Wow just found this thread!! how awesome
We have the back seats out of our Scenic and I swear Dish drives it like it is an RS all the time.. I don't usually bother until we get to the twisties and then I put the foot in a bit haha tis fun bouncing around the corners haha ..
I actually find that she gets up and goes pretty well just got to rev her and work her a bit but hey
I do like the idea of putting a 225 engine in there! ha or a 172 engine..
BTW your Mechanic sounds like he is a sandwich short of a picnic or a beer short of a six pack.. or just damn insulting.. lucky he hadn't said that to me.. where do people get off saying such #$%%$ about that engine is beyond me They are awesome we have that block x 4 at our place and each one has been awesome (touch wood) haha .. could go off topic about how Dishs nephew told us that ah yeah once your cars get a 100K on them and are 8 years old you will be able to tell how unreliable they are.. lol we said they are already there and most of those kms have been drive days where they would get driven harder than any Toyota (the make he was telling us was reliable) and we have never had any issues..
Anyway that rant over! so curious to see how this ends as I would love a camper too! Dish has some weird idea about putting a V6 engine in the back of our scenic- which would really ruin any camping stuff room so if I can get him into a 225 engine at the front even better - although I do prefer the sound of a naturally aspirated engine!
Now following this thread with interest- and sorry no valid ideas - other than upgrade the mechanic