YeOldeTDUMan

OK so I'm back ... and what a better way to come back than to have one of my 'famous' 360 events ... so here goes The Bandit Run So this Friday I will be on the run driving my Pontiac Firebird (stage 3) around the island from a location to another location (car dealer, tuner, diner, house or club that I own). All you have to do is stop me by driving me off the road. So what's in this for you I hear you say ? Well apart from the fun of it ... I currently have $9,212,600 in game credits and it was about time I spent some of it So I'll be giving some of that money away ... $4,000,000 to the first person who catches me $3,000,000 to the second $2,000,000 to the third So what's the catch ? You have to sell me the car you are driving when you rammed me off the road! It's that simple ! So here are the full Rules ... The Rules / Procedure 1. On Friday 6th March 2009 at some point after 9pm UK Time I will start driving around TDU (on the 360) in a Pontiac Firebird (stage 3) 2. I will be driving from one 'Key Location' to another using the GPS (I will occasionally deviate from the GPS route for evasive or milage reasons) 3. I will NOT tell anyone my starting location or my intended destination 4. Once I arrive at a destination I will enter it 5. I will then leave that destination and head towards another one 6. Some journeys will be short, some won't ... but I will try to make them at least 7 miles 7. You will try to ram me off the road using ANY CAR of your choosing ... the car MUST be able to be sold over Trade ... so DLC and EXCLUSIVE cars are NOT allowed 8. If you manage to ram me off the road I will acknowledge this and we will both jump to a house so you can sell the car YOU WERE DRIVING to me over Trade for the price depending upon whether you were 1st, 2nd or the 3rd person to take me off the road 9. And then I'll start again from a random 'Key Location' until we have 3 winners So try and catch me on the island ! :nanananana:

OK time for some comments ... One-77 - as I said in the other thread with the 'Lagonda' I don't like the One-77 ... too fussy styling for an Aston Ampera - well I was hoping GM was going to sell the Volt outside the US (it's also recently been shown as a Holden too) ... and I like the styling of the Opel/Vauxhall ... I'd have to have it badged an Opel myself tho Polo - <yawn> bland VW evolution of the design 599XX - Mad development project ... can't be taken serious tho as it's a 'development project' and not a 'proper' car Duster - seems strange for something like this to come from the 'cheap eastern euro' devision of Renault (no insult intended for any Eastern European members of the forum) as normally the kind of vehicles designed are 'stripped' down versions of more expensive Western Euro boxes ... but it does look interesting Spark - Chevy go and chat to Fiat/Ford/Renault/Peugeot/etc about how to style small cars Continental Supersports - stripped out Conti GT with more power and lots of carbon and only 2 seats ... Hell yeah, I'd buy one if I could afford it ... oh here's a pic of the interior Rinspeed Abarth - leave it to the Abarth SS please Quant - Well I guess we needed another ugly 4 seater expensive electric car as obviously the Fisker Karma isn't enough ... thank heavens this is only a concept at the moment 200EX - It's OK but sorry I'd rather have a Conti GT or an Arnage/Brooklands Gumpert - <cough> racecar <cough> Veyron - OK it's in a new colour ... big deal ... still love the car tho

I'm sorry but Bentley wouldn't design something so hideous

tWm - I guessed she was Pirelli as there is their logo in the background and that's why I named the pic that way

Well there are lots of lovely 'Miss Alfa's at Geneva ... as usual an Italian brand has nice looking women on their stand :thumbsup:

OK so I thought I'd better post in an Alfa thread ... So first of all it's a 'Concept' but supposed to be close to the production car ... although I can see the wheels being smaller ... it being a 4 seater ... and perhaps losing the Carbon roof and the deflector on the bonnet for the wipers Yes if you look carefully Alfa have gone to a lot of trouble with some small details on this little thing As to the sound ... well a heavily Turbo'd 1750cc 4 pot and HUGE exhausts might have something to do with that ... I think it sounds great Supposedly the actual car will be available later this year ... quite a few of the guys on an Alfa forum already have their deposits down on this ... and have had since December when it was rumoured ... and then blatantly confirmed as Alfa accepted the deposits ! Oh and yes I want one (in either 2 seater or 4 seater guise)

Sorry but I hate it ... not an Aston Lagonda to me it's a silly Crossover thingy to please Americans (no offence intended) ... if they wanted to call anything a Lagonda it should be the Rapide But then I don't like the direction Astons current owners are taking the company ... I don't like the One-77 ... the styling is way too fussy for an Aston ... and this Crossover is just wrong for the brand and before anyone says it ... the old Shooting Brake specials did fit the Aston branding ... this doesn't ... well that's my opinion

thanks for all the welcomes

damn I should have made it a vote ... and chance of chaning it Nodz ?

And here we have the latest offerings from ... Masserati, Alfa Romeo and Lancia ... oh and I've no idea who the redhead is meant to be advertising ... but if anyone knows her I'd like her to become Mrs Hybrid !

Well I'm back ... OK here goes ... Firstly I WON'T be on the forum as much as I used to ... I was on here way too much for my own good ... so I'll be online on the occasional lunchtime (yes I work ... you'll realise that's important later) and occasionally in the evening when I get home from work ... and perhaps a bit at weekends So for those of you who don't know me ... I'm the Elder one ... Yeap I'm old ... for most of you I'm most probably the age of your parents ! Or at least old enough to be your parent if you're from my neck of the woods !!!!! I work in the CAR INDUSTRY ... well sort of ... I'm an engineering consultant ... and so I DO KNOW A LOT ABOUT CARS ... so I won't be excused for some of the rants I WILL have on the forum (oh I also read a lot of car websites and I have a brain that absorbs pointless car facts) ... this does mean recently times have been tough, but thankfully I recently (relatively) made the correct career choice and unlike 95% of my friends / ex work colleagues I still have a job ... so be warned I have very outspoken views about the state of the world at the moment. So what have I been up to in my absense from the forum (I haven't even 'lurked') ... well the usual ... working (too much) ... driving my Alfa (too much) ... and still playing on the 360 (... well you know how it goes by now) ... the current stuff I'm enjoying are ... Fallout 3, GTA4-TLAD, Forza 2, RacePro (I haven't done much but I like it) and of course TDU still has a place in my heart (there might be another "Hybrid Presents ..." competition at some point in the near-ish future) Well that's about it ... So watch out for threads from me ... Cos I'm back !

Well as you may (or may not) have noticed I've been doing quite a few rants recently in various threads ... mainly the Auto News and I've decided I've had enough and the only solution is to quit. So this is my last post For a while I'll be back at some point on the forum ... But I'll still be on the 360 Hybrid

Well the whole thing is linked ... next thing G3rman be posting a new thread about is the fact that the SMMT and MIA have approached the UK Government to provide aid/loans to the UK car industry of suppliers and manufacturers well the suppliers need cash too, I don't think they got any cash in the original 'bail out' ... but the suppliers were one of the reasons Ford were worried

Well DeTomaso was known for good looking Italian cars with American V8s that if you put your foot down slighty too much it would kill you ! Not really a brand to resurrect !

Do you have to keep on making lots and lots of new threads over the same issue ? The reason why the Automotive Parts Supplier Industry (you will notice I have dropped the U.S. prefix as it's a Global issue) is because if you may have noticed the Global Car Industry is currently in decline because the Global Economy is in Recession (well not officially yet but that's just because you can't declare recession until decline has happened over a certain time period) So here are THE FACTS 1. World Economy is in trouble 2. People aren't buying new cars as i. they don't have the money ii. they can't get a loan because of the poor World Economy iii. they don't have the confidence in the World Economy and so don't want to spend any money 3. Car companies can't keep on producing cars for the sake of it 4. Car companies therefore don't need parts (e.g. seats, brakes, electrics, etc) 5. Supplier companies are therefore in trouble as they are not getting any imcome You say this money would be better spent in Africa ... well in times of good economy I think we should spend as much as possible helping the poorer countries of the world ... but now is not the time ... If a major car company fell ... it would not just mean that all the design and manufacturing staff would lose their jobs but on top of that suppliers would close which would then have a knock on effect to other car companies (as a supplier of seats (for example) will supply to lots of companies but because of it's profit margin it needs all those companies to survive) and then there's also the loss of jobs locally in shops and cafes/restaurants as people won't be working in the area ... See this is a HUGE problem ... almost as significant as Banks collapsing I think that's enough of a rant

OK here goes ... engaging enlightenment mode ... Why would Alfa use the Chrysler/Dodge V8 when it has a perfectly good one in the form of the Ferrari/Masser one ? Especially as it's been rumoured that a 159 has been seen running around with one in already, and of course it powers the 8C ! Fiat might still work with PSA on other stuff, you have to remember car companies share stuff quite a lot ... the Ford Ka is a Fiat 500 for example DeTomaso doesn't exists anymore from what I remember ... and why would Fiat Group buy the name when they have Ferrari, Masserati, Lancia and Alfa which could all have a car in that style in their product line-up? That's part of the plan from what I've heard ... Chrysler gets their hands on small vehicle platforms and small efficient engines ... Fiat gets American Factories, Dealer network and Hybrid Technology (Fiat hasn't bothered with any Hybrid development to my knowledge ... and please don't get me started on this subject as I will rant till the cows come home about how it's just a bad stop-gap ... see i'm ranting already!) Well American interiors are improving, however the way americans and europeans have typically bought cars is different (americans used to lease most of their cars whereas we will buy and keep for a reasonable number of years and so american interiors not typically need to be as robust) and also typically an american buyer was after toys (electric gizmos) whereas a european buyer was after the feeling they were in a more luxury car in terms of feel ... obviously 'The Jones' on either side of 'the pond' are different. Well seeing as all the talk in the industry is more about removing brands, especially those that are just a name change or very niche I can't see Chrysler wasting any money on bringing back old brands. ... and here endeth the lesson

I read it on the BBC and then Autoblog websites ... I'm in the industry so I keep a keen eye on these things

Happy Birthday CMM !

75. Redheads (female ones of course) ... as per No. 73

Well Fiat has bought a 35% share of Chrysler ... and Daimler has sold it's 20% stake should be good for Fiat as I know they keep on talking about trying to get the 500 and the Alfa brand into the US but need factories

63. Driving on a sunny winters day with the roof down and the heated seats on Oh as Nodz says look at my Avatar and my sig ... and I can officially call myself a petrolhead according to a well known motoring journalist

The White Stig that does the Test Track is one person ... however there are then the 'other' White stigs for the specialist bits ... like the Winter Olympic special or when it's the White stigs cousin

56. a nice glass of single malt whiskey (scottish of course) 57. going to an expensive restaurant in London with friends 58. sitting up all night on a beach while on holiday and watching the sun rise 59. flirting (no further comment needed) 60. that grin & feeling every time I push the "Engine Start" button on my car

I'd heard it was Ben ages ago ... I think TG shouldn't confirm or deny it and just keep on using him as he's a very good driver