S18 RSG

Cheeky fooker  

Oh wait, @Mark-in-Stoke is going? Damn, just realised I have to get my haircut that day...

I'll be going along providing my car has no issues going stage 2 the Friday before.

Thanks for posting that up Ross. Deffo not what I was after!

It's extremely loud... 
 

Cake flavour  (Chocolate obvs)

Do this first. Makes the biggest difference to daily driving out of everything.
Wheels/suspension are great as "luxury" upgrades, but this package will transform the way the car drives in every way.

Starter (if we have them) - Bruschetta
Main - Fillet Steak (med rare) with Red Wine jus
Desert - Cheesecake

I'll probably be there.

Welcome.
Best thing you can do is try to get a test drive in a Cosworth car. If you go down the route of supercharging, you'll love it. Exhaust choices are very varied. The Cosworth SC will increase sound by itself, but maybe a resonated exhaust will be the way to go.
I think your problem may be similar to that of many of us over the years. If you start with an exhaust and remap, you may be a little underwhelmed and think you want more. Then you start buying manifolds, intakes etc. chasing power, never to be fulfilled. If you go down the supercharging route straight away, your initial outlay may be higher (though the 20% off makes it a good prospect), but you'll save yourself money in the long run as you won't be paying for 3 or 4 remaps, different setups, multiple garage trips etc.
I spent close to £10k on mine over 2 years. Never thought I'd buy a turbo or supercharger, but went about as far as I could go NA, then gave in and went turbo after being quite disappointed with the car fully tuned at NA (without going forged anyway). I wished I had done it from the start.
HTH

Nice car. I loved my old 1 series coupe. They're underrated cars. Very civilised but lovely to drive. Not as raw as the Toyota but I do miss the M-Sport seats, that's for sure...
 
 
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Enjoy will be an awesome car! Whats happening with the 86?
 
 

This will be no news to those of you who I have added on Facebook, but for those of you who don't know, the GT86 is now sold.
It's rather bittersweet, as I have really enjoyed my 2 years 3 months with the car, but alas, changes in lifestyle forced my hand.
Given the amount of money spent on the car, I couldn't see myself selling for a long time, and despite always looking around on Auto Trader and considering various options, none were every really realistic. However, in May I left my job all of a sudden. Got paid for 3 months of remote support, and started looking for a new permanent role. Fortunately, I was offered a management position within Heineken, who had been a previous customer of mine during my contracting days. This resulted in an almost immediate 100% increase in wages, and a 1500% increase in daily commute (up to nearly 70 miles a day).
As compliant as the GT86 was as a daily driver, it started becoming less enjoyable for this commute. Main reason for this, is that my daily commute is all single carriageway country roads, crawling in tractors and lorries. The GT86, even with the turbo, just wasn't enjoyable on this drive. When sat in traffic driving slow, it was loud and fairly uncomfortable, and when an opportunity to overtake came about, the ultimate lack of immediate torque was also a bummer (obviously, being in lower gears is the answer, but I didn't want to drive around in 3rd all day waiting for a chance to overtake).
Anyway, in summary, my search for a new car lasted around 6 weeks. I initially wanted a BMW M3/M4 (F series), but after driving one and scaring myself, and also realising just how enormous those cars are, I moved on. I then started considering another hot hatch, specifically an Audi RS3, Mercedes A45 or Focus RS. The RS3 holds its value far too well for that to be a true consideration. The A45 was nice, but really hard to find the correct spec. The RS, initially, looked perfect, I actually bought one (well, put a deposit down and signed finance documents etc.), but after driving one on an extended test drive, I found it to be extremely underwhelming. Barely faster than the GT86, a worse gearbox, very boring interior and still equally uncomfortable. I therefore asked for a refund on the deposit and looked elsewhere.
Going back to BMWs, I started considering the M2. It looked to be the right size, was tunable to M3/M4 pace, and looked great. I went to look at a delivery miles car in Warrington, and a lovely car it was too. The dealership in question stocked many BMWs, and another that caught my eye was an M235i. After driving both, I really couldn't see where the extra £20k went on the M2. Sure, the interior was a little nicer, car was a little quicker and obviously looks amazing in comparison, but none of those factors were even close to bridging the £20k gap.
So, I bought the M235i, and here she is (bonus pic of our T5 camper, and my dog also):

It's a 2014 car with ~20,000 miles. A ZF 8 speed gearbox (perfect for my daily drive, and surprisingly fun), Professional media package, heated memory seats, automatic everything, DAB, adaptive dampers, M Performance brake upgrade, adaptive LED headlights, basically everything. The only options not ticked were the winter pack (heated steering wheel), sunroof and tinted windows.
It's by no means as playful as the GT86 was, but certainly faster (makes the Focus RS I drove feel very sluggish and old fashioned to be honest), still a very fun drive, especially with the adaptive dampers in sport mode, and when not, a very comfortable, quiet, seamless car. It's truly got 2 personalities, and I couldn't be happier.
As far as future plans with the car, and myself. Well, I certainly plan on still attending as many social meets as possible. I've made some great friends from this website, and I will not abandon that just for a change of car. In terms of the car, well for now the plans are to just enjoy it. I've already ordered some minor upgrades (a new panel filter and some M performance gloss black front grills), and plan to get a Kerscher front lip, M performance carbon rear spoiler, carbon/chrome tailpipe replacements, and some new tyres (Pilot Sport 4s, of course) to replace the current run flat Bridgestones.
After Christmas I may start considering tuning, but will likely only go as far as a JB4/intake/exhaust. I may also consider the H&R springs once I've tried my buddies', but then I'll probably stop and just enjoy the dual personalities of the car.
Sorry for the wall of text, if you've read it, I appreciate you. Thanks for the fun times over the past few years, and I look forward to seeing some of you again in the future, just with a slightly different key in my pocket
Ross

Thanks Kev. I'll just have to park on the road next time, rather than poisoning your driveway with German crap

Thanks Kev. I'll just have to park on the road next time, rather than poisoning your driveway with German crap

Thanks Kev. I'll just have to park on the road next time, rather than poisoning your driveway with German crap

Thanks Kev. I'll just have to park on the road next time, rather than poisoning your driveway with German crap

This will be no news to those of you who I have added on Facebook, but for those of you who don't know, the GT86 is now sold.
It's rather bittersweet, as I have really enjoyed my 2 years 3 months with the car, but alas, changes in lifestyle forced my hand.
Given the amount of money spent on the car, I couldn't see myself selling for a long time, and despite always looking around on Auto Trader and considering various options, none were every really realistic. However, in May I left my job all of a sudden. Got paid for 3 months of remote support, and started looking for a new permanent role. Fortunately, I was offered a management position within Heineken, who had been a previous customer of mine during my contracting days. This resulted in an almost immediate 100% increase in wages, and a 1500% increase in daily commute (up to nearly 70 miles a day).
As compliant as the GT86 was as a daily driver, it started becoming less enjoyable for this commute. Main reason for this, is that my daily commute is all single carriageway country roads, crawling in tractors and lorries. The GT86, even with the turbo, just wasn't enjoyable on this drive. When sat in traffic driving slow, it was loud and fairly uncomfortable, and when an opportunity to overtake came about, the ultimate lack of immediate torque was also a bummer (obviously, being in lower gears is the answer, but I didn't want to drive around in 3rd all day waiting for a chance to overtake).
Anyway, in summary, my search for a new car lasted around 6 weeks. I initially wanted a BMW M3/M4 (F series), but after driving one and scaring myself, and also realising just how enormous those cars are, I moved on. I then started considering another hot hatch, specifically an Audi RS3, Mercedes A45 or Focus RS. The RS3 holds its value far too well for that to be a true consideration. The A45 was nice, but really hard to find the correct spec. The RS, initially, looked perfect, I actually bought one (well, put a deposit down and signed finance documents etc.), but after driving one on an extended test drive, I found it to be extremely underwhelming. Barely faster than the GT86, a worse gearbox, very boring interior and still equally uncomfortable. I therefore asked for a refund on the deposit and looked elsewhere.
Going back to BMWs, I started considering the M2. It looked to be the right size, was tunable to M3/M4 pace, and looked great. I went to look at a delivery miles car in Warrington, and a lovely car it was too. The dealership in question stocked many BMWs, and another that caught my eye was an M235i. After driving both, I really couldn't see where the extra £20k went on the M2. Sure, the interior was a little nicer, car was a little quicker and obviously looks amazing in comparison, but none of those factors were even close to bridging the £20k gap.
So, I bought the M235i, and here she is (bonus pic of our T5 camper, and my dog also):

It's a 2014 car with ~20,000 miles. A ZF 8 speed gearbox (perfect for my daily drive, and surprisingly fun), Professional media package, heated memory seats, automatic everything, DAB, adaptive dampers, M Performance brake upgrade, adaptive LED headlights, basically everything. The only options not ticked were the winter pack (heated steering wheel), sunroof and tinted windows.
It's by no means as playful as the GT86 was, but certainly faster (makes the Focus RS I drove feel very sluggish and old fashioned to be honest), still a very fun drive, especially with the adaptive dampers in sport mode, and when not, a very comfortable, quiet, seamless car. It's truly got 2 personalities, and I couldn't be happier.
As far as future plans with the car, and myself. Well, I certainly plan on still attending as many social meets as possible. I've made some great friends from this website, and I will not abandon that just for a change of car. In terms of the car, well for now the plans are to just enjoy it. I've already ordered some minor upgrades (a new panel filter and some M performance gloss black front grills), and plan to get a Kerscher front lip, M performance carbon rear spoiler, carbon/chrome tailpipe replacements, and some new tyres (Pilot Sport 4s, of course) to replace the current run flat Bridgestones.
After Christmas I may start considering tuning, but will likely only go as far as a JB4/intake/exhaust. I may also consider the H&R springs once I've tried my buddies', but then I'll probably stop and just enjoy the dual personalities of the car.
Sorry for the wall of text, if you've read it, I appreciate you. Thanks for the fun times over the past few years, and I look forward to seeing some of you again in the future, just with a slightly different key in my pocket
Ross

Glad you found a good replacement for the 86. I actually had a similar impression of the M4 to yours.
My commute is also country roads, but only 5 miles of it and no traffic - so the 86 is perfect!
Will you be tracking the 235i?

Gotta say after having the M4 for 6 days, it was a pretty big car and didn't feel worth £60k. It was nice, but that was it. Also I felt like the car was really snappy unless you bad the TC off, which wasn't good for tyres 
235i is a great choice man. I've heard they're absolutely brilliant with an LSD too. Looking forward to see how it looks like post modification. Good to bear you're still sticking around for meets too

Car make is irrelevant IMO, be good to see you regardless.

This will be no news to those of you who I have added on Facebook, but for those of you who don't know, the GT86 is now sold.
It's rather bittersweet, as I have really enjoyed my 2 years 3 months with the car, but alas, changes in lifestyle forced my hand.
Given the amount of money spent on the car, I couldn't see myself selling for a long time, and despite always looking around on Auto Trader and considering various options, none were every really realistic. However, in May I left my job all of a sudden. Got paid for 3 months of remote support, and started looking for a new permanent role. Fortunately, I was offered a management position within Heineken, who had been a previous customer of mine during my contracting days. This resulted in an almost immediate 100% increase in wages, and a 1500% increase in daily commute (up to nearly 70 miles a day).
As compliant as the GT86 was as a daily driver, it started becoming less enjoyable for this commute. Main reason for this, is that my daily commute is all single carriageway country roads, crawling in tractors and lorries. The GT86, even with the turbo, just wasn't enjoyable on this drive. When sat in traffic driving slow, it was loud and fairly uncomfortable, and when an opportunity to overtake came about, the ultimate lack of immediate torque was also a bummer (obviously, being in lower gears is the answer, but I didn't want to drive around in 3rd all day waiting for a chance to overtake).
Anyway, in summary, my search for a new car lasted around 6 weeks. I initially wanted a BMW M3/M4 (F series), but after driving one and scaring myself, and also realising just how enormous those cars are, I moved on. I then started considering another hot hatch, specifically an Audi RS3, Mercedes A45 or Focus RS. The RS3 holds its value far too well for that to be a true consideration. The A45 was nice, but really hard to find the correct spec. The RS, initially, looked perfect, I actually bought one (well, put a deposit down and signed finance documents etc.), but after driving one on an extended test drive, I found it to be extremely underwhelming. Barely faster than the GT86, a worse gearbox, very boring interior and still equally uncomfortable. I therefore asked for a refund on the deposit and looked elsewhere.
Going back to BMWs, I started considering the M2. It looked to be the right size, was tunable to M3/M4 pace, and looked great. I went to look at a delivery miles car in Warrington, and a lovely car it was too. The dealership in question stocked many BMWs, and another that caught my eye was an M235i. After driving both, I really couldn't see where the extra £20k went on the M2. Sure, the interior was a little nicer, car was a little quicker and obviously looks amazing in comparison, but none of those factors were even close to bridging the £20k gap.
So, I bought the M235i, and here she is (bonus pic of our T5 camper, and my dog also):

It's a 2014 car with ~20,000 miles. A ZF 8 speed gearbox (perfect for my daily drive, and surprisingly fun), Professional media package, heated memory seats, automatic everything, DAB, adaptive dampers, M Performance brake upgrade, adaptive LED headlights, basically everything. The only options not ticked were the winter pack (heated steering wheel), sunroof and tinted windows.
It's by no means as playful as the GT86 was, but certainly faster (makes the Focus RS I drove feel very sluggish and old fashioned to be honest), still a very fun drive, especially with the adaptive dampers in sport mode, and when not, a very comfortable, quiet, seamless car. It's truly got 2 personalities, and I couldn't be happier.
As far as future plans with the car, and myself. Well, I certainly plan on still attending as many social meets as possible. I've made some great friends from this website, and I will not abandon that just for a change of car. In terms of the car, well for now the plans are to just enjoy it. I've already ordered some minor upgrades (a new panel filter and some M performance gloss black front grills), and plan to get a Kerscher front lip, M performance carbon rear spoiler, carbon/chrome tailpipe replacements, and some new tyres (Pilot Sport 4s, of course) to replace the current run flat Bridgestones.
After Christmas I may start considering tuning, but will likely only go as far as a JB4/intake/exhaust. I may also consider the H&R springs once I've tried my buddies', but then I'll probably stop and just enjoy the dual personalities of the car.
Sorry for the wall of text, if you've read it, I appreciate you. Thanks for the fun times over the past few years, and I look forward to seeing some of you again in the future, just with a slightly different key in my pocket
Ross

This will be no news to those of you who I have added on Facebook, but for those of you who don't know, the GT86 is now sold.
It's rather bittersweet, as I have really enjoyed my 2 years 3 months with the car, but alas, changes in lifestyle forced my hand.
Given the amount of money spent on the car, I couldn't see myself selling for a long time, and despite always looking around on Auto Trader and considering various options, none were every really realistic. However, in May I left my job all of a sudden. Got paid for 3 months of remote support, and started looking for a new permanent role. Fortunately, I was offered a management position within Heineken, who had been a previous customer of mine during my contracting days. This resulted in an almost immediate 100% increase in wages, and a 1500% increase in daily commute (up to nearly 70 miles a day).
As compliant as the GT86 was as a daily driver, it started becoming less enjoyable for this commute. Main reason for this, is that my daily commute is all single carriageway country roads, crawling in tractors and lorries. The GT86, even with the turbo, just wasn't enjoyable on this drive. When sat in traffic driving slow, it was loud and fairly uncomfortable, and when an opportunity to overtake came about, the ultimate lack of immediate torque was also a bummer (obviously, being in lower gears is the answer, but I didn't want to drive around in 3rd all day waiting for a chance to overtake).
Anyway, in summary, my search for a new car lasted around 6 weeks. I initially wanted a BMW M3/M4 (F series), but after driving one and scaring myself, and also realising just how enormous those cars are, I moved on. I then started considering another hot hatch, specifically an Audi RS3, Mercedes A45 or Focus RS. The RS3 holds its value far too well for that to be a true consideration. The A45 was nice, but really hard to find the correct spec. The RS, initially, looked perfect, I actually bought one (well, put a deposit down and signed finance documents etc.), but after driving one on an extended test drive, I found it to be extremely underwhelming. Barely faster than the GT86, a worse gearbox, very boring interior and still equally uncomfortable. I therefore asked for a refund on the deposit and looked elsewhere.
Going back to BMWs, I started considering the M2. It looked to be the right size, was tunable to M3/M4 pace, and looked great. I went to look at a delivery miles car in Warrington, and a lovely car it was too. The dealership in question stocked many BMWs, and another that caught my eye was an M235i. After driving both, I really couldn't see where the extra £20k went on the M2. Sure, the interior was a little nicer, car was a little quicker and obviously looks amazing in comparison, but none of those factors were even close to bridging the £20k gap.
So, I bought the M235i, and here she is (bonus pic of our T5 camper, and my dog also):

It's a 2014 car with ~20,000 miles. A ZF 8 speed gearbox (perfect for my daily drive, and surprisingly fun), Professional media package, heated memory seats, automatic everything, DAB, adaptive dampers, M Performance brake upgrade, adaptive LED headlights, basically everything. The only options not ticked were the winter pack (heated steering wheel), sunroof and tinted windows.
It's by no means as playful as the GT86 was, but certainly faster (makes the Focus RS I drove feel very sluggish and old fashioned to be honest), still a very fun drive, especially with the adaptive dampers in sport mode, and when not, a very comfortable, quiet, seamless car. It's truly got 2 personalities, and I couldn't be happier.
As far as future plans with the car, and myself. Well, I certainly plan on still attending as many social meets as possible. I've made some great friends from this website, and I will not abandon that just for a change of car. In terms of the car, well for now the plans are to just enjoy it. I've already ordered some minor upgrades (a new panel filter and some M performance gloss black front grills), and plan to get a Kerscher front lip, M performance carbon rear spoiler, carbon/chrome tailpipe replacements, and some new tyres (Pilot Sport 4s, of course) to replace the current run flat Bridgestones.
After Christmas I may start considering tuning, but will likely only go as far as a JB4/intake/exhaust. I may also consider the H&R springs once I've tried my buddies', but then I'll probably stop and just enjoy the dual personalities of the car.
Sorry for the wall of text, if you've read it, I appreciate you. Thanks for the fun times over the past few years, and I look forward to seeing some of you again in the future, just with a slightly different key in my pocket
Ross

This will be no news to those of you who I have added on Facebook, but for those of you who don't know, the GT86 is now sold.
It's rather bittersweet, as I have really enjoyed my 2 years 3 months with the car, but alas, changes in lifestyle forced my hand.
Given the amount of money spent on the car, I couldn't see myself selling for a long time, and despite always looking around on Auto Trader and considering various options, none were every really realistic. However, in May I left my job all of a sudden. Got paid for 3 months of remote support, and started looking for a new permanent role. Fortunately, I was offered a management position within Heineken, who had been a previous customer of mine during my contracting days. This resulted in an almost immediate 100% increase in wages, and a 1500% increase in daily commute (up to nearly 70 miles a day).
As compliant as the GT86 was as a daily driver, it started becoming less enjoyable for this commute. Main reason for this, is that my daily commute is all single carriageway country roads, crawling in tractors and lorries. The GT86, even with the turbo, just wasn't enjoyable on this drive. When sat in traffic driving slow, it was loud and fairly uncomfortable, and when an opportunity to overtake came about, the ultimate lack of immediate torque was also a bummer (obviously, being in lower gears is the answer, but I didn't want to drive around in 3rd all day waiting for a chance to overtake).
Anyway, in summary, my search for a new car lasted around 6 weeks. I initially wanted a BMW M3/M4 (F series), but after driving one and scaring myself, and also realising just how enormous those cars are, I moved on. I then started considering another hot hatch, specifically an Audi RS3, Mercedes A45 or Focus RS. The RS3 holds its value far too well for that to be a true consideration. The A45 was nice, but really hard to find the correct spec. The RS, initially, looked perfect, I actually bought one (well, put a deposit down and signed finance documents etc.), but after driving one on an extended test drive, I found it to be extremely underwhelming. Barely faster than the GT86, a worse gearbox, very boring interior and still equally uncomfortable. I therefore asked for a refund on the deposit and looked elsewhere.
Going back to BMWs, I started considering the M2. It looked to be the right size, was tunable to M3/M4 pace, and looked great. I went to look at a delivery miles car in Warrington, and a lovely car it was too. The dealership in question stocked many BMWs, and another that caught my eye was an M235i. After driving both, I really couldn't see where the extra £20k went on the M2. Sure, the interior was a little nicer, car was a little quicker and obviously looks amazing in comparison, but none of those factors were even close to bridging the £20k gap.
So, I bought the M235i, and here she is (bonus pic of our T5 camper, and my dog also):

It's a 2014 car with ~20,000 miles. A ZF 8 speed gearbox (perfect for my daily drive, and surprisingly fun), Professional media package, heated memory seats, automatic everything, DAB, adaptive dampers, M Performance brake upgrade, adaptive LED headlights, basically everything. The only options not ticked were the winter pack (heated steering wheel), sunroof and tinted windows.
It's by no means as playful as the GT86 was, but certainly faster (makes the Focus RS I drove feel very sluggish and old fashioned to be honest), still a very fun drive, especially with the adaptive dampers in sport mode, and when not, a very comfortable, quiet, seamless car. It's truly got 2 personalities, and I couldn't be happier.
As far as future plans with the car, and myself. Well, I certainly plan on still attending as many social meets as possible. I've made some great friends from this website, and I will not abandon that just for a change of car. In terms of the car, well for now the plans are to just enjoy it. I've already ordered some minor upgrades (a new panel filter and some M performance gloss black front grills), and plan to get a Kerscher front lip, M performance carbon rear spoiler, carbon/chrome tailpipe replacements, and some new tyres (Pilot Sport 4s, of course) to replace the current run flat Bridgestones.
After Christmas I may start considering tuning, but will likely only go as far as a JB4/intake/exhaust. I may also consider the H&R springs once I've tried my buddies', but then I'll probably stop and just enjoy the dual personalities of the car.
Sorry for the wall of text, if you've read it, I appreciate you. Thanks for the fun times over the past few years, and I look forward to seeing some of you again in the future, just with a slightly different key in my pocket
Ross

Thanks all, was great to see everyone. Thanks to S18 RSG for taking me out for a spin, was great to finally get a ride in a FI car. Thanks Lucas for the ride out as well, definitely need to sort out my excess or rear grip after seeing how fun the car is on narrower rims.