changed by them before delivery. Regarding tyres, don't change them for Michelin Primacy as those offer the grip as a piece of soap on a wet shower floor. 🙁

I'm happy to be working at a few miles from the best Toyota dealer in the country. I've been there since I bought my first Lexus in 2002. I only once had one minor issue, which was solved straight away. If any part has to be replaced outside the service plan, they call me to ask for permission and they quote for the extra costs involved.

In The Netherlands a new BRZ costs £53500, all because of silly taxes. For this reason Toyota stopped selling the GT86.

Been looking for tyres for a while. In the wet, the Primacy tyres are the worst I ever experienced. 😒 I looked up several tests, resulting in the PS4 being a winner on average. Are there (apart from wear and economy) any arguments against this tyre?

Welcome! I guess your expectations and the car's performance don't match. To me it's the combination of the go-kart-like handling and the pricing. I left my 2017 car completely stock and enjoy it every day, commuting to and from my work, 18 miles from where I live. A few of my former cars: Audi 90, 2.3 5-cylinder, Audi 100, also a 5-banger, Alfa Romeo 164, 6-cylinder, Mercedes E280, Lexus GS 300 and Lexus GS 430. So why did I buy a GT86? First of all, I don't need a family car anymore. Secondly, I want some fun in a lightweight car. The sheer feedback, the low position and the rev-happy engine make my day. Don't expect a factory standard car to be extremely fast, as it just isn't. However, it can be easily transformed to a competitive track car, as a wide variety of tuning parts is available. No, I'm not trying to sell you a GT86, just giving my opinion on the car.

Looks like it won't be raining south of Birmingham tomorrow.

It looks like one should avoid this dealer. Bad luck, maybe better next time. Be sure to always fully inspect a car, inside, outside, and underside. Have a long testdrive, preferably on the motorway as well as on local roads. After the testdrive, listen carefully to the idling engine and smell the exhaust gasses to detect any burnt oil. The latter saved me once on my quest for the holy grail. 😬

On my way to Düsseldorf airport conditions were very wet. In a tight curve my GT86 unexpectedly wagged its tail. I wonder if this could be caused bij the limited slip differential or the moderate size of the tires? Now I'm enjoying a holiday in the sun at the isle of Gran Canaria. 😁 Two weeks without my car. 😭

We haven't had snow yet, as so often. Temperatures below 7 deg. C and a little water are enough to make summer tyres less grippy. I'm gonna find out which tyres offer the best lateral grip. Furthermore, I did some calculations on width versus circumference. A 225-45-17 tyre adds 1.43% to the circumference wrt 215-45-17. This would compensate for the somewhat optimistic speedometer, while giving a tiny bit of extra lateral grip. Over here in The Netherlands we get pretty much the same weather as in the UK.

Yes it does, but the snow button only tells the gearbox to not use first gear. I think this is counterproductive, as the engine has to rev a little higher to get the car moving. This brings back into memory the good old Mercedes E280. Once winter mode was engaged, it was super smooth all the way. I also remember the '84 Audi 90, which was the other way round. Weighing just over 1100 kg, being frontwheel driven, it lost grip all the time.

Of course I know how to keep the car on track, but for daily use it doesn't feel right. The torque converter allows the engine to rev up to its first sweet spot at 2800 rpm, which is too much torque for these hard tyres under wet conditions.

Further on the tyres... Last weeks it has been cold and wet, temperatures between 4 and 11 deg. C. I'm just not happy with those Primacy tyres. The least amount of torque on the rear wheels makes them lose grip.

I can see a capacitor and a coil, which may form a resonant circuit, making a keyless entry detector rather plausible.

Yikes! Long ago (1981 I think) I looked straight into the headlights of a motorist who was entering the motorway in the wrong direction. In my mirrors I could see the car pulling over to the hard shoulder, so he/she probably noticed. Scary, very darn scary.

Brings my Alfa Romeo 164 back into memory. It shared many parts with the Saab 9000, the Lancia Thema and the Fiat Croma. A set of rubbers for the rear suspension cost about three times as much at Alfa Romeo, compared to Fiat/Lancia.

By the way, the fuel consumption I mentioned is based on 95RON E10. The addition of 10% ethanol causes an increase of about 3%.

Depends on traffic and right foot. 😁 Commuting in bad weather with a lot of traffic jams won't get me 30 miles from a gallon. Otherwise it's about 35 mpg. It's a completely standard automatic.

Great to see you playing! 😎

Every other year I attempt to play guitar. London Dungeon - Misfits.

I do play some other instruments as well like keyboard and guitar, bass is my main instrument. Last summer I was invited to play on stage with The Lillingtons, a punk rock band from Wyoming. Great experience! 😎

Old thread, but maybe worthwhile. I'm a bassist, not by trade, but music is one of my hobbies. I like to play covers of mainly Punk Rock, Metal songs.

I prepared a wooden block.

Looks like the jack that came with the Toyota Prius. Probably a very similar jack. If I jacked the car up high, it looked like the jack wanted to topple over. The fact that it happens on one side, may be due to the jack not being equally stable to both sides; being asymmetric so to say. Carjacks like these are frightening to me. To make work safer and easier, I bought two hydraulic 10,000 kg jacks. What a relief! 👍

A healthy, happy and musical 2020 to all! 😀