Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 12]

[Patrick Bateman]

Link fixed.

[bob-lad]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

bob-lad said:

JZZ30 said:

Love the colours on this. Arches look very crusty though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Beautiful-1987-Mercedes...

Non-standard colour with teddy bear seats.
That has CdG written all over it.

Colours are great, but too many doors and too much tttery from the seller for me: 'Antiques Brokerage, Art, After Dinner Speaking'. Perleease. You're selling a car, not a lifestyle you pretentious pillock.

OK, so other than st advert, frilly car, somewhat unloved everything.

I quite like it.

But then, I'm not a Benz man

[ian316]

bob-lad said:

OK, so other than st advert, frilly car, somewhat unloved everything.

I quite like it.

But then, I'm not a Benz man

A good one is brilliant and I love the interior on this

[PowerslideSWE]

Zonergem said:

Will this do?





J646 goes for the MOT tomorrow. Hasn't had an advisory since Gordon Brown was PM. Am nervous as anything, even though the car is as close to perfect as can be.

My god they are good looking cars, can't really add anything more substantial to the thread than that at this point.

Edited by PowerslideSWE on Friday 20th April 08:12

[W00DY]

knobstar said:

I have always loved this thread and so it gives me great pleasure to introduce a barge that not only gives me the horn but one that i have purchased and got ready for an MOT - this is happening tomorrow

She's spent all her life in Sweden since March 1973 and cost me 4 1/2 from a guy who brought it over from Holland a few months back. This will be my daily for the next year or so.

Fingers crossed!







Matt

Oh yes. Great work!

They’re such handsomecars, I definitely want to hear more about it.

[tobinen]

Blue interior and a nice large steering wheel. Cool car. Top marks sir.

[Blown2CV]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

bob-lad said:

JZZ30 said:

Love the colours on this. Arches look very crusty though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Beautiful-1987-Mercedes...

Non-standard colour with teddy bear seats.
That has CdG written all over it.

Colours are great, but too many doors and too much tttery from the seller for me: 'Antiques Brokerage, Art, After Dinner Speaking'. Perleease. You're selling a car, not a lifestyle you pretentious pillock.

kind of know what you mean but doesn't 'one' buy a car like that for how it makes you/one feel? or do you only do barging purely for financial reasons - surely not...

[tobinen]

Must be the same David Harper from Antiques Road Trip, who is very annoying

Car looks OK though, wheels and indicators aside.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Krikkit said:

0a said:

knobstar said:

I have always loved this thread and so it gives me great pleasure to introduce a barge that not only gives me the horn but one that i have purchased and got ready for an MOT - this is happening tomorrow

She's spent all her life in Sweden since March 1973 and cost me 4 1/2 from a guy who brought it over from Holland a few months back. This will be my daily for the next year or so.

Fingers crossed!


Matt

HORN TOOTED! What a machine!

There's definitely some trouser displacement here. What a fabulous purchase. More please!

I feel I should be typing this in a Kenneth Williams-esque way, to preserve the slightly Carry On timbre of the description, but it is indeed a very nice car, and a great way to introduce yourself! Get some pics up and a RR.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Blown2CV said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

bob-lad said:

JZZ30 said:

Love the colours on this. Arches look very crusty though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Beautiful-1987-Mercedes...

Non-standard colour with teddy bear seats.
That has CdG written all over it.

Colours are great, but too many doors and too much tttery from the seller for me: 'Antiques Brokerage, Art, After Dinner Speaking'. Perleease. You're selling a car, not a lifestyle you pretentious pillock.

kind of know what you mean but doesn't 'one' buy a car like that for how it makes you/one feel? or do you only do barging purely for financial reasons - surely not...

That's a very fair point - it is about the feel rather than the money for many of us. I suppose sticking your name, and therefore reputation, all over a car ad as a seller is a positive sign that it's a good'un. I may have been too quick to judge. Still don't plan to buy it though.

[r129sl]

0a said:

Krikkit said:

0a said:

knobstar said:

I have always loved this thread and so it gives me great pleasure to introduce a barge that not only gives me the horn but one that i have purchased and got ready for an MOT - this is happening tomorrow

She's spent all her life in Sweden since March 1973 and cost me 4 1/2 from a guy who brought it over from Holland a few months back. This will be my daily for the next year or so.

Fingers crossed!


Matt

HORN TOOTED! What a machine!

There's definitely some trouser displacement here. What a fabulous purchase. More please!

Reminds me of my old e23 (should have stored that one!).

That is a very stylish BMW. I think for each and every journey in that car, my imagination would carry me back to the 1970s, I'd be piloting the BM from Geneva down to Lyon, a cigarette in one hand, a glass of wine in the other, somebody else's wife in the passenger seat, a table awaiting at Paul Bocuse's restaurant... And then I'd wake up in Tesco's car park.

I hasten to add that I am a no-smoking teetotaller.

[dbdb]

r129sl said:

0a said:

Krikkit said:

0a said:

knobstar said:

I have always loved this thread and so it gives me great pleasure to introduce a barge that not only gives me the horn but one that i have purchased and got ready for an MOT - this is happening tomorrow

She's spent all her life in Sweden since March 1973 and cost me 4 1/2 from a guy who brought it over from Holland a few months back. This will be my daily for the next year or so.

Fingers crossed!


Matt

HORN TOOTED! What a machine!

There's definitely some trouser displacement here. What a fabulous purchase. More please!

Reminds me of my old e23 (should have stored that one!).

That is a very stylish BMW. I think for each and every journey in that car, my imagination would carry me back to the 1970s, I'd be piloting the BM from Geneva down to Lyon, a cigarette in one hand, a glass of wine in the other, somebody else's wife in the passenger seat, a table awaiting at Paul Bocuse's restaurant... And then I'd wake up in Tesco's car park.

I hasten to add that I am a no-smoking teetotaller.

These E3s are lovely cars. My uncle had one in the 'Seventies - his was the 3.0s. The early E3 had a different steering wheel to this one - I love the simplicity of it, but I would probably leave the original later type in this. They really are lovely cars - my favourite BMW saloon by a mile.

[r129sl]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Blown2CV said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

bob-lad said:

JZZ30 said:

Love the colours on this. Arches look very crusty though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Beautiful-1987-Mercedes...

Non-standard colour with teddy bear seats.
That has CdG written all over it.

Colours are great, but too many doors and too much tttery from the seller for me: 'Antiques Brokerage, Art, After Dinner Speaking'. Perleease. You're selling a car, not a lifestyle you pretentious pillock.

kind of know what you mean but doesn't 'one' buy a car like that for how it makes you/one feel? or do you only do barging purely for financial reasons - surely not...

That's a very fair point - it is about the feel rather than the money for many of us. I suppose sticking your name, and therefore reputation, all over a car ad as a seller is a positive sign that it's a good'un. I may have been too quick to judge. Still don't plan to buy it though.

It's a £1,500 car, surely. The colours are fabulous. But I can see two rotten wheel arches and that means £1,500 on bodywork at least and that means £3,000 on bodywork because there will be more under there. The interior is not in bad order, but the velour is showing wear, the colour has been lost from some of it and the pile is well worn. It is a mere 300, which is fine from a maintenance, reliability and mpg point of view, but it is not going to go like a 500. The wheels are wrong, the front indicators are very wrong and I'd want a new grille mask and bars. And when you get it in the metal there will be other defects.

I do love the colours.

This vendor has been around a long time and he always over-prices his cars.

[tobinen]

r129sl said:

That is a very stylish BMW. I think for each and every journey in that car, my imagination would carry me back to the 1970s, I'd be piloting the BM from Geneva down to Lyon, a cigarette in one hand, a glass of wine in the other, somebody else's wife in the passenger seat, a table awaiting at Paul Bocuse's restaurant...

Sign me up please. (Though you can substitute someone else's wife for any wavey haired brunette crumpet from the 70s)

[BlueMR2]

W00DY said:

barchetta_boy said:

tobinen said:

Very nice S124 you have BB. The new owner should be very satisfied by the looks of it.

Thanks, it's certainly had the money spent. Ad's been up a month and not one viewing

Only carandclassic? Had it been posted here before, because if we haven't seen it then you aren't finding your market.

ebay with W124 in the title is how I've sold both of mine and generated the most interest by far.

It's probably due to the lack of info.

I mean are they Israel or US - Morel component speakers .

[anonymous-user]

dbdb said:

r129sl said:

0a said:

Krikkit said:

0a said:

knobstar said:

I have always loved this thread and so it gives me great pleasure to introduce a barge that not only gives me the horn but one that i have purchased and got ready for an MOT - this is happening tomorrow

She's spent all her life in Sweden since March 1973 and cost me 4 1/2 from a guy who brought it over from Holland a few months back. This will be my daily for the next year or so.

Fingers crossed!


Matt

HORN TOOTED! What a machine!

There's definitely some trouser displacement here. What a fabulous purchase. More please!

Reminds me of my old e23 (should have stored that one!).

That is a very stylish BMW. I think for each and every journey in that car, my imagination would carry me back to the 1970s, I'd be piloting the BM from Geneva down to Lyon, a cigarette in one hand, a glass of wine in the other, somebody else's wife in the passenger seat, a table awaiting at Paul Bocuse's restaurant... And then I'd wake up in Tesco's car park.

I hasten to add that I am a no-smoking teetotaller.

These E3s are lovely cars. My uncle had one in the 'Seventies - his was the 3.0s. The early E3 had a different steering wheel to this one - I love the simplicity of it, but I would probably leave the original later type in this. They really are lovely cars - my favourite BMW saloon by a mile.

Mein Gött das ist sehr lecker!

And this is a BMW E23? Or?

Appreciation for the thread, 12months ago I didn’t know a W124 from a leaper.

[dbdb]

Lord.Vader said:

Mein Gött das ist sehr lecker!

And this is a BMW E23? Or?

Appreciation for the thread, 12months ago I didn’t know a W124 from a leaper.

It's a BMW E3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_New_Six

[king arthur]

dbdb said:

These E3s are lovely cars. My uncle had one in the 'Seventies - his was the 3.0s. The early E3 had a different steering wheel to this one - I love the simplicity of it, but I would probably leave the original later type in this. They really are lovely cars - my favourite BMW saloon by a mile.

Snap. My father had a silver 3.0s. After the Jags and Rovers and top of the range Fords he'd had, when he brought this home all I saw was a dull looking European car. But after the first ride in it, I learnt it was not like that at all! It had blue velour seats I seem to remember being firm but comfortable, and the thing held the road like it was on rails compared to everything else we'd had. It was the very definition of a sports saloon.

Later father bought a 3.0si which I don't remember so well apart from that it apparently caught fire on the M4, probably due to his Heath Robinson style of vehicle maintenance. I did get my love of barges from him though.

[derin100]

Lord.Vader said:

dbdb said:

r129sl said:

0a said:

Krikkit said:

0a said:

knobstar said:

I have always loved this thread and so it gives me great pleasure to introduce a barge that not only gives me the horn but one that i have purchased and got ready for an MOT - this is happening tomorrow

She's spent all her life in Sweden since March 1973 and cost me 4 1/2 from a guy who brought it over from Holland a few months back. This will be my daily for the next year or so.

Fingers crossed!


Matt

HORN TOOTED! What a machine!

There's definitely some trouser displacement here. What a fabulous purchase. More please!

Reminds me of my old e23 (should have stored that one!).

That is a very stylish BMW. I think for each and every journey in that car, my imagination would carry me back to the 1970s, I'd be piloting the BM from Geneva down to Lyon, a cigarette in one hand, a glass of wine in the other, somebody else's wife in the passenger seat, a table awaiting at Paul Bocuse's restaurant... And then I'd wake up in Tesco's car park.

I hasten to add that I am a no-smoking teetotaller.

These E3s are lovely cars. My uncle had one in the 'Seventies - his was the 3.0s. The early E3 had a different steering wheel to this one - I love the simplicity of it, but I would probably leave the original later type in this. They really are lovely cars - my favourite BMW saloon by a mile.

Mein Gött das ist sehr lecker!

And this is a BMW E23? Or?

Appreciation for the thread, 12months ago I didn’t know a W124 from a leaper.

I had one of these E3s back in 1989. It was a 3.0S (so carb version). I only bought it because it was really cheap...£600...as a daily driver whilst my E9 Coupe was being restored (a manual, carb 3.0CS).

Whilst it wasn't as pretty as the Coupe, it was actually a nicer car to drive!

Good luck!

[derin100]

Slightly Off Topic...but we don't often get 'reviews' of particular cars on models on this thread once people have bought them?

So, after having been more or less forced into buying a 4WD, SUV-type car and after a few weeks of ownership, I thought I'd give an appraisal of the BMW X3 that we've recently bought in case anyone else is considering one:


So the particular car that I bought is a petrol 3.0Si LCI.

"LCI" (Yes, I had to look up what that means as well!) apparently stands for "Life Cycle Impulse"

To you and I that means, in common English, "Face-lift". But, in fairness, when one digs into what that actually means in terms of the E83, it's actually quite a lot more than merely a cosmetic make-over. So more on that later.

Firstly, a note on why I bought this particular model. I didn't really want a diesel because I wanted to avoid the complication, if possible of running something with complicated turbos, swirl flpas, DPFs etc. I don't do huge, long-distance mileages where a diesel might come into its own and diesel isn't particularly cheap in this country anyway.

Additionally, reading led me to believe that the 2.0L Turbo diesels have a poor reliability track record and buying at this end of the market puts one into older cars with higher mileages and any repairs costs would fall directly to me. Thus, one hefty turbo-type repair bill could instantly negate any notional fuel cost saving.

This being my preference, in this country at least,then severely limited the field of choice. Put a search into AT or PH for X3s up to £10K and you'll see that diesels out number petrol cars by a ratio of about 4:1.

So, a couple of things/niggles to get out of the way on the particular car that I bought before describing some general impressions:

Firstly, the PDC on my particular doesn't work. This was something the dealer did tell me before I bought it. Having fixed this on BMWs before I assumed that this would be a relatively simple fix that I'd do quite quickly myself. I've established that there are two sensors U/S that require replacing. One at the front and one at the rear. On a non-LCI X3 it would indeed have been a relatively simple job to a access and then replace them. Not so on the LCI version! Despite my best efforts to find a way around it, it's a whole bumper-off job to access the inner ones.

Secondly, I've found that the driver's heated seat doesn't work and established that this must be due to a break in the wiring within the seat base pad. Another PIA job involving taking the electric comfort seat out and taking the leather seat cover off. Having done this once before on a non-electric E36 seat, I know this will be a complete PIA.

Anyway, those two issues aside, I'm actually quite pleased and impressed with the car itself. This is especially so when I was buying into the whole SUV (or SAV as BMW seems to prefer to call these cars) with a good deal of reluctance.

I'd initially been thinking in terms of an X5 but felt that for the age and mileage that I wanted and the extra potential running costs that I couldn't really afford one and hence fell back on considering the X3. The internal space is actually not so vastly different as to be significantly valuable as it is now just my wife and I at home.

I did remember that the X3 received a good deal of slating in the press when first released and I also watched quite a few YT videos before buying....including Clarkson's frankly moronic review and criticisms on Top Gear! This was all part of my initial prejudice towards the X3 and why I hadn't initially considered one.

I'm never going to take the car into the extreme off-road, massive gradients and deeply rutted muddy environments that he seemed to test the vehicle in just so that, as usual, he could say a Range Rover is better and the Best Car......."in the World!"

I remember too that at release, criticism was levelled at the X3 for its styling. Well, frankly once one has made the leap into this genre, I think one has pretty much thrown "styling" considerations out of the window anyway. I've never seen an SUV that I thought was a "good-looking" car or that I could imagine a 12 year old putting a poster of on their bed-room wall. Well, except Clarkson putting a Range Rover on his wall!

But, on to more serious impressions after a few weeks of owning it. I'm actually quite pleased and impressed with it.

I've never owned a 4WD car so didn't really know what to expect. I had anticipated it to feel more like a FWD car than it does. It doesn't. I haven't noticed any excess of torque steer and it actually feels quite neutral.

The ride is nowhere near as bad as Clarkson made out either. It's certainly no E39 5-Series or E38 7-Series which is what I'm used to but far from the harsh thing that I was led to expect. This could impart be due to the fact that mine is not on the early Bridgestone RFTs that early the cars would have been on. Those are truly terrible tyres and I experienced (and immediately had to remove them) on my Z4 3.0Si.

It is also only on 17" wheels which might be helping and is fitted with "Comfort" front seats. The ride is a bit skittish on bumpy/broken road surfaces. This impression may be compounded by the relatively higher sitting position which I'm not used to and a greater feeling of body-roll.

So, although on paper it is more powerful and faster accelerating than the E38 728i Sport that I have been used to over the last 4 years, it doesn't inspire the same sort of confidence that the E38 did so well and so ultimately, in real terms, I don't think it's as quick a car point to point.

That said, the interior is actually a really nice place to be. Mine has a light tan coloured leather interior and it has a very light and airy ambience. Early cars were criticised for the cheap feeling of their interiors and the materials used, I don't have that impression in this car at all.

Changes were made in the LCI and even things like the early cheap, plastic centre trim of the steering-wheel which I could see had deteriorated in the photos of many the cars that I looked at whilst searching has been replaced by an all-leather affair which hasn't worn at all. Deterioration/ shrinkage of the A-pillar trims, wearing off of the colour on some of plastic surfaces is not evident at all.

It's quite well-appointed inside: The stereo was upgraded for these LCI cars, it connects to your mobile phone via Bluetooth and then functions through the steering wheel etc. The Satnav (and its somewhat awkward interface) functions...but that's about all you can say in its favour compared to a modern one that you can just buy cheaply now.

Another proof that "LCI" wasn't just a cosmetic make-over and that BMW really did try to address early criticisms seems to be the rear seats. Apparently these were terrible in early cars. These LCI cars have revised seats in terms of the amount of padding and their shape. They seems 'ok' to me...and I don't have to sit in them anyway.

I've also read complaints about fuel consumption on 3.0L petrol cars. I think these must really relate to the much more common earlier 3.0L cars. In this country, this later 3.0Si with the N52 engine is actually quite rare (compared with for example the USA) and so I think most commentators experience will be with the early M54 based engine. In fact, I didn't see another 3.0Si for sale in this country during the time that I was looking.

I have this N52 engine in my Z4 3.0Si so I already knew it quite well. Not only is it considerably more powerful and has more torque than the M54 3.0L that it replaced it is also, according to spec, 12% more frugal.

Additionally, the LCI version is fitted with a six-speed auto gearbox instead of the previous 5-speed 'box. This is also supposed to yield a further 6% saving in mpg.

In my manual Z4 3.0Si, I knew that on long journeys and driven sensibly that I was getting 34 mpg. Whilst I wasn't expecting that from a heavier, brick-shaped SUV with an auto 'box' I have now driven it on four very long journeys, (mainly) sticking to the speed limits, on a mixture of A-roads and motorway and it is consistently getting 30 mpg. I don't think that's excessive fuel-consumption? The difference is certainly not something I would have taken a diesel for in preference.

So in summary, I think all-in-all it's a good package and one that BMW did listen to and correct some of the early criticisms. It's not an E39 or E38 in terms of its ride or the confidence I felt driving ones of those quickly, even though it is quite fast in a straight line.

To my mind, it's still an ugly thing...but then all SUVs are...yet it's by no means the ugliest girl/guy at the Disco (pun intended!) and it doesn't feel 'cheap'.

Full LCI changes are available by typing into Google "E83 LCI changes" which will lead one to a PDF that one can download and make quite an interesting read for any prospective buyers. I think the changes make it worthwhile seeking out a later E83 over an earlier one now that the purchase prices aren't really that different.

I hope that might be of interest to any Bargistas possibly considering one in the future.

(P.S. A couple of tips for prospective buyers that I picked up during my search/purchase:

Firstly, these cars are very sensitive to tyre type and 'things' can actually break if they have the wrong tyres on. Make sure that it has approved tyres all round.

Secondly, unless you know it has been recently done, replace both the plastic cog in the transfer box motor and the transfer box fluid as a pre-caution even if there are no apparent problems. The plastic cog only costs about £20 and an Indie charged me £150 (inc) to fit this and replace the fluid. My car has 77K miles and the cog was only showing a little wear on the cog so he said he actually doubted whether that was the original one and was probably already a replacement one because they do tend to wear quite significantly. Both are actually a simple job that you could do yourself if you have safe means of working under the car.