Potential New Noble Owner

[mattmahope]

Hi everyone! After a few months of browsing the forum as a guest, I have decided to sign up properly and start pestering people!

Am looking to "upgrade" from a VX220 Turbo stage 2 (which I love) and thinking that a M12 3R might be the next step. Could probably scrape together around £30k (including selling my VX). Am hoping to find one in decent nic but with good quality/sympathetic mods done. Would be used as asecond car, 90% for road driving with the occasional track day. Not too worried about mileage, more concerned with a full clean history.

Am hoping to go see these two at Bespoke next weekend:
http://www.bespokeperformance.co.uk/sales/car/view...
http://www.bespokeperformance.co.uk/sales/car/view...
I like the look of the second grey (rather than silver) one in particular - and closer to my budget. I hear Bespoke have a good reputation too, which is encouraging.

I also noticed this one for sale at Sovereign:
http://www.sovereigncarsales.co.uk/Sports_Gridpos4...
Absolutely stunning! If I were to imagine my dream M12, this is pretty much what it would look like. It helps that Sovereign is easy for me. My dad bought his last Merc SL from them and I just bought my sensible car (Mk 1 facelifted Freelander Sport TD4) from them. Cracking little garage with loads of interesting stuff there all the time.

Anyone know anything about those three M12s? Anyone know of any other 3Rs available that might fit the bill?

Any and all leads/tips etc greatly appreciated! Looking forward to (hopefully) join the club. Cheers

[Hairsy16]

I'm not qualified to advise too much but I recently bought a 3R from Bespoke and would rate them extremely highly. They were really honest about the car from the outset and helped me out with some initial work before collection.

I am an extremely happy customer and will continue to use them for servicing etc even though they are 100 miles away and despite that fact that I pass a Noble main dealer on my way to and from work each day. Their service was good enough to make me want to stick with them despite a more convenient option.

Enjoy the purchasing experience!

[mgbond]

Only question I would have on portafino blue one is that 1.2 bar seems a lot for 438. Maybe that should be 538?

[mattmahope]

Hairsy16 said:

I'm not qualified to advise too much but I recently bought a 3R from Bespoke and would rate them extremely highly. They were really honest about the car from the outset and helped me out with some initial work before collection.

I am an extremely happy customer and will continue to use them for servicing etc even though they are 100 miles away and despite that fact that I pass a Noble main dealer on my way to and from work each day. Their service was good enough to make me want to stick with them despite a more convenient option.

Enjoy the purchasing experience!

Thanks, that is certainly good to know and reflects other comments I've seen posted. They would certainly be pretty easy for me to get to for servicing etc in the future. That grey one does look very tempting! Wonder if anyone knows its previous??

[mattmahope]

mgbond said:

Only question I would have on portafino blue one is that 1.2 bar seems a lot for 438. Maybe that should be 538?

What do they run as standard?

[LazyRoss18]

The portofino blue one is Jed's car (JW027 on here), I wasn't aware it was for sale, is it an old ad?

[LazyRoss18]

The portofino blue one is Jed's car (JW027 on here), I wasn't aware it was for sale, is it an old ad?

[JW027]

Hi all Ross is right. I liked it so much much I bought it in January! Must be an old ad. The figures are right it's 437 and is good for 500bhp if I change the injectors Bondy.

I hope you find one you like and good luck

[TuxMan]

Welcome to the forum , there is a big gathering on Monday at Silverstone if you fancy a ride out !! Will be plenty too look at .

[stevegto3]

Bespoke are a good bunch of guys, Skip knows his nobles and Martin is very fair. I live about 100 miles from them too and I could go to a Noble dealer but ill always go to bespoke.

The second one in my opinion looks more sorted and has had alot of work done.

Jed how come you can sell your car without an MOT ;-)

Steve

[mattmahope]

JW027 said:

Hi all Ross is right. I liked it so much much I bought it in January! Must be an old ad. The figures are right it's 437 and is good for 500bhp if I change the injectors Bondy.

I hope you find one you like and good luck

Ah, cool! Sorry for bothering you in that case. Looks like you got a great car! Hope you're enjoying it.

[mattmahope]

TuxMan said:

Welcome to the forum , there is a big gathering on Monday at Silverstone if you fancy a ride out !! Will be plenty too look at .

Thanks very much for the invite but sadly Silverstone is a bit too far from London for me on a school day. Maybe next time!

[mattmahope]

stevegto3 said:

Bespoke are a good bunch of guys, Skip knows his nobles and Martin is very fair. I live about 100 miles from them too and I could go to a Noble dealer but ill always go to bespoke.

The second one in my opinion looks more sorted and has had alot of work done.

Jed how come you can sell your car without an MOT ;-)

Steve

I spoke to Martin and he was v nice and helpful. Will report back on the cars once I've seen them. Does £32k feel like a fair price? Any concerns re 45k milage (doubt it given how much it's had done)?

[Blu3R]

They grey one was a forum member's car and I think was previously another member's beforehand. I'd say the price is perfect at the moment and I would also highly recommend Bespoke for all aspects of ownership.

[Spindoctor]

Saw M12 YEA at the Bespoke open day last year. Was owned by Slider 21 from this forum at the time. Very nice car, that engine bay is a work of art.

Another thumbs up for Bespoke - good guys, know their stuff, always helpful.

[Spindoctor]

And I went from a VXT to the Noble, as have several others here. The VX is great, especially with the well-tested power and suspension mods, but the Noble is a step up in most respects. You won't regret it.

[mgbond]

JW027 said:

Hi all Ross is right. I liked it so much much I bought it in January! Must be an old ad. The figures are right it's 437 and is good for 500bhp if I change the injectors Bondy.

I hope you find one you like and good luck

My question was 437 at 1.2bar. An M400 runs 1bar I think and isn't too far away from that power.

In a 2.5 on std turbos I'm 410 at 1.2 bar.

1.2 bar just seems a lot for that power. What are others running?

[951]

mgbond said:

My question was 437 at 1.2bar. An M400 runs 1bar I think and isn't too far away from that power.

In a 2.5 on std turbos I'm 410 at 1.2 bar.

1.2 bar just seems a lot for that power. What are others running?

Probably not making 1.2bar at high revs - may have been capped because it needs bigger injectors?

Also, torque is higher than power (450 vs 437), so probably 1.2 bar for the torque in the midrange dropping down to .8 or so by 5000+ revs?

On high and low boost, mine makes about 100 less lb ft than bhp, with max power at 6000+

oh, and welcome, Matt

Edited by 951 on Friday 5th September 14:51

[andygtt]

Hi Matt, and welcome

the light blue one looks fantastic... shame its not for sale as i was looking at the add thinking, bloody hell buy that one lol

As for power and boost... power made at specific boost levels is completely dependant on spec on a 3L engine.

When I ran 390bhp and 400ftlb I was running 1.1-1.2 bar to achieve that, it was basically a stock engine and you have to turn the boost up to get the air flow for the power.
Now I run 475bhp for 0.6bar... but thats because the engine is massively modified in all respects so flows so much more air and thus you don't need as much boost to make the power.... even with a massive turbo my engine makes more power everywhere than a stock gt03, even at low rpm.

[JW027]

Did anyone else spot the M12 YEA doesn't seem to know which set of wheels it wanted to wear for the photos?!