I've done well over a couple of hundred miles in the car since I visited Thorneys, including long motorway journeys and twisty B roads, so everything has had time to bed in (including my opinion on the whole experience).
10k Service
Quick and efficient. Changed the type pressures, oil filter and put in some lovely clean Mobil One Motorsport oil as well as a general all-over healthcheck. Everything that was going to be done to the car was explained to me before, during and after the service. I had originally booked in to have the brakes looked at as well (pad replacement) as the wheels had been squealing / singing for a while. When the mechanic took a look he reckoned the pads still had over a years wear in them, so he ripped them out, gave them a good clean and the singing has now stopped (yay!
). Hence "honest John" - they could have easily stung me for a new set of Mintex's here (as I'd booked in for) and I would have happily paid out none the wiser. Also worth noting that they explained to me how to fix this myself, but as I'm as mechanically minded as the average retarded wildebeest I asked them to sort it for me 
NA Stage 1
Since I'd saved a good few notes by not having new pads fitted, I figured I might as well have a Stage 1 done... I think John's been studying Jedi mind tricks (or I am extremely easy to influence
), as I had absolutely no intention of doing anything like this to the car, ever. It's worth stating for the record though that John certainly didn't give me any form of hard sell... I had the cash already set aside for the new pads... but my oh my... I certainly do not regret the decision! The changes are subtle for the most... the difference between Tesco's Finest and Marks & Spencer... being 18 to being 21... Absolut to Stolichnaya... standard bog roll to Andrex Quilted*... but they are oh so noticable. The drive feels that much smoother, gear changes more refined, acceleration that bit sharper and more responsive, all the lumps and bumps seem to have been massaged away. 0-60 in second gear is also very, very nice Fuel economy should be improved a bit, but as John warned me on the day, I've not seen much yet because I'm having far too much fun 
Once it's been remapped John will encourage you to take the car for a spin and decide whether you like it or not - if you don't like it he will happily revert it back to it's "factory" state, though I doubt you'll want to do that 
Overall Impressions
Deeply impressed and I'll certainly be going back for my MOT and a service next year. John is a thoughrally pleasant bloke with a genuine passion for the cars, was very welcoming, kept my plied with coffee and chocolate covered peanuts and put up with all my dumb questions. The mechanics were also very polite, obviously interested in their work and the cars, and again happily put up with my dumb
questions! I was also showed how to fit a pair of tights over the air intake to prevent all the road junk spewing onto the dash - much appreciated! The premises is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but it is serviced by a sandwich van before lunch and has a PC and Internet connection so if needs be you can jack in and work whilst your car is being tinkered with. John may have a wireless network soon for those of you so equiped. Failing that you can do what I did - sit down and have a damn good chat about this 'n' that! If you have a spare few quid I can highly recommend the NA Stage 1 - I would not claim to be the worlds most experienced or confident driver, but the car definitely feels easier to drive and provides even more feedback and response than before. The only word of caution I would have for anyone considering this is that you do need invest a little time re-learning the car to a degree - for one thing if you're used to listening to the engine note for a clue as to what speed you're doing it's all different now, and I found myself having to continually check the speedo in 30 zones for the first few days.
Definitely a big
*Note: with apologies to John for comparing the NA Stage 1 to toilet roll.
Thanks Richy
In the meantime - 07718 585 484
