Lady Elanore

Having asked politely and firmly for people not to simply post links in my thread, but to actually bother to write something to show they have an interest in the subject (good or bad) and not just to show they can click on a web site that 99% of us probably look at anyway. The above post must be the latest in at least 35 consecutive posts without bothering to post a single thought or word I give up

^^ The most beautiful car ever made in my eyes

This one?

Heres a 3.0 V6 Capri sounding very fruity and looking very nice indeed

Why not post your favourite 'LESS THAN 8 CYLINDER' engine sounds in here, at least until the first reviews of the new M4 come out and we are inundated with links So far I think the 400cc bike engine is my favourite after the CSL

Heres a clip of the CSL

I remember the old Ford V6, it was a great sounding engine with the right exhaust I thought the TVR engine sounded a bit 'meh' to be honest. It only sounded OK when you trying to kill it...which wasn't so hard They were quick though and looked amazing All imho of course

Don't be sad skomaz, Corvettes are 'ace'. I thought you were adding them to the list of great sounding engines with less than 8 cylinders, but perhaps you were just saying you like Corvettes?

Nooooo V8 "Foul ref!!"

I remember working at Cadwell park and hearing the Norton bikes. They sounded amazing. Sort of a mix between the 2 strokes and 4 strokes but only choosing the best sounds from each. Apologies to the bike riders as I had forgotten your engines ..."my bad", as they say

So, taking of sound... V10s and V12, W8, W12 and W16 all sound exotic as do flat 12s etc but they are usually a bit too expensive for the average person to run, meaning the V8 is quite possibly the most accessible aural treat to purchase. But there are other fabulous sound out there, such as the Jaguar 3.8/4.2 straight six and the glorious BMW 3.2 (S54) M3 CSL - possibly the finest mass production straight 6, at least in sound. Nissan GTR and it's trumpeting V6 is a fun noise and obviously the flat 6 Porsche and flat 4 Scooby are both iconic as well as affordable (just - in the case of the Porsche :D). Triples too can make a fun noise with a slightly course straight 6 sound and the Audi straight 5 sounded great until they put one too many filters in the exhaust. So going off course a little with the M4 theme of this thread, what the best sounding REAL WORLD engine with LESS THAN 8 cylinders. BDA engines and their ilk are not allowed. You can like an engine because of it's induction noise, it's exhaust noise, or even it's aesthetic layout And for Gods sake don't just post bloody useless links that you can't be ar$ed to even post an opinion about, We all have the Internet and a computer mouse and most of us have an accompanying keyboard For me the BMW S54 in the M3 CSL is possibly my favourite although the Jag V6S F type sound pretty good with a sports exhaust.

I was lucky enough to sell American V8 powered cars and trucks and nothing sound as good as they do, at least in V8 form. Audi, BMW and Mercedes V8s sound like they have lost their teeth compared to a proper Yank V8. To be fair to the straight 6, it only really comes alive aurally, when it is singing at higher revs with your foot down (under load) and then the yowl and bark start to come through. I don't think the V6 has ever quite met the aural challenge of the straight 6 'on song' but the V6 does sound better at lower revs and lower loads imho. Having said that ^^ I'd still love a go in one to see how it drives

So as it's an M4 thread here's an M4 related thingie. It's the new MPE for the M3/4. It sounds similar to mine, but less bombastic and a bit more refined. Slightly more pleasant if I'm honest and not so 'exhaust fallen off the car' on start up as mine. Having said that the standard zorst sounds pretty good when they put it into Sports mode at the end. You can't tell if the relative loudness is the same owing to the auto gain on the recording device, but I suspect once well run-in, they will both sound pretty good. Surprising really as there is now yet another filter in the way But those looks. As we've posted before on here, they are polarising, just as much as the front grills really and it looks like a new diffuser is needed. That's probably going to cost £5-6k all in, at list price, I guess They really are pricing the car out of its current market, even with the discounts that will invariably follow eventually.

I owned an A4 3.0tdi quattro, although it was just a manual. Great car. Mpg well into the 40s on the motorway and a decent turn of speed when pressing on I also had the Sports Diff, which after a job I went to got cancelled and we got sent home, I took advantage of the empty snow covered car park we would have used and spend 20 minutes being a pillock.... I broke my diff They had to fly a new one in from Germany and I got a loan car for a few days. Luckily the car was under warranty. I asked how much it would have cost me for the whole job if I had to have spent my own money (the Sports Diff was a £500 option on a new car) and I was told something like £7k (£5.5k for the diff alone)

The important bit is 'profits'. By the time I've paid my expenses (quite a lot in my job), have bought equipment, paid basic wage, keeping profits under £50k isn't so hard, especially as I mentioned earlier about having a fair bit less work these days which I don't expect to get back. I'm at an age when I'm starting to think about retirement in about 10 years time so if I can manage a gentle wind-down during that time, I will be fine. Of course it may pass that the government will cause problems with IR35, especially after the Uber ruling. Fingers crossed

I think I might have dodged a bullet. Small businesses with profit of less than £50k will keep the 19% corporation tax. That works for me

I think the budget will appeal to the greatest amount of people that the government thinks it can get to, whilst spending the least amount of money. They probably reckon they have lost any votes from people like me already, so they have nothing to lose in increasing tax on us. I'll wait and see, but I feel sure it's coming, this year or next. I am happy if they increase Corp tax and remove the dividend tax. Next year I will start to take a small pension and hopefully I can live mostly off that and my tax-free allowance to keep from having to draw dividends too often. As I am not getting any younger it might be useful to have a bit of cash in my business so as I work less owing to being old and slower as well as work itself becoming harder to find, I can offset some of the loss with the money I might be able to leave/save in the business over the next few years. Having said that I lost a £12k a year contract a couple of months ago as the jobs went to a different facilities company who uses very young staff (read underpaid). Tough times for everyone, can't see it getting better for many years either :(

Not sure if this has been mentioned (anyone fancy compiling a list of film mentioned so far?) Anyhoo it's on Amazon Prime and features Derek Bell and in car footage of the Porsche 956 In-car 956 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Car-956-Derek-Bell/dp/B07VVNWSRQ It's a bit old school video and not great quality, at least in terms of the video, but of course the driver is without criticism

Unfortunately my industry more or less insists we are Ltd companies, so it's out of my hands these days :(

I'm looking forward to paying more corporation tax...no wait.. that might be wrong I've heard the rise is coming and the government are claiming that they have reduced Corp tax over the last several years-so they have already done us a favour, which is true...except they chucked a 7.5% dividend tax on us too. I'm one of the 2,000,000 (small ltd company types) that didn't get furlough support and now we expect to get clobbered paying yet more tax to shore up the economy. I can't wait to retire. - although I might be around 100 years old by the time I can afford to

I wonder if there is a mindset developing of desperate petrolheads trying to get 'one last fix' before we go full 'tactical' green friendly'

Hence the idea of a V8. lots of "grrr" without breaking any speed limits. Anyhoo it's for me to enjoy and bystanders can either shake their heads at me or smile. I can't stop the future, but I have a bucket of sand on standby to stick my head in and hold on to my dreams as long as possible

I like cars with a bit of "grrrr" More electric means less "grrr". I've never owned a V8 and always hoped that one day I would. Perhaps I will have to jump next year if I can afford one, it might well be the last chance for it. Even then, they have yet another filter in the exhaust making them sound ever more muffled :( I don't need 'pops' and 'crackles' just a naturally emitted sound (I have the synthetic sounds turned off in my car)

Btw I should add that I have shared cars with the above in recent times, but we were all 'bubbled' and PCR C-19 tested prior

I've driven only hybrids in any real anger so far, although one of the regular crew that I work with has a Tesla 3 that I have had a brief go in. We both decided that my M4 was a much more emotional experience. My emotion was mainly slow the 'heck' down, as he gave it some beans The Volvo look great and I think it is companies like this that will burst Tesla's bubble (if that financial bubble doesn't crash beforehand). Tesla may be theoretically wealthy, but the truth wealth of experience and knowing how to build a quality car is not necessarily their forte. I hate the excess weight of electric cars..and for that matter the ever-increasing weight of all the cars I l am interested in. The new C63 with it's teeny 2.0 engine is getting on for 2 tons with it's hybrid addition. Don't get me started with the weight increase of the M3/4. A wasted opportunity in probably BMWs last ever M3/4 car that is purely petrol powered. It may well be a superb car to drive, but it's still sad they went in the direction they did