New Car

[AndyS40]

So ive taken the plunge a brought a new car (second hand). Ive gone from Honda to BMW so I'm gonna forget to use my indicators and become a total Pr**k driving I suppose.
I was looking at an Audi A4 20 TDI but I can get more for my money with a BMW and still have a good quality car.
It's a 3 series 320D sport plus edition with Msport interior and pro sat nav media system installed

 

[glenwilson]

Nice Andy! These two links might help you to know what "typical" BMW drivers need to conform to.

BMW Driver Stereotypes
Study says BMW drivers are jerks

 

[General_Misery]

Nice car Andy and is that dark grey or black btw? I've had both and my current car is in glorious (depressing says my master) charcoal grey metallic.

 

[AndyS40]

Nice car Andy and is that dark grey or black btw? I've had both and my current car is in glorious (depressing says my master) charcoal grey metallic.

It's Metallic Black or Black sapphire is it's proper name

 

[Deleted member 432]

Now you need black suit and some driving and fighting lessons. Then you can set up own business like Jason Statham in Transporter movies.

 

[lakaelo]

ohh its going down. next BMW bloke on the road lol
anyway, nice car andy. honestly i like more the estates but its your car lol

 

[lakaelo]

Will use this thread to put my own "new car" in here also. lol

After my good old mercedes 320 CDI had some expensive healthy issues just after driven 489.000km it was time to sell him for a new one. so i bought my first french car, a nice peugeot 508 SW business edition.

and just today we bought our second french car for my wife sandra. a renault berlingo.

 

[AndyS40]

See you got some serious Km out that Merc lol don't think many cars would stand that sort of mileage, I like the peugeot looks nice and clean. The Berlingo is a great little run around car especially when you have dogs lol. Your wife will have a new sense of freedom now so get ready

 

[Lady_Musketeer_GER]

Excellent choice, Andy.
Moreover, it's good to see you happy.

 

[glenwilson]

My Mondeo is up to 135,000 miles (about 217,000km) and apart from normal wear and tear repairs is still going OK. The exhaust problem was faulty replacements and recently there have been a couple of wheel bearings replaced. Been through a few tyres recently because of punctures that couldn't be repaired.

No plans to replace it just yet but have no real idea as to what I would choose. Never really desired a BMW or Mercedes (unless it was an M3/5 or an AMG) though the 3 series convertible I tried was rather nice.

More practical considerations would be a bigger factor in choosing the next car. A small SUV like the Ford EcoSport would be a more practical compromise between ease of use, space and running costs. As much as I would like to have something exotic and sporty you have to assume that fuel costs won't be dropping in the future. There are also few opportunities to enjoy driving nowadays. Speed cameras in the UK seem to be there purely as a revenue source rather than any safety aspect. So the Lamborghini is unlikely unless some £s come my way.

Used cars are better value than a brand new one but getting the spec that you want is difficult. Going for a new one is nice but adding a few extras can easily add £10,000 to the price of something like a Focus.

If I went looking for a new car today I have no idea what I would go for. Quite a few cars I like the look of but there are others I definitely know would be practical. Others would make more sense financially. The only ones I really want are all £50k+!!!!

Hope you both enjoy your new cars.

 

[AndyS40]

Running costs played a big part in my decision the Honda cost £290 to tax and over £700 to insure MPG was around 30 to 33mpg.
The BMW tax is £140 a year and insurance is £500 fuel cost which I can only give an estimate from watching YouTube videos and forums will return 53 + MPG

My insurance could be a lot cheaper but I'm happy with the company I'm with
The decision to by this car was not just an upgrade but an expanding family so I need more space but I still like my sporty cars

 

[glenwilson]

That is a big difference in running costs. You would guess the Honda would be cheaper but would obviously be wrong. My car tax is £236 and insurance is £594 but that does include breakdown for UK and Europe. Insurance on it's own is about £240. As we do 2 or 3 trips to Europe in the car it was just as cheap to include it in the insurance. Mondeo mileage for normal day to day stuff is about 31mpg but on longer drives (down to London) I can get 40+ without trying too hard. I'd definitely consider fuels costs when getting a new car. I've tried the Fiesta and found that comfortable and economical too but it may be a bit small on luggage space. It was easy to get the price up to £18,000!

My Mum's insurance for a 15yr Polo is £900+ (full no claims and always garaged)!

As you say Andy, you can shop around for insurance and get it cheaper. Like the garage I use, there may be ones more local but I trust them and know I'm not getting ripped off.

 

[lakaelo]

the monthly running costs are also better now with the peugeot. mostly the diesel consumption saves me a lot of money. the merc had the 3.2l engine and, still good, it had around 7,5l/100km what is around 31mpg. for that fat tank not bad.
the peugeot is running with just 4,8l/100km and that is around 49mpg. normaly i am driving around 60.000km a year so this little difference saved me a lot of money.

not to talk about the taxes. merc was 500.-€ a year and the peugeot is only half of that. insurance will all options, i think you can´t compare it with the UK one but would be interesting to do that, is around 1200.- € a year.

 

[glenwilson]

I used to do about 20k miles a year but now only do about 10k miles so not just fuel has reduced but also servicing costs - was generally doing 2 services a year. The most miles I've don was when I got my mk2 Gti - did about 60,000 in the two years I had it.

 

[AndyS40]

New picture hope you like it.

 

[glenwilson]

Nice photo Andy. The "old" Top Gear vignette is a nice touch!

When I used to do car pics it was always a thing to turn the front wheels so you could see them better. Often felt it wasn't needed and I think your pic shows that.

Think I can see a speck of dirt just to the right of the exhaust.

 

[lakaelo]

bloody hell. never saw such a clean and shiny car before lool

 

[glenwilson]

I bet even the area where doors hinge is clean!

My car was clean(ish) before we came here (Forest of Dean area) but now it has a really weird matt textured feel to the paint and smooth and shiny.

 

[AndyS40]

Lol Glen I cleaned inside the doors and by the hinges on Tuesday lol (Wash n wash), its cleaner than a brand new car

 

[lakaelo]

i think you would cry if you see my car lol