Fightgear

I'm pretty sure the card pumps at Tesco have a yellow button if you don't want to pay by card. You just press the button marked 'Kiosk' I think. Plus the Tesco fuel is pretty good and is of a higher octane than most 'Supers'. Personally, I like Tesco. Prefer Shell petrol but Tesco is my second choice. Also, if you just let them know you want more than £60, they tend to press a button and it turns off the limiter. I know I never have a problem filling up. But I guess your station may be different.

Znut: have you any pictures of your set up that I can see? It would be interesting to see where I'd be splodging.

To be honest, the Soarer isn't any more reliable than most other Jap makes. I heard horror stories about the GTO but if it was looked after it was trouble free. As for the power of the V8, it is a powerful engine but it would need a blower to worry a Scooby unless you had an Active and were on a winding road. While I had my Active it was a relative low mileage model but still gave some problems in addition, they are absolute bitches to work on. The TT is good to tune and even moderate mods (decat and BFI induction) make good power gains. Going for a big single adds event more but again, most people I know who have done that in the clubs, do so because of the back seat space. Otherwise they would have gone with a Supra. If I wanted the true Toyota build quality and REAL power I'd go (in the blink of an eye) with the Aristo. That car is brutal and yet has the comfort of a GS300. Awesome car. Top of my hit list.

I just got myself a double din tv/dvd/radio gizmo. Its a full Double Din installation. I only just realised that the whole of the centre consul is a single piece fitting. Obviously there must (I hope) be a way of fitting a double din unit so for my first 'how do I' - can anyone tell me what to get or how to do it please?? Cheers

We've got a Soarer TT or rather my wife drives a modded one (320bhp). Prior to the new 300, I had a GTO and before that had a top of the range Soarer Active (Uzz32). They are lovely cars. My wife's TT goes like a rocket (had to buy the GTO to get something faster off the mark, my Active had the V8 and was a great high speed cruiser but you can only take your wife's exhaust smoke for so long!). There are two forums, the Lexus Soarer Owners Club and the Toyota Imports Forum. The latter is ruled by a 'select few' so I would definitely recommend the LSOC. As to the cars; The TT is brutally fast and the end can easily swing out on you. They are comfortable and easy drives and the dash is attractive (digital display, diagnostics, etc.). The Active is the absolute top of the range and only about 800 were ever made. It has active, stay flat suspension with four wheel steering. I've gone round sharp roundabouts at 60 in this and it shows no sign of losing grip. The gadgets are superb, touch screen display for air con, radio, tv and sat nav (don't work in the UK but can be made to work via £1000 alteration), diagnostics, etc. It even has a calendar which you can program to let you know about birthdays, servicing, anniversarys, etc. Much more plush than the stripped down TT. Almost silent running inside the car. Built like a tank. Parts are expensive and you need to be careful who you get to service the car. Some people make out its an absolute need to go to certain people but it isn't. Hereare a couple of shots of our Soarers. My wife's TT is the grey one which she is looking to sell if anyone wants a well looked after and FAST luxury sports tourer. The main point about the Soarer though is that the back seats are bigger than you would usually get. You can easily put two adults COMFORTABLY in the back and they can ride in comfort.

Hey there Just joined and while saying 'hello' in the general forum, just thought I'd say a more localised 'hi' in my local area. We are pretty close to Hailsham and just off the A22. Not sure if there are any members round here though as I have rarely seen a 300 down here.

As to not discovering the faults... With regard to the immobiliser... It's intermittent maybe occurring once in ever four or five starts but I'm advised it will get worse. With regard to the petrol smell, well I was told about it but informed it was 'normal'. With regard to the steering warning, didn't occur until about 30 miles into the journey. The one I should have noticed were the attempted break in but the car I didn't see the passenger side while I was checking it. On that one, I was guilty of not checking closely enough. However, we had driver 90 miles almost and it was late afternoon. The drive had taken far longer than we expected so I wasn't as precise as I normally would be. As for taking it back, (a) I doubt whether he still has the cash, (b) it'd work out as being an expensive return trip to trailer the car back there. I'm more inclined to pursue him for the costs of the repairs. Luckily my wife was with me who, shall we say, has a legal background and heard everything he said about there being no problems with the car. All the problems are solvable and not massively expensive so I'm 100% certain that it will get sorted even if I have to jump in the weekday drive and tip the money out of him personally! :) Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Well I finally got my Zed. After about two weeks of searching and toing-and-throing between a Lexus GS300, BMW 7 Series, Mitsu FTO and the Zed. I sat down and made the decision. Took me a while to find a car I liked enough to buy but eventually got there. I now own a '90 TT in dark blue. It was owned since import by a guy named Paul in Aldershot before someone bought it and then couldn't afford to run it and so sold it within a couple of months. The car has done about 70,000 miles and (other than a mongoose exhaust (still catted surprisingly)) is pretty vanilla in terms of mods. However there are a few niggles that the seller didn't tell me about (even though he was asked!). On driving the car back from Reading (where it was) to Hailsham I had to stop for petrol just off the M25. Got the petrol but the car wouldn't start. All the lights were on but it just wouldn't do anything. I reckoned it was the immobiliser. Ended up calling the RAC who agreed and eventually got me home at turned 11pm. Next morning my mechanic confirmed it was the immobiliser and that it was likely that it was an established problem. So that needs ripping out and a new one fitting. Strong petrol smell, the owner warned me that there was a 'slight' petrol smell but it soon went. Not true. The petrol smell remains its just that you get used to it. The mechanic has told me that petrol is gathering in the V of the engine due to leaking pipes and could have been dangerous in the extreme! Third issue was that there was signs of an attempted break in on the passenger side which I couldn't see while inspecting the car due to it being so close to his house. Didn't see it until the next day when my mechanic pointed it out although I did notice some wind noise before it broke down. Fourth issue was the steering warning coming on after about twenty miles. Again, the mechanic had a look and says there is a small leak in a seal at the rear (I think). So, I've told the guy who sold me the car about the problems and I expect him to do something about them. Still, on the positive side, the car prior to the last owner had a great history (all documented) and it seems he was a member of a Z club (his name is Paul Tucker) - not sure if it was this one. Had the car serviced religiously. The car is great other than the problems indicated and a good project to develop. I had an earlier model 300zx about 8 years ago and loved it. Since then I've had a Lexus/Toyota Soarer Active, a Mitsu GTO TT (highly modded) and my wife drives a Soarer TT (modded). So I'm saying a hello and my membership will be forthcoming!!!

Damn....and there was I........

Thanks everyone for the welcome. Makes a change from the usual 'welcome to the madhouse' type car forums where you get warned 'this is a mad place with mad people' and 'we're nice here but hate such-and-such forum (usually a rival club for same marque)'. Again, thanks for the warm welcome and I'll keep it updated about my search.

StellaZ: Thanks mate, lovely car. Bonnet looks superb! Trouble is that one is a little beyond my post-GTO budget sadly! :(

Hi Guyz I am SERIOUSLY considering buying a Z. I've just sold my GTO TT and was going to go for a Toyota Aristo TT but am now moving towards buying a 300TT. I had one of the early models and liked that a lot and know that the second series was much better. So I'm in the market for a decent one with the money waiting (and burning a hole in my pocket - afterall, its getting near Christmas and don't want to have to spend it on luxuries such as presents for the kids, clothes and food). I couldn't find a 'say hello' section so posted here to ..... errr..... say 'hello' If anyone is looking to sell a nice TT, I'd love to hear/see. Anyways..... on with the show. Cheers