Aspman

Argh, kill the marketing people kill 'em all

I have to say the idea of a campervan often fadesaway when you look into the costs. They are very expensive. And when you park up in a site, if you want to go anywhere you have to unhook everything unless you have a smart car or motorbike on the back. The costs of a Motorhome add up to a lot of hotel rooms, and someone else cleans the bog in them. Also right now is probably the worst time in history to buy a motorhome. Demand is sky high with everyone wanting their own covid-free space on holiday. What about a Tentbox for a car?

Found this the other day Nogging the Mog https://www.unimogs.co.uk/our-stock/unimogs/noggin-the-mog-ex-military-u1300l-expedition-camper-noggin-the-mog-ex-military-u1300l-expedition-camper-u0388 they've also got a ridiculous £185k expedition camper for sale https://www.unimogs.co.uk/our-stock/unimogs/u4000-luxury-expedition-truck-u4000-luxury-expedition-truck-b3309 Less ridiculously If you're handy, my Dad's pal has converted several second hand ambulances into campers. Husband of a pal converts T5 vans into campers.

I quite like this but I'm not sure the 22" alloys and farm tracks will really mix https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202006079880779 Jaguar F-Pace 2020 (20 reg) 5.0 V8 Supercharged (550PS) SVR 5dr

Shooting isn't new to me, so I know I like it. I'm up for a change of vehicle anyway. And this is just a lighhearted discussion and to see if anything pops up that I've not thought of. I'm not really relying on the internet to make my mind up about anything.

https://farm.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/claas/tractors/202008052116683

Ok so I think we're narrowing things down at home. We don't really want a 3rd car and definitely not a big one. So 3rd car options are probably down at terios as cheap and little. So concentrating on the replacment for the BMW. Things to try - I was looking at the new (ish) Jeep Wrangler 4 door. It ticks a lot of boxes, but the NCAP is awful, and it has lots of irritating quirks (lots of things to bang your elbows on) but is fun and very good off road (at least in the Rubicon trim) and not as awful onroad. It's also a convertable which could be a laugh on sunny days and SO isn't horrified by it on that front. Petrol is thirsty but about as fast as my old VRS Used RR. Expensive but probably a very nice place to be. Name your price on them really. SO likes these unsurprisingly. Land Cruiser not as crazy expensive as the RR but better built. Might bore me to death though as it's slow as a slow thing I'm not against spending a bit of money on something decent but I'd rather it wasn't worth buttons after 3yr

What about a Rav4 with decent tyres. IT's got an electronic locking diff

the only issue with some of those options is the size. I'm not sure I want sone for my main car and I'm pretty sure I don't want some huge barge taking up all the space. I think I need to keep trying stuff.

I have looked around for Panda but they seem to be in the "rocking horse doo-doo" level of availability. I'm not sure they'd have the ground clearance either. Haven't looked for the Secici tbh. SX$ much cheaper than Jimny. Vitara might be an option.

Cars are funny things. When you drive them your perception changes. Not quite the same league but back in 2002 I did not like the Ford Focus. I thought it was a weird blobby car. Then I drove one and I was so impressed by how nice it was (I had a Mk3 Vauxhall astra) that all of a sudden I quite liked the car. Maybe the M4 will be like that. Or maybe it's just too ****ing ugly for anyone normal to love

TBH it's not awful but it lacks class. BMW seem to be pandering to those with money but not taste. Which as a business makes total sense, however, as someone who will probably never buy one of those cars I'm grossly offended.

I think they are known to be pretty reliable and well made. The complaints come when you do have problems as parts sometimes have to come from Japan and they are expensive. I knew someone with a Legacy (lovely car btw) and when his wing mirror was smashed to bits it was over £1k for a replacement. My mates car is some oddball performance version and came with an active exhaust. When it went he couldn't replace it, since the part was from some Subaru skunkworks (can't remember the name). So now he's got a non active exhaust which works fine but he's sad to lose the noise. Efficient they are not. All scoobies like a drink. I think it's one of those car brands, if it scratches your itch you'll probably be a Subaru driver forever.

I should pop in, Port Edgar is only 20min away.

Bit of a car quandry right now. I have been invited into the world of field sports. I'm getting licensed for a boom stick and will need to buy various green coloured bits of clothing (but not cammo that's uncouth). Getting to the shooting spots involves a bit of off-roading. Not Rubicon trail extreme off roading but some fairly poor farm tracks. Certainly nothing the BM or the Mini could handle. the 335d has just been serviced, full set of brakes, Aircon recharge and is going totally fine at just under 60k. It does everything I need except skip down a farm track. I can either get a cheap 3rd 4x4 car or I can spend a bit more and get a 4x4 as my main car. I don't really want a 3rd car but neither do I really want a 4x4 as my daily driver. Car swap - I considered getting something interesting like the new Ford Ranger Raptor. I actually drove a Ranger Wildtrack on a demo at the weekend. It was surprisingly decent. Quite car like and the acceleration was ok. I could live with it as a car probably. Downside was that a flatbed might be good for lugging bails of hay but not so good for a week's shopping at Tesco. I could look into used Range Rover or Discoveries since they could be a pleasent enough family car as well as handling a rough track. Downside is they are fearsome exensive unless ancient, and hardly have the best reputation for reliability. The new Defender is crazy expensive. Other things like Landcruisers or Shoguns might just feel too boring inside and out to live with. Soft roaders are no use, we'll go thorugh a lot of mud so a locking diff is a must 3rd car - Jimny - not that cheap, not that reliable, not that great in mud apparently Terios - cheap, nasty to drive. TBH a 4x4 Terios is probably top of my list for a 3rd car despite being the worst car I've ever driver Jeep Wrangler - Rare at low prices. Would actually be quite fun to go to the beach in as well. Old Defender - expensive, unreliable money pit bt a classic and probably won't lose much money Unimog - Might need to get a truck license Just lookisng for thoughts or suggestions

If it's good enough for a Zonda....

Honestly you shouldn't make a big purchase without seeing and driving. Now we did late last year put a deposit on a car without having seen it. But we knew exactly what we wanted (the JCW countryman) and there were very few in the UK at that time. Also this was an ex-demo car with very low miles and a verbal guarantee that the car was mint inside and out (it was) We still drove it before signing. any other used car, I just think it's too much of a risk.

Mate has one, a 3.0 NA. He loves it dearly and has done well over 100k with it. He shoot as well so it's had a reasonably hard life running around fields and he swears it's better off road than many true 4x4s dues to the perminant 4x4 and differential layout. He has spend a fair bit on maintenance over the years, it does seem that all subarus have a weak point for rust in the exhaust system, they hole at one little point where it can't be welded and you have to replace the exhaust at some considerable expense (over £1k). Fearsome thirst, if he floors it I swear you can hear the tank drain. He's thinking of changing now but really struggling to think of something that does everything for him like the Subaru does.

https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2019/07/ofcom-names-worst-broadband-providers-customer-service/ Vodafone is #2 for complaints IMHE as long as you don't get a problem you'll be fine. But in general if you do get a problem the big boys are often rubbish at sorting things out. Plusnet used to be a very good company, then BT bought them and they went downhill fast. I was a long standing cutomer of theirs and they made an absolute shambles of my housemove. If I hadn't had bigger issues at the time I'd have taken them to the ombudsman. If you want to stick with Plusnet (because everything is working) you can ask to be put through to their disconnections team. Disconnections have more authority to authorised discounts etc than sales do. It used to work but more recently I've been told to take a hike by companies when I've asked for a discount to stay. Then I've left them. If you want good performance and service you need to pay for it with someone like Zen. They're much better reated but in no way the cheapest.

It's been like that for every BMW for a long while. It annoyed me for a long time but I'm used to it now. It does stop you taking the oil measurement at the wrong time (hot cold, run, stopped etc), so it's more accurate, but less convenient I think it's still a household supply but a big fat cable to carry more amps.

Why this could not be done pre-delivery is a concern if it is indeed so easy to do. It could even be part of an automated PDI.

I think that's a more salient point. Both you and George are speaking very highly of your experience of daily driving e-cars even at the opposite ends of the hype spectrum. More than that they seem to be practical now. Im putting a charging point in my new build, not because I have ideas on electric but that it seems stupid not to do it while it's easy. I'm not sure I could give up my fossil fuel additction but maybe the main car could be electric with the fossil for fun.

Sounds like the engineering for the drivetrain in the car is top notch but everything after that is in beta or budget mode. Many of the things you describe would be unacceptable on a £10k car, but on a £40k car pushed with many marketing millions Tesla should be embarrassed to produce a product so poorly finished. They might well struggle now the old manufacturers are bringing their electric game up. They (generally) know how to do QA better than this.

I dunno if being in such a colossal motor makes the driver feel invincible. I suspect SUV tailgaiting is in part down to the height of the cars, people just don't see how close they are to the car in front but it's the difference between too close and stupidly close, not the 2sec rule.

What is the actual car like George? Decent seats etc, is a Vx still a less nice place to be for an hour?