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• MINI OIL LEAK 14 Mar 2002 (Forum)
  Great car to own and drive BUT,last Tuesday I noticed several stains underneath the engine bay-I presumed an oil leak on the power steering. Have had the car back in my local BMW dealer twice,the second timeyesterday. The conclusion is that the oil stains are actualy oily water from the run off pipe for the AC. I am still not convinced. Apart from getting independent advice Im at a loss what to do. 1.Are there any MINI owners out there with AC who have noticed similair stains underneath their cars?.
• Rear wheel drive 28 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  Thoughs are for something like a Sierra 2.0 GLSi/GT/XR4i etc. which would be cheap to run/service etc. I guess a BMW 3 series is possible but may be more expensive to run? Need back seats too. Would appreciate any ideas on a suitable gem I may have overlooked! Thought about a mk2 Golf GTI 8 or 16v but it's fwd.......!!
• Downsizing 28 Sep 2001 (Forum)
  Had a difficult question from a client this morning - This guy has in many ways been ahead of his time, several years ago he handed back his company car and has since had various older large quality cars (BMW/Honda/Audi) charging the Company mileage for the business use of his private car. In view of the forthcoming reduction in mileage allowance from 63p to 40p his question was ?What sort of smaller more economical car can I downsize to, that is still appropriate for me as MD of an engineering company??
• Towing with auto Saab 23 May 2001 (Forum)
  The vehicle has covered 85000 miles and has been regularly serviced including changing the auto box oil. I have previously towed my caravan (approx 21cwt laden) with a BMW 2.8i auto with no problems. I changed that car for a 2.9 Scorpio auto and blew two boxes, one whilst towing and the other shortly after a tow trip. I am therfore a little apprehensive of towing the van with the auto Saab and am considering changing to a manual diesel ( see previous query re Tuningbox).
• BMW 320d ED 4dr vs Mondeo Titanium - New job, new car = Mondeo or 3 Series 12 Jun 2016 (Forum)
  Can be automatic or manual I will be getting 6k / year car allowance, so maybe around £500/month to spend on getting the car, i can...
• Best SUV/4x4? 20 May 2016 (Forum)
  . :-) I haven't made the decision yet as I want to make sure I am doing the right thing and would lose the BMW with a heavy heart.  However it's also out of warranty next year and it's always been on my mind to move it on then as I'm wary (without any justification I may add) of big repair/servicing bills when it's out of warranty.
• BMW X3 - Family Car 2 Oct 2013 (Forum)
  Hi all, We are a family of four (children aged 11 & 8), with a new addition to the family on the way next year. We are currently driving a Mercedes...
• to be decided - 5 seater luxury rocket? 16 Apr 2011 (Forum)
    a Jag 4 door XJR saloon would be on of my list, but no getting away from the Arthur Daley image as far as Mrs G goes, so probably a non starter 2.  BMW 5 Series  not for me I'm afraid, theres too much BMW in my street, and everytime I have driven one I have not enjoyed it, 3. My old Merc CLK320 was the most uninspiring drive ever, I wouldn't go back to that 4.
• Ford Mondeo IV (2007 - ) - Fuel Economy 12 Feb 2010 (Forum)
  It's a company car, and choosing this car was a delicate balance of what I could get for my money, test drives, economy, tax, looks, safety - and this beat off an Audi A4, BMW 320d and the Merc C200cdi. It was particularly close between this and the BMW - with the Beamers mpg approaching 60mpg nearly clinching the deal, but I was reassured by the Mondeo claims of 48, and figured in reality I'd be approaching 45 combined.
• Mitsubishi Grandis MPV (2004 - ) - never been as upset as this..... 28 Sep 2007 (Forum)
  But what has got me incensed is the replacement lamp unit. I thought that my other car was expensive but I sort of took it as part of ownership of a BMW. However owning a Grandis makes BMW look cheap!!!!! Now my wife organised this and when i got the bill I asked her how much she had been verbally quoted and she said £1-200. But buy, a piece of plastic that needs to be replaced by Mitsubishi cost me £265 VAT and £42.50 VAT labout making a GRAND TOTAL of £361.32 How can they really justify charging so much for a small piece of plastic?
• Which car is a better bet? 6 Aug 2006 (Forum)
  I've liked the A4 for a long time, if I got one it would probably be the diesel for residual value, but are the 1.9 TDi engines reliable or are they ridled with problems like Focus TDCi? The BMW is a lovely car, there are plenty to choose from, and so far it is looking the most likely, my only concern is whether it has definately levelled off it's depreciation by now, especially with a new one on the way.
• BMW 5 Series F11 - BMW second hand issues 23 Feb 2015 (Forum)
  Matthew explained to me how BMW have extremely high standards and that the car would be prepared to meet this very high standard. Due to this and previous experience with a used BMW from another dealer, I was confident to pay a deposit on 7 November 2014 without viewing the vehicle.
• What to buy after armageddon ... 24 Sep 2025 (Forum)
    ( lets assume they all are in VGC, all on same tyres.. and yes these are all available on autotrader for under £3k )   Suzuki Jimny Toyota Rav4 Petrol Fiat Panda 1.3 and 0.9 XC90 pre 2006 BMW X3 / X5 pre 2005   Other suggestions if they are in the budget welcome lol  
• Mid Life Crisis Convertible 27 Jun 2022 (Forum)
  I have a budget of £12k and have narrowed my search down to a few models which I would like some ideas on. Audi A5 BMW 3 series Mercedes E class Volvo C70 I recognise that with my budget I will get something at least 10 years old, but I have two excellent local garages, one of whom is a Mercedes specialist.
• Which SUV to buy? 30 Dec 2021 (Forum)
  Hi all, So I narrowed my choice to four SUV’s and have test driven them over the last few days. Audi Q5, BMW X3, Volvo XC60 and Subaru Forester as my left field choice (I owned one back in 2012 and really liked it) Out of the ‘premium’ ones the Audi Q5 would be my choice. So now I’m stuck between Audi Q5 and Subaru Forester - I like both of them!
• Skoda Supreb 69 Plate - Trim issues 9 Mar 2020 (Forum)
  I’ve emailed the CEO and the dealer and await the response. I’m minded just to take the hit and trade it in for a used BMW. Anyone else experienced poor quality on the Skodas ?
• Dunno. Some kind of 125cc Yamaha - Scooter sans dipstick? 19 Nov 2019 (Forum)
  Is this a new “feature”, recognising the realities of Taiwanese maintenance habits, or did I somehow miss it? I’ve read some cars (BMW 1-series IIRC) now rely solely on a level-meter, but I thought I’d be able to avoid that kind of crap for a few years yet. There was a plastic screw-in port covering the upper tappet (lower cover was metal) which I could have added oil through, but no obvious way of telling how much
• Any emergency vehicle - Why are they ignoring the hard shoulder? 31 Oct 2018 (Forum)
  Recently my regular rush hour plod around the M25 has been (further) spoilt by two incidents of cars charging along the inside lane with blue lights and sirens going, forcing those of us driving in the lane to pull left very quickly, or even pull right, perilously close to the central reservation.  One was a BMW and the other was a small white fiesta-type van. I suppose they were both unmarked police cars (unless they'd bought their blue lights at Halfords!)  I feel it is rude arrogant and dangerous for these drivers to weave between lanes like a motorbike, when the hard shoulder exists for this very purpose.
• Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs 8 Oct 2018 (Forum)
  The main dealer and head office do not want to know. My first drive home 4 miles and my bonnet was chipped. My old E39 BMW 530i from new and 120,000 miles later still looked dashing. My mini is over a year old and looks wrecked. Mini dealer said it was bad luck and had the minimal amount of paint. I’m tempting to get the repairs and then a full wrap.
• Any - Stop-Start – is it “intelligent”? 7 Oct 2018 (Forum)
  Reading all the dire warnings about turning off a diesel whilst the DPF is regenerating causes me to wonder about the “intelligence” or otherwise of the Stop-Start system on my Toyota Verso (with the BMW derived 1.6 diesel engine). Since retirement I only drive 9,000-10,000 miles per year, but as 90% is on French autoroutes I don’t worry about the DPF. However, today I made a short urban journey and noticed that the Stop-Start activated whenever I was stopped in traffic, even though the engine could have scarcely warmed up.