The Biggest Mistake of My Life - Not Test Driving a Car

[av185]

Give the car to your wife as a very generous gift, preferably as all of her birthday or Christmas present. You offload your nightmare car in the process, acquire big time brownie points, potentially have no expensive present buying or birthday and Christmas shopping to worry about and you get to walk or cycle the 4 miles to and from the station every day, keeping superfit in the process and extending your life expectancy considerably. Win win.........:

[Blown2CV]

if i was just going to the station every day I'd be taking Mrs 2CV's Citroen C1 and leaving her the Golf R. Station car parks are one of the most harsh environments if you value your bodywork, only beaten by supermarkets. At least in a supermarket however, there are areas with free spaces where if you don't mind a walk you won't get dinged and scraped. I don't think she'd be pleased if I 'gave' her the car for a birthday present as she gets to drive it anyway, and would prefer shoes.

[braddo]

Possibly, the OP hates the car only because of the long drive home from buying it. For the 20 miles a week of regular driving it won't be anywhere near as bad. Take it for a 15 minute rag around some good local roads on a Sunday morning and you might find you like the car despite its Noddycar driving position.

If you're happy having another new car which is probably depreciating as much as the M135i was (i.e. you're probabably not actually saving much money from having changed cars), I don't see much of a big mistake.

[DrDoofenshmirtz]

It's a girls car - what did you expect?
In fact, stop buying girls cars full stop. Your last one wasn't much better.

Harsh but true right?

[ashway]

Martin_M said:

ashway said:

not really,

seem to remember you weren't that keen on the rear wheel drive Boxster either

wow - I'm impressed you remember. It's common knowledge I prefer fwd but of all my cars, my Porsche was my favourite. But feel free to add another bhy comment in there chap.

not bhy at all fella, it's you thats posted about not getting on with your cars. My recollection stems from subscribing to the same sub forums as you, porsche/BMW/M/italian because i own or have owned said models.

By consistently making wrong choices its causing you consternation and costing you££££££. if you don't want people to comment on your thread don't post in the first place, I would suggest other comments have been far more cutting than mine but hey ho thats your opinion.

Good luck with your next one or seat lowering or whatever you decide to do;)

[Matttracker]

If you have a such a short use for the car, then as someone said, why have you gone for this car? You could have any bigger fast car. You seem not to like rwd so don't get another porsche next get something like a cooper s works or a golf R, a fast 4wd.
You don't need the top spec car in the range, a BMW 330 can be nearly as fun as an m3 same as many other cars

You could look into swapping out the seats for some recaro CS, or something. Or just spend sometime with the car having fun, and maybe hopefully you'll get used to it.

[AyBee]

DrDoofenshmirtz said:

It's a girls car - what did you expect?
In fact, stop buying girls cars full stop. Your last one wasn't much better.

Harsh but true right?

Wrong. I'll assume you haven't driven either!

I won't kick you because you're already down, but as someone else said, join an Abarth forum and see what other tall owners have done to get comfortable, you won't be the only 6'3" guy who has one. For the sake of a couple of hundred £, you may find a solution that suits.

[DottyMR2]

I'm a tad perplexed why you chose the Abarth too. I don't see how it is a better station car than the BMW apart from it's smaller.

You still have a new car you don't want to be abused which is exactly what will hapenn in a train station car park.

For the money you got for the BMW, why did you not buy a £1k barge/battletank to go to the station in that you care not a bit in? It's actually liberating having a car you couldn't care less what happens to it, dump it where you like. If you got an estate or something it could be used as a tip car/work horse sort of idea.
Then with the extra wedge left over, buy something tuely brilliant like an exige, vx220, 7-esqe car etc. etc. etc. basically whatever fun car you want that doesn't have to be comfortable/practical at all and you can just get something you really really want.

Would be the more sensible way I'd say, after all, how much fun can you have on a 10 mile trip to the station at peak times? Would make sense to not waste money there and keep it for something you can truely enjoy and not ahve to worry about running costs on.

[Blown2CV]

£400 a month is a waste of money for a car to be sat there and not driven, but £300, that's fine! Also I may have misread but if you're a giant, why did you buy a small car without a test drive? I am sure (or, I hope) these are all questions you are asking yourself. So, I guess the recommendation, if that is what's sought, is to sell it. Not much of a surprise!

[Bennet]

Hi OP.

A few months ago we bought my wife a Z4 and I could not believe how crap it was to drive given all this "ultimate driving machine" bks.

I normally go for an up close to the wheel, on it, "fully in control" driving position. Probably the 7th or 8th time I drove it, I tried putting the seat a lot further back and treating the thing like a cruiser. Suddenly the whole experience was a lot better. I still can't say I like it, but getting comfy required a different approach and a slightly different attitude to my driving style.

It's possible the fiat requires something similar. Do whatever you have to do to get comfy, then learn to drive it from that position. Just a thought.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

i regret most cars even after a test drive! i never drive them long enough as dealers are tight around here so same as you i sit in it drive it for 10 minutes think yeah thats fine then first time i go on a proper drive or the last one on the drive home realize i dont fit or that the seating position is off or seats are really uncomfortable

i live with it best i can and constantly look at cars to replace them with to start again

[2DDav]

If you reckon the seat going further back would help then I can give you the number for a place that can fit seat rail extensions which will give more rearward adjustment. Been a while since we last had any fitted but the cost was around £200. He;s located near Falkirk, so on the basis your getting the train to Glasgow Im guessing possibly not a million miles away.

[Blown2CV]

2DDav said:

If you reckon the seat going further back would help then I can give you the number for a place that can fit seat rail extensions which will give more rearward adjustment. Been a while since we last had any fitted but the cost was around £200. He;s located near Falkirk, so on the basis your getting the train to Glasgow Im guessing possibly not a million miles away.

that plus a sunroof and you've got a pretty cool ejector seat!

[crazy about cars]

Probably a case of buyers remorse and trying to get some sympathy plus potential buyer.

[Efbe]

Martin_M said:

ashway said:

not really,

seem to remember you weren't that keen on the rear wheel drive Boxster either

wow - I'm impressed you remember. It's common knowledge I prefer fwd but of all my cars, my Porsche was my favourite. But feel free to add another bhy comment in there chap.

OP, it sounds as if your motivations for buying a car are all wrong.

personally I will only buy a car if it is great at something. doesn't matter what too much, but I want to be able to appreciate it for that. My current alfa is fking gorgeous, had a 328i, the best estate car for a grand, had a drz400, the best endurance for a grand, a jeep cherokee the best offroading but still good on road with 5 seats, a skyline, the cheapest you can go decently fast and still have space for a family, etc etc.
I would also never buy two similar cars twice in a row.

but a boxster, a 135 and a 595, I just can't see these being all that. for every one there seem to be better cars I would prefer to be in.

Mind you I also generally start looking into what car I want next a few months after I get a new one. prob takes me 9 months or so to be certain