The Best ///M/Barge/General Rant/Look at this/O/T(Vol XIX)
Discussion
Wow that Kingsley place has some nice classic Range Rovers. Overfinch would be quite awesome.
We ran an old Range Rover for a year in about 2012 - I think I paid around £2k for it and sold it for about the same. Lovely old thing. Slightly rusty around the edges and I remember being disappointed by how little grunt the 3.9 Rover v8 had when hooked up to an automatic gearbox and hauling the best part of 2 tons around. Glad I experienced it though.
We ran an old Range Rover for a year in about 2012 - I think I paid around £2k for it and sold it for about the same. Lovely old thing. Slightly rusty around the edges and I remember being disappointed by how little grunt the 3.9 Rover v8 had when hooked up to an automatic gearbox and hauling the best part of 2 tons around. Glad I experienced it though.
L100NYY said:
Nice. And £17k seems pretty reasonable for what you get. The Z3M Coupes are much more aren’t they?I would love a 512TR. Incredible looks, sound, authenticity. 
A short while ago I was sadly singing the praises of an old fwd diesel Seat that was on the way out and looking excitedly forward to getting an M240i.
Long story short: The BMW is not quite what I’d hoped.
If you’ve nothing else going on I’ll explain why.
When I drove my brother’s one I had without realising it magically found myself in its sweet spot of a smooth curvy but not too challenging road. The sort of third gear road that occasionally has you go up to fourth but never down to second. The 240 likes roads like this a lot. The steering is constantly loaded and the revs are sensibly high.
I will admit that this short experience had me smiling broadly and completely sold me on the car.
After a long search for a car with the adaptive suspension I gave up and bought one without. It’s grey with black leather and looks pretty much like any other grey 2 series. I quite like that.
I also like the engine. It pulls and pulls and then pulls some more all the way to 7k. It is noticeably turbocharged by the flat and generous delivery of torque but it does become more urgent as it approaches the red line. It’s no NA ‘S’ engine but it is impressive.
Unfortunately what I don’t like is most of the rest.
To me the car has a superficialness that is at the very least irritating and at worst beyond annoying.
I don’t understand, no that’s not true, I do understand why BMW have done what they have but it is a sad state of affairs that they have felt the need.
There was a Top Gear episode when Clarkson was in an M5 and he was making a meal out of the modes. That was a bit contrived but I feel that the 240 is like that and it’s completely unnecessary. I’m probably going to sound like a bit of a pedant but why it needs 4 driving modes is lost on me.
The default mode is COMFORT which has a particular throttle sensitivity/ sharpness and steering that is horridly light and devoid of any sense of feeling.
The next mode is SPORT which sharpens the throttle and makes the steering heavier. The next is SPORT + which sharpens the throttle further still and part disengages the traction control.
There is a fourth mode which is ECOPRO which deadens throttle response and removes the mpg bar at the bottom of the Rev counter and replaces it with a blue line. It then tells you how many miles you have saved over COMFORT mode rather than your actual mpg. Helpful.
I don’t want to get too distracted by the mpg gauge but it has a blue bit at the end with a battery logo. It only goes into the battery ‘charge/regeneration’ area when you are coasting. As if you are charging a hybrid. It’s not a hybrid and to my knowledge of cars the alternator is charging the battery at all times. This is the sort of bulls
t nonsense that this car has plenty of.
Back to the driving modes. As a manual BMW decided to aid the driver by Rev matching the gear changes for you with a happy little (perfect) blip. YOU CANNOT TURN THIS OFF. Various forums have suggested that if you do it too your efforts will override the cars. Nope. Some forums have said that SPORT+ disables this. Again, nope. The only way without going into ‘hold this button and go to hidden menu blah’ is to turn the traction/stability completely off.
Fine.
However this then takes the sporty throttle setting and puts it back to comfort but so be it.
What I cannot grasp is that if you hit the speed limiter button either on purpose or by accident it then resets you out of TC off an plonks you back into COMFORT.
Annoying.
Other things that the SPORT settings do are offer you various torque and bhp dials and show glowing drivetrains in a pretty accurate copy of Gran Turismo from several years ago...
Did I mention it has a great engine?
The steering is, as most new cars, electrically power assisted and it’s not great. The steering in the Skoda Octavia site cars we have at work are head and shoulders above it. This further reminds me that the BMW is flawed.
The PH review described the steering as “gloopy” I would add glitchy too.
The suspension isn’t great, it’s very firm and quite choppy. Driving quickly on a non perfect road can have it skipping about a bit under power and spinning up a wheel in third on a damp road isn’t unheard of, oh yes, it has no LSD.
This is a major downside as it makes the rear end unpredictable which makes it annoying.
Sadly the fact that of approximately each 100 cars 90 were specified with the auto box which (I may not be exactly correct on these numbers) cost £1,500.00 rather than a standard manual with the £1,500.00 option of an LSD says that I am not the target audience. It’s as simple as that.
They probably love the fake added drama of sharper throttles ad infinitum and the designed in popping, gurgling and banging of the double exhaust pipes (don’t get me started) and love that on the dashboard it proudly tells you that you bought the second best 2 series with the “M240i” in liquid crystal splendour.
BMW could have made a phenomenal car, called it the 240is or whatever and had a standard and economy map, cut out all of the ‘Sports car’ signifiers sorted the actual tactile bits and just let it be a decent bullst free small sports coupe but they didn’t.
There are other ‘helpful’ things like the anti-roll back brakes that I still haven’t worked out when they will work and when they won’t but living and parking on a hill where having the car leave its brakes on when I want to roll back is wearing thin. Oh and it has more added ‘Sport drama’: when you start the car it revs unnecessary high. Why?
I don’t like that I don’t like it. I have bought a factory fresh modern car that should be great that I had hoped I would have for the next 100k plus of entertaining miles but it’s not going to happen.
This is annoying. I’ve never bought a car and not loved it.
Can anyone tell me the running costs of a 3.4 996 please?
I’ve just read it through and it seems that I hate the car, I don’t. It’s easy to drive alarmingly quickly and it’s a nice place to be but as there are other cars available that do the fast bit without all of the annoying I may as well do that and it’s a good thing I’m not precious about having a new car and the new car convenience because who cares? I’d rather sacrifice a bit of peace of mind for something that seems fine and then ‘bop’ it does something annoying and I think, oh yeah, annoying.
Seriously though, any thoughts on running a 996 as a daily are welcome, I know there are a couple here.
There again, I quite fancy a Citroen C6 for a bit.
A short while ago I was sadly singing the praises of an old fwd diesel Seat that was on the way out and looking excitedly forward to getting an M240i.
Long story short: The BMW is not quite what I’d hoped.
If you’ve nothing else going on I’ll explain why.
When I drove my brother’s one I had without realising it magically found myself in its sweet spot of a smooth curvy but not too challenging road. The sort of third gear road that occasionally has you go up to fourth but never down to second. The 240 likes roads like this a lot. The steering is constantly loaded and the revs are sensibly high.
I will admit that this short experience had me smiling broadly and completely sold me on the car.
After a long search for a car with the adaptive suspension I gave up and bought one without. It’s grey with black leather and looks pretty much like any other grey 2 series. I quite like that.
I also like the engine. It pulls and pulls and then pulls some more all the way to 7k. It is noticeably turbocharged by the flat and generous delivery of torque but it does become more urgent as it approaches the red line. It’s no NA ‘S’ engine but it is impressive.
Unfortunately what I don’t like is most of the rest.
To me the car has a superficialness that is at the very least irritating and at worst beyond annoying.
I don’t understand, no that’s not true, I do understand why BMW have done what they have but it is a sad state of affairs that they have felt the need.
There was a Top Gear episode when Clarkson was in an M5 and he was making a meal out of the modes. That was a bit contrived but I feel that the 240 is like that and it’s completely unnecessary. I’m probably going to sound like a bit of a pedant but why it needs 4 driving modes is lost on me.
The default mode is COMFORT which has a particular throttle sensitivity/ sharpness and steering that is horridly light and devoid of any sense of feeling.
The next mode is SPORT which sharpens the throttle and makes the steering heavier. The next is SPORT + which sharpens the throttle further still and part disengages the traction control.
There is a fourth mode which is ECOPRO which deadens throttle response and removes the mpg bar at the bottom of the Rev counter and replaces it with a blue line. It then tells you how many miles you have saved over COMFORT mode rather than your actual mpg. Helpful.
I don’t want to get too distracted by the mpg gauge but it has a blue bit at the end with a battery logo. It only goes into the battery ‘charge/regeneration’ area when you are coasting. As if you are charging a hybrid. It’s not a hybrid and to my knowledge of cars the alternator is charging the battery at all times. This is the sort of bulls
t nonsense that this car has plenty of. Back to the driving modes. As a manual BMW decided to aid the driver by Rev matching the gear changes for you with a happy little (perfect) blip. YOU CANNOT TURN THIS OFF. Various forums have suggested that if you do it too your efforts will override the cars. Nope. Some forums have said that SPORT+ disables this. Again, nope. The only way without going into ‘hold this button and go to hidden menu blah’ is to turn the traction/stability completely off.
Fine.
However this then takes the sporty throttle setting and puts it back to comfort but so be it.
What I cannot grasp is that if you hit the speed limiter button either on purpose or by accident it then resets you out of TC off an plonks you back into COMFORT.
Annoying.
Other things that the SPORT settings do are offer you various torque and bhp dials and show glowing drivetrains in a pretty accurate copy of Gran Turismo from several years ago...
Did I mention it has a great engine?
The steering is, as most new cars, electrically power assisted and it’s not great. The steering in the Skoda Octavia site cars we have at work are head and shoulders above it. This further reminds me that the BMW is flawed.
The PH review described the steering as “gloopy” I would add glitchy too.
The suspension isn’t great, it’s very firm and quite choppy. Driving quickly on a non perfect road can have it skipping about a bit under power and spinning up a wheel in third on a damp road isn’t unheard of, oh yes, it has no LSD.
This is a major downside as it makes the rear end unpredictable which makes it annoying.
Sadly the fact that of approximately each 100 cars 90 were specified with the auto box which (I may not be exactly correct on these numbers) cost £1,500.00 rather than a standard manual with the £1,500.00 option of an LSD says that I am not the target audience. It’s as simple as that.
They probably love the fake added drama of sharper throttles ad infinitum and the designed in popping, gurgling and banging of the double exhaust pipes (don’t get me started) and love that on the dashboard it proudly tells you that you bought the second best 2 series with the “M240i” in liquid crystal splendour.
BMW could have made a phenomenal car, called it the 240is or whatever and had a standard and economy map, cut out all of the ‘Sports car’ signifiers sorted the actual tactile bits and just let it be a decent bulls
t free small sports coupe but they didn’t.There are other ‘helpful’ things like the anti-roll back brakes that I still haven’t worked out when they will work and when they won’t but living and parking on a hill where having the car leave its brakes on when I want to roll back is wearing thin. Oh and it has more added ‘Sport drama’: when you start the car it revs unnecessary high. Why?
I don’t like that I don’t like it. I have bought a factory fresh modern car that should be great that I had hoped I would have for the next 100k plus of entertaining miles but it’s not going to happen.
This is annoying. I’ve never bought a car and not loved it.
Can anyone tell me the running costs of a 3.4 996 please?
I’ve just read it through and it seems that I hate the car, I don’t. It’s easy to drive alarmingly quickly and it’s a nice place to be but as there are other cars available that do the fast bit without all of the annoying I may as well do that and it’s a good thing I’m not precious about having a new car and the new car convenience because who cares? I’d rather sacrifice a bit of peace of mind for something that seems fine and then ‘bop’ it does something annoying and I think, oh yeah, annoying.
Seriously though, any thoughts on running a 996 as a daily are welcome, I know there are a couple here.
There again, I quite fancy a Citroen C6 for a bit.
rejn said:
L100NYY said:
Nice. And £17k seems pretty reasonable for what you get. The Z3M Coupes are much more aren’t they?Quite simply (IMHO) one of the most beautiful rear 3/4 views in automotive history.
rejn said:
L100NYY said:
Nice. And £17k seems pretty reasonable for what you get. The Z3M Coupes are much more aren’t they?rejn said:
Wow that Kingsley place has some nice classic Range Rovers. Overfinch would be quite awesome.
We ran an old Range Rover for a year in about 2012 - I think I paid around £2k for it and sold it for about the same. Lovely old thing. Slightly rusty around the edges and I remember being disappointed by how little grunt the 3.9 Rover v8 had when hooked up to an automatic gearbox and hauling the best part of 2 tons around. Glad I experienced it though.
That's a handsome ol' thing, lovely colourWe ran an old Range Rover for a year in about 2012 - I think I paid around £2k for it and sold it for about the same. Lovely old thing. Slightly rusty around the edges and I remember being disappointed by how little grunt the 3.9 Rover v8 had when hooked up to an automatic gearbox and hauling the best part of 2 tons around. Glad I experienced it though.
Crook said:
...This is annoying. I’ve never bought a car and not loved it.
Can anyone tell me the running costs of a 3.4 996 please?
A 3.4 should be very reasonable to run baring the engine going pop. OEM parts availability is superb and prices for suspension components and brakes, even from reputable manufacturers like Lemforder/TRW/ATE etc are ridiculously low when you consider the usual Porsche tax. Can anyone tell me the running costs of a 3.4 996 please?
Working on the car is very easy as it is pre-digital really. Good access to most things from underneath and it takes 2hrs to drop the engine/box if the garage knows what they are doing. Obviously the elephant in the room is the borescoring issue...
Btw, reading your post, it really sounds like you need a sorted E46 M3 Manual. My neighbour has a 2003 one, which just turned 201k miles! No rust, still on the original clutch and head gasket. He did the rod bearings at 190k miles and judging by the pictures, they weren’t that bad. The interior is in great shape too. It just shows that these cars will last forever if properly looked after. And you will not lose money...
Edited by Cheburator mk2 on Tuesday 30th April 21:38
ferrisbueller said:
Crook said:
Modern cars are a bit meh!
Agreed.We’ve just bought an Evoque as everyday transport for Mrs rejn and the kids. She loves it but i think it’s so disappointing. Big on the outside and small and not very comfy inside. Horrid 4 cylinder diesel. Completely unnecessary 9(!) speed auto gearbox. It goes fast enough and it’s economical but completely lacking in reasons to love it.
On the modern cars are a bit meh I discovered my company daily has a g force meter. It's an E220d estate, quite why it has one I'll never know!
3.4 996 running costs, I reckon I average between £1000-1500 a year. I don't do huge miles, but the car is sat on 140k so its had a busy life.
Bore scoring is more common on the 3.6 from my understanding. Earlier cars had the dual row IMS which is the best one, my indi reckons if they make it to 80k, then they're not going to give any issues.
The 996 is a great car, for a small car I can fit the family in it, it handles well, goes fairly well and with a decent exhaust they sound great
3.4 996 running costs, I reckon I average between £1000-1500 a year. I don't do huge miles, but the car is sat on 140k so its had a busy life.
Bore scoring is more common on the 3.6 from my understanding. Earlier cars had the dual row IMS which is the best one, my indi reckons if they make it to 80k, then they're not going to give any issues.
The 996 is a great car, for a small car I can fit the family in it, it handles well, goes fairly well and with a decent exhaust they sound great
L100NYY said:
That is lovely. I feel they missed a trick by not creating those stripes in the headlining too though
Fast Bug said:
On the modern cars are a bit meh I discovered my company daily has a g force meter. It's an E220d estate, quite why it has one I'll never know!
3.4 996 running costs, I reckon I average between £1000-1500 a year. I don't do huge miles, but the car is sat on 140k so its had a busy life.
Bore scoring is more common on the 3.6 from my understanding. Earlier cars had the dual row IMS which is the best one, my indi reckons if they make it to 80k, then they're not going to give any issues.
The 996 is a great car, for a small car I can fit the family in it, it handles well, goes fairly well and with a decent exhaust they sound great
Discovered today the chap who looks after my Frog is selling his 996. Couldn't quite make out the price but I think under 10k. It's a tiptronic though, which wouldn't be my choice. 3.4 996 running costs, I reckon I average between £1000-1500 a year. I don't do huge miles, but the car is sat on 140k so its had a busy life.
Bore scoring is more common on the 3.6 from my understanding. Earlier cars had the dual row IMS which is the best one, my indi reckons if they make it to 80k, then they're not going to give any issues.
The 996 is a great car, for a small car I can fit the family in it, it handles well, goes fairly well and with a decent exhaust they sound great
L100NYY said:
I still have mine of 6 years now.Chris Harris was critical of how it drove on UK roads and I would have to agree.
On B roads never feels planted and assured. Picked up another Hawkeye Impreza WRX Wagon for that job.
But on glass-smooth continental roads the Z4MC is a dream and hence comes out once a year for a lengthy Euro schlep.
Here she is stickered-up whilst following the Mille Miglia in 2017.
Norwegian co-driver, good on ice; obviously a critical skill for the MM.
S
minimoog said:
Discovered today the chap who looks after my Frog is selling his 996. Couldn't quite make out the price but I think under 10k. It's a tiptronic though, which wouldn't be my choice.
Tips aren't many peoples choice. They're quite dim witted and slow, especially compared to modern auto boxes. They tend to suffer more from bore score, I've read a few people say it's because it pulls away in second gear?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff