Techyd

Quite agree - its essentially money down the drain so for me it always has to be value for money, with only a hint of car snobbery thrown in(!). When there's a Lotus sat on the drive for the weekends, then naturally I don't to worry too much about handling finesse. The Lexus IS300h I currently drive has been flawless, is supremely comfortable and quiet and actually has a well balanced chassis for some enjoyable driving if needed. Its not a fast car though, the gearbox sees to that! There are huge numbers of deals available, its quite a minefield. My recommendation is for no more than 3 months deposit (as you don't get it back) and no more than a 3 year lease. Having maintenance included is really dependent on mileage. I did a two year lease a few years back on 10k a year. The cars service interval (it was a Golf) was 20k miles and in the end I only changed the front tyres once, toward the end of the lease. I did pay for maintenance at something like £30 a month, so over that time I paid £690 in monthly costs and because of the way the deposit works £90 as part of my deposit. When I run the numbers against the various deals they all work out within a few £ of each other, so it makes so sense to put a large amount down just to reduce the monthly payments. The key is not to be too fussy on the ultimate spec, any options you add you basically pay for the option in full over the course of the lease, so a sound standard spec is a must IMO (this includes colour) When it comes to being competitively priced on lease deals, Porsche are not, so you're going to be paying for it. Mercedes (as do BMW and Audi) however put some serious backing behind their deals so pound for pound you will get more car for you money in the Merc than the Porsche. Naturally you won't get the type change you are after!

And a perfect synopsis of the GT430 those words are Just reading the specs, I notice that the IPS vs manual gearbox max speed is 174mph vs 190mph respectively; that is a huge difference!

Not sure I'm reading the diagram correctly, but look like interior feeds to the boot - i.e. from the cabin to the boot, rather than exterior to the boot??

6:45 works for me as does BTCC and Brands Hatch, though that first corner....

Interesting, what’s the extra cooler / cooling that it has? My own MY12 Evora S IPS has two oil coolers, one for the engine and one for gearbox.

So let us know what dates you can make @pbharcourt and we’ll choose again! Recently got a PS4 so I’ve been ‘supporting’ my son Josh as he plays Gran Turisimo, hopefully I’ll be better than last time!

Good point RE the indicators - just a tad further away to make it every so slightly a stretch!

Checkout Purbeck Sports cars, they are in Holton Heath, Poole. Jon is Lotus trained, very friendly and works on all things Lotus. He services and MOTs my Evora.

Also with me!

8th or 22nd work for me

Welcome to the Forum - need pics of the new car

Another Race Centre meet sounds good ! ! ! I think we liked the idea of some touring car action, and a track we know - say Silverstone? Have myself a PS4 now with Gran Turismo....so will be try and be competition ready this time!! Mondays or Tuesdays good for me - 15th October is free.

I have some unexpected work commitments, not able to make it this month

And I'm yet to get Frost bite

Hi Daniel, I have an S IPS (MY12) and love it, absolutely love it! !! Here are my thoughts, in no particular order IPS gear change with rev matching is great fun, quite addictive actually! It can be a little slow on downshifts, but if you're braking and downshifting its faster Gear changes / timings took a few weeks to really gel in terms of the timings, yes there is a delay between request and gear but the actual change itself is very quick I'm running 18/ 19 wheels and have not problems with firmer springs that the S has; every passenger I have comments at how amazed they are at the comfort (cabin) and smooth ride - its remarkable, though at town speed over broken tarmac it will obviously be bumpy At low speed / town speed the gear shift to down 1st when pulling up can occasionally be little jerky When crawling in traffic, the creep is faster than my other automatic, which takes a bit of getting used Fuel consumption - probably its Achilles heal, whilst I can (and have) gotten over 300 miles to a tank on a long motorway, on average though, I see < 250 to a tank, < 200 at times urban driving is not great for it. Get it out on the open road When you do that it will redefine what you thought possible! I've had no reliability issues I had one issue with the glove box where the cord snapped but that was soon fixed thanks to some great help on here Randomly - the central locking is one of the quietest I've had on a car, my Lexus is way louder! The lack of in-car tech plays to its advantage; it can't date the car! It gets a lot of attention when out and about - people will talk to you, especially at petrol stations! The S has a lot more torque than the N/A which swung it for me, still it likes to be revved, peak power is right at the top of the rev range The interior is well put together, aside from a slight lifting of the air bag cover at one side its faultless It gets a new Tubular exhaust in a couple of weeks As well a new oil cooler and pipework which is more preventative maintenance - there is some corrosion on the pipework that's building up Lastly a subjective thing I know, but I think its one of the best looking cars of its era, I still look back at it when walking away Hope this helps!