DoogyRev Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Lots to choose from in your price range I think I would look at range rover sport. You can pick up the v8's now for under 20k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 the VW range of V8's aren't bad, you have the phaeton, but there is also the toureg. convert it over to LPG and your laughing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docwra Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Phaeton is possibly the best engineered car there is ............ but looks like a Passat A friend of mine is selling an XJR with LPG for £3200 atm, Im tempted as it will apparently use about half the fuel that my Zed does at the moment, worth considering :nod: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Phaeton is possibly the best engineered car there is ............ but looks like a Passat A friend of mine is selling an XJR with LPG for £3200 atm, Im tempted as it will apparently use about half the fuel that my Zed does at the moment, worth considering :nod: my old work mate had the standard XJ soooooooooooooooooo much space inside. and very comfortable. be interested to see the engine on that converted XJR as i think its the same engine as in my XKR and i thought the SC was in the way of any kind of conversion. be interested to know more about who did what to that XJR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 Lots to choose from in your price range I think I would look at range rover sport. You can pick up the v8's now for under 20k I can't play football though 4x4 SUV's/off roaders' are definitely out, don't get me started - they're a pet hate of mine unless they actually get used off-road Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 my old work mate had the standard XJ soooooooooooooooooo much space inside. and very comfortable. Comfortable for sure but XJs aren't that spacious in my opinion. They aren't cramped but I wouldn't get carried away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 A friend of mine is selling an XJR with LPG for £3200 atm, Im tempted as it will apparently use about half the fuel that my Zed does at the moment, worth considering :nod: For sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 if your starting a family the advantage of a 4x4/suv is not the off road ability its the fact that the vehicle sits so much higher, which gives several advantages. main one being putting baby in baby seat. the height is much more comfortable. the boot is also higher which makes getting shopping and baby stuffin in and out much easier. plus the space side of things. if you have to be in the back with baby there is tons of room. my wife has the volvo XC60 and i have noticed when we look after her niece and nephew life has been alot easier than when she had her 4 door golf. just on the door side alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 the advantage of a 4x4/suv is not the off road ability its the fact that the vehicle sits so much higher I know these things But I won't compromise on this - don't forget you have a fun car too I did notice an XC90 down the tip the other day which had a V8 badge on the boot though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 i too agree with you that a 4x4 should be for off road use. and seeing chelsea tractors with mum and 1 child in taking up sapce when i come in to work (i'm a teacher) does my nut in. but since my wife has got one, i do now see the logic. although i mock her for tractor driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamic Turtle Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 the advantage of a 4x4/suv is not the off road ability its the fact that the vehicle sits so much higher I know these things But I won't compromise on this - don't forget you have a fun car too I did notice an XC90 down the tip the other day which had a V8 badge on the boot though Those volvos are surprisingly fast - had a real battle keeping one at bay on the A21 the other day. Couldn't understand how a 5-pot non-turbo diesel was keeping up with me... DT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 my wife has the 2.2 turbo sooter (i think) and it doesn;t hang about. only down side is all the torque is low down, so by 4.5k to 5k its out of puff. and up a gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangzoom Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Never driven a B7 S4 but most reviews put it behind the 335i, the B8 is suppose to be match for the BMW and has some very good tuning options. If they had been cheaper 12 months ago may have bought one instead of the 335i. They also come with a trick diff/4WD system thats suppose to be quite good. The BMW eDiff is a rubbish, a proper Qauife LSD transformed my 335i. You can now pick up a good 335i with a BMW warranty and all the essential toys for for £15k. Take it Birds BMW for Quaife LSD and remap for roughly £1.7k and your have a very sorted car pushing 360-370bhp for under 18K (if you wanted to, add on some better downpipes and intercooler and 400bhp is easily achievable. The N54 engine came with forged internals stock and over the pond people have achieved 450bhp without having to undergo a rebuild!!) ...oh and it doesnt sound half bad, and trying doing this in a V8 (and no it wasn't a 51 mile long down hill run) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamic Turtle Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Never driven a B7 S4 but most reviews put it behind the 335i, the B8 is suppose to be match for the BMW and has some very good tuning options. If they had been cheaper 12 months ago may have bought one instead of the 335i. They also come with a trick diff/4WD system thats suppose to be quite good. The BMW eDiff is a rubbish, a proper Qauife LSD transformed my 335i. You can now pick up a good 335i with a BMW warranty and all the essential toys for for £15k. Take it Birds BMW for Quaife LSD and remap for roughly £1.7k and your have a very sorted car pushing 360-370bhp for under 18K (if you wanted to, add on some better downpipes and intercooler and 400bhp is easily achievable. The N54 engine came with forged internals stock and over the pond people have achieved 450bhp without having to undergo a rebuild!!) ...oh and it doesnt sound half bad, and trying doing this in a V8 (and no it wasn't a 51 mile long down hill run) Sounds tempting, but what will a 400bhp figure do to that admittedly impressive MPG? And I'm guessing the remap will void any warranty? Only problem with these amazing 3/5/M BMWs is their familiarity and boxy design. If you can reconcile those little issues then why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangzoom Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Sounds tempting, but what will a 400bhp figure do to that admittedly impressive MPG? And I'm guessing the remap will void any warranty? Only problem with these amazing 3/5/M BMWs is their familiarity and boxy design. If you can reconcile those little issues then why not? I waited for mine to come out of warranty before starting to push up the power. Mitz/Andy acutally ended up installing my new Downpipes because no BMW independents wanted to do it!! Amazingly my mpg seems to have gone UP since the remap, sitting on M ways at 75-80mph will now see 35+ mpg. Which for the performance on offer is just stupid . I was actually put off even thinking about the 335i because of how boxy/boring their image is, but go and test drive one and trust me your see why all the Car Journalists rave about them. Have to say I'm fully converted to BMWs, as much as loved the Z and fast Jap cars there's nothing on offer from Infinit/Lexus that comes close to the performance/economy/interior build quality/driving experience/ price fast BMWs offer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Sounds tempting, but what will a 400bhp figure do to that admittedly impressive MPG? I doubt it will go up Only problem with these amazing 3/5/M BMWs is their familiarity and boxy design. If you can reconcile those little issues then why not? I like the styling of the new BMW's, and am not fussed about their ubiquity - I just want a well sorted car to drive This is all great info guys, I was swaying towards the 335i anyway for reasons of RWD and favourable fuel figures, but would happily go for the S4 if it had entertaining handling. Bit of a shame really as I think the S4 is a nicer object and the engine will definitely have more character. If I get the 335i I'll see how I get on with the e-diff and get a proper one if I don't like it. I drove an RS5 extensively on track a year or so back and was bitterly disappointed with the understeer, it just felt really heavy generally and the front end was exactly as docwra described his experience of the B7 S4. The reason I started considering it was down to an Evo review which described 'some oversteer' but it doesn't sound like it'll be accessible enough, I'll probably test a couple anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 I was actually put off even thinking about the 335i because of how boxy/boring their image is, but go and test drive one and trust me your see why all the Car Journalists rave about them. Excellent to hear from an owner gangzoom, thanks Have you had any problems with the turbos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangzoom Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 My car has had no problems at all...but theres a few things on 335i to look out for, though BMWs have nicer interior plastics etc mechanically certainly don't have the build quality of Jap cars. 1) Fuel pump failures: This appears to be mainly limited to the US where theres more ethanol in the fuel. The car should start up first time from cold, if crank has to turn more than a few times the pump might be on its way out! 2) Injectors: BMW did a recall on a certain batch last year, if your buying through a dealer shouldn't be a problem. 3) Wastegate rattle: Some of the actuators on certain cars weren't manufactured to BMW spec, and overtime can cause the wastegate rattle at certain revs. Replacing them is a big job and essentially involves replacing the turbos . Easy to tell if the car has a wastgate rattle is to rev the engine to 4-5Krpm and than let it settle to idle and listen our for a "rattle" from the exhaust. As well as these "issues" the E90 BMWs have some common faults across the range, google "BMW steering wheel lock fault" or "BMW DSC fault" or "BMW 19inch Alloy cracks" and your see why on the BMW forums people are obsessed with extended warranties (BMW will cover your car up to 100K for a yearly fee, but you also need to get your car serviced at BMW otherwise they will decline any claims). I bought mine from a dealer for the warranty, and once I was happy my car wasn't going to start throwing error codes started looking into modding it. Incidentally the E46 Bimmers have a reputation of developing cracks in the rear subframe....no doubt the New F30 will have its own list of "issues" I really cannot be putting up with paying BMW £500+ per year for their "warranty" and than be nailed by BMW every time the oil need changing so instead have an emergency car/turbo kitty....Still my 335i is the best car I've owned to date, and have no plans to sell it for a long long time (Especially now I know Andy/Mitz have replaced turbo on 330ds before) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddcboyle Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Audi s5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docwra Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I drove an RS5 extensively on track a year or so back and was bitterly disappointed Audi S5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Achingly want.... http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p And just in case anyone's in the market for new bodyparts ; http://www.organsforsale.com/search/buymykidney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docwra Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 The guy I mentioend with the B7 has resurfaced today, Ive asked him to send me some info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 The guy I mentioend with the B7 has resurfaced today, Ive asked him to send me some info Nice one, 'preciate that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WINKJ Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Achingly want.... http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p Gorgeous.... if you can go for one of these then 100% do it!! what are the services like on these..... can't be cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 what are the services like on these..... can't be cheap! La la la la....I'm not listening.....la la la la...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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