E91 330d Touring
Discussion
As much as I loved (and still do) my B5 RS4, I was simply not using it for various reasons:
Short drive to work didn't get it remotely warmed up enough
I always ended up driving the gf's Mini Clubman Cooper D instead
Rear leg room for the kids is very bad
I hated parking it anywhere
We want to do some travelling and visit places a far
So, a 330d was the obvious answer!
Something a bit newer, better economy, more useable everyday, more rear legroom, more toys and more modern.
I wanted quite a specific spec, which I soon realised was going to be near impossible to find seeing as they are pretty rare anyway.
The list of must haves were: Manual, iDrive, saloon or Touring, sunroof, alcantara seats (I wasn't impressed with the leather of the ones I looked at, and much prefered alcantara, but they seemed even rarer!), it had to be an M Sport, and finally, and the hardest bit: It must be a rare colour.
I flatly refuse to have another silver car, I hate black due to the nightmare of cleaning them, and that only left dark grey or the rare very nice Le Mans blue ones.
I was about to give up on my search as I was having to make too many compromises, I had even considered buying one with leather and then sourcing some cloth seats, but they didn't seem to exist 2nd hand either.... then I found one on ebay and instantly knew it was the one!
The only compromise has been no sunroof, but that was my lowest priority anyway.
I've ended up with alcantara seats, iDrive, Touring, best of all, a VERY rare colour!
The only thing I'm not certain of is the wheels, but they are changed easily enough and will hopefully do a swap with someone with a bit of cash my way too
I think the colour will be a bit marmite, but I LOVE it!
Deposit has been paid, and dependant on the viewing/test drive I will be picking it up on Sunday afternoon, I can't wait
Sellers pics:
Short drive to work didn't get it remotely warmed up enough
I always ended up driving the gf's Mini Clubman Cooper D instead
Rear leg room for the kids is very bad
I hated parking it anywhere
We want to do some travelling and visit places a far
So, a 330d was the obvious answer!
Something a bit newer, better economy, more useable everyday, more rear legroom, more toys and more modern.
I wanted quite a specific spec, which I soon realised was going to be near impossible to find seeing as they are pretty rare anyway.
The list of must haves were: Manual, iDrive, saloon or Touring, sunroof, alcantara seats (I wasn't impressed with the leather of the ones I looked at, and much prefered alcantara, but they seemed even rarer!), it had to be an M Sport, and finally, and the hardest bit: It must be a rare colour.
I flatly refuse to have another silver car, I hate black due to the nightmare of cleaning them, and that only left dark grey or the rare very nice Le Mans blue ones.
I was about to give up on my search as I was having to make too many compromises, I had even considered buying one with leather and then sourcing some cloth seats, but they didn't seem to exist 2nd hand either.... then I found one on ebay and instantly knew it was the one!
The only compromise has been no sunroof, but that was my lowest priority anyway.
I've ended up with alcantara seats, iDrive, Touring, best of all, a VERY rare colour!
The only thing I'm not certain of is the wheels, but they are changed easily enough and will hopefully do a swap with someone with a bit of cash my way too
I think the colour will be a bit marmite, but I LOVE it!
Deposit has been paid, and dependant on the viewing/test drive I will be picking it up on Sunday afternoon, I can't wait
Sellers pics:
Edited by djdestiny on Wednesday 5th June 09:35
300 mile trip today to collect it, so just about 150 miles driving it so far, and what can I say apart from wow!
I wasn't 100% sure I was making the right move selling my RS4 to get it, but I've already decided it was totally the right move to make.
More photos tomorrow, just this one for now
I wasn't 100% sure I was making the right move selling my RS4 to get it, but I've already decided it was totally the right move to make.
More photos tomorrow, just this one for now
I probably will remap it at some point, I'm undecided about the dpf at the moment.
I'll see how a month or two of my usual driving affects the range for it showing on the idrive.
I wouldn't hesitate to remove it though, it would certainly never be replaced!
As for the RS4, as much as I didn't want to sell it, I didn't mind waving off costs it needed within the next 6 months.... £700 front discs, £300 rear discs, £700 cambelt, 4x 255/35/19 tyres within the next 12 months etc etc!
I simply couldn't justify those sort of running costs for a car that was hardly used
I'll see how a month or two of my usual driving affects the range for it showing on the idrive.
I wouldn't hesitate to remove it though, it would certainly never be replaced!
As for the RS4, as much as I didn't want to sell it, I didn't mind waving off costs it needed within the next 6 months.... £700 front discs, £300 rear discs, £700 cambelt, 4x 255/35/19 tyres within the next 12 months etc etc!
I simply couldn't justify those sort of running costs for a car that was hardly used
Thats one of the reasons I didn't want leather.
I really wasn't impressed with the quality of it overall compared to the leather in my RS4, plus I looked at a 325d with only 60k on the clock and the leather on the side bolsters had worn all the way through!
Not too impressive for that sort of mileage... plus the alcantara seats hold you so much better.
Overall, the seats are much much better than the RS4 Recaros
I really wasn't impressed with the quality of it overall compared to the leather in my RS4, plus I looked at a 325d with only 60k on the clock and the leather on the side bolsters had worn all the way through!
Not too impressive for that sort of mileage... plus the alcantara seats hold you so much better.
Overall, the seats are much much better than the RS4 Recaros
Not much to report so far, apart from really loving driving it!
Yes, its not as quick as my RS4 that it replaced, but thats not the point.
I managed to give it a decent snowfoam, clay and wash today, I LOVE having a car with some colour again, my last 5 or 6 have mostly been grey or silver and it got a bit boring spending hours washing them for them to look no different!
Yes, its not as quick as my RS4 that it replaced, but thats not the point.
I managed to give it a decent snowfoam, clay and wash today, I LOVE having a car with some colour again, my last 5 or 6 have mostly been grey or silver and it got a bit boring spending hours washing them for them to look no different!
I paid £9500, which is fairly strong money compared to some.
However, the spec was exactly what I wanted and very rare, then there's the colour which is even rarer still!
I'm 100% happy with it and think it was worth every penny.
There isn't a single car park ding, dent or scratch on it and the interior is totally spotless and unmarked with no wear on any of the seats or plastics
However, the spec was exactly what I wanted and very rare, then there's the colour which is even rarer still!
I'm 100% happy with it and think it was worth every penny.
There isn't a single car park ding, dent or scratch on it and the interior is totally spotless and unmarked with no wear on any of the seats or plastics
I sat in both cloth and leather seats before buying, and found the cloth ones were much nicer.
I knew instantly that I didn't want leather after that.
I was really disappointed with the quality of the leather too, and 60k cars I sat in had completely worn bolsters which really put me off too
I knew instantly that I didn't want leather after that.
I was really disappointed with the quality of the leather too, and 60k cars I sat in had completely worn bolsters which really put me off too
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff