KobayashiMaru

They are. Should be available from about now. These tyres are just bonkers. I was only saying to Richard earlier that I could scarcely believe how much grip they had in wet and cold (3C) conditions chucking it down a country road at 8am on Sunday morning. They must be mega in the dry in summer! 
 

@Lauren I'd seen in a few places saying it was 36L, even the dealer said it was something like that so that's not too bad then. Think if I had more time with Sport mode I'd have gelled with it more. Track probably suits me more and I've been in mostly front wheel drives lately and unlearning some of that within the hour was interesting. It's a car you want to explore and peel back the layers and discover more with every drive. Some cars you get in and you know all it can do quite quickly and it gets dull even though it's quick (like a Golf R) but it's so competent, you can drive at 80% fairly easily and the last 20% is the fun bit to find. I noticed it would always understeer first before the rear comes round, each mode slightly different which is fine. Can left foot brake in these which is something I've not tried in years so re-learning that would be nice to do.

It's seriously tempting and has so much potential.

Test drove one yesterday unaccompanied for about an hour. It's the demo so was encouraged to give it a good go. Grip great even with traction control off and as Lauren says it's absolute. It's been setup to be as grippy as possible and feels quite a serious car which is cool. Not as lairy as Evo's and Subaru's of old unless you really provoke it. But look at how modern WRC cars go through a stage and it makes sense why. Went through sections I'd be feathering the throttle in other cars, this was flat and quite a bit faster. Track Mode is the mode I enjoyed most. Sport I felt I'd want more space to see it slide about but it's the demo so wasn't going to be silly. Normal just feels like a FWD hatch with an LSD that rotates a bit quicker. The Michelin PS4S tyres are as amazing as the press say. I run the standard PS4 tyres on other cars and recently had some new ones and thought they must've revised the compound as it was better again. The PS4S though is like witchcraft. Once they were warm, even in the wet with traction off there was barely a hint of wheel spin.
Brakes were awesome,  Pedals for heel and toe could be better but easy enough and easier when you're really on the brakes. Does mean you can probably drive in boots easily. Having big feet, some cars I have to wear smaller shoes. It has rev matching but is too slow. It loves full throttle corner exits & higher speed bends. Plant it and go. In-gear it's pretty quick. Turbo boosts well, drops off at higher speeds but it's a 1.6 so to be expected but it's quick where it matters which is a big plus for me.
Does like a drink though. When I gave it back it was on 15mpg and I expected it to be low. But the lowest I saw was 9mpg. With only a 36L tank, if you drove like that all the time that's barely 100 miles to a tank. Still has to run in though and don't know if it was on super unleaded. Still seemed pretty good for a new engine. I'd seen Litchfield and others from a brand new engine are seeing higher figures than it's supposed to which is good. The tuners are going to love it though. The intake could be a lot bigger and I'm not surprised they've seen 300bhp+ from it already.

I only had it an hour but it's confidence inspiring from the off, a feeling I also got from the Type-R. Once I adjusted to the 4WD and got used to the power moving about it was great and I felt pretty comfortable with it and think it would be quite satisfying to find all it could do, which is what I'm looking for next. Steering feel isn't as sharp as a Type-R or a tweaked GT86 but it's OK. Lot better than most cars. It's expectedly small in the back, may get a bike in with the wheel off but doesn't feel that small to drive and the headunit screen I didn't noticed once I was actually driving.

Dealer said most are getting it for £495 down and £495/mth for 4yrs. It's a chunk of money but when Honda and others offer nothing like those figures it's very tempting. For me it may have to be a 2nd car, but I also have the bike for fun so would take some man maths to justify. I don't do much mileage these days so there's that. It's also a 9mth waiting list.

@Lauren I'd seen in a few places saying it was 36L, even the dealer said it was something like that so that's not too bad then. Think if I had more time with Sport mode I'd have gelled with it more. Track probably suits me more and I've been in mostly front wheel drives lately and unlearning some of that within the hour was interesting. It's a car you want to explore and peel back the layers and discover more with every drive. Some cars you get in and you know all it can do quite quickly and it gets dull even though it's quick (like a Golf R) but it's so competent, you can drive at 80% fairly easily and the last 20% is the fun bit to find. I noticed it would always understeer first before the rear comes round, each mode slightly different which is fine. Can left foot brake in these which is something I've not tried in years so re-learning that would be nice to do.

It's seriously tempting and has so much potential.

Test drove one yesterday unaccompanied for about an hour. It's the demo so was encouraged to give it a good go. Grip great even with traction control off and as Lauren says it's absolute. It's been setup to be as grippy as possible and feels quite a serious car which is cool. Not as lairy as Evo's and Subaru's of old unless you really provoke it. But look at how modern WRC cars go through a stage and it makes sense why. Went through sections I'd be feathering the throttle in other cars, this was flat and quite a bit faster. Track Mode is the mode I enjoyed most. Sport I felt I'd want more space to see it slide about but it's the demo so wasn't going to be silly. Normal just feels like a FWD hatch with an LSD that rotates a bit quicker. The Michelin PS4S tyres are as amazing as the press say. I run the standard PS4 tyres on other cars and recently had some new ones and thought they must've revised the compound as it was better again. The PS4S though is like witchcraft. Once they were warm, even in the wet with traction off there was barely a hint of wheel spin.
Brakes were awesome,  Pedals for heel and toe could be better but easy enough and easier when you're really on the brakes. Does mean you can probably drive in boots easily. Having big feet, some cars I have to wear smaller shoes. It has rev matching but is too slow. It loves full throttle corner exits & higher speed bends. Plant it and go. In-gear it's pretty quick. Turbo boosts well, drops off at higher speeds but it's a 1.6 so to be expected but it's quick where it matters which is a big plus for me.
Does like a drink though. When I gave it back it was on 15mpg and I expected it to be low. But the lowest I saw was 9mpg. With only a 36L tank, if you drove like that all the time that's barely 100 miles to a tank. Still has to run in though and don't know if it was on super unleaded. Still seemed pretty good for a new engine. I'd seen Litchfield and others from a brand new engine are seeing higher figures than it's supposed to which is good. The tuners are going to love it though. The intake could be a lot bigger and I'm not surprised they've seen 300bhp+ from it already.

I only had it an hour but it's confidence inspiring from the off, a feeling I also got from the Type-R. Once I adjusted to the 4WD and got used to the power moving about it was great and I felt pretty comfortable with it and think it would be quite satisfying to find all it could do, which is what I'm looking for next. Steering feel isn't as sharp as a Type-R or a tweaked GT86 but it's OK. Lot better than most cars. It's expectedly small in the back, may get a bike in with the wheel off but doesn't feel that small to drive and the headunit screen I didn't noticed once I was actually driving.

Dealer said most are getting it for £495 down and £495/mth for 4yrs. It's a chunk of money but when Honda and others offer nothing like those figures it's very tempting. For me it may have to be a 2nd car, but I also have the bike for fun so would take some man maths to justify. I don't do much mileage these days so there's that. It's also a 9mth waiting list.

@will300 just read your review. I've done about twice the miles you have, though for some reason everyone and their dog seemed to be on the roads today. I'm going to wait a bit to do a review as I want to gather my thoughts more fully. I totally agree about the engine. It is impressive in that it feels a lot quicker than you expect it to be. So much so that when I overtook some duffer in second gear, I was surprised at the manner in which it gathered pace. I have not really been north of 5500rpm, but that engine loves to rev. I actually like the sound you get when inside the car, whether synthetic or otherwise. It has a very business like tone and you can hear the turbo venting to atmosphere when you attune to it. 
When I pulled out of RRG the steering felt very light, but it weighted up nicely at speed. I agree it doesn't seem to have the feel of the GT86, though mine is razor sharp with the poly bushes on it. I feel it's very much good enough though. 
I too found the seating position very high after getting out of the GT86, though I think that the GT is so low means it's a bit all relative. But like you I soon grew accustomed to it and then you don't notice it. The driving position is comfortable enough with the seats offering a similar level of support to the GT. I also found heel and toeing easy enough but you have to be on the brakes. I actually liked the brake feel, though this may be optimised more with a different pad. I have purposefully not been that hard on the brakes yet. My car has 73 miles on the clock! 
I have tried the different modes and you can feel it if you switch between them. I have not yet pushed hard, but driving down a greasy and wet B-road with mud on it, the car dealt with the conditions with absolute aplomb. The damping I agree feels really good. Ride is good enough and it is more refined than the GT/BRZ. 
Overall (maybe as I've bought one) I'd rate it higher than Will, but I probably got more opportunity to push it a bit harder on some twisty B-roads. I must say as soon as I dispatched the duffer I got into some S-Bends and wow the car quickly came alive. A glance at the speedo told me I was well north of the national speed limit. I think this car is very well sorted and the harder you work it, the better it gets. That's what I think it is going to be like. 1 minute of starting to really get it to flow down a deserted wet and sometimes muddy B road, made me think that not much would be able to keep up with it. It really does inspire confidence. I don't think the GT86 would have handled those kind of conditions with such aplomb. I know already I will have to push a fair bit harder to find its limits. 
Trackday booked at Blyton for 31st January.

Looks like a bad accident in Stevenage involving a GT86 at some meet. Stuff like this make my blood boil as it gives us all a bad name.

I've removed the vid link but is still available
 

Coolant is good for 120k or 12 years or something like that.

Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk

Tuning developments do this service and did it on my car if you could get to them?
The price is on the website.

I used these...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282815234230

There right now! My 18th visit, not seen any other 86s so far.

What? You want to say that TRD fuel cap won't make car faster?!! Blasphemy!

I'm guessing a bit but like most of their stuff you paying 3x the price just for the name 

You honestly haven't lived till you've been to Le Mans. I've been twice, the last time 15 years ago. Epic times, like Glastonbury for cars. I will go again one day.

From the first episode. From this alone I was amazed by it.
 
 

Wheels are finally on. Didn't have time to do proper pictures but will do once the car has been cleaned. Turn in noticeably sharper and change of direction with Michelin's is even better.




Brakes look a bit lost but there will never be an issue for bigger ones

Wheels are finally on. Didn't have time to do proper pictures but will do once the car has been cleaned. Turn in noticeably sharper and change of direction with Michelin's is even better.




Brakes look a bit lost but there will never be an issue for bigger ones

Finally got to put the new plate on at the weekend:-

I was also able to finally get the Do Luck's back and on. The initial refurb had problems so they were redone elsewhere.
I'm a little undecided on the shade of red and kind of wish I'd gone for something more on the blood red end of the spectrum. Maybe something for a future refurb!

And big thank you to @LarmiqGt's girlfriend for the rolling shot:-

@Test Drives Unlimited This is the view from my rear view camera. 

That looks ideal. I use Collinite wax for the body and while it's good and lasts after a few coats I just wanted something tougher for the wheels

C5 is really and durable so long as it's applied properly, you don't need to overcoat it with any other sealant. However depending on the wheel's I will overcoat with Exo. When I had white wheels I did this and they still cleaned up extremely easy after 6 months. 

With them off the car, you could easily do 3-4 layers, indoors, away from contaminants. It'll hold up very well.

Yep, just standard arse covering. The stock wheel nuts will probably be fine, but just check the angle of the pitch as they mate to the new wheels. Otherwise just get some nice steel nuts. Decent aftermarket wheel nuts will cost you £50+ the crappy aluminium ones that you can buy are not worth it really. 

I would say get wheel nuts for the new wheels. Even better if you can get OZ ones, I got some Rays ones for my wheels. The stock ones look terrible , especially so with aftermarket wheels. Also check the angle on them as they may not be ideal for aftermarket wheels. 
But make sure you buy steel not aluminium ones. 

M135i is rear wheel drive, but that's where the similarities end. It's not a sports car - it's a refined 5 seater, with the weight and comfort that brings. As you say, it looks like every other BMW.
I drove several e92 M3's - seemed very generic at lower revs, but people do say they grow on you. I'd have had one over the M135i, but the prices are ridiculous at the moment - however zero depreciation - my friend had one for £25k 3 years ago that BMW are selling today for £27k. I was looking at 2 year old M135i's for £18k, or a 10 year old M3 for the same price!
TTRS felt wonderfully fast, but a bit woollen and again, it's not really a sports car.
The only thing that came close, was a Cayman S - if you get the 987 2nd generation (£23k+) then the engine woes were fixed, and it's a wonderful car to drive, and unlikely to cost too much more to run than a performance BMW. Only reason I didn't get one was because at 6'4 I'm JUST too tall to be comfortable.

The GT86 is rare, it's light, the driving position is ace, every journey is an event. Kids love it, everyone else on the road seems to hate you (I never get let out of junctions and anything remotely sporty drives up my arse until I floor it).
Having said that, I only bought one over the M135i because someone else had spent the £10k on a supercharger and additional mods.

Drive them all. Only way to tell.