Picked Dennis up

[Tony]

Ok, so its done. Me and the missus went to the dealer on Saturday lunchtime, swiped the plastic, and got our hand over. Everyone has been great. Really great. Vicky Clark at John Clark in Aberdeen, should be given a big gold star!!

and then we left. and we drove, and we cruised and everything was nice. we went to my sisters hosue to show off the car, and when we were all admiring it,..OH MY GOD. HUGE RUSTY WELT on the chrome exhaust trim. well, thats the only way i can describe it. about 1.5 inches long. bubbly, rusty, horrible mark, right at the end of the exhaust. so that was phonecall 1 to john clark, who told me to take the car in on monday.

so that was sad, but off we went for an afternoon of driving. at the end of our trip, as we headed back into westhill, i started hearing a repeated banging, and thumping coming from close to me. i stopped, got out, and OH MY GOD,...the black grill and indicator had fallen out, and was banging against the bodywork, as it swung about on the electrical cables. phonecall 2 to the dealer, and we went back across straight away. parts were shut for the weekend, so it was fixed with,......sellotape, and i was told to come in on monday to get exhaust/ indicator fixed.

im not long back, and suffice to say that even though i had an appointment to see them, the car wasnt booked in, and they initally huffed about, until they got a bit of free time, where it was fixed relatively quickly. a bit of a dissapointment at the end of such a special day. but no worries. its fixed now, and hopefull that is Dennis' bad luck over,touch wood.

Interestingly,..i asked about performance and warranties. John Clarks official line is, everything unnapproved by BMW will reject/ void the warranty. Superchips were trying for approval, but havent got it. Only JC Works equipment is approved, and will be fitted by my local dealer. a bit of a downer, as i was after a Pipercross Viper, and i would imagine that even though JC stuff is pipercross, they wont accept that. ho hum. anyway, all the news to date.

The car feels tight, and the gearchange was notchy, but everything is loosening, a bit, and the gearchange is becoming more direct. the handling is nothing short of amazing, and even below 4500rpm, this example DOES feel quite potent.

anyway, enough of my clarkson impression,...im no road test guru, and id best get back to some work,.

slater
Tony

[Woz]

Our mini is up to 4300 on the clock now and feels like its really loosened up now.

Hope they get it all fixed for you and hope to see you on the next run

Woz

[GAJ]

Sorry to here about your wee problems. I would not advise a Pipercross Viper, they do not fit particularly well. It is not possible to fit the cold air feed (which is essential on the Viper) without a LOT of hassle. Your dealers line on mods seems to be pretty standard. The gearbox is tight at first and selecting reverse can be a right pain in the arse! It soon loosens up though.

[Willie M]

Great to hear that you and 'Dennis' are having fun Tony, despite your couple of wee problems. Agree with Woz and Gaj, you'll find once the car gets about 4000 miles under its belt it'll start to loosen up nicely.

Hopefully catch up with you on some future run or event :cool:

[Big Gordy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought getting into reverse was a real pain. It was very hit or miss but it's getting better as our 'Wee One' gets more miles on it (500 miles now). Interesting to hear your comments on the Viper GAJ as next mod on the list is some kind on performance filter followed by an exhaust (:probably a Magnex although the twin tailpiped Schnitzer looks coooooooooool:). I also checked out the warranty issue with my dealer (Menzies Stirling) and their response was unless the item in question actually causes the part failure they don't have a problem. That's the un-official line anyway!