right where do i start?

i know - my biggest concern - the sunroof.

i got in the tit grey which has a sunroof and despite it being the one thing i wanted to check i forgot for 30 seconds. i hadn't adjusted the seat at all and i hadnt noticed the roof intruding - there was no problem!! - yippee no need to cancel. btw i'm 6'2" - 34" leg.

next the child seat ( picture - little one wasnt unhappy, just making a face). fitted perfectly - it sat low down between the side supports. it's an ordinary seat nothing special.

the drive
four up (me, wife, daughter, salesman), managed not to stall nut it wasnt too smooth a getaway - that clutch bite point is way different to my car.

out on the road, like others, i got 3 figures up on the digital speedo on the A3. the ride seemed smooth the suspension firm but still soaked up the potholes well. i went over some draincovers on the back roads and the missus in the back didnt notice them. i would say there's no much power below 4500 and then it starts to sing from 6000. it's a good job that rev counter is so large, i did hear the change up buzzer but it was so faint i had to rely on the dials. i didnt think i would be a fan of the digital speedo but since it allows the rev counter to be front and centre i now think it's a good idea. i only got caught out once with the 6 speed box, i wanted to go from 6th to 5th for an A3 overtake, got 3rd instead - never driven 6 speed before. a few quick backroads which were capably dealt with and then changeover - time for the missus to drive.

so i got into the back. remember i had the drivers seat adjusted for 6'2" - the missus is 5'10" with long legs and didnt move the seat. i got in behind the passenger seat which was just a touch forward of the drivers seat. my knees were still at least an inch away from the seat back - but i did notice that my feet where crammed under the seat back (i imagine the seat was down low).

so the missus sets off (more cleanly than i did :mad: ) and i settle back to explore the cubby holes. two things i noticed immediately- 1. the flimsy 'back passage' pass through - the whole thing nearly came off in my hands! if old clarkson was taking the piss about the 350Z fit he'd have a field day on that)
2. the satnav base unit occupies one of the cubby holes in the rear centre console - i expect extra space in those without.

AAh the old MaxiCosi Priori seat. Not sure about the zebra stripes though :p

We've got the two tone grey one - the "harry" colour (!). (good old www.kiddicare.com).

Hadn't tried it yet as it was just me driving on Friday - the missus and the little one were at a birthday party!

Bugbear, how olds your daughter? Assuming that WAS your daughter and not just some child passing by!

Its just that our little one is now 3 yrs 1 month and shes 16 kg, nearly at the 18kg max for the priori. No shes not fat, just tall! Shes just under a metre by a couple of cms.

In this case, we may just get the mothercare booster seat that costs £25 and will go brilliantly with the two tone grey cloth (like the maxicosi priori harry does ;) ). Its nicely padded unlike many of the booster seats and still allows the full cover to be removed and washed!
heres the link to it....
http://www.mothercare.com/mc_uk/shop/product_mc.jsp.html?oid=397668

anyway, what did you think? Are you happy? Stop being practical about it? :D

This certainly proves the subjectivity of the experience. BugBear claims that the Renesis sings from 6000rpm but the review of the same car (presumably) by the Sti and RX-7 owner claims exactly the opposite.

And all this child seat talk is upsetting me... Please don't put a 'Baby On Board' sign in the back. Really... DON'T!
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;)

But the big question is?

Do you like it? and are you going to buy one?

Guys,

Thanks for the reviews. I dont really care about the 'flimsy back passage' :D as that is not my sort of thing, but want to know more about how it drives.

I guess with kiddies on board you have to take it easy, but what do you mean by it starts to sing at 6000rpm? Is there a noticable feel of increased speed, as a lot of reviews says the power is very linear?

What were your overall impressions? You didnt really sound that impressed.

I think thats most of us that read it with baited breath (god knows why <B>I am</B> as I've already driven the bloody thing) and then realised that we dont know what Bugbear thought.

Baby on board? No chance mate, as I told u mines having massive amounts of tinting to the windows. Its practical with kiddies, see :D it means the nasty wasty sun doesn't get in. :cool: You won't even SEE in there, let alone know theres kiddies. Besides theres no-one going to get close enough to even think about seeing :D

I think he likes it, as the missus drove it ok and his daughter fitted in the back. The fact that he went over a ton is neither here nor there :)

Thanks for the review bugbear - thats exactly the same seat as we have (well we've got two of them) so it's nice to know it fits well although I'm still tempted to get the ISOFIX seat for ease of fitting / stability.

Originally posted by renegade_si


Its just that our little one is now 3 yrs 1 month and shes 16 kg, nearly at the 18kg max for the priori. No shes not fat, just tall! Shes just under a metre by a couple of cms.

In this case, we may just get the mothercare booster seat that costs £25 and will go brilliantly with the two tone grey cloth (like the maxicosi priori harry does ;) ). Its nicely padded unlike many of the booster seats and still allows the full cover to be removed and washed!


How about a Recaro seat then?
http://www.recaro-seats.co.uk/pictures/p8-417_1.jpg

Recaro website (http://www.recaro-seats.co.uk/order.asp?Page=/childsafety.asp&section=1&subsection=4&Price=0&Start=1&Keyword=&SearchDescription=&ListMake=&ListModel=&product=8)


Halfords stock the two tone blue one for £150UK and this is where I got mine for my 2yr 9mth old daughter and she loves it.

MarkW,

Power delivery is very, very linear (wel, over about 4k RPM anyway). I loved the way it went and only once missed the torque when I found myself in the wrong gear (not quite used to 6 gears and ended up 2 gears out).

YOU WILL LOVE THIS CAR!!!! I promise you that. The engine does spin very freely, sounds gorgeous and you end up at a speed much more than you were expecting given the lack of fuss.

:) :) :)

you guys guessed it - i'm a family man at heart (aaah). even the three wheel offroad pushchair fitted in the boot.

oh the car, you want to know whether i like it? yes - but maybe not for all the right reasons - see below

i couldnt really throw the car around too much with the salesman and daughter on board, but i'm afraid i do have to raise that torque problem - the magazine timings of the 5-60mph times show it up. i'm sorry to say it didnt feel quicker than the missus' corrado 16V or my old tvr 2.8S (both around 7.5 0-60). it is noticeable that you have to drop one or two gears to get some ompf.

forgot to mention earlier - the brakes - fantastic - even just resting my foot, without i thought applying any pressure, made the nose dive, 'sharp' i think is the word.

why am i buying? well for me the right points are (roughly in order):
it's rotary - always wanted one - always wanted to be different
it's freestyle doors - always want to be different
it's styling - gorgeous
it's price
it's performance
it's practicality
it's rarity - back to being different
it's kick in the arse to tradition and traditional manufacturers - back to different again

test drive summary: i was grinning for 100% of the drive though i do need to get in one by myself and just thrash it.

markw: the engine does seem to hit a powerband - nothing dramatic like my old 125 - but you can feel it - i've not looked again at the output graph to see if this rings true.

renegade : zara's two and a half - 25lbs

i would say there's not much power below 4500 and then it starts to sing from 6000.

i get to quote myself

the presspack graph seems to bear me out. torque increases from 4000 so the power must be rising sharply, and then torque peaks at 5500 which then levels for about 3000 which means power must be increasing linearly.

i guess i was out by 500rpm in each guess as that was my reaction time to look down at the rev counter.

so just keep it above 4000 to see that power!