7shades

ooooh! then you can get altezza style clear tail lights! Hmmm.... the small car market really is overwhelmed with mediocrity these days isn't it. EDIT: In this country at least.... Click Small, hatch, less than 30K, not a biegemobile ;)

Novate the lease and get the GTi or the SP23... well worth an extra $20 a week out of your pocket to drive something other than the cooking model... The ride and trim in the SP is much better than the NEO or MAX... The MPS is fun but you can buy better for that kinda money. The GTi is still a a bit of a fatty boomsticks for a hatch (and you'll gaze longingly at every VR6 that drives past) but quite a nice place to be in for daily puttering with the odd squirt at the lights. I owned the last gen GTi and I loved the quality (even though I had some warranty issues) and although you'll quite comfortably dust commodores to 100kph without using 3rd, there's no real excitement or visceral ooomph. Its just toooo refined and tractable. Tiida... *bluurgh* Its a rebadged Renault. 'nuff said ;)

Mazda 3 = choppy and skittish, and yet still manages to feel heavy, interior feels like the inside of darth vader's helmet Civic = Uninspiring in base (corolla pricing) spec, extortionate service and maintainance costs, crash one, big $$$ Accord = Different class, extra 20k for the only spec worth buying, Euro is a very nice bit of kit in 5sp if you have the coin Golf = Deceptively heavy and sluggish in price comparitive spec, but build quality is typical VW (ie: good) Astra = Everything falls off at precisely 60 000ks, thats if you haven't understeered into a tree by then Focus = Once again, base spec is an absolute lump of unremarkable dreck, we have 3 in different spec and at any one time, one is broken, or in service with a mystery undiagnosable fault Peugeot 207 = AVOID LIKE THE f@$kING PLAGUE unless you find comfort in the knowledge your precious new pug will be safely locked away in the service department for weeks on end having its myriad problems diagnosed and fixed. That being said, I have one for sale and its a convertible with 8000ks on the clock, But it this week and I'll throw in some whips and thumbscrews cos you're obviously a sadomasochist Clio = Bah... box with a wheel on each corner, Ugly as french women, Clio sport is a ripper but lotsa $$$ To summarise, I think we're all expecting a bit much from the humble corolla.... I would still buy one, especially as a daily or fleet vehicle. Why? Running costs, resale, reliabilty. I've driven a few variants of the 07, (there's about 80 of them around my shed) and whilst they're not the most amazing car I've ever driven, the drivetrain feels stronger, the steering feels safer and the whole car just has that typical toyota air of reassurance about it. The competition may have more bells and whistles and swoopy bits and cooler looking lights in the dash but the toyota just FEELS better. Take any of the europeans out and give them a good flogging... and I mean a DAMN good flogging... and you can practically see things snapping and falling off onto the road behind you. Not so with the rolla. Obviously not many people are going to cane the snot out of their car like that every day, but it serves to illustrate a point. And at the end of the day, if I'm buying a small/medium 4 door hatch/sedan, I'm not looking to buy a sportscar, I'm buying something that won't f@$k up and cost me as much money either in maintainance or depreciation. Rolla FTW

Welcome to my world...

News just to hand.... Caldina compliance is now available.

Whats the go with those moonies dude... do they have a slight inset? or are my eyes playing tricks... they look wicked and I want some...

Sleepers are the shizzle, fo rizzle. Nice job ol' chap

Thrust/throwout. Invasion/liberation. Meh

Possibly a LWB stockman, but the 6 studs ruin the hypothesis... Suzis are 5. I'm currently "adapting" a sierra chassis to a suzuki 550cc hatch body and the wheelbase length is only 50mm different, although you wouldn't think so looking at the two side-by-side

It is STILL raining up here... Its been raining for months... it's usually stopped by now and we get a few months of dryness over "winter" (whatever that is) Maybe by this time next year old mate Beattie will be getting stuck into building that big f@$koff pipe from here to SEQ so you guys can start watering the garden with a hose again....

The throwout bearing is the round thing on the end of the gearbox input shaft that the clutch fork grabs and pushes onto the clutch pressure plate to disengage the clutch. You usually get a fresh one when you buy a clutch kit.

Oh ok... so you disappear for ages, no goodbye, no postcards, nothin.... and now you show up with a new car and just expect us to care? Nah kiddin. :D Chuck those pics up biatch. An update on the status of the couperus wouldn't go astray either... hows the rust? :P

Nah... wheelbase too long and 6 stud rims. Could be anything really, but I'd wager SWB patrol... I was gunna say cruiser but the hub locks are different. That being said, I have no idea where its from so it could be a Lada or Skoda or frikkin Messershmidt for all I know

Go count your sockets... the 14mm might be missing :P Or alternatively, did you replace the spigot and throwout bearings? They might be flogged.

picsorban of des on his slip'n'slide going "wheeeeeeee"

Damn... Lucky ke10's weigh bugger all... I've got ashtrays that are bigger than those rotors... oops i said the "R" word in des's thread.... hehehehe :P

Oh yes... it'll happen... they already have the evidence completed (ie: crash testing etc) all that has to happen now is a RAWS workshop has to purchase an evidence package so they can start complying them. Last I heard, no workshop has as yet, but that may have changed in the last month or so. I was looking at a Legnum until I heard Caldinas were getting close... so I might just wait a wee bit longer.

It would look hot dropped down a mineshaft and never spoken of again

Man... up here we can't get through an entire WEEK without rain. I haven't been to brissy for at least 6 months... I can't imagine how dry and depressing it must be now, cos it was pretty f@$kin ordinary back then.

Nobody... yet. They've been approved to import under SEVS but I'm pretty sure there aren't any workshops that can issue compliance plates... its understandable though, lots of cash involved.

Wouldn't that make it flip over backwards? :bash: wheelie bars ftw

As much as I hate to say it... Toymods is where you wanna head for corona info dude.

heh... this is quite funny. I used to own an eagle boys franchise up here a while ago. Nice to know that some things haven't changed. You know those bloody horrible Diahatsu Mira's EB used to have with the big f@$koff phone on the roof? In my 3 years as a franchisee my guys crashed 4 of em, rolled 2, and ripped the phones of pretty much all of them driving under carparks. :bash: You know what I did after that? I bought shitty old cars and had them painted black and pink. I had 2 slant-front ke70 wagons, a pussbox astra, another ke70 sedan, a diahatsu move, 2 Ae82's and a suzuki alto with a 5" exhaust tip and mags :cool: that little f@$ker drew more stares than a rediculous illuminated phone I can tell ya. AND... nobody bothered to key them, kick them, slash the tyres, and they never broke down.

oooh a metrosexualpolitan... mikey are you getting in touch with your knitted-wool-sweater-and-romantic-picnics side? :bash:

You pay in NZD... there's a few ways to pay for it, best to ask the seller which one they prefer though. The simplest way is by direct deposit at your bank... most banks can transfer into foreign accounts but it does cost a little bit in fees. If the seller has an ANZ account it makes life significantly easier. I've used western union before... once again there's a fee involved, and the seller actually has to get off their arse and go down and collect the cash from a WU office or Travelex booth but its easy and you can do it over the net. Also you can pay in whatever currency you like. Paypal is the easiest way, if they have an account. It even exchanges the currency for you.