8bit's new R...

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
Not much to report, just been enjoying the car wherever possible. Enjoying this car is possible pretty much anywhere (except petrol stations) so that's been quite a lot of enjoyment :) In fact, it's actually not really much more to fill this thing than it is to fill my LCR, just it needs filled a little more often than the LCR so on balance it's all good really.

Had a couple of days off at the start of last week so went for a bit of a drive on Monday. Did the circuit around the Cairngorms National Park, for those who are interested here's the route:

ikcd.jpg


Some fantastic roads, the only really dull bit was the chunk of it that was just rolling along the A9 from about Aviemore to Pitlochry. Best bits were from Alford through Strathdon over the Lecht to Tomintoul, then later from Pitlochry to the Pass of Glenshee then Braemar. If you live around this way and haven't driven over those roads then do so, ASAP.

Couple of pics along the way...

h9di.jpg


Taken just before the Lecht.

b6om.jpg


Just after Tomintoul, if I remember right...

me0t.jpg


yuam.jpg


Last two taken at the Glenshee car park.

Thanks for looking :)
 

LEE69

Stage 2 Revo'd
Dec 10, 2004
21,262
74
C\UK\Devon\Torquay
Me jealous, not one bit (git)
Gorgeous car mate it really is.

First line is how i love my A3 want to drive it everywhere all the time, such a delight to drive.(but i got the mpg too ;p)
 

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
Cheers Lee :) I'm very, very fortunate. I think I got about 19mpg over that whole run though, would have been less if it wasn't for the 1 and a half hour on cruise control at 60 along the A9!
 

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
If I leave the city gently and stick cruise on when I hit the NSL sign and go for about an hour it'll reach about 27.5 but that's still not much more than a third of what yours will get :) Petrol is cheaper though and this thing doesn't need VPower etc. ;)

Anyway, I don't commute with it (if I did I would have bought something more economical) so it all balances out I guess...
 

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
Yeah but that supercharger makes you soon forget i bet lol

It's funny, you don't really notice it as such, it doesn't give you a huge lump of power low down the range like a turbo and it doesn't make much noise. That said, I've never driven a regular XK without the 'charger so not sure just how much faster my car is. It's about 120bhp and about the same in torque over the 4.2 XKs so I guess the answer is "quite a lot" :)

Great pics mate :)

Nice patina of winter hoonage on the girl ;)

Cheers chief :)
 

t0m

LCR 225
Apr 29, 2007
8,133
7
Kent
This car is about smiles per gallon not miles who cares about that with that engine and noise ;)
 

Greavesy

Active Member
Jun 30, 2013
380
0
Donny
I recently went on a holiday driving round Scotland with our lass in the LCR, absolutely loved it! Great roads and amazing scenery! Would definitely recommend it to anyone!
 

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
That would be a great drive. My girlfriend keeps asking me to go on nearly that exact route but the ibiza keeps going wrong :(

Heh, yeah that always happens when you actually want to do something fun with the car eh ;) Only thing I'd say about that route is it's a shame that a good chunk of it (Grantown on Spey to Pitlochry) is just the A9 as that's no fun at all really. You could push it out a bit further and head all the way to Fort William, then back up past Loch Tay to Pitlochry from there but that would be a good couple of hours more I'd say.

I recently went on a holiday driving round Scotland with our lass in the LCR, absolutely loved it! Great roads and amazing scenery! Would definitely recommend it to anyone!

Everyone that drives up here says that ;)
 

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
So had a small package arrive today:

pgo5.jpg


The //R badge I have on my tailgate just now is starting to look a bit tatty as the coloured stripes are starting to come away at the corners. I'll give the new one a few coats of clear lacquer to try and keep it in good nick. The others are caliper logo plates, they'll also get a few coats but using VHT lacquer. The ones with the arm-type things attached to them are for the front calipers, the others are for the rear. Have a little time off over the holidays so will hopefully get these and a couple of other little jobs done then.

Winter road conditions are proving to be entertaining :) Went to go over a roundabout this evening, ended up slithering over it with the DSC light flashing away... Later I turned out of a main road onto a cobbled street and the back end swung right out ;) Going to have to find a big open car park and have a little fun sometime I think.
 
Last edited:

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
OK so I swore I wasn't modifying this car when I got it. Six months later this turns up...

u659.jpg


It's a Spires Performance stage 1 exhaust, oops.... This replaces the center section on the car which has two center silencers and no crossover pipe. Should get a few more ponies and a bit more noise. The car isn't exactly quiet as stock anyway... Will post before and after vids once it's fitted :)

Also got these:

amv3.jpg


The car had the standard ones in when I got it, they don't have the logo and aren't as plush. They're also a bit tatty looking so I was after a set of these "luxury" ones for a while. They came up on another forum nearly new at less than 1/3 of the price from a Jag dealer so I jumped at them :)
 

8bit

Active Member
Feb 11, 2010
3,401
3
Aberdeen
OK managed to get the exhaust fitted last week. Chuffed! This is the original sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4obnA0AJFMA

And this is with the new exhaust section:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyI6jT1s_74

The difference is actually a bit greater than the video lets on, you can hear a bit of the extra growl in the tone on the second clip but the videos mask how much louder the car is now. It sounded good as stock but it's epic now. Cold starts are quite surprising!
 
Chris Knott Insurance - Competitive quotes for forum members