Aspman

Just one pic for now. I've taken the bow off

MB command system is a dogs dinner though. Drove the whole way without knowing how to skip a track on Spotify. Still don't know if I have active cruise or not (need to read the spec sheet again). No touch screen but touchpad/wheel where the gear shift should be and two more little thumb sized touch pads on the steering wheel. Too easy to flick things by accident and till too hard to do things without taking your eyes off the road. But the nanny (speed warning bongs) and drunk toddler (lane keeping assistance) are nowhere to be found🥳 It's hard to describe why but the car feels Germanic, I think the actual driving experience is close to the BMW. Same solidity and weight to controls things. Feels familiar even though I've never had a MB before. Need to find some tunnels now...😈

Needs a wash after the trip up tbh. The dealer was actually closing the site the day after I got the mb they had no valeters on site so the poor sales guy had to do it himself for the handover. He was a a proper MB petrol head as well, he was genuinely pleased his last sale for MB was going to be an AMG.

Aye it's 98RON first with a tolerance for 95

Well trip all done C43 in hand. I think we've been lucky again seems like the car we wished it would be. Good condition, comfortable, fast, big enough etc etc. The full antisocial exhaust option is lots of fun as well. Dealer warned me about mpg on test drive, and indeed on the test it got 14mpg. But on the long motorway run home at moderately sensible speeds I got approx 35mpg which I think is pretty good considering. Being less sensible giving it the beans with everything on Sport+ and the thing howls. Outright speed feels very similar to the 335d. It does seem to be a car that triggers middle aged men though.

Cheers I hope so. I'd agree the BMWs seem over priced right now, I'm also not keen on their interiors. They've cut a few corners too many I think. I was avoiding hybrids as I'm not buying new or even nearly new I really want to avoid a dead hybrid battery or battery issues. Plus I want some old school motoring while it's still an option. I've had some approved used fun as well when making claims, a mini with battery issues when the warranty ad said literally "everything is included even the battery", then you make a battery claim and "ah well it's not always covered", ditto JLR when a tailgate issue becomes bodywork which isn't warranty covered. Was checking spec last night on the C43 and it is old enough to have the switchable sport exhaust option. So should burble nicely too.

Availability really. I've looked for 340i and 540i estates but they are very rare on the market. Conversely warm and hot Merc estates are relatively easy to find. The Mercs are also coming with 2yr warranty inclusive as approved used. If it existed an M550i xdrive estate would be just the perfect car but it doesn't exist. My former in-laws consider themselves 'Audi people' and I can't bear the idea of being in 'their' brand. Petty, maybe but it is what it is. If I was doing more miles I think the decision would be easier tbh. I like big dervs having very much liked the 335d I had and a 540d would be sweet. But I'm only doing 3-4k a year now and we have the ID3 to commute in. The kids rule out coupes really. The 850i is fast but seems like a bit of a midlife-crisis car. Just a bit sadder than an M5 or M550i. TBh I was looking rather longingly at a Lexus LC500 as well but my son is 3" taller than me and still growing.

Deal done, pick up a C43 estate next week.

Think I might have ID the next motor. Merc C43 AMG Estate Fast without being pointlessly fast plus cheaper in every way than the C63.

And timing chain and cam bearing issues. Just out of interest I could insure an AM Rapide S for £900. They really don't want any LR on their books do they

Thought we were headed back to JLR for a bit then I did an insurance quote. £2000. For a comparison the Subaru was £250. I’ll keep looking i think.

That's the Subaru sold. Again with motorway that was £2-3k over any trade in offer. Seems a bit mad. Why offer such rubbish trade ins then bid higher on Motorway? It's been main dealers every time for me on motorway as well. Having a dig around thinking maybe something like a 540i Estate would be ideal but again like rocking horse poo There is an older E320 estate not too far away, I'm just not sure I'm old enough for a merc.

Lol that's hardly turned a wheel. But £16k for a 14yr old volvo c'mon low mileage or not. Someone is selling a Bentley GT near me for 8k, what could go wrong?

I keep longingly looking at the T8 Volvos then seeing it's just a 2.0 or less + hybrid motor. Even then the faster ones are like rocking horse poop. Other than the motor lineup they do tick the majority of boxes. Aiming for petrol only tbh. I would have said a big derv having been a happy 335d owner but I'm doing under 4k a year now. Most of our mileage is in the lease ev.

After dropping a wodge on the Outback for a new battery only for the tailgate issues to immediately recur and funnily enough for a internet search to suddenly (wasn't before) flag that there is a persistent and long standing Subaru issue with a parasitic battery drain via the telematics module. Basically the car continually tries to phone home and drains the battery, the tailgate control module is acutely sensitive to voltage meaning that if the car has sat for more than a day (sometime less) the boot won't open without doing a full control module manual range reset (unlock by hand, open by hand, close by hand and jump up and down on it until the door engages fully). There is a fix and it's not hugely expensive (apparently) but I was going to move the car on anyway None of us love the car either so I stuck it on Motorway while it needs nothing major done. It's v low mileage and pretty much mint other than this known issue. But what next. I've no idea what to get even if money was no object. I'd like another estate. I'd like to it to be fast and decent to drive but also reasonably comfortable. If I had no kids I'd get a used M5 If Volvo did a decent non-hybrid motor I'd get a V90 M3 estate is a bit dear and I hate the interior (no likey flat panels much). I drove an E63s estate a while back and I think it was maybe too fast to enjoy. The ID3 has put us off VAG group I don't do many miles to fuel costs are not really an issue. Coupes are no use with the kids. I'm tempted by another RR as they were a great place to be and super practical but made from terror + Temu parts and tbh not the best to drive as it's a 3T 4x4 after all. I think I need a restomod Jenson Interceptor.

Whatever was inbuilt, I can't recall now. I can remember other linux distros coming with much more user friendly partitioning tools than Mint has. W11 is completely dysfunctional with regard to partitioning. I couldn't get it to reliably delete partitions on a USB drive and create a single volume. I had to fire up my linux box to do it.

Probably unrelated but are you a low mileage driver? Does the car sit unused for a few days regularly? Might be low battery charge, stick it on a trickle charger and se if it helps.

Even the best automatice isn't directly connected to your brain the way your left leg and left arm are. Whether that matters or not depends on personal preference and skill. Many people do not drive well enough to beat the autobox ever. Other people have skill and want the control/entertainment of a manual. Even if you have the skill often you might want to take the lazy option. And as mentioned mnay times the option might not be available to you in the car you want. Also also, this is a car enthusiasts forum. Most people don't care, we're the odd ones out.

Is it a private road? That might make things complicated. i.e. did you have to go down that road, is there an expectation you might have encountered pot holes on the road? Did your employer force you to go down that road? You need to establish who is the culpable party, and then you need to establish negligence. You would also need evidence such as detailed photographs of the hole wth some form of measurement (CDs used to be a good reference point). I suspect you are facing an uphill challenge however...... small claims (or simple process) is low to no risk to you. You will have to pay a small amount in line with your claim but no risk of being hit with expenses if you loose. If they don;t show up you win by default but then you have to get your money. Just because you win doesn't mean they will pay.

You really need a car that suits the autobox that is in it, and tbh that doesn't often work. Or the custom gearbox software is terrible. I've had a number of autos and I think bar one they've all had pretty much the same gearbox My autos - BMW 335d, ZF 8 speed - brilliant, felt like a perfect match, only rarely did the box seem to get it wrong with a weird double shift down. Range rover 3.0 V6 (275), ZF 8 speed - Also really good, no issues or weirdness even off road. Mini Countryman JCW, ZF 8 speed - Awful, changed down at the drop of a hat, hesitant to up shift. Works best if you drove the car like it was being stolen but even then clunky and rough. Maserati 3.0 V6d, ZF 8speed (see a pattern), OK not as good as the first two but not bad, occasional sluggish downshift Subaru Outback CVT - Meh, it's a dull car to drive and the box is also pretty dull, does what it needs but clunky setting off or pulling out at junctions. We have manuals and autos in the house still. Manual for fun, auto for day to day.

Partitioning drives is still a PITA. Actually it's maybe worse than it was as the Windows partitioning tools are disfunctional now and Linux ones still feel like you need a PhD in maths to work out.

Can’t see easily without removing the bracket. The car does have start/stop built in so i goes it will be an EFB or I’ll get an EFB to replace

Battery should have been 100% charged. Had a long (80mile) run the other day and it’s been on the charger since. Might just change the battery anyway. They are not too silly prices for the Subaru. The car is very low mileage for age (21k in 5yr) so may have had the battery discharged in the past

Tried this. Charger showing full battery. At 12.1v with the charger idle. Voltage dropped to 10.1V when cranking. Up to 14.3V with engine running. Any advice on the numbers welcome. Got a lidl multi meter at the weekend so possibly can do more now.

I did have multimeter but operator error casued it to blow up 🫣 Good call on the V drop on cranking. Charger does have a V display.