Illegal modifications?

s_b

money_maker wrote: »

Hi All,

I brought a car almost a year ago from a second hand car dealer. It's highly modified, but we were assured at the time of purchase that it was all legal. They got it MOT'ed for me and it passed.

Almost a year is up and I came to MOT it today and it was failed straight away due to a strip on the windscreen that says Subaru. This is apparently illegal.

We are now taking it to the same MOT center who passed it last year to see if they will pass it. If they do then good. But I'm still worried I own/drive an illegal car. How can it pass one year and fail the next? I thought all MOT places had the same standards and requirments?

If you were me in this position, what would you do?
I have no idea how to proceed. I'm very worried.

Any advice/help would be much appreciated.

i darent answer this
so it has a sticker on the screen saying look at me and you want it removing a year later
are you real?

rxbren

mikey that was the whole point to show that its not the car but how its driven
its a given fact that the prius is far more economical- BUT only if driven correctly if you hammering 1st thru to 3rd to quickly speed up your working the engine far outside its economy range where as a bigger engine will more easily/economically do the same acclerating speed with less fuel

rxbren

on the other side of things really spec will be more or less standard power iirc upper limit is around 300bhp just lighter with a cage and different brakes suspension etc but this all depends on what spec rally car group n are closer to street cars whereas full on wrc are are different animal all together with price tags well over 100k

mikey72

rxbren wrote: »

mikey that was the whole point to show that its not the car but how its driven
its a given fact that the prius is far more economical- BUT only if driven correctly if you hammering 1st thru to 3rd to quickly speed up your working the engine far outside its economy range where as a bigger engine will more easily/economically do the same acclerating speed with less fuel

Well, unless you are rallying the prius, it still doesn't explain why the test wasn't as every prius and subaru are normally driven, the subaru two inches from the prius at thirty miles an hour, then taking off at 60, then stopped at the next lights as the prius potters up again.

rxbren

i wouldnt go as far and say every prius and impreza are driven how you are saying
and plus everyone knows slipstreaming saves fuel

Lum

rxbren wrote: »

mikey that was the whole point to show that its not the car but how its driven
its a given fact that the prius is far more economical- BUT only if driven correctly if you hammering 1st thru to 3rd to quickly speed up your working the engine far outside its economy range where as a bigger engine will more easily/economically do the same acclerating speed with less fuel

Well in theory, nailing it on the acceleration is actually efficient. To get best acceleration you keep the engine in it's power band, or as close as the gearbox will allow, and this is also where the engine is at it's most efficient, in terms of amount of energy gained for amount of fuel put in.

Obviously this is not sustainable in the long term as you'd eventually accelerate to a speed that is illegal, or you'd hit the point where wind resistance becomes significant and lose out on efficiency that way.

So for the ultimate efficiency, you'd need to figure out your most efficient cruising speed (i.e. least amount of fuel in to maintain that speed over a set distance), then accelerate as briskly as possible to that speed, change to top gear and stick to that speed.

The acceleration of doing this in a WRX will be somewhat quicker than doing it in a Prius.


Also the Top Gear test is invalid for a completely different reason. The Prius is lugging around a load of extra weight, i.e. batteries and electric motors that will reduce it's efficiency when running on it's petrol engine on the open road. It is designed as a city car and the hybrid drivetrain is most effective in the city environment when you are constantly speeding up and slowing down, waiting at lights etc.

In a normal car using the brakes is wasting energy for no good reason, in the Prius that is not the case and it's worth the trade off of the extra weight for that system, when it's used around town.

rxbren

its not invaild as it shows that the prius can be heavy on fuel when used in anger/outside a urban enviroment

Lum

I was referring to the fact that they compared a city car against a repmobile and then tested it on the motorway where the repmobile is in it's element.

I love Top Gear just as much as blokes do, and I'm no fan of the Prius or a lot of the people who buy them; but seriously, nobody is going to cross shop an M3 vs a Prius.

OTOH, I guess there is some validity to it in terms of making a point. I do laugh when I see someone doing 70 in a Prius in the middle of nowhere when a diesel Focus would do that job much more cost effectively.

cardinalbiggles

red_eye wrote: »

you do know this is an ex rally car built and run by prodrive for Subaru and has been competing in a televised event*

*if it really is a prodrive built car which I presume as it has Subaru sun strip, but it could be a privateer run car or even a rally replica only the OP knows

Absolutely no way its an ex rally car. It would be over £250,000 to produce if it were.

cardinalbiggles

rxbren wrote: »

on the other side of things really spec will be more or less standard power iirc upper limit is around 300bhp just lighter with a cage and different brakes suspension etc but this all depends on what spec rally car group n are closer to street cars whereas full on wrc are are different animal all together with price tags well over 100k

Having worked at a place where we stored rally cars during an event overnight I can tell you it would cost far more than 100k for a rally spec Impreza. At that point, about 15 years ago it was over 250k for the Impreza and Escort Cosworths that were being raced.