pablo68

Thanks everyone. I shall miss this site and the general residents thereof. Why a beemer? Well I needed a more economical car (22k miles last year in the vRS = ££Ouch). I can't stand modern ford and vauxhall interiors, I dislike French cars in general (tried a C5 and it felt like it was made of paper) and not much else around tickles me. And I still wanted to be able to have some solo fun in it. To get a new (diesel) vRS later this year specced up the same as my current one would have been over £30k. Now I'm sorry and as much as I liked this car there would be no way on earth I would be paying over £30k for a Skoda Octavia. We tried Lexus...meh, Merc...bleh,. Audi...yawn. I was talked into going to the local BMW dealer (by my wife believe it or not) and after much discussions and trying of cars I ended up with a new E92 330D Coupe with all the trimmings for £31k on a 3 year deal including all servicing etc. Reason for price? the new 4 series comes out this year and BMW are knocking huge discounts off the 3 series coupes to shift them through...I got £11k off this one in total. They even happily took the Octy in Px and gave full market value for it! So now it's rear wheel action time (and on the push bike if it snows ) Will it be a good buy? Time will tell. And I shall try not to drive like a **** too much.

I specced the "Indicator Delete" option. I also specced the "Stay in lane 3" and "Auto cruise control 3 inches from car infront" options

Beemer. Sorry

Well that's it. The Octy is going. Sad to see her go but time to move on.

Stage 1 Software: £495 Stage 2 Software: £50 Stage 2 Hardware: £690 Increased Insurance Premium: £35 Change in fuel costs: £?? Wearing a huge grin every time you push the loud pedal: Priceless

My fuel economy has plummeted especially since going to stage 2....but that's mostly due my right foot now being much heavier

No. My current vRS is sufficient for another year or two now it's on stage 2. After that, not sure right now, but probably not another Skoda....not that I have anything but good words to say about my current jallopy it's just life is too short to always drive the same car and besides I fancy a v8 or v6 next time round

Nice to meet you all tonight! Bloody cold in the car park but a good evening all the same. looking forward to the next one

AKA Paul and Sarah

I've got mine sat at 340mm all round. This is mainly due to the fact my drive is on a slope and makes a nice crest where it meets the bloody foot path so any lower and it scrapes coming on and off the drive way. To be honest at this height it feels fine still, handles well and looks a smidge better than factory in my view.

Mine got ridden like a rodeo bull when it was new. It uses very little oil.

If you get the diesel because of the economy alone I would put a tenner on within a few months you wishing you'd got the petrol (unless petrol rockets to £10 a gallon)

12k per annum max for me, of which 6k (ish) is business miles. So for me 6k p.a personal miles is a no brainer for which fuel I know a lot of people like diesel but if you are used to a forced petrol you may find the diesel rather, um, different to drive. I had a brief (10 months) flirt with a VAG 2.0 TDi (the 140 lump) and while it was a good enough drive I found it just bland compared to giving bootfuls to a turbocharged petrol. And I have heard/read some horror stories about the cost of the DPF replacement....and 5k mileage it's barely run in! But dont let me sway you

They were on a standard tune. And I would agree that for most cars and even "performance" cars on a standard tune 98/99 RON makes very little difference since the factory setup is for 95 RON fuel (as that is most prevalent and cheaper), however things change once you get into the world of performance tuning and mods....check the timing advances and fuelling using the OBDII to see how it is performing with different fuels

LOL easy done. Personally for me i'm not overly worried about mpg or resale figures and I simply prefer driving a petrol so it would be a no choice. However if you are seriously taking MPG into consideration the TDi will return you MUCH better figures that is no doubt, and in reality it is more than ample for everday road usage, and with a cheeky remap it will be pretty rapid. Ive just done a back of the fag packet calculation for my rough annual mileage and current fuel costs comparing my vRS mpg with an "average" 2.0TDi vRS and it comes up as about £500 more in fuel costs (per year) for mine than the diesel. So the £1k difference in price for the diesel would pay for 2 years fuel for the petrol..and you've got 15,000 miles less on the clock so (probably) much less expense over the next 3 years.... I know where I would be heading