Right we had a chat and mooch about Autotrader/eBay yesterday, we have a little more details now as to what he does/doesn't want. The no list is as follows

 

No coupes

No convertibles 

No saloons

No 3 door cars

 

So, at least that narrows it down He's liking Mercedes at the moment, A45, C63 & E63 (estates) all getting approving noises, closely followed by S/RS3, S/RS4 and S/RS6. He likes the 1 Series (135/140) and a 340i Touring but I'm not sure the latter will be fast enough and the former feel special enough. There's LOADS of time to decide, even more so now we have decided to go for our spring euro trip in my BMW so likely not buying until late spring but we can start looking/ruling cars out between now and then. 

 

He's planning to keep it a while so I want to make sure he gets the right car, once we narrow it down to a shortlist we can go test driving. 

 

Thanks for the replies  :sun:

Edited 11 December, 20169 yr by matt1chelski

Any Reason no Volvo V60 Polestar & Golf R Estate ? as bargains can be had with these fast AWD estates.

Any Reason no Volvo V60 Polestar & Golf R Estate ? as bargains can be had with these fast AWD estates.

 

Golf R was thrown out because he had a MK7 GTi which he loved but wants something different, he just sees them as another golf. 

 

The Volvo though looks fantastic, I looked at Volvos quickly last night but got distracted. I'll have to have a proper look but seems to tick most of the boxes and looks a bit different from the usual german hyper hatches. Plus, you surely cant get more comfortable than a Volvo seat right?! 

Edited 11 December, 20169 yr by matt1chelski

Thank goodness for Indian and Chinese funding that JLR and Volvo continue

Not an S3 ,its a drug dealers car, or used for robberies

VXR8 http://www.auto-buddies.co.uk/vehicle-details.asp?ID=6085105

BMW 340i Touring would definitely get my vote, the 320+bhp straight six twin turbo engine is an absolute peach and sounds fantastic.

 

I had a Toyota Supra twin turbo in the early 00's, it was a brilliant car, the 340i is the same engine layout, same weight, same power but has 5 doors and a decent sized boot! Seems like the perfect car to me

He might find an XFR Shooting brake for that sort of price bracket especially in March when they are doing offers but there are exactly none for sale right now (for under £40k). Early depreciation is quite heavy on them.

 

Porsche Panamera? Bit older but they are there for that money.

Right, we have been on a little look around today, we found anything thats a full size car (C class, S4 etc) offers a larger boot but very little extra interior space over a A class/S3. We had a sit in a A3/A45/M135i and they all offered a nice amount of room. The A45 felt smallest inside BUT I think the seats might have had an effect on that, they were very tight/snug. The boots on all of them were way bigger than his current W168, rear leg room was adequate if not amazing, but then it's not often he has rear seat passengers for long. 

 

We need to find a facelift RS3 to look at, since he's decided to go balls out and spend nearer £35k than the £25k he was talking about. :D 

Decision has pretty much been made already! Went for a spin in a M140i, if there were any worries that 335hp might not be enough thats not the case now :D Brutal acceleration, plenty of interior room and compared to the RS3 and A45 it offers decent value. Run a few quotes on each car, £4000 for the RS3, £2000 for the A45 and £900 for the BMW! We're still going to keep options open but unless something amazing turns up I think he'll end up in the BM. 

Decision has pretty much been made already! Went for a spin in a M140i, if there were any worries that 335hp might not be enough thats not the case now :D Brutal acceleration, plenty of interior room and compared to the RS3 and A45 it offers decent value. Run a few quotes on each car, £4000 for the RS3, £2000 for the A45 and £900 for the BMW! We're still going to keep options open but unless something amazing turns up I think he'll end up in the BM.

Just imagine the depreciation from new price and how close to write-off.

Just imagine the depreciation from new price and how close to write-off.

 

I dont follow? 

I dont follow?

From the 'new' owner's perspective; the amount he/she spent compared to what it's worth now, plus how close a component failure puts it (now) to zero value.

From the 'new' owner's perspective; the amount he/she spent compared to what it's worth now, plus how close a component failure puts it (now) to zero value.

 

I'm hung over so I might not be fully understanding :D

 

He's looking at nearly new or main dealer approved used cars, 2 years old max. RS3 is circa £37,000, A45 is £29k, a pre reg BMW with 10 miles can be had for less than both of them. Used M140s are thin on the ground at the moment since they're fairly new, but he's not looking to buy until spring so there's time for hunting one down. 

 

It's a big chunk of money to spend BUT he plans to keep the car for a long long time so depreciation isn't a huge worry, that said he isnt going to buy new purely because he doesn't like the thought of losing thousands driving out the showroom. He's going to lose a fair amount even buying nearly new but as I say, if he keeps it for 10 years plus it's not so bad. 

 

The A45 has a fair few gearbox related issues showing up already, while currently covered under warranty with Merc I dont know what kinda cost they'd be to fix outside of that, I would guess a lot. The other two seem ok, few turbo related issues with the RS3 and the odd DSG issue. BM has a 8 speed auto, it's not a dual clutch as I thought but drove very very well and seems to be robust (so far). 

 

Whichever he goes for it will be covered under manufacturer warranty for a couple of years at least. 

Edited 18 December, 20169 yr by matt1chelski

One I posted earlier on another thread a few weeks ago.

http://usedcars.bmw.co.uk/1-Series/3.0-M135i/London/3415256-605966265-3497283.aspx?srcmdc=se_na_re_

There were a few under £30k demo car nationally if you are prepared to travel to get the best deal

That also includes M240i's at £5k discounts .Pre-reg delivery mileage or demo

One I posted earlier on another thread a few weeks ago.

http://usedcars.bmw.co.uk/1-Series/3.0-M135i/London/3415256-605966265-3497283.aspx?srcmdc=se_na_re_

There were a few under £30k demo car nationally if you are prepared to travel to get the best deal

That also includes M240i's at £5k discounts .Pre-reg delivery mileage or demo

 

That is a very good price for what is a new car in all but name. My mate already has a list of must haves spec wise though :D Pro nav, heated seats and Harmon Kardon are all deal breakers. I've found plenty with decent spec, like you say it might involve travelling but it's a big purchase so if needs must. Plus we go to Belgium for a waffle so Newcastle for a car is nothing. 

I'm hung over so I might not be fully understanding :D

........

I'm just comparing the attitude to depreciation from the one who paid for it new, to that of the one who paid b all but knows that it's cheap only if nothing exy breaks.