The Best ///M/Barge/General Rant/Look at this/O/T(Vol XVIII)
Discussion
Happy 2019 chaps. Fabulous posts as usual – real nice examples of the automotive genre with the great taste, beardiness, wibble-factor and variety that are hallmarks of The Thread™. Don't think I can make Bicester sadly, but then the AW11 is tucked up North of the border for now 
To business: a long post to highlight my almost resolved conundrum.
I am currently in the eye of a potentially large storm (of an ostensibly good kind, so I hear) and thus would value a threadista view on what comes next for DM Transport Inc. before I am too poor and distracted to do anything about it. Now back in Das Krapital and mainly using public transport, but will need a vehicle on call for general domestic duties and trips outside the SE - friends and family are mainly SE but also South Wales and Scotlandshire so reasonable long-run manners are pertinent. Said vehicle needs to have headroom for potential minor expansion of familial unit, but I am firmly ruling out vans or SUVs at this stage, unless someone want to gift me a spanking FFRR V8 and an unlimited fuel card
The usual trade-off is that I generally enjoy cars and I (generally) enjoy driving (doh) – even if I am doing much less than 10k miles annually at present, I still fantasise about trips to European destinations as well as tours of our fair shores, punctuated by short bursts of enthusiastic but responsible pedalling, occifer. There is customary need to ensure that practicality – namely reasonable ability to tote people and things without cause for drawing oaths at frequent intervals due to insufficient comfort / convenience / reliability / space or a lack of somewhat sane running costs – is balanced against driver satisfaction.
Limit of expenditure is a "perfect" 10(k) - less is better and will be spent on optimisation. The "Must haves":
Moderately sensible
The pre-facelift (N52) E90/91 appears to tick the most boxes for the least potential fiscal pain, if I could find one – preferably an SE with low-ish miles (up to 80k, but preferably 60k or less) that I can keep and use (minor titivation optional). Still tempted by a three-pedal B6/B7 S4…
Benefit of collective wit and wisdom appreciated.
To business: a long post to highlight my almost resolved conundrum.
I am currently in the eye of a potentially large storm (of an ostensibly good kind, so I hear) and thus would value a threadista view on what comes next for DM Transport Inc. before I am too poor and distracted to do anything about it. Now back in Das Krapital and mainly using public transport, but will need a vehicle on call for general domestic duties and trips outside the SE - friends and family are mainly SE but also South Wales and Scotlandshire so reasonable long-run manners are pertinent. Said vehicle needs to have headroom for potential minor expansion of familial unit, but I am firmly ruling out vans or SUVs at this stage, unless someone want to gift me a spanking FFRR V8 and an unlimited fuel card
The usual trade-off is that I generally enjoy cars and I (generally) enjoy driving (doh) – even if I am doing much less than 10k miles annually at present, I still fantasise about trips to European destinations as well as tours of our fair shores, punctuated by short bursts of enthusiastic but responsible pedalling, occifer. There is customary need to ensure that practicality – namely reasonable ability to tote people and things without cause for drawing oaths at frequent intervals due to insufficient comfort / convenience / reliability / space or a lack of somewhat sane running costs – is balanced against driver satisfaction.
Limit of expenditure is a "perfect" 10(k) - less is better and will be spent on optimisation. The "Must haves":
- At least 4 seats and the same number of doors
- Decent chassis with good handling / ride balance. Scope for tweaking welcome
- Non-smoking, unleaded drinker with more than 4 cylinders - preferably of the naturally aspirated variety but I am open to persuasion
- Ideally fluent in Spanish - slushmatics and other self-shifters considered but only if you can find me a V8 - good E60 550i, C5 RS6 or C63 for £10k
- Preferably 150-200bhp/ton or at least sub-8 second 0-60 (i.e. “brisk”)
- ULEZ exempt (Euro 4) for now
Moderately sensible
- E90/E91 330 SE. E91 preferred but choice limited
- E39 / E60 530 / 540 / 545 SE. A bigger, older version of the above – prefer smaller ideally, less common as a Spanish speaking variant
- Legacy Spec-B. Uncommon but a flat six appeals and supposedly okay to drive
- V50 T5. Like the E91 330, proverbial rocking horse pellets these
- B7 A4 3.2. Potentially a bit underwhelming, especially with regard to wildcard choices below
- C5 / C6 A6 V6. As above, unless it’s a 4.2 / S6 – a little large and unlikely to be linguistically on-message as well
- Mundano 2.5T. A bit big, a bit common but all the toys and less dull than TDCi
- ???
- B7 S4. Oddly drawn to this option, largely for a 40v 4.2 V8 – I accept not last word in fleetness-of-foot, whether in handling or running cost terms but they appeal as a sort of not-quite-poor-man’s RS4)
- E34 / E39 M5 (still have strong appeal for me. Too expensive, too good to park on street and definitely too old to pass the ULEZ requirement, but had to be listed as an MX-5 is two seats, two doors and at least one cylinder short!)
The pre-facelift (N52) E90/91 appears to tick the most boxes for the least potential fiscal pain, if I could find one – preferably an SE with low-ish miles (up to 80k, but preferably 60k or less) that I can keep and use (minor titivation optional). Still tempted by a three-pedal B6/B7 S4…
Benefit of collective wit and wisdom appreciated.
Fast Bug said:
CB987 are you still coming and fancy meeting up near by?
Yes still planning to be there, 996 has been hibernating on trickle charge, looking forward to an early morning run!olly22n said:
I’m bringing the girls. Happy to meet up if it’s north of Bicester
Chris and I are coming from the South, but we could have a thread meet up at the show?We could meet before at say 8:30 ish at Cherwell Valley Services? If not I may catch up with you all on site.
Cheers
Chris
Chris Stott said:
Sticky tyres?
ferrisbueller said:
4-Matic?
Nope to both!! 2wd and average tyres. I don’t want to buy new tyres until fixed on wheels and I’m not fully sure on the wheels yet and keep looking at alternatives. The car has 500SL brakes (I believe) so standard wheels don’t fit.
There’s a long list of minor jobs - Cruise control isn’t perfect; drivers door lock has just started sticking; sunroof doesn’t always align itself properly; and heater fan is slightly noisy, so finding the perfect wheels hasn’t made it to the top of the list yet...
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