Singapore taxi turned mum taxi - 2 Series Gran Tourer
Discussion
My partners' company car went back last week, a VW ID.3. She never liked it, but I strangely really enjoyed driving it depsite not being the first thing you think of for thrills. I will miss it.
She would be buying a replacement with her own money, and she wanted to spend as little as possible without going into shed/money pit teritory. We already have my Mercedes AMG GLB35 as the family 7-seater but I, perhaps selfishly, thought if I could encourage her to go for a 7-seat vehicle it opens up my options more when it comes to replacing it.
We spent a couple of weeks sharing Autotrader links, but she's never been keen on BMW's so I didn't show her the 2-Series Gran Tourer initially, even though I thought they could be a good option. After running out of ideas (and a real danger she would buy a Citroen Picasso or Land Rover Discovery...), I found a nice one and thought it was worth a shot...
The one I showed her was a 216d 'Luxury' model. Instantly, this took me back to the reading magazine articles about the launch of the F30 3-Series with the 'Modern', 'Luxury' & 'Sport' trims. They didn't last long, but I remember liking the elegance of the Luxury models.
It was a 2016 car with just over 50,000 miles, priced under £10k. White with a tan interior, she instantly liked it and, as it was a Saturday afternoon and she's rather impusive by nature, she suggested we go view it. We had just enough time to get over to Manchester before the dealer closed, and he'd confirmed on the phone he'd be there, so we set off.
First thing I noticed on arriving is the car was Mineral White Metallic rather than the advertised Alpine White, which was a plus in my eyes as I've always liked metallic/pearl whites. It was also in very good condition inside and out. He had 4 Gran Tourers for sale with similar specification and registration plates, which lead me to think they were ex-police but he told us they were imported from Singapore!
She took it for a quick drive to see if she'd get on with it, and I messaged a car friend who'd had an imported Honda in the past who told me it wouldn't put him off if the car was decent. We needed time to do a bit of dilligence on it so set off home and told him we'd be in touch, couldn't fault the dealer who was honest and gave me a good vibe.
An online report showed it had 10 services during its time in Singapore, with a fresh one done by the dealer prior to sale. It also had 4 brand new tyres. My only concerns were what the hot and humid climate might have done to any electrics or rubber components, and how the DPF might have coped with the short journeys the car will have been subjected to, but after she managed to agree £700 off the sticker price we concluded there wasn't anything else out there for the price that wouldn't have risks of its own.
We went to pick it up last Thursday in pouring rain. The dealer had put enough diesel in to get us home and after noticing they wipers weren't quite perfect, swapped the blades over before we drove away. Refreshingly good service and a better buying experience than my main dealer Mercedes purchace costing three times more. There was also an excellent coffee shop next door where we dried out a bit before setting off home in with our combined 14-seats.
I got my first go later that day picking up our son from nursery. With 114bhp, I expected it to be slow but it was possibly even slower than I expected. What I didn't expect though was how tight and well built it felt, like a brand new car. I had a motoring ephipany after 20 years driving, I realised there was absolutely no point trying to go quickly in this thing and once that acceptance sunk in, it became one of the most relaxing cars I've ever driven. It also has a feelgood factor to it, the colour combination feels special, it smells really good inside and I like the cars' story. She wants to take the 'Performance Motors' (Singpaore BMW) plate surrounds off it but I'm insisting we keep them!
For the past few days I've found any excuse to drive it. It does over 50mpg around town, I can see it doing 70mpg on a longer run no problem at all.
The car:
Spec wise there are a few oddities being a non-UK car. No heated seats (makes sense, it's never been lower than 19C in Singapore!), no cruise control and no European map in the BMW nav, although it has an aftermarket integrated Apple Car Play system which works well.
I gave it a wash this afternoon. The condition of the paintwork is unbelievable for a 10-year old car, but it can be explained by the relative low mileage, low speed journeys and much better road conditions over there. I struggled to find a stone chip on it, but I did find a small mark on the rear spoiler lip which along with a bracket by the drivers left leg (now removed as it was scratching me), leads me to believe it was some kind of taxi in its past life.
On paper then, a risky purchase but I'm absolutely rooting for it be reliable and serve us well, and even if the odd thing crops up we've got a lot of car for what we paid for it and we can factor that in to any maintenance or repair work it may require.
She would be buying a replacement with her own money, and she wanted to spend as little as possible without going into shed/money pit teritory. We already have my Mercedes AMG GLB35 as the family 7-seater but I, perhaps selfishly, thought if I could encourage her to go for a 7-seat vehicle it opens up my options more when it comes to replacing it.
We spent a couple of weeks sharing Autotrader links, but she's never been keen on BMW's so I didn't show her the 2-Series Gran Tourer initially, even though I thought they could be a good option. After running out of ideas (and a real danger she would buy a Citroen Picasso or Land Rover Discovery...), I found a nice one and thought it was worth a shot...
The one I showed her was a 216d 'Luxury' model. Instantly, this took me back to the reading magazine articles about the launch of the F30 3-Series with the 'Modern', 'Luxury' & 'Sport' trims. They didn't last long, but I remember liking the elegance of the Luxury models.
It was a 2016 car with just over 50,000 miles, priced under £10k. White with a tan interior, she instantly liked it and, as it was a Saturday afternoon and she's rather impusive by nature, she suggested we go view it. We had just enough time to get over to Manchester before the dealer closed, and he'd confirmed on the phone he'd be there, so we set off.
First thing I noticed on arriving is the car was Mineral White Metallic rather than the advertised Alpine White, which was a plus in my eyes as I've always liked metallic/pearl whites. It was also in very good condition inside and out. He had 4 Gran Tourers for sale with similar specification and registration plates, which lead me to think they were ex-police but he told us they were imported from Singapore!
She took it for a quick drive to see if she'd get on with it, and I messaged a car friend who'd had an imported Honda in the past who told me it wouldn't put him off if the car was decent. We needed time to do a bit of dilligence on it so set off home and told him we'd be in touch, couldn't fault the dealer who was honest and gave me a good vibe.
An online report showed it had 10 services during its time in Singapore, with a fresh one done by the dealer prior to sale. It also had 4 brand new tyres. My only concerns were what the hot and humid climate might have done to any electrics or rubber components, and how the DPF might have coped with the short journeys the car will have been subjected to, but after she managed to agree £700 off the sticker price we concluded there wasn't anything else out there for the price that wouldn't have risks of its own.
We went to pick it up last Thursday in pouring rain. The dealer had put enough diesel in to get us home and after noticing they wipers weren't quite perfect, swapped the blades over before we drove away. Refreshingly good service and a better buying experience than my main dealer Mercedes purchace costing three times more. There was also an excellent coffee shop next door where we dried out a bit before setting off home in with our combined 14-seats.
I got my first go later that day picking up our son from nursery. With 114bhp, I expected it to be slow but it was possibly even slower than I expected. What I didn't expect though was how tight and well built it felt, like a brand new car. I had a motoring ephipany after 20 years driving, I realised there was absolutely no point trying to go quickly in this thing and once that acceptance sunk in, it became one of the most relaxing cars I've ever driven. It also has a feelgood factor to it, the colour combination feels special, it smells really good inside and I like the cars' story. She wants to take the 'Performance Motors' (Singpaore BMW) plate surrounds off it but I'm insisting we keep them!
For the past few days I've found any excuse to drive it. It does over 50mpg around town, I can see it doing 70mpg on a longer run no problem at all.
The car:
Spec wise there are a few oddities being a non-UK car. No heated seats (makes sense, it's never been lower than 19C in Singapore!), no cruise control and no European map in the BMW nav, although it has an aftermarket integrated Apple Car Play system which works well.
I gave it a wash this afternoon. The condition of the paintwork is unbelievable for a 10-year old car, but it can be explained by the relative low mileage, low speed journeys and much better road conditions over there. I struggled to find a stone chip on it, but I did find a small mark on the rear spoiler lip which along with a bracket by the drivers left leg (now removed as it was scratching me), leads me to believe it was some kind of taxi in its past life.
On paper then, a risky purchase but I'm absolutely rooting for it be reliable and serve us well, and even if the odd thing crops up we've got a lot of car for what we paid for it and we can factor that in to any maintenance or repair work it may require.
Edited by resolve10 on Saturday 29th August 23:55
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