As everyone who knows me and this blog by now, I currently own a ’00’ Volvo C70 Coupé 2.0T which I’ve owned since just before turning 18 years old, It’s also my first car as well, now this may not sound like much however in the UK where we tend to buy small city cars like the Vauxhall/Opel Corsa or the Ford Fiesta to name a few, the Volvo is quite a leap in car choice compared to what a majority of first time drivers over here buy, so with that mentioned and with ownership crossing over onto its 4th year, why exactly did I buy my C70 and what is it actually like to own 4 years on now I’m nearly 22 years of age?

Well, we’ll start off with the first part of the question and that is this, why the C70 in particular and why not a similarly priced small car?, well, I’ll freely admit that the Volvo was never my first choice in cars and before buying the C70 I wasn’t really considered a Volvo enthusiast of sorts, I’d never grown up around Volvo’s and I never had any friends or family members with one neither so I was completely blind to the brand due to those reasons, however, when my parents were looking to change their MK1 Honda CR-V for a wagon, we first tried to get a Subaru Outback MK4, however, as luck would have it these were way out of league for us as at the time, now, this is where I come in, I decided to help by looking at cars similar to the Outback but was more affordable and this is where it really all started unbeknownst to me at the time, because what I found was tons & tons of MK2 V70 Wagons for sale, thinking nothing of it, I soon shown these to my parents to look at & to my belief they started to look them up, however for some reason they decided to look into a MK1 Volvo S80 2.4 (170), now while this was a completely different step compared to the V70 originally planned, it still shared the same platform & most of the equipment so it still kinda made sense, this is where I started to fall for the brand.

See, as soon as we got word we were to buy a 2001 Volvo S80, I went down to check it out and as soon as we got down to Hemel Hempstead which is the outskirts of London and we saw the car for the first time, I instantly fell for it, compared to the CR-V which we had before, it had way better kit, was ten times more comfier and was just a complete cut above the rest in every single way and I soon found myself enjoying every second of that car, so much so intact, that when we got home a few days afterward I instantly went onto my iPad to look up the classifieds to find a Volvo for myself, this is when everything was to change.

See, up until that point, I was looking at cars for sale which were a bit different than the rest, however, most of these were small & not very powerful, some of these included an R53 Mini One, a MK6 Ford Escort, a MK1 Ford Focus, a MK4 Vauxhall Astra Coupé Bertone as well as many others, a Volvo never made the list as I’d never really appreciated them before, however with the new arrival of the S80 I decided to look up Volvo’s for a possible second or 3rd car as I had in my mind that insurance would be too much to have as a first car.

However, I started to look regardless and at first glance I found nothing I really liked nor something which shouted out to me as either a car I’d love to own or a car which grabbed my attention, see, while Volvo make fantastic cars, they’re never marketed for young owners specifically apart from a small few so this made it difficult as the ones which looked like a possibility were way too expensive and the ones which didn’t were unbelievably cheap, however, I kept looking and after starting to endlessly lose hope, I eventually came across the C70, now I remembered these mainly as being convertibles so when I saw that there was a coupé for sale, I was rather intrigued, first of all I never knew at the time that Volvo made a C70 coupé and secondly I was kinda already looking at possible coupés as potential cars, especially the likes of the EM1 Civic coupé, the MK4 Astra Bertone coupé and the CL203 Mercedes-Benz C-Class SportCoupé so to find yet another potential coupé to the list wasn’t exactly a bad thing at all.

The main difference between those three cars above and the C70 was quite large to be quite honest, see with the cars above, to find a really good one you had to search with a fine tooth comb to get a good one which wasn’t ragged to within an inch of its life whereas the with the C70, even though their fewer to come across, on a whole they’re looked after a whole lot better, now at the time, there was only the one C70 coupé for sale and it was down in Taunton for £1000, it was in Nautical Blue with BBS Propus Alloys which were a factory option and it had the 2.0T B5204T4 engine fitted with the M56 manual Gearbox fitted, this particular car grabbed my attention like no other, even though it was the only one for sale at the time, compared to the cars I’d looked at before, this C70 just had something the others could never have, whether that was outright pace, levels of equipment or even the price, the C70 had it all, however, I still knew that with a car like that it’d possibly cost a lot to insure so it came to my absolute surprise that when I did a quote on that blue C70 that it wound up being the same price to insure as a mid spec EM1 Civic manual which in comparison had hardly nothing in it nor had the pace of the big swede.

With that information, I decided to see if the insurance results were frequent or if they kept changing price, the reason for this was solely down to previous quotes I’d been given on the cars I’d been looking at prior to quoting the C70, however, to my surprise, as long I stuck to the 2.0T engine, the C70 would stay true to its word and kept delivering fantastic quotes, to the point it could actually be reachable as a first car instead of the 2nd or 3rd car it was originally intended to be, however, before I could actually go-ahead to get one I had to chat with my parents to see if it was ok with them, at first they weren’t so sure but after having a discussion, it was given the green light – I was getting a C70 as my first car and nothing was gonna stop me from getting one!!

After getting the green light, I researched everything on the MK1 C70 Coupé, everything from potential upgrades too numerous videos on the car itself, I’d read articles on the car and everything associated with it to find out more about it and what I was eventually getting myself into once I had enough money saved up.

While on the subject of money, at the time when all this was happening, I was just about to start my second year in my first college and due to my age at the time, I had a budget of £2500 to spend but this also had to buy the car, tax & insurance so not really a lot considering.

Once I started the College, I saved as much as I could to buy what would eventually be a C70 of sorts, this meant not getting new clothes or even haircuts when I needed them, this way I was able to save as much as I possibly could to get the C70 I’d always been after, it wasn’t easy but it had to be done to get a good example, after doing that for about 7 months out of an academic year, I finally had enough money to buy what would now be my C70.

I remember it like it was yesterday, it was a Friday and I had college that day and I was in the garage workshop that day all day, I’d found the car the night before on Gumtree and arranged to meet what is now the previous owner the Friday night at 6:30PM that night as like everyone else he was at work that day, I remember trying my hardest to keep it a secret from all my mates & fellow colleagues however it was such an exciting time that a few suspected that something was up as I just couldn’t keep my excitement at bay, in fact, due to that, the day flew in so when I finished that day, I instantly went to the bank to get all my money, we had to kill a few hours so we went into the town to kill time.

Eventually the time came to head to the previous owners house to see the car, emotionally I was all over the place as the day had finally came, for a good half an hour I was just all over the place however when the car turned up I was just star-struck, it was everything I’d ever hoped for, it had the engine I was looking for, it had the BBS’s I loved and it was in a color I rather liked, I instantly fell in love with it and couldn’t help but not buy it, that night 4 years ago today I came home with my C70 and I’ve had it ever since!!

Now onto my second point and that is this – What is it like to actually own?, well, it’s certainly been an experience and I’ll admit there has been ups & downs to the ownership however I won’t change it for the world, before it became a project car it drove really really well and was really easy to control and was such a relaxing drive, however due to age and old parts, it needed new stuff fitted quite quickly so after a year of driving it, I took it off the road here & there to fix it and that was how it became ProjectC70.

At this point, I’d changed colleges due to issues with the first one and with my newly known skills, I decided to put them to use on the C70 and fix it myself with some help from fellow friends, colleagues & family members, soon after I started, the car came from an ordinary C70 into my vision of what a C70 should look like & drive like, first off was to replace the power steering suction hose and after doing that things just escalated into what it is now, now sure the car has been testing as of late and I have looked at potential replacements, however, for some reason or another I’ve stuck to the C70 and kept at it through thick & thin.

It’s actually very well built and also very easy to fix, however, due to negligence & old parts it has been a pain in a lot of circumstances, however slowly but surely I’ve ironed out its issues and got them fixed once & for all, the build is still in progress however as of late I’ve been doing some relatively big jobs to it to fix it’s issues, these include chrome rings around the dials in the instrument cluster as well as a front bumper as well, currently I’m in the process of ripping out the carpets to change the door seals as they’re perished and are letting water in which isn’t good however it is fixable.

As already mentioned, it’s not been an easy road to both ownership and to the stage it’s currently in now, I’ve lost contact in friends, meetings & numerous events however, I know that when the car is eventually done, it’ll be perfect & possibly one of the best C70 MK1’s in the country, if not the best then most likely the cleanest example going and for that it’ll all be worth it.

For those of you who fancy owning a C70 or have even considered one, I’d say to go get one, they are such underrated cars with fantastic engines and really good looks, the community overall are fantastic and for the money that they currently go for, it has to be the best bargain coupé out there!!

Here’s hoping that the next 4 years are just as fantastic as the first 4 have been, it’s been a long road but overall I’m pleased with the purchase and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

So for those of you who have stuck around from the beginning, you’ll know that I currently own a MY ’00’ Volvo C70 Coupé 2.0 Turbo Manual which is my first car and of which I’m currently restoring/upgrading, well over these last few days I’ve been doing just that as I can finally reveal that she now has chrome rings around her dials in the instrument cluster!

So how did these come about & why did I go for them for the C70?, well as you guys may know after the Aston Martin blog a few weeks ago, I’m a massive fan of Aston Martin’s and GT cars in general and if given the possibility, I’d happily own multiple GT cars throughout my life if given the chance, now one thing I’ve noticed with multiple modernish GT cars whether they’re Mercedes CL’s or Jag XK’s or even Maserati 3200GT’s, they all seem to have chrome around the dials in the instrument cluster to make them feel classy & upmarket, however, because Volvo aren’t as upmarket as those other brands, when the C70 was launched way back in 1996, chrome around dials were never added as standard nor as an option, weird really for a car which has massive GT car credentials.

This is where DidoTuning come into play, DidoTuning is a polish company which manufacture & create chrome rings for an array of different cars and they sell their products both on their website & on their eBay page so when I came across them after finding an extensively modified C70 over on Facebook & seeing fellow group members & friends apply these to their own cars, I just had to buy them for ProjectC70, overall they cost about £30 including shipping which to be honest wasn’t too bad.

After a hefty 2 week wait of mainly customs related issues they finally arrived, and I finally got to have a look at what I got for my £30, so essentially they are 3 chrome aluminium rings which are cut to shape of the cluster so in theory, they should clip in tightly & then have the ability to fold over so they don’t fall out, however, as with all aftermarket stuff, fitment just wasn’t quite right, especially on the two outer rings but I’ll get to that later – first of all, I had to remove the dash pad off my car and remove the actual cluster first!

Now for those who have been here from the beginning, it’s not been the first time that I’ve actually removed the dash pad from my car, the last time I did it was a good few years back when I replaced the interior centre console trim & dash trim which really wasn’t easy, however as I’d had no choice but to remove the dash pad before, I knew what I was doing.

After looking a bit online, there was no turning back, it just had to be done, the job entailed removing all the plastic trim like the air vents & speaker vents, a plethora of T25 screws, a few 10mm bolts & the removal of the glovebox itself as well as disconnecting the passenger airbag, as the battery was already removed I was safe enough to undo it.

To make things easier, I used a 18V drill with an extended T25 Screwbit, a 10mm Spanner to remove the 3 bolts under the dash & a small flathead screwdriver to both undo the electrical connections & remove the trim, with all those tools combined, it made getting the dash pad an absolute breeze to remove and even easier to remove the cluster itself, now sure I could’ve bought a trim removal tool or a bone tool from IPD but with the time it’d take to turn up, I wouldn’t be writing this article as of right now as it’d possibly take a few weeks to turn up from America.

I started by removing all the trim with the flathead screwdriver, it’s real easy to do, just pop the screwdriver under the trim & pull and hey presto it’s out, I did this all around the dash removing the front dash vents, the higher speaker grilles & two plastic inserts which fit into the side of the dash, that was step 1 done, now onto step 2.

Step 2 involved removing the T25 screws which hide behind the plastic trim, as mentioned above, this was made a breeze with the drill & screw bit, one zap on the drill and the screws were slowly but surely coming out one by one which brings me onto the step 3 – The glovebox removal.

Step 3 was the removal of the glovebox innings, this again was really easy on my car, a few T25 screws on the outside & then a few more T25 screws once it was removed and once again, the glovebox came out and now I was in sight of the fabled passenger airbag, as I was working, it was vital that the battery was either disconnected from the car or a cable was removed, due to the C70’s battery being removed to stop drainage this wasn’t an issue whatsoever.

Disconnecting the airbag was really easy with the battery removed, it was just a matter of disconnecting the connector & removing the 3 10mm bolts nearby and that was all it took for the removal of the dash pad, however, I wasn’t finished there.

With the dash pad removed I had to remove the cluster itself, this included removing yet another two T25 screws prior to removing the pad itself, once they were undone, I just had to unclip the 4 connectors both on top and behind & the two metal clips on the top of the cluster and with a slight yank it was freed from it’s slumber.

With both the cluster & pad inside, it was time for the disassembly of the cluster itself, however before that, I wanted to check the bulbs while I was at it as they can easily blow so with it out it only made sense to check all the bulbs and I’m glad to report back no blown bulbs whatsoever, with that out the way it was to business.

Stripping down the cluster took a bit of figuring out as it’s held in with tiny little screws as well as a multitude of black clips holding it altogether, I was also worried of not breaking it as I’d never removed or worked on a cluster prior to this point before in my life, after gingerly removing the screws and slowly but surely separating the clips, it slowly came apart into two separate pieces, now the main part I was interested in was the front bit as it held the slots for the chrome rings, however as I’m about to reveal, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

So what was the problem exactly? Well, with my car like many, it has 3 sets of dials, it has a dial for the fuel level & coolant level which sits on the left of the cluster, it has the speedo in the middle & lastly the rev counter on the right side with the middle dial being bigger than the two outer ones, now while the rings were size specific with the middle one being bigger than the other two, it made it easy to figure out where it went, however, the two outer rings weren’t wanting to play ball whatsoever and kept popping out of place & with a lack of knowledge & overall patience it wound up that after a while we started to notice deep scratch marks which would block my vision when fitted back into place.

This meant that I had to order a second used cluster off Ebay to work with with the intention of just swapping the screen part while already using the existing dials & original to the car cluster electrics, this meant that I could keep the original mileage which was the most important bit in the whole change up, after ringing up both Volvo Parks Ayr and Volvo specialists M.J. Motors over in a village not far from me called Auchinleck, they said that if I kept the electrics the same it will keep the original mileage so I ordered the second cluster with everything crossed that it’d work.

With my trust in both the specialist & dealer, when the new cluster came in earlier today, we instantly got to work stripping it down, fitting the new chrome rings and then refitting, I decided to let my stepdad fit the dials as he is stronger than myself and also has more patience than me as well, it wasn’t easy as the two outer rings kept popping out which was the issue I had a few days prior, however, he persevered and finally got them to fit, after putting the cluster back together, it was time to put the car back together.

The cluster was just a matter of screws & clips so nothing really difficult, I had to be careful however as with the ill fitting outer rings, it was very easy for it to go belly up and I wasn’t wanting that to happen as we’d be back to square one, however this time everything went back together smoothly and it was ready for refitting time.

Refitting was the reversal of removal, so first of all the cluster went back in, then it got connected up, after that, the dash pad got put back in place, the airbag got reconnected, the 3x 10mm bolts were next to go in and then once they were in, the glovebox was lined up and refitted, once that was back in the rest of the T25 screws got put back in and then last but not least, the trim & vents went back in and hey presto – ProjectC70 was now fitted with chrome rings around the dials & what a difference!!!

Now, I’ll be honest, cheap aftermarket parts don’t really interest me as a whole as they tend to look tacky or be made from really crappy material and it can really show and can ruin an otherwise nice car, however, to give DidoTuning their due, these rings look absolutely amazing and because they are actually aluminium instead of chromed plastic, they really suit the car a lot, in fact I’d say that they look factory which isn’t something you can say about a lot of the stuff you see for sale online.

So would I recommend them? well it all depends really, they look fantastic and really suit the car, however, with some of the parts ill fitting & really tight spaces to work with, it isn’t the easiest job to do, however, if you take it easy, it will be do-able and the results will be fantastic.

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

So, picture this, you’re a young petrolhead and you are looking for your first ever set of wheels, now because it’s a first car, it needs to be cheap to buy, cheap to insure, cheap to tax and overall cheap to run but yet has to be decently fun to drive as well as being reliable & not much to fix, with all this in mind and with a vast array of cars out there, here’s some top ten steps to take when buying your first ever car!

1.) Set Yourself a Fixed Budget.

Now when you are looking for a first car, the main thing you have to work out is your current budget, there’s no point looking at Ferrari’s if you only have £1,000 to play with, also there is no point in looking at a £6,000 car if you only have a £5,000 budget, stick to a budget which can easily get you a car & cover costs of insurance & tax prices, that way you have a better idea of what’s exactly out there for buying.

2.) Shop Around For Insurance.

Now, while Budget is top dog when it comes to buying a first car, there is no point in buying a car if it cost way too much to insure, try & find something which is cheap to buy & also cheap to insure & don’t be afraid to shop around different quotes to find the best for you, the more you shop around and the more companies you get in contact with, you’ll more than likely find a company who’ll put you onto a ‘Young Drivers Scheme’ which lowers the insurance quite significantly compared to your typical quotes.

3.) Buy Something That Young Driver’s Won’t Normally Drive.

This may sound weird at first glance but bear with me on this, If you go for something that no other young driver has, the lower the insurance will more than likely cost, now remember to do this within reason, If for example, you are looking at a Ford Focus MK1, look instead at the likes of a Mazda 3 or Alfa Romeo 147, because no young driver is hardly seen insuring these kinds of cars compared to their rivals, the insurance companies don’t give out really stupid quotes as they’re hardly ever crashed by inexperienced drivers, also, if you disregard insurance for a second, buying something that nobody else has means that you can potentially get yourself a car which drives as good as if not better than the typical choices & is also a rare sight on the roads.

4.) Make Sure It Has a Good Community. 

There is no point in buying a car if it has no following or love for it as that’ll make it impossible to get any help with it regarding parts or even fixing it, also there is no point in buying a car if the following is huge but unhelpful to your specific car in question, try if you can to find a car which has a very good owners community which will literally go to the ends of the world to help you out, not just will this help you with parts & fixing the car in question but you’ll also meet some very good friends through it as well and will make you stick around for many years to come.

5.) Don’t Be Afraid to Try Out a Classic or Retro car.

With new cars becoming ever so complicating & some small classics becoming really cheap & easy to pick up, it makes sense to buy a classic or retro car, It’s so easy to join one of the many arrays of classic car clubs around the place and fit in with the rest of the members, the best part about these kinds of car people is that most of them are of a mature age so will easily be able to help you without hurling abuse or making fun of what you drive, plus with so many different shapes, sizes, & styling it certainly makes for some fun motoring as you’ll know that you’ll be driving something that isn’t common on the roads anymore, add in the easy mechanical access & more raw driving experience a classic car gives you, it certainly makes for a wonderful ownership experience.

6.) Go on Your own Insurance Policy.

Now while a lot of people may tell you to go on to the likes of your parents insurance or even another family members insurance for a few years to lower costs, this isn’t actually the best way to go in the long run, see, insurance companies don’t give out ‘No Claim Discounts’ to named drivers on insurance policies, only those who are actually main drivers, so what does this mean exactly? Well while for the first few years the insurance will be low, as soon as you sign up in your own name, it will be more expensive, by going on your own policy from the get-go, you can build up a significant no claims discount before moving onto your next car or even changing company, even if you have to add people onto your policy then do so – just make sure it’s in your name!

7.) You Can’t Be Picky.

Remember what I said about trying out cars that no one else has? Well if you choose to do that which is very much advised by myself, you can’t be picky when choosing a car, sometimes the underrated cars are some of the best cars you could ever own regardless of badge or stereotypes, when I bought my C70, I was never considering a Volvo as I always thought they were old mans cars which drove terribly, however, while some of that may be true, it isn’t actually as bad as everyone makes out and this is the case for most cars which are never considered.

8.) Do Your Research.

whether it’s a brand new car you are looking at or a secondhand car you have your eyes on, whether it’s a typical everyday VW Golf or an expensive entry-level Audi/BMW/Mercedes, always always do your research, this will make it so much easier to filter out the good cars from the bad, too many people make the mistake of just buying what they like or what they want without even reading about its common faults or ownership issues which means that unfortunately, they are stuck in a position where they are severely left unhappy & ultimately cold with their purchase all due to lack of research.

9.) Get in Contact With People in The Know.

So, you’ve whittled it down to maybe two or three cars, they’re all within budget, have similar performance & running costs and all have good badges or a good reputation from both owners & forums/groups, how do you go about whittling it down to the right car?, well you could always go round the dealerships and find out more about the cars you’re looking at but 9 times out of ten they’ll be biased as it’s one of their products and this is something which ultimately won’t help, however there is nothing to stop you from getting contact with specialists in the know of the cars you’re currently looking at, these guys will be able to give fair honest answers without being biased and will make it so much easier for you to come to a decision & ultimately coming away with more knowledge than the internet or forums could ever give.

10.) Go Out & Actually Experience Potential Cars.

So, you’ve narrowed it down to a couple of cars, they both have fantastic reviews, both within budget & both are good buys from those in the know, how do you make the decision to actually go ahead and buy one?, well you either drive them or get a passenger ride in them of course!, This separates the good from the bad and is the ultimate turning point in potential car ownership as you will actually be able to see first hand what the cars in question are like & what they’re like to actually drive & sit in, this way you can actually get to see what kit comes with them and what everything feels like and get an overall feel for the cars in question, while reviewers & journalists can tell you how fast a car can get around a track, no one can tell you what it’s like to drive & live with on a day to day business.

I hope this list helps and guides you into first car ownership easier than going alone without anyone helping, now, even though this list does help out & makes things easier, there really is no right or wrong way to buying any car let alone your first car, this is only meant as a guide and not as the be-all & end-all of all of the multiple first car lists out there on the internet, I know that when I bought my C70 way back in 2015, I had different wants & needs to friends of mine who just wanted a cheap set of wheels to get them on the road, not everyone is the same and everyone has different needs especially when it comes down to cars.

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

In the world of rallying these days it’s a fierce game, in a sport where you have top tier drivers in top tier cars piloting them through the toughest & most mentally challenging stages it’s no wonder that after the stages are done the drivers go & relax, now if you have ever had the chance to get up close to a drivers living quarters you’ll quickly realise they’re massive and outlandishly lavish with everything & more anybody would ever seriously need, however, what if you’re not a rally driver but still fancy lavish living quarters? well, I’ve found just the thing!

With thanks to Racetrailer one of you lucky people out there can now go & buy Petter Solbergs actual 2017 VW Racing Trailer Living Quarters, as like all living quarters this one is absolutely huge and is more like a small office building than actual living quarters, for a start, it has Hydraulic folding stairs, Full A\C, Smart TV’s, Double refrigerators, a fold away awning, various storage cupboards, a welcome desk, a plethora of beds ranging from single beds, double beds & multiple bunks as well as much much more!

Now to carry all this weight & mass, it needs to sit on a good chassis which can cope with its bulk and this one sure does, it’s a 3 axle trailer which in itself spreads the weight evenly and makes it easier to move & it even has a stepdeck frame which is perfect for heavy loads like this.

However, while the chassis is good for the weight, you’ll still need a powerful truck to haul it around, whether thats a Scania R Series or even a Volvo FH16 or any other of the trucks out there, it’s not a light trailer at all, to be quite frank though, if you can afford the trailer than you are more than likely able to afford a brand new truck to haul it with which brings me onto it’s major set back & that’s the price.

See, this has to be the most expensive VW branded product bar a Bugatti, see this trailer is up for sale for €450,000 + VAT (£396,261.54) which isn’t exactly cheap, in fact, that’s the same price as a well specced nearly new Ferrari 812 SF which begs the question, which is the better buy?, the unbelievably quick yet comfortable 2 seat V12 Ferrari GT Car or the lavishly equipped home from home for ultimate rally fans.

There is no doubt the Motorhome is equipped really well and is the ultimate rally fans trophy piece and with everything in it & more it’s certainly worth a buy and will no doubt be bought by someone who has the money to buy it, however with limited usability the Ferrari seems to be a slightly better buy.

One thing I can say however, which ever one is bought, you’ll both get a fantastic reaction from it and will both be phenomenal to own and both are so ultimately cool that they will never go unnoticed wherever they’re parked.

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

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With the release of the new MK5 Toyota Supra back in January, it caused a storm in the motoring world for being if anything a flop to the Supra name badge which stopped production way back in 2002, for a start the new ‘A90’ as it’s codenamed isn’t exactly a Toyota as it’s built within conjunction with BMW and shares a majority of parts & even the chassis with the new upcoming BMW Z4 MK3, on top of that, for the performance available it’s just way too expensive with a price tag of over £50,000 making it a direct rival to a Porsche Cayman which is really the bench mark for 2 seat sports cars these days which makes the new Supra really a bad deal when you think of it, however, before you get out the pitchforks, I have a hunch that Toyota & BMW are up to more than they are currently letting on and this works in favour of BMW and this comes in the shape of a potential new ‘M’ car.

Confused? Let me explain, with the new Supra being directly based on the new Z4 and also sharing parts with each other, it only makes sense for BMW to make a new 2 seater ‘M’ car out of the new Z4 thus making what I believe to be the new Z4M Coupé, now this may just be me speculating however, if you look up the stats of the original Z4M Coupé, they are very close to the new Supra’s stats which certainly can’t be coincidence, now of course, the old Z4M used the same 3.2 I6 from the truly wonderful E46 M3, unfortunately, the ‘S54’ is well & truly dead but with the new range of 6 pot engines used these days used in a plethora of fast BMW’s, it’ll only make sense to slot one of those wonderful engines into a competent chassis then hand it over to the geniuses at the ‘M’ division to make something truly special.

There is also method in my madness, due to the new Supra & Z4 having very similar running gear & same chassis, that means that it won’t be too difficult to make a coupé body shell for the upcoming Z4 and fit it over the already existing chassis which makes it very much possible to put into production.

Size wise, the new Supra & Z4 isn’t that much different than the original Z4M which makes me think that they’ll bring it back for us ‘M’ car fans who unfortunately don’t have the garage space for the likes of a M2 Competition or M3, when the original Z4M Coupé came out, it was the entry level so to speak of the ‘M’ car range in regards to both size & also price which brings me onto the next point.

With the already existing BMW M140i starting from £35,000 & the M2 Competition starting at £48,000, there is a very good chance that if they did bring the Z4M back, it’d possibly go for a starting price of £45,000 putting it slap bang between the two and making it £5000 cheaper than the current 718 Boxster S which of course puts it into close  rivalry with the Porsche which to be honest has always been the same with both cars since the very beginning.

So, what does this have to do with the new Supra then?, well, if BMW were to ever bring back the Z4M which as of yet hasn’t been confirmed, I could possibly see Toyota making a ‘GRMN’ Version of the upcoming Supra – GRMN of course being Toyota’s current sportier model lineup of their current cars, not just would this make Supra fans rejoice but also give BMW owners something else to salivate over which makes it a win win situation for both companies.

With both the upcoming Z4 & A90 Supra both being a shared platform, even if the manufacturers don’t bring out more hardcore versions, it’s safe to say they’ll both go down well with owners & journalists alike regardless of brand legacy or history and they’ll drive very well indeed, BMW are known for making drivers cars and even a simple flick through Toyota’s history books shows phenomenal drivers cars being produced which makes these two a forced to be reckoned with within their class.

So what do you think?, is there a possible chance that Toyota & BMW are hiding a potential new Z4M Coupé/Supra GRMN or am I, like a few others getting way ahead of myself and hoping for something that will unfortunately never happen & getting myself way too excited at the prospect of a new Z4M?, Whatever the case may be, I hope it’s a good one!

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

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It’s no surprise to anyone that I’m quite a fan of Volvo’s on this blog, I of course own my wonderful C70 Coupé project car, my parents have owned a MK1 S80 in the past and over the last year I’ve been very much a part of the Volvo scene more than I ever was before by going to multiple launch events, however, when it comes to cars, Volvo doesn’t even come close to my all time favourite car brand – I’m of course talking about Aston Martin!!

That’s right, shocker right?, well let me explain, Ever since I was young I was bought up around cars so whatever it was I had or watched or even played it involved cars in one way or another, now I’ll admit, when I was really young I never really knew much about Astons or any high end manufacture for that matter as I was just way too young to even take notice, add that in with the fact that Astons aren’t entirely seen every day of the week it just never registered with me at such a young age, however that all changed with one movie & ever since then I was hooked and have been ever since.

Picture the scene – it’s the year 2002, Brazil have won the FIFA world cup, Michael Schumacher was on his way to winning the F1 Season with Ferrari & EA are working on the legendary game that is NFS Underground – all while this is happening, a new film is getting filmed, it stars both Pierce Brosnan & Halle Berry and for the most part, it is filmed in Iceland, I am of course talking about Die Another Day, now what got me interested in this film really was the ice chase scene between the then new Aston Martin Vanquish and the equally gorgeous Jaguar XKR Convertible, now as a 6 year old at the time, I was instantly hooked, Imagine seeing two cars fight it out on a frozen lake while shooting a plethora of weapons at each other, as a six year old I was in heaven, ever since then I’ve had both a very keen interest in James Bond Films & the cars which have been in their before and on top of that – that was where my love of Aston Martin originally came from.

Skip a few years later to when the DB9 came out and again, just like the beautiful Vanquish before it, this had me hooked, it was able to beat the then new 200mph cross continental train to Monaco with ease on Top Gear, it spawned the DBR9 race car & of course bought along the DBS & Virage later in life, in fact, the DB9 had me so hooked it instantly became my dream car and has done ever since, I’ve been lucky enough to both be a passenger ride in one at 13 & also drive one when I was 14 and it’s been my mission ever since to eventually get a DB9 one of these days no matter what thats how much I love it.

Recently I’ve gotten into the classic Astons like the DB4, DB5, V8 Vantage & even the classic race cars like the DBR1, in fact a few years ago, I was lucky enough to get to see a 1954 DB2/4 Saloon up at Peter Vardy Heritage in Glasgow and it was everything I’d ever asked for & is a day I’ll never forget.

Now by reading all this, you’ll think that I’m a massive Aston fan and while for the most part that is correct, there has been one car from Aston that I’ve never really bonded with and that is the DB7, now sure it is a beautiful car, there is no doubting that, however compared to the Vantage which preceded it and the DB9 which replaced it, it never really had that wow appeal that Aston’s are so used to giving off, on top of all that, it was based on the old Jaguar XJS which in itself was nearly a 30 year old car, worst of all however, especially by Aston standards was the 3.2 I6 which was used in the early cars, with the Vantage having a V8 and the DB9 having the truly wonderful 6.0 V12, the early I6 just wasn’t very Aston, now sure it was supercharged so it was as powerful as any other AM at the time but the soundtrack was just not the same plus with Ford switchgear it certainly was as well built as other Astons previous.

In 1999 the V12 Vantage came out and this completely changed the DB7, it now had both the power and noise of an Aston, however at that point it was still quite an old car on an even older platform and it was starting to show it’s age quite considerably, however, Aston still plodded on and kept it going till 2003 with the absolutely savage DB7 GT and the equally gorgeous DB7 Zagato being two limited run versions of the DB, now these were essentially the two swan songs of the DB7 range before the truly fantastic DB9 came out, however these two weren’t the only limited edition DB7’s to be commissioned oh no no no, in fact, there is one DB7 which recently has gone under the radar for quite some time as it’s so rare that if anything no one knows it actually exists.

I am of course talking about the Keswick Edition – what is the Keswick Edition you may ask? well, it was a limited edition run of ten DB7’s, 5 of which were Vantages & the other 5 were Volante’s, they all had the 5.9 V12 fitted which gave them 420 bhp & 540nm torque and either came with the six speed manual or the 5 speed auto gearbox, top speed was 186mph for the manual cars or 165mph for the auto cars, now while the engine was exactly the same as the normal Vantage or Volante, which made this so special was the following specification.

For a start, they were all coloured Ferrari Nero Daytona Black, the Volantes had a black mohair roof, they had upper & lower mesh grilles, interior wise, you had charcoal hide on the top & bottom of the dash with DB7 insignias embossed into the seats, following on with the black theme was the charcoal carpets with the DB7 logo’s also embossed into them as well, the headlining was also black, the wood veneer was replaced with metallic finishes, on the instrument cluster, you had white dials with chrome rings which really lifted the interior somewhat, on the outside you had a wonderful set of 9 spoke 19″ wheels with black brake calipers hiding behind them, all Keswicks had a numbered IWC watch included as well to really show you had something special.

Now, like a lot of rare cars, it’s very rare you’ll find a Keswick for sale, with only ten being produced it’s never going to be common which makes this one a real diamond in the rough so to speak, however, what is very weird is the price, now while £30,000 generally isn’t cheap, compared to other limited edition cars it’s unbelievable value for money, especially considering it’s only done 40,000 miles which is nothing considering the age, even for a high end car, also, this one is in fantastic condition that you wouldn’t really want to drive it it’s so clean, now sure, you can buy a normal V12 Vantage for that money or even a DB9 for that price but even for any of them, it’ll be either a wreck which will need a bit of work to get right or a good car with a middle ground specification, with this Keswick, you get a relatively low mileage, 2 owner car with a very high spec and the bonus of having something like nothing else on the road which is only a good thing really – this really is a car to buy now to keep as an upcoming modern classic.

With the 6.0 V12 most definitely dead and other multiple V12 engined Aston’s going for quite a bit of money, now is the time to buy a DB7 V12 to look after & enjoy & for £30,000 this Keswick should be on anybody’s DB7 shopping list, it was one of the first Aston production cars to have that wonderful V12 fitted and with the added bonus of rarity added in, these cars won’t be around for these prices anymore.

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

So like a lot of car guys, I can’t help but search the classifieds to look for potential next cars, project cars or even unobtainable dream cars, now for me, my main car buying/selling site I use is AutoTrader as over here in the UK they are the most popular and have anything & everything for sale whether it’s a normal everyday cheap hatchback to a £1M+ Ferrari Daytona, now on a lot of occasions, I tend to look at affordable cars with the odd occasion looking at the wacky, weird & downright different cars and today I think I’ve found one in the shape of this Aston Martin DB5 kit car based on a 1999 Honda S2000 here.

Now being a kit car, it’s never going to look like an actual DB5 as it of course has to fit over an already existing chassis – In this case a AP1 S2000 so width, length and overall track is gonna be slightly different to the real thing, however, as kit cars go, this has to be the most accurate one I’ve seen for sale, compared to the F355 kit cars based on SW20 MR2’s it actually looks realistic, however there is of course some big & small differences.

For a start, the doors & windows are a different size to the real DB5 due to it’s Honda roots, the interior on this particular one still has the original S2000 interior which kind of looks out of place compared to the outside but everything does work which is typical of any Honda product, now I don’t have any issues with an S2000 whatsoever and that even includes it interior, however it does look weird in something which looks like a DB5.

Secondly, the mirrors, wiper arms & wheels are slightly different to the real thing, now these can easily be changed or fixed one way or another and shouldn’t take too long or much to fix, however, there is one last thing which is massively different to this replica and that is what ultimately gives me my mixed feelings.

See, being based on the S2000, it still has it’s F20C fitted, now in engine terms, the F20C is a wonderful engine, 9000RPM rev limit, bulletproof reliability & some decent power from a 2.0 4 cylinder engine, in a car which looks like a DB5, it makes sense to have an engine like this as it’d give good reliable power with a really good power band which in turn with the sublime S2000 chassis would make this rep a really good car to drive on any road you take it down, so why does it give me mixed reactions then? well it’s pretty simple really.

See, even though this is based on a really fantastic Honda sports car and it’s been a reliable old thing over the last 6 years the kit was applied, for me, having an Aston whether a kit or not, it should have the feeling of an Aston & of course the sound of an Aston, so to still have it’s 4 cylinder fitted makes no sense in that respect, If it was mine, I’d personally fit the 3.2 Supercharged I6 & running gear from an early DB7, that way, every time you drive it, it’d sound and would somewhat feel like the car it’s supposed to look like.

Same story goes for the interior, now of course it’s still a lovely interior which is very driver focused and of course everything works which you could never say about the original, however in this car it looks so out of place it’s unreal, to make it more realistic, it’d need replacing with a custom interior and custom retro bucket seats which would bring it more in line with a real DB5, unfortunately however to do all that will of course cost quite a bit of money to put right which brings me onto it’s biggest issue and that is the price.

Now a normal S2000 starts at around £5000 for a good one all the way up to about £10K-£15K for a later Facelift, however this Replica is hitting nigh on £70K which isn’t cheap at all, in fact you could get a MK1 V12 Vanquish for a similar amount of money, you could easily get a DB9, V8 Vantage or even a V12 DB7 Vantage which are proper Aston’s and not kits, however, if you really really love the DB5 then in that retrospect it really is a bargain as a real DB5 can cost upwards of £500K which is way out of reach for a majority of us, add in the upgrades that I’d personally do to make it more realistic, you’d probably be spending about £100K all in which is a 5th of the price of a real one with better reliability than the DB5 and a better driving experience too having DB7 bits added into the mix, add in the custom interior and it’d be a kit car which in theory wouldn’t be too far off the real thing which can’t be said for a lot of kit cars going these days.

So what is everyone’s opinion on this kit car then?, a very good remake which just needs the finishing touches I mentioned or yet another fake wannabe Aston Martin which is too much money for what it actually is?, me personally, I quite like it as it’s a whole lot better than a lot of kit cars these days and the work which has gone into it is a whole lot higher quality than others I’ve seen, once finished it’d be a 5th the price of a real DB5 and the best part really is the feeling it’d give off, with the upgrades done, it’d feel reminiscent of driving the real thing which can only be a good thing.

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

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With modern cars these days getting all different gadgets & technologies – some of which are potentially life saving and others just purely to satisfy us drivers while travelling, it can sometimes become way too much for any ones personal needs to the point it can get quite distracting & also slightly annoying which begs the question, when is enough enough and what should really be important in a car and what should take a step back?

It’s no surprise that us petrol heads like our cars to drive as pure as possible with as little driving aids as possible, however, we still love our gadgets and can’t live without the likes of a premium stereo system and the likes of electric windows and of course the good old air conditioning for those really hot days.

I know for a fact I’m one of those people and I know I’m not alone in this situation, me personally, I can’t live without cupholders for a start and I certainly can’t live without the likes of electric windows, leather seats & a cracking stereo system.

For example, with the equipment on my C70, I love the parking sensors fitted to mine as it makes it so much more liveable to park what is still a fairly big car, I also adore the leather seats and find them quite frankly fantastic to the point it’d be weird to be without them, not just are they unbelievably comfortable but because they were designed by an orthopaedic doctor, I know that they are helping out my back which is a god send, especially when my back goes which it sometimes does.

However on the flip side of that, there’s a good few things on my car which I hardly even think about and these include the heated mirrors for a start off, now sure they help clearing the frost & ice & water off the glass quite quickly, however unlike the seats they’re not really that much of a god send and even go unnoticed even by myself.

Other things which get unnoticed by myself are the DRL’s, now sure just like the mirrors they also serve a purpose & every Volvo ever since and even before the C70 have had them fitted but they serve such little purpose apart from a safety point of view that they’re easily forgotten about and can easily get unnoticed however good & safe they might be.

Now, this is where it gets a tad confusing but work with me on this, while with my car there is things I can & can’t live without, with the likes of the Seat it can easily be considered bare bones in comparison, for example, it has one cup holder between 5 people which is just crazy, it doesn’t have electric mirrors or even electric windows in the rear which was something I’d expect from a car built & using parts from the VAG parts bin, however with such little equipment apart from the bare essentials it kind of works in that situation due to the fact there is less to go wrong if there is less fitted to it in the first place.

Even with the Seat though, even though it is quite archaic compared to both the Volvo & even the Lexus which I’ll get onto in a little bit, there is even things in that which is in some respects unliveable even by todays standards, one of which is the 6 CD changer in the glovebox, now sure it takes up a good 80% of the glovebox space which isn’t that good, however, it’s such a good add-on that it’d be weird to live without.

Now, this is where the real point of this article comes into play and this can easily be explained by the RX400h we have, now, Lexus have always been known to add in tons of equipment even in standard trim into all of their cars regardless of price or car class and to some it’s fantastic, however, while our Lexus has tons of equipment we can’t live without, even to us it’s overkill with the amount of stuff it has – for a start off it has adaptive auto lights which swivel when you turn the wheel & rain sensing wipers, it has sat-nav, cruise control, Dual zone climate control & an electric tailgate to name a few.

Now most of those stuff in that car we’ve never had before so it’s all new to us and does take getting used to I’ll admit however even with the Lexus more than anything else there is tons of stuff in that we’ll never even consider using or living with and with some even there just for owner satisfaction it comes across as overkill which certainly begs the question, why is it there if it’s hardly ever gonna get used?, it just makes no sense!

Now, the RX certainly isn’t the worst, with new cars coming nearly every few months, the equipment & gadgets coming out on them are indeed great but on the other hand can be way too much for anyone to live with, what happened to the days of actually speccing the likes of an optional sports exhaust instead of it being controlled by a switch, also, whatever happened to paying a little bit extra for the likes of a “Sports Chassis” instead of going through in some cases a miss-match of options & driving modes just to get the perfect driving set-up, before all this came in, if you wanted a proper drivers car you’d always have to wind up going for the performance model but today it seems that every car has the option to sharpen something up with the change of a setting through the cars entertainment system.

Also, while on the subject of settings & entertainment systems, how is it possible for the likes of older people who are used to older tech to set up the car they want, now don’t get me wrong, I’m quite tech savvy so that doesn’t affect me in any shape or form whatsoever but there a lot of people out their who just aren’t tech savvy or haven’t gotten with the times just yet which makes all this tech & gadgetry quite frankly null & void however fancy or clever it is.

Another issue to be raised is some owners relying on the cars systems & gadgets to guide it down the road, considering that a good amount of drivers these days have the potential to do that, it makes drivers lazy & also prone to massive accidents all down to lack of due care & attention which makes motoring even worse for us petrol-heads who cherish our cars and don’t want them dinged up in any way shape or form.

Now am I just being old, senile and being generally stubborn to move on or am I right in what I’m saying?, I’d like to hear what you guys have to say and while on the subject, why don’t you let me know what you wish your car had or didn’t have, I’d really like to see what everyones view is on this.

Hope You Enjoy

By Alex Jebson