Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 16]

[SpeckledJim]

legendracer said:

Don't kill me friends. Actually they wanted a shed under £1500. I said why ruin your life in a shed. You earn to live better. A car is nice place to live. Hehe.
And they upped their budget to £5000 which is a very good budget for workhorse non premium small cars which won't breakdown and cause any bills above £500.
But to my surprise with this budget they want something flashy and big and the filters came in. "Automatic petrol", 10 year/100000 miles.
I know it WILL be my fault if it needs breakdown repairs and costs more than £1000.

I can't walk away because of the relation and being a petrolhead you know...

The loophole that I have is they just want the brand logo (benz,bmw, audi, jaguar, Lexus) and shouldn't be a hatchback but a sedan/saloon with features like heated seats,sunroof, convertible, etc if possible.
So what if I could get them a c class or 3 series. Hopefully the repair costs (not regular maintenance costs) would be less in these starting models.
If nothing works I might go for the Lexus (toyota god blessing) today or tomorrow after the history check at £10. What say...

Can you get an IS250 in budget? That might be my choice given the situation.

[Emeye]

Mini barge - mini engine, but it ticks the rest of the boxes.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

[ElectricSoup]

Biglips said:

Facelift
Heated and cooled seats
Distronic
Less than half thread
Great seller (thanks Rob if you are reading)
What’s not to like?

Clunk at front over speed bumps so prob needs ball joints but cannot find any other fault other than it drinks from the black pump but this will be ideal for trip to France though.

Will do first impressions tomorrow

Edited by Biglips on Tuesday 30th June 23:18

ARGH, can't see the picture, what is it what is it?

[PrinceRupert]

ElectricSoup said:

ARGH, can't see the picture, what is it what is it?

It's a picture of a petrol station.

[Biglips]

2006 S211
Cubanite silver
Black interior

[John Locke]

Speed addicted said:

John Locke said:

I am starting a casual hunt for a supercharged Range Rover to replace my XJR in order to improve my chances of retaining my driving licence. Hoping for something less than top budget, but will pay more for something really nice.

This one, maybe, chav tints and mediocre MOT history notwithstanding?
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

All suggestions welcome, including alternatives.

I’d license preservation is key I’d suggest a diesel RangeRover!

How dare you! I want to die of old age, not boredom.

[biggbn]

Betts88 said:

Emeye said:

Does SAAB tic the premium box?

This is a very interesting car - I never knew they did a 4WD 9-3, never mind with a large petrol engine..

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Powertrain from the Insignia VXR IIRC?! This is GM's Epsilon platform. Waiting for someone with a longer beard if I am wrong.

Edit: Some serious torque steer in picture 13 of the AT ad

Edited by Betts88 on Tuesday 30th June 22:18

Cracking engines. I had a 93 convertible, just pre face-lift, about a 56/57 plate if memory serves. V6 with twin scroll turbo, @260hp, 6 speed manual and a surprisingly good steer.

[ElectricSoup]

Biglips said:

2006 S211
Cubanite silver
Black interior

Ah cool. I hope you have better luck than I did with my 2005 pre-facelift S211 320CDi, which was an absolute money pit and brings me out in cold sweats thinking about it. I've detailed the expenditure and failures on here before, can't bring myself to list it all again but I spent the price of the car (£4.5k) over again in repairs before finally admitting it was a nail and trading it in (at which stage it needed injectors and a turbo)...

[olly755]

Does a Lexus RX400h qualify for barge status? My thread handbook is a bit out of date and I think it may fail on "Lifestyle SUV" wkyness, but possibly scrape in on the back of the petrol RRS clause, (point 7-12/B for those who had the bulletin).

[BlueMR2]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-E320-Estate-Av...

This could be a nice car. Low mileage petrol E class import.

[BrettMRC]

olly755 said:

Does a Lexus RX400h qualify for barge status? My thread handbook is a bit out of date and I think it may fail on "Lifestyle SUV" wkyness, but possibly scrape in on the back of the petrol RRS clause, (point 7-12/B for those who had the bulletin).

100% thread material.

Also highly amusing with crap tyres on the back

[BlueMR2]

olly755 said:

Does a Lexus RX400h qualify for barge status? My thread handbook is a bit out of date and I think it may fail on "Lifestyle SUV" wkyness, but possibly scrape in on the back of the petrol RRS clause, (point 7-12/B for those who had the bulletin).

I think you could scrape in.

I had a look at them however the H is not in my budget, although obviously within the £5k of the thread.

[Biglips]

ElectricSoup said:

Ah cool. I hope you have better luck than I did with my 2005 pre-facelift S211 320CDi, which was an absolute money pit and brings me out in cold sweats thinking about it. I've detailed the expenditure and failures on here before, can't bring myself to list it all again but I spent the price of the car (£4.5k) over again in repairs before finally admitting it was a nail and trading it in (at which stage it needed injectors and a turbo)...

My last s211 (e500) also cost me a fortune. Sold when I had sorted all the issues out. Probabaly about to repeat the cycle again lol.

[LeighW]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

SpeckledJim said:

Krikkit said:

The X350 XJ will be the most reliable outside a Lexus. The biggest problem is air suspension, but that's very fixable for reasonable money by most "premium"standards.

To be honest I'd just tell them it's impossible and walk away, unless they give up on the mileage/age thing or up the budget.

This. You're on a hiding to nothing.

Inevitably whatever you find will soon have something wrong with it, and inevitably it will be entirely your fault. You're supposed to know what you're talking about!!!

Agreed. They want a premium car which isn't old and doesn't have high mileage for under £5k. Jog on!

I think the best bet is to go for the simplest car you can get with the 'premium badge', say C Class Merc, 3 Series BMW etc.

As far as X350s go, mine has been reliable, but as with any older pretty complex car, they are not cheap to maintain properly if you want to keep them nice. I have the history on mine from new and I put it on a spreadsheet (sad, I know ), it adds up to just over £16k now. The car is almost 15 years old, and it has never had anything catastrophic fail - touch wood! No air suspension faults as yet either.

I can't help but think that whatever you find for them, you'll get nothing but earache every time something goes wrong. I'd leave them to it if it was me!

[biggbn]

olly755 said:

Does a Lexus RX400h qualify for barge status? My thread handbook is a bit out of date and I think it may fail on "Lifestyle SUV" wkyness, but possibly scrape in on the back of the petrol RRS clause, (point 7-12/B for those who had the bulletin).

I think yes definitely. And a great choice if I may say. My next car.. in about 4 years hopefully, will be a lexus. Always promised myself another after loving my ls400. Hopefully 600hl are a tad more affordable by then, although i would be looking at one well above thread limit. Also like the rc300h. Looks wonderful, swoopy coupe, drives like a barge, smooth, serene.

[W00DY]

728 days later said:

W00DY said:

Being an early car oit will be non-Vanos though which appeals.

Single VANOS rather than dual I believe

I thought it was none on the early 540i, then single? The six pots went single to dual though.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

PrinceRupert said:

ElectricSoup said:

ARGH, can't see the picture, what is it what is it?

It's a picture of a petrol station.

A very small petrol station.

[Mikedknight]

No response from the S600TT seller, probably for the best.

Anyone wants a cheap runabout this is on Facebook in hull:



Suspension looks a little high on the front, missing some parking sensors. But it is the galvanised model so shouldn’t be much rust. Can’t get him down to £500 so no good for me :-)

[bern]

olly755 said:

Does a Lexus RX400h qualify for barge status? My thread handbook is a bit out of date and I think it may fail on "Lifestyle SUV" wkyness, but possibly scrape in on the back of the petrol RRS clause, (point 7-12/B for those who had the bulletin).

Nice looking one near me that i spotted the other day.

Although they manage to contradict themselves on the number of owners.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

[Macron]

bern said:

Nice looking one near me that i spotted the other day.

Although they manage to contradict themselves on the number of owners.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Toppy.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...