You see I have been hit by a car and what did damage to me was the push-bike I was on. All the car did was sent one of my shoes flying and give me slight concussion.

It was the modern design of the car, this was back in the 90's but even then things had come a long way in terms of pedestrian safety, which prevented me suffering any other injury. This was a 30MPH impact too.

So I am glad it didn't have a protruding tow hook as I would have suffered a shattered shin bone.

I would never say being hit by a car is totally safe, but they can limit the injury.

You were extremely lucky then.

Oh of course, but life is all about luck. You can push the odds in your favour as much as possible, which is what ped safety is all about, but then I've known someone die from a appendectomy and that has something like 99% survival rate. In the end it all boils down to luck.

New wheels for the roadster are coming soon, they are off my mates car as he is putting his back to standard now, he said i could have them for 20 quid as they are a bit battered and kerbed in places and he was pretty much going to bin them, but that doesnt matter to me as i will be having them refurbed and coated white anyway, plus i know he paid about 100 for them from his mate barely a year ago, i couldnt take them off him that cheap, so i have offered him 50 for them and he pretty much bit my arm off!

The annoying thing is that i do know what exact rim, well, what make they are as its stamped into the alloy itself, i just cant remember, but here is a low res pic of the rims in question, well im 99% sure these are the ones anyway, im amazed i managed to find them at all, as with no point of reference as to what make they are theres only so long you can look through google images results for "5 spoke alloy wheel" before it does your head in, so the small pic will have to suffice!

Size? Got your clutch fixed yet?

They are only 15 inch rims, i like the look of big wheels on mx5's, especially mk1's, but as they have pretty much spot on handling already i dont want to risk ruining it with huge great wheels, and the clutch kit is all ready to be fitted, the car is waiting to be moved to a workshop so that it can be fitted, all the brakes are now shot as well tho, thats what 6 months parked up through an english winter does to a car

New family member !

I bought a '99 BMW 323 i/A,has 89k miles for $1000. superclean car,not 1 dent on it.Needs an engine,which is coming this week so maybe ill start working on it on the weekend.. dont feel like it tho
got some phone pics..

Well, at least it's not an e36

nothing is wrong with e36,i have 1,i wanted to get e36 but its very hard to find with low miles and good price,its old now.

im going to have to start off saving up for a car soon, and i was looking into what i should get for a first car/truck

obviously a bmw is not ideal for a first, no matter how bad i want it..so i was thinking for a very first i could get a Dodge Dakota. it would be from the generation 1997-2003, cause thats the body style i want, and it is the overall best deal imho.

i would need it to be the 5 speed manual, club cab, preferably with the long bed (not sure how long that is), and with the 5.2L v8.

if the deal comes and it is 2x4 then il get that, otherwise id rather 4x4..but finding it how i want it is going to be hard as it is

any thoughts, or experiences with this vehicle? cant find anything but good things about it, and with my dad a dodge mechanic of 20+ years i cant see much going wrong with it.

any other suggestions, i need at least a bit of power, manual, passenger room, cheap insurance, and versatility. (and fun)

Quote from logitekg25 :

5.2L v8.

Have fun at the gas station every hour of driving for a half hour of fuel pumping.

fuel economy isnt horrendously bad..the truck is pretty light.

but we have spare vehicles, so if it gets overly bad then i use one that is better on gas.

I have a mitsubishi mighty max pickup 4x4, and it's the best little truck I've ever driven. For a truck that will run forever I'd go japanese as long as you don't care about going faster than 80 mph.

oh i care about going faster then 80 mph

until i get an actual car, thats what im gonna have to use for track days

once we had to ship a chevy avalanche to hungary from here,and we had it for a few months,and my boss just didnt wanna get out of it,he loved it so much he was talking about it every day. lol
you could get a bmw with cheap insurancemget an older one like mine,except 328i. either way your insurance is gonna be 2 grand a year at least(young driver)

Hell, my insurance on a 2001 Jetta is nearly 2k a year. At least becuase our insurance is also our licencing (and a crown corporation/public corporation).. I get 5% off my insurance every year of safe driving (and my rates will go down as well with age).

i got a quote for around $135 a month, thats (rips out calc)

$1620 a year for that exact truck (give or take 4x4)

that really isnt too bad?

Quote from logitekg25 :

i got a quote for around $135 a month, thats (rips out calc)

$1620 a year for that exact truck (give or take 4x4)

that really isnt too bad?

it's $6000 in UK a year for being 20 in a 1.2l euro box.

1837.80 CDN for a 2001 Jetta 1.8L Turbo. That's also my first car so I only start out with 5% discount.

$3,000 a year for my Impreza.

Quote from PMD9409 :

$3,000 a year for my Impreza.

lol that's cheap. Don't complain. Here you have to drive around in a -1l car to have any insurance that you can actually afford to pay for (as a young driver) and considering not many young people are earning a decent wage when they start driving, you can see the problems that arise. Do these insurance companies not WANT the buisness? Lol, the insurance companies don't make sense, surely there are some companies out there that allow you to pay say 1k (£) a year but don't pay out for anything, i'd be happy to pay 1k a year even if I knew they wouldn't actually 'insure me' because it would work out cheaper to write off a car and only have to pay 1k a year rather than pay 4k (£) out of my ass for them to bump up the price if I ever DO have a wreck and try their hardest not to fix my shit anyway?


Why isn't there an insurance company that does that? Obviously if their policied driver crashes someone they will have to pay for some of it ( i don't really know how it works ) but non the less, they would still make money as almost EVERY young driver will go with them, and they won't be wasting money on fixing boy racers that have crashed into a tree, I'd be happy to sign a form saying, "I give you 1000k a year for compulsory insurance cover that the government forces even though you will not use the money to fix my car in any event" I'd do it, that way you can get an older car for 200£, without having an increased insurance bill just because it's easier to steal. And if you do wreck, it was only 200£, you save money on your insurance anyway, hell, you could buy a 2K used car and still end up that it's cheaper than getting insured properly... net cost of only £3000.


There's so many reasons why car insurance SHOULDN'T be compulsory. There should be some sort of limit of how much they can charge new drivers, most of the young drivers here get most of their insurance paid by their parents or some other third party but I suppose that's what the government want... people using more public transport...

Quote from BlueFlame :

There's so many reasons why car insurance SHOULDN'T be compulsory.

You're ****ing retarded. You're telling me that when some kid decides to destroy his car and kill people, the inevitable millions in lawsuits.. no family can afford that. Insurance protects you by offering you a reduced rate if that does happen.

Plus when you have a minor accident, paying the 300$ deductable (plus a minor increase in your rates for a year) is a lot nicer than a 3000$ repair bill.

Insurance is there to protect you from life-ending financial burdens in the case of an accident. Driving around with no insurance is dangerous (and illegal), and to make it not cumpulsory, would be a retarded idea. (Especially with some people out there.. they'd go sans insurance to save money, but they'd be getting in 3 crashes a year.

Plus, I think there are provisions in the UK to "self-insure" if you can prove that you have the funds in case of a massive tragedy to front it all (I think it's a few million pounds).

Quote from BlueFlame :

lol that's cheap. Don't complain.

The standards of being either cheap or expensive varies from place to place. What I am paying is actually ****ing expensive compared to many of my friends (Some paying less than $2000 a year). Plus, being in Uni makes every ****ing thing expensive!

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Plus, I think there are provisions in the UK to "self-insure" if you can prove that you have the funds in case of a massive tragedy to front it all (I think it's a few million pounds).

Again I find myself agreeing with everything you say.

FYI, you can "self insure", if I remember correctly, you need to deposit £500,000 into the bank of the association of British insurers. So technically, if you were super rich, you could do this and you would not have to "pay" for insurance, and if you crash into someone then the deductable is taken out, but in order for the self-insure thing to work again, you have to top it back up.

At the same time if you break someones neck and the sue you for £1m (which wouldn't surprise me in this age of injury claims and pointing blame), you then would have to find an additional £500,000.

Quote from BlueFlame :

...bunch of nonsense...

Bravo! You understood that the damage to your own car is the number one thing to worry about when having an accident. Who cares about the other car you might hit and the person you might injure (or cripple)? They got their own insurance afterall, right?

Get your facts straight, the only insurance that is mandatory is the one that covers the damage you do to others. Having your own shit covered is only an option.