Car to sit on the drive for occasional long haul use.

[Herman Toothrot]

Is an E46 330ci or E46 325i cab a sensible choice that will just work and cost bugger all to run / get through the MOT each year. When I say occasional use I mean it'll be sat without being touched for maybe a month or 2 then be expected to be work fine driven everyday for 2 weeks ~4000 miles, then parked up again for 2 months or more and repeat? I've arrived at these options as effectively mundane cars so should cope with neglect but offer a bit of fun and be comfortable for when they are used.

[Herman Toothrot]

davepoth said:

www.enterprise.co.uk
www.hertz.co.uk
www.avis.co.uk
www.budget.co.uk

I originally looked to hire something but anything vaguely interesting means it's cheaper to just buy the car.

[Herman Toothrot]

Can't be garaged as my motorbikes have the garage. I should add its main use will be Europe wide where the driving is a big part of the trip, i.e. I want something less boring than my A6 2.7T Quattro to do such trips in.

[Herman Toothrot]

StuntmanMike said:

OP my 330CI often sits for weeks on end, but postes have mde the point that a hire car would be best, I agree and its got to be cheaper as well.

That's promising. Do you know if they are cars that leak at all or have any battery draining issues when left, leaking into the interior ans electrics seems the best way to kill cars that sit about.

[Herman Toothrot]

Test driver said:

Caterham or Westfield?

No.

[Herman Toothrot]

BorkFactor said:

I see no problem with this at all, my E46 sat in my garage for over 6 months and fired straight up once I had charged the battery and has been in daily use since its MOT, no problems at all.

Keep an eye on the levels and make sure there is a good battery in it

Good, the way I see it going to a hire company for a "premium" car it'll always be small engines and paying a price ~£500-£600 a week so 6 weeks use in a year would pay for something like this :-

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

Can always sell it a year later to get some money back, only think that'd ruin the plan is finding the foot wells full of water (ok more of a risk on a cab) or other standing maladies, reason I'm not considering a £3K Boxster for example is the rads would probably rot themselves out and the pistons attach them selves to the bores in no time at all (ok thats possibly an exageration ;-) ).

Reason I don't trade the Audi in is its a shed for carting filthy dogs about, mates covered in mud from mountain biking - bought because its huge and good for that sort of thing. Its also good at munching motorway miles but when you want to drive the mountain roads in Northern Spain or Austria its a bit too much of a barge, its only the Mrs and I no dogs on holiday so don't need the space (do need comfort though or the Mrs will never agree that's the next years holidays).

[Herman Toothrot]

Bill said:

Doesn't she like the MR2?

Not at all, to be fair it's horrid on motorways about 4500rpm @ 70mph and in recent months has gone buckets harnesses, half cage etc :-)