Help chosing a fast luxury barge
Discussion
Hi Chaps and Chappesses,
Looking for some sage advice to help me in my quest for a big engined luxury barge that I can use to waft up and down from the airport as part of my weekly commute to Europe.
My commute goes like this: Drive to the airport – approx 50 miles each way, mixed A, B and Motorway roads) – park up, waste the best part of a day sitting in airports and on planes, work abroad for a few days and then do the reverse journey home. The work is great, but the travelling is breaking my balls and I am looking for a way to lessen the pain (without resorting to illegal substances!).
At the moment I am hoofing to and from the airport in a clunky old Discovery 2, which whilst perfectly effective and cheap, is not relaxing or particularly enjoyable.
In an effort to lessen the pain I am thinking about buying a big oldish barge to add some level of comfort and even pleasure to the driving part of the journey. I usually get back to the UK on Friday evening and driving home in an old Land Rover when tired and in a hurry is not a lot of fun.
After some simple Man Maths is has become clear that I absolutely must have a stupidly luxurious, huge petrol engined limo. I know full well that a little Fiesta would do the job perfectly well, but that’s not the point. Silly to spend half my life sitting in cramped aeroplane seats next to smelly, sneezing weirdoes just so that I can drive to the airport in a shopping trolley. I don’t want to do this commute in a sensible car, I want to do it in a stupidly comfortable, fast and luxurious one!
Having said all of that I definitely do not want to spend silly money on a newish luxury barge that will depreciate faster than an England cricket team batting collapse.
With all this in mind I’m thinking of something post 2000 and pre 2006 (lower road tax) with up to say 90k on the clock. It will need to have an excellent service history and cost under about £8k. I'll probably trade the Disco in against it.
One other thing - I don’t really want to buy a car that will overlap too much with my other fun car (TVR Chimaera 500) so a coupe / soft top is probably not ideal. (Have been drawn to the BMW 645i / 650i but I worry that the overlap will mean the recently acquired Chim will stay unused)
Lastly I don’t want to buy in to a crazy money pit and I can’t afford to miss any flights as a result of break downs.
So what do you folks recommend? I’m thinking along the lines of something German with a rock solid V8 (750i, 545i, S Class, Big Audi). I don’t do massive miles so fuel costs are not a huge issue – up to a point - and the big displacement petrol models are generally much better value from what I can see.
So, am I being unrealistic in my expectations? Will I get what I am after for the £8k mark or will I basically be buying something with eye watering running costs?
All suggestions and advice greatly appreciated.
I’m in Lanarkshire in Scotland so if you know of any really genuine and well looked after candidates feel free to point me in the right direction. (I have seen a few cars that looked good on paper but the dealers had hideous reputations so I walked right on by)
Apologies for the ramble and thanks for the help
Cheers
TD
Looking for some sage advice to help me in my quest for a big engined luxury barge that I can use to waft up and down from the airport as part of my weekly commute to Europe.
My commute goes like this: Drive to the airport – approx 50 miles each way, mixed A, B and Motorway roads) – park up, waste the best part of a day sitting in airports and on planes, work abroad for a few days and then do the reverse journey home. The work is great, but the travelling is breaking my balls and I am looking for a way to lessen the pain (without resorting to illegal substances!).
At the moment I am hoofing to and from the airport in a clunky old Discovery 2, which whilst perfectly effective and cheap, is not relaxing or particularly enjoyable.
In an effort to lessen the pain I am thinking about buying a big oldish barge to add some level of comfort and even pleasure to the driving part of the journey. I usually get back to the UK on Friday evening and driving home in an old Land Rover when tired and in a hurry is not a lot of fun.
After some simple Man Maths is has become clear that I absolutely must have a stupidly luxurious, huge petrol engined limo. I know full well that a little Fiesta would do the job perfectly well, but that’s not the point. Silly to spend half my life sitting in cramped aeroplane seats next to smelly, sneezing weirdoes just so that I can drive to the airport in a shopping trolley. I don’t want to do this commute in a sensible car, I want to do it in a stupidly comfortable, fast and luxurious one!
Having said all of that I definitely do not want to spend silly money on a newish luxury barge that will depreciate faster than an England cricket team batting collapse.
With all this in mind I’m thinking of something post 2000 and pre 2006 (lower road tax) with up to say 90k on the clock. It will need to have an excellent service history and cost under about £8k. I'll probably trade the Disco in against it.
One other thing - I don’t really want to buy a car that will overlap too much with my other fun car (TVR Chimaera 500) so a coupe / soft top is probably not ideal. (Have been drawn to the BMW 645i / 650i but I worry that the overlap will mean the recently acquired Chim will stay unused)
Lastly I don’t want to buy in to a crazy money pit and I can’t afford to miss any flights as a result of break downs.
So what do you folks recommend? I’m thinking along the lines of something German with a rock solid V8 (750i, 545i, S Class, Big Audi). I don’t do massive miles so fuel costs are not a huge issue – up to a point - and the big displacement petrol models are generally much better value from what I can see.
So, am I being unrealistic in my expectations? Will I get what I am after for the £8k mark or will I basically be buying something with eye watering running costs?
All suggestions and advice greatly appreciated.
I’m in Lanarkshire in Scotland so if you know of any really genuine and well looked after candidates feel free to point me in the right direction. (I have seen a few cars that looked good on paper but the dealers had hideous reputations so I walked right on by)
Apologies for the ramble and thanks for the help
Cheers
TD
X350 shape Jaguar XJR. Extremely comfortable and a 4.2 supercharged V8 which puts out 400BHP, with 450+ BHP achievable with a few simple mods
Something like this would be perfect, or you could get the "super V8" which is effectively the same car without the R badging.
XJR: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-Xj-Series-Saloon-...
Super V8: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-53-JAGUAR-XJ8-XJ-SE...
Something like this would be perfect, or you could get the "super V8" which is effectively the same car without the R badging.
XJR: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-Xj-Series-Saloon-...
Super V8: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-53-JAGUAR-XJ8-XJ-SE...
S class? http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/vehicle.cfm?Accoun...
Porsche Cayenne? http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/vehicle.cfm?Accoun...
Both in Dunfermline but slightly out of budget.
Porsche Cayenne? http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/vehicle.cfm?Accoun...
Both in Dunfermline but slightly out of budget.
Lexus LS430.
It excels at covering long distances in supreme comfort, and has no sporty pretensions whatsoever. This sounds like it might be what you are looking for.
Stupidly comfortable - check. Very quiet and soft, a proper limo (i.e. it's not trying to be sporty).
Stupidly luxurious - check. It comes with pretty much everything, including double glazing and self closing doors.
Large engined - check, assuming a 4.3L V8 meets your definition of large engined.
Fast - depends on your definition of fast I guess, but they are certainly not slow.
Antithesis of your TVR - check. See above.
You should get a good one within your age and price bracket. These cars tend to stay in the dealer network so you may well find one with full dealer service history and you may even find one in the Lexus approved used scheme (not sure).
IMHO, at this end of the market it's not about the purchase price, it's about the bork factor. As they get older, big luxury limos can become money pits very quickly. The Lexuses (Lexi?) are renowned for reliability and if you buy a decent one it is likely that all of the gadgets will still work, and will stay working. The drivetrain is not cutting edge but it's very well engineered and has a reputation for being bulletproof.
It excels at covering long distances in supreme comfort, and has no sporty pretensions whatsoever. This sounds like it might be what you are looking for.
Stupidly comfortable - check. Very quiet and soft, a proper limo (i.e. it's not trying to be sporty).
Stupidly luxurious - check. It comes with pretty much everything, including double glazing and self closing doors.
Large engined - check, assuming a 4.3L V8 meets your definition of large engined.
Fast - depends on your definition of fast I guess, but they are certainly not slow.
Antithesis of your TVR - check. See above.
You should get a good one within your age and price bracket. These cars tend to stay in the dealer network so you may well find one with full dealer service history and you may even find one in the Lexus approved used scheme (not sure).
IMHO, at this end of the market it's not about the purchase price, it's about the bork factor. As they get older, big luxury limos can become money pits very quickly. The Lexuses (Lexi?) are renowned for reliability and if you buy a decent one it is likely that all of the gadgets will still work, and will stay working. The drivetrain is not cutting edge but it's very well engineered and has a reputation for being bulletproof.
Hmm, some interesting suggestions already. Thanks.
Quite like the Super V8 Jag I have to say. Great service history too.
The Lexus option makes perfect sense - except I have never really liked them for some reason. Guess I should try one and see how it compares.
Porsche Cayenne. Tempting, but again I can't quite decide if I like the image. That said would be interesting to try a Porsche for a while though!
TD
Quite like the Super V8 Jag I have to say. Great service history too.
The Lexus option makes perfect sense - except I have never really liked them for some reason. Guess I should try one and see how it compares.
Porsche Cayenne. Tempting, but again I can't quite decide if I like the image. That said would be interesting to try a Porsche for a while though!
TD
XJR,nothing will touch it for the money. 8k will get you an immaculate x308 or early x350 
Actually thinking about it, even 5k will get you a very good x308, I've been stalking the jag forum on here and there is an excellent wealth of knowledge and numerous buying guides with those guys.
Actually thinking about it, even 5k will get you a very good x308, I've been stalking the jag forum on here and there is an excellent wealth of knowledge and numerous buying guides with those guys.
Edited by RichGault on Sunday 23 March 13:37
LS430 is the answer. You'll find a nice one for £8k which shouldn't have eye watering running costs. They're not even too bad on fuel.
I like X350's but if you do buy a relatively cheap one and plan to do a lot of miles it is worth buying an old LS400 as well to use when it is being fixed (I know of people who have done this!).
I like X350's but if you do buy a relatively cheap one and plan to do a lot of miles it is worth buying an old LS400 as well to use when it is being fixed (I know of people who have done this!).
I went the exact opposite way. I was driving weekly to heathrow ~50 miles each way and parking at 'Park 1' . Got fed up with coming back to find the jag caked in filth. I also disliked leaving it in tight spaces where it could suffer door dings and bag damage. To give this a bit of context my old XJ8 (now have an XJR) was parked at the airport and some b
d decided that the big flat boot was the perfect place to put their bag. Then drag it all the way across to the other side. Said bag clearly had metal feet leaving 4 down to the metal gouges across the boot.
I happened to have a £600 snotter sat on my drive that I use to teach the kids to drive - a Daewoo Lanos. So I just used that instead.
Driving 50 miles is hardly long distance , usually <1 hour in the early morning so no need to get out the Barge for such a short journey.
d decided that the big flat boot was the perfect place to put their bag. Then drag it all the way across to the other side. Said bag clearly had metal feet leaving 4 down to the metal gouges across the boot.I happened to have a £600 snotter sat on my drive that I use to teach the kids to drive - a Daewoo Lanos. So I just used that instead.
Driving 50 miles is hardly long distance , usually <1 hour in the early morning so no need to get out the Barge for such a short journey.
yes, one of these is this answer if you like plasticky tat. Dodsy said:
I went the exact opposite way. I was driving weekly to heathrow ~50 miles each way and parking at 'Park 1' . Got fed up with coming back to find the jag caked in filth. I also disliked leaving it in tight spaces where it could suffer door dings and bag damage. To give this a bit of context my old XJ8 (now have an XJR) was parked at the airport and some bd decided that the big flat boot was the perfect place to put their bag. Then drag it all the way across to the other side. Said bag clearly had metal feet leaving 4 down to the metal gouges across the boot.
I happened to have a £600 snotter sat on my drive that I use to teach the kids to drive - a Daewoo Lanos. So I just used that instead.
Driving 50 miles is hardly long distance , usually <1 hour in the early morning so no need to get out the Barge for such a short journey.
Yup, I have to say your logic can not be faulted. d decided that the big flat boot was the perfect place to put their bag. Then drag it all the way across to the other side. Said bag clearly had metal feet leaving 4 down to the metal gouges across the boot.I happened to have a £600 snotter sat on my drive that I use to teach the kids to drive - a Daewoo Lanos. So I just used that instead.
Driving 50 miles is hardly long distance , usually <1 hour in the early morning so no need to get out the Barge for such a short journey.
Perhaps I need to be honest with myself. I think I just fancy driving a big luxury car for a while. I have a feeling this will prove to be an expensive itch to scratch!
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