The Chief

Well i've just picked up my new 2013 WRX STI today.

Would have picked it up two days ago but the onboard congestion buster would not activate the ignition until today, still happy days - i can drive it 3 days a week on my current scheme.

This year Subaru have upgraded the engine, its a 1.3 Boxer engine producing 99bhp, with handling to match.

Being over a 600cc its in the upper end of the taxation bracket and falls into the maximum capacity allowance of 1300cc, even at 2 grand some say its worth it for what you get.

I must admit it does not sound that great, It would be nice to get an exhaust like the good old days but with the daily roadside emission checks it would be too risky and besides, you can only get these things in China as Tuning has been banned and importing of tuning goods illiegal resulting in a prison sentence.

Crikey i can remember years ago you could get a tuning company in every town, Litchfields, Powerstation, producing monsters over 300bhp and they even had turbochargers!!!! can you imagine that? How did the public keep control of these things? i really do not know.

Apparently Iain Litchfield now does battery upgrades on electric cars nowadays. - fair play nice to see that he's moved on since they closed him down.

I saw a Porsche today in a museum, bloody hell what a car, shot themselves in the foot though didn't they what with taking on Red Ken? When he voted himself in as Prime Minister he banned all vehicles with Mid and Rear engines (apart from buses) so that really screwed Porsche up as well as a few Supercar makers.

waste of time anyway seeing as speed humps are on just about every street and have been raised deliberatley to slow us down, why i dont know as the 'speed correction ecu' records your speed on every journey and at 60mph retards the ignition, a bit frustrating really, still its plenty quick enough up to 55'ish or so.

Anyway taking the wife out later as its her birthday, she works in Manchester city centre so will have to pay a congestion charge and even then i can only go as far as the P.V.E.Z (private vehicle exlusion zone) and meet her in a bloody great car park where she gets a bus to - i hope she isn't late, the transport is terrible an the buses a bit infrequent.

Off to a nice pub later on - a bit of a drive seeing as most have closed down due to the alcohol tax and as for the town centre bars, Its like the wild west.

Must make sure i'm back before midnight though, as my Congestion Buster kicks in then, and i wont want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere, i mean there are no buses after midnight.

Love the car though

SPEN555

Sounds about right.

Allan

iTrader: (1)

LOL

GazTheHat

Was your car featured on "Demolition Man"? I think i saw you in it driving past.

That electric engine sounded so sweet.

We've decided to stay with the times and upgrade our teleporter, to cover europe. Only cost us 350,000 kubas.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

very good...

depressing though!

jd5217

luckham

Excellent

stineal

sounds like a plan

lovinmescoob

dnc

Is this the new '1984'?
Made a good, if depressing, read.
dnc

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

We all can laugh at it, but in ten years time we will be saying "The Chief" had second sight

Tony

dunx

iTrader: (3)

The only bit you missed out is that you won the lottery to pay for it....
55 kph !
Too near the truth to be funny.

DunxC

P.S. I remember an early eco-warrior at school in the 1970's saying we'd all be in "C5's" by the year 2000 ! Cos we would have run out of oil !

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Jeez, what a vision of the future

TX.

MrRA

Agreed!

rooter75

terrific read

dantastic

If ken and the tree huggers get thier way thats spot on.

reano

iTrader: (2)

From £100, £160, £210, £400, £900 and people just accepting it all. Just like the film Brasil. We are all givin to the bureaucrats. This post is funny but the underlining stuff is all true.

Congestion tax!! environment tax my a** ..

1) NI
2) PAYE
3) VAT
4) Council Tax
5) Insurance Premium tax
6) Car license TAX
7) Fuel tax
8) Corporation tax
9) Stamp duty
10) Inheritance tax
11) Tax on savings
12) TV license 'Tax'
13) etc, etc

I will keep saying it. 'at least' 50% of what you earn goes to the government in some form of tax. Unless you can afford a good accountant. Even so you still have to buy goods, fuel, go on holiday, etc so they get you anyhow.

The Chief

This post is meant as a tongue in the cheek look at performance cars in the future, but the truth is i am so angry at the moment to how this goverment is treating the motorist.

a constant bottomless pot to be dipped into whenever they feel it suits them and disguising it as 'saving the planet' yet they're quite happy to milk the system and feather their own nests.

The sad thing is we whinge and moan yet do nothing (me included) i really wish someone had the vision to stand up and do something. Not one of the other mainstream parties will do anything because deep down they know that it is a great revenue earner for them. They all p*** in the same pot as far as i'm concerned and really do not care less except saying what you want to hear to get in power.

i weep for the future of performance cars, i give it 5 years before having a performance car is all but dead

Its a disgrace what they're doing

SirFozzalot

A depressing (although very good ) read of what I fear will be a reality one day!

DB07P1

sad times ahead

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

An accountant at my old company said it was over 90% of the money you earn goes back to the government one way or another. Don't forget there's tax on tax; you buy something and pay tax, tax was already paid when it was made, transported, the company paid tax - employees and the like etc etc.

Not looking good for the future is it?

ruislip

fairplay, you certainly have hit the nail on the head with that. Australia beckons for me i think. My brothers over there at the moment and its an awesome place, plus they drive on the same side of the road as us. Think ill get the scooby shipped over