Best Smoker Barges 1-5 large [Vol 4]

[E38Ross]

Chrisw666 said:

I think what GP is getting at isn't related to the amount of power more the ease and lack of effort required to produce the useable power in the eyes of the average driver.

Bigger petrol engines do torquey wafting well, but a lot of drivers never access that extra power you refer to that the 335i has. If you think of something like a 2.0tdi lump found in a 3 or 5 series and consider how much quicker that lump makes the car feel to a person who never pushes their car past 3 or 4000 rpm on the road versus a 3.0 straight six that isn't producing peak torque until over 4500rpm or even how thirsty a turbo charged 3.0 six would seem in comparison for the performance they use.

I know people who've owned reasonably quick petrol cars and have moaned they're slow but they never use the range of revs available. The same people think a 1.9 tdi vag lump is something out of a supercar.

that's because people drive petrols like diesels. using the 335i vs 335d as an example. if you floor it at 30% peak rpm (circa 1500rpm 335d and 2100rpm in the 335i) and assuming the gears go to the same top speed the diesel won't be making any more power because it's not revving as high, despite producing more torque. if you don't take absolute engine speed as the be all and end all, but take % of max rpm instead then there is a very little difference between turbo diesel and turbo petrol.

example.....if 3rd in both 335d and 335i goes to 100mph then both were to floor it from 30mph in 3rd you would assume the diesel would be quicker as it has more torque, but it's not that simple. sure, floor it from 1500rpm or 2000rpm in both and the petrol will be slower...but then it would be in a much taller gear effectively (because max rpm in that gear would go higher than in the diesel).

make sense?

[Chrisw666]

E38Ross said:

that's because people drive petrols like diesels.

:

The rest lf it makes sense, and I understand the engineering differences. However most people like diesels and its easier for folk like us to adjust our expectations of what ten year old barges will be like in 5 or 6 years time than trying to edumacate the general public that we think petrols are better at everything but mpg when you compare apples with apples and that we want them to buy them new so we can profit from the depreciation.

[Baryonyx]

Chrisw666 said:

The Newcastle reference was to where G bought his track E36 from.

I couldn't speak for County Durham. Never really looked into buying cars from there though they do pop up on Autotrader/Ebay etc etc when I'm searching and generally, don't look any better or worse than anywhere else.

Newcastle is a mixed bag for car sales. There are a lot of halfway decent car dealers and plenty of shabby ones too. Similarly, I'd be wary buying used from some areas and more than happy to buy from others. Jesmond, Gosforth, Tynemouth etc etc shouldn't be too bad. Benwell, Scotswood and Walker I would avoid if looking to buy privately! It is certainly not somewhere I would be put off by (unlike say, Tower Hamlets, Birmingham or Bradford). I used to live in Newcastle and I've bought a few cars there too!

The real treasure in Newcastle is really just over the border in Northumberland. Avoiding the northern coastal population centres in Northumberland like Blyth and Ashington, the cars there can be superb, especially when buying privately. You've got lots of affluent little places, mile after mile of country roads and hence, lots of sports car and other nice used cars. Places like Wylam, Corbridge, Belsay, Rothbury etc etc...you can buy some fantastic cars round there. Lots of the 'ideal sellers' out there; namely older retired men who were professionals with garages at home and a choice selection of well looked after cars. Plenty of farmers and country types selling too if cheap Range Rovers are your thing. Not only that, but most of Northumberland is rural too, which can mean some awesome bargains when buying used cars as the seller knows that speculative buyers, especially those who will travel to come and see the car, can be few and far between.

[Emeye]

Well, I'm sad to say I waved goodbye to my e34 525 tonight.

IMO the E34 is one of the the best looking saloon ever, and along with the fantastic build quality and reliability a well looked after one is a lovely thing and current asking prices make them a real bargain.

Doing the sums:

Original purchase last October for £550 thanks to a post on here which I saw on my phone while hair cut just a couple of miles away from the dealer.
Fuel flap hinge was broke, and cheapest place to buy a replacement was surprisingly the BMW dealer for £10.
December, MOT, failed on a ball joint £100 all in.
Just Sold for £450

So 550+110-450=

£210 for 12 months motoring exc. fuel and insurance!

Ok, so I only do a 14 miles a day commute and the fuel economy wasn't great, but on the long motorway runs I did it was amazing. Everything worked, nothing went wrong other than the ball joint.

So a cheap year of luxury barging for nowt.

ETA. And the cherry on the cake was I sold it using a free PH advert I get for being a long term member.

Edited by Emeye on Wednesday 10th October 22:20

[ATM]

4.4 x5 in green with beige and wood for 3300.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=1...

[Fox-]

ATM said:

4.4 x5 in green with beige and wood for 3300.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=1...

Errr its an auction with 5 days left to run starting at £3300. It's also got terrible service history (Nothing for 6 years and 50,000 miles?!), is borked and is pretty shabby. You'd have to be bonkers to waste time even thinking about it.

[V8Wagon]

How long till something like this drops within sight of thread budget?

Sooooooooooo much motor for much cheepness!

I know, I know it's the wrong thread but I just thought I'd mention it here.....it's a barge and I like it!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/05-AUDI-A6-SE-QUATTRO-AV...

[W00DY]

I can't stop thinking about that CX; If i could, I really would.

Anyway...




http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

Ridiculous value mini-barging.

[Rollcage]

W00DY said:

I can't stop thinking about that CX; If i could, I really would.

Anyway...




http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

Ridiculous value mini-barging.

Fabulous looking things, the 159s, but that one has the wrong sort of V6!

[Baryonyx]

V8Wagon said:

How long till something like this drops within sight of thread budget?

Sooooooooooo much motor for much cheepness!

I know, I know it's the wrong thread but I just thought I'd mention it here.....it's a barge and I like it!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/05-AUDI-A6-SE-QUATTRO-AV...

Give it a couple of years and it will be nearly ten years old and well within thread budget. Lovely car though, no doubt it will be a nice one but the air bag suspension will need to be watched. I'm not overly keen on the slightly naff looking leather gear gaiter either, or the cheap looking plastic surround on the centre console (who not put some nice wood there?).

That said, I was recently in a 2009 3.0TDi Allroad and it was lovely. Big plush leather seats, a decent splash of wood around the interior, quite quiet for a diesel.

[bmthnick1981]

Fox- said:

ATM said:

4.4 x5 in green with beige and wood for 3300.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=1...

Errr its an auction with 5 days left to run starting at £3300. It's also got terrible service history (Nothing for 6 years and 50,000 miles?!), is borked and is pretty shabby. You'd have to be bonkers to waste time even thinking about it.

Saw 2 x X5's at the auction on Tues;

1 x 2000 X reg 4.4 with 100k went for £3300

1 x 2002 52 reg 3.0i with 100k went for £4100

Both looked tidy, cant remember MOT / Tax on either but they bot had SH and looked smart enough for the money. Clearly a punt, but one i'd take in due course I think.

[GBB]

Great Pretender said:

260E anyone? Rarest of the '124 clan.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-260-E-AUTO...

"BLACK WITH BLUE FABRICK TRIM" - is this a specifically designed MB fabric for Garlick?

r129sl said:

It's cooler than that. But only you, me and a handful of others know it. Everyone else thinks a 520d is cooler!

Unfortunately too true. It seems badges are more important to many.

Was stopped in the MX5 by a friend who wanted to have a look at it, whilst he waxed lyrical about the value, the kid (not his) he had in tow asked - "so is this old car any good in the snow".

Zwolf said:

RenesisEvo said:

So I wonder whether an E39 530i Sport would be a reasonable compromise.

It's a brilliant all-rounder and perfectly adequate for all sane people. However...

RenesisEvo said:

But would I regret not going for the full-strength one? Would I regret 'compromising'? Will all the anguish and fear over costs and reliability disappear when I turn the key?

...from personal experience, the answers to all those questions are in the affirmative.

All true, a 530i is all the car you need, but it's missing that V8 Soundtrack. You'll feel better about the 530i when your not driving it, but better about the fuller strength models when you are behind the wheel. Perversely that's when they'll be costing you money. Same here, I keep thinking I need to get a smaller engine but listening to the V8 at full chat eases my conscience.

Great Pretender said:

Want:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1990-MERCEDES-500-SEC-AU...

"Now crossed off my list and on to the next" - another person with the same affliction!

[GBB]

bmthnick1981 said:

Saw 2 x X5's at the auction on Tues;

1 x 2000 X reg 4.4 with 100k went for £3300

1 x 2002 52 reg 3.0i with 100k went for £4100

Both looked tidy, cant remember MOT / Tax on either but they bot had SH and looked smart enough for the money. Clearly a punt, but one i'd take in due course I think.

Interesting, I suspect one might be a replacement for the E39. Prices look fairly high on all the ones I see advertised so interesting to see what they actually go for at Auction. The 52 3.0i would be spot on, suprised it fetched so little above the older V8.

[ATM]

Baryonyx said:

V8Wagon said:

How long till something like this drops within sight of thread budget?

Sooooooooooo much motor for much cheepness!

I know, I know it's the wrong thread but I just thought I'd mention it here.....it's a barge and I like it!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/05-AUDI-A6-SE-QUATTRO-AV...

Give it a couple of years and it will be nearly ten years old and well within thread budget. Lovely car though, no doubt it will be a nice one but the air bag suspension will need to be watched. I'm not overly keen on the slightly naff looking leather gear gaiter either, or the cheap looking plastic surround on the centre console (who not put some nice wood there?).

That said, I was recently in a 2009 3.0TDi Allroad and it was lovely. Big plush leather seats, a decent splash of wood around the interior, quite quiet for a diesel.

I still think the 2004 S6 a few pages back for 6k-ish was a very good buy. Every time I go banging over the smallest bumps in the road in my super hard S4 I think to myself maybe its the bigger 6 I need with this v8 in.

[Quietlybonkers]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Agreed - my 3 litre A8 diesel, despite being 8 years old, is the quietest car i have ever owned (and I have had two LS400s in the past)

[SpeckledJim]

bmthnick1981 said:

Saw 2 x X5's at the auction on Tues;

1 x 2000 X reg 4.4 with 100k went for £3300

1 x 2002 52 reg 3.0i with 100k went for £4100

Both looked tidy, cant remember MOT / Tax on either but they bot had SH and looked smart enough for the money. Clearly a punt, but one i'd take in due course I think.

Anyone any experience of the difference in fuel economy between these in the real world please? (20 mile commute, 17 miles A roads, 3 miles urban)

[louiebaby]

SpeckledJim said:

bmthnick1981 said:

Saw 2 x X5's at the auction on Tues;

1 x 2000 X reg 4.4 with 100k went for £3300

1 x 2002 52 reg 3.0i with 100k went for £4100

Both looked tidy, cant remember MOT / Tax on either but they bot had SH and looked smart enough for the money. Clearly a punt, but one i'd take in due course I think.

Anyone any experience of the difference in fuel economy between these in the real world please? (20 mile commute, 17 miles A roads, 3 miles urban)

Not personally, but the £800 difference is good chunk to cover it. Would the 3 litre struggle a bit when it's loaded up?

[SpeckledJim]

louiebaby said:

Not personally, but the £800 difference is good chunk to cover it. Would the 3 litre struggle a bit when it's loaded up?

This is the missus' real-world dream car, so oomph isn't really a factor.

She's dropping to three days when she goes back to work (after our first child) and having one of these would liberate some fleet bandwidth for something less sensible to complement. If we can tolerate the fuel consumption, that is.

I've tried to sell her on an E39 touring (I've had one before, and she quite liked it) but she really wants an X5 or a P38 RR.

[Output Flange]

ATM said:

I still think the 2004 S6 a few pages back for 6k-ish was a very good buy. Every time I go banging over the smallest bumps in the road in my super hard S4 I think to myself maybe its the bigger 6 I need with this v8 in.

Really? Mine is on 19s with 235/35 tyres and its not bad at all.

[V8mate]

Ok...so it needs a proper haggle to get it down to thread budget... but in these austere times...who knows?

This is a proper smoker barge... in fact, the interior looks as if it's been made of smoking jackets.