[Schtoo]

Thanks for the insight all, very interesting...


Because I can't drive this forum thingy very well, I'll run down the list of things you've mentioned.


I wasn't sure the AU was 'all that' although it seems to have come into it's own, and the general consensus is to go for one of them, so I'll direct my efforts that way but won't knock back something else if it drops into my lap. ;)


As far as a 'runaround hack', I'll be using it to get to work. For right now, that's 15 minutes up the road so barely far enough to get the engine up to temp. Not great for engines, but I'll make sure it gets a good run on the weekends. A ute because I do have stuff to shuffle around, and while the family bus can carry plenty of stuff but it's not a proper stuff carrier.



And why not? The last car I actually bought was specifically bought for short trips so was well worn, cheap but interesting. On paper it sounded like a beast being mid engine, RWD, 4 valve per cylinder and turbo with intercooler as it was built.



Also happened to be a 3 cylinder, 660cc and 4 doors, 4 seats. A virtual gold star for whoever gets it right. Ours was silver, but if I'd got the one I wanted I'd have dragged it home with me because it was weird and marketed correctly, worth a mint around here.


I'm not adverse to a turbo at all, but I'd much rather get the ZF box, which means BF and they're either gold plated and priced accordingly or beaten to death and look it. Manual, maybe but I'm no purist. I'd rather the auto.



200kw is plenty for me, and if at some point I decide it's not really enough I 'know a guy' who I could pressure for a favour. The problem is that particular 'guy' probably gets asked for all kinds of favours and I might be well down the list, but then again I wired up his workshop. At the same time, I don't want to get sucked into that vortex of fooling with cars, drinking beer and getting home late, again...


Any further insights are muchly appreciated, and I'll just quietly keep looking and seeing what pops up. That blue thing, methinks I'll ping that fellow and see what the deal is there. Might be able to get someone to take a look later on this week for me, as it's on the other side of town.


Thanks all,


Stu.