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• SWMBO's new car - pass the Prozac 1 Nov 2004 (Forum)
  - it must be smaller than the A6 (easy); - it must not be an Audi or a VW, neither of us likes the new A3 or the A4 and the local dealer has been useless of late; - it must be petrol, she only does 6000 miles a year and has hated the various diesels we have owned / been loaned; - it must not be a BMW; - it must not be a Citroen, a salesman at the local dealer was rude to her dad; - it must have climate control; - it must not have leather seats; - it must have 5 doors; - it must be as comfortable and "high quality" as the A6; - it must not be a 4x4; It will take months won't it?
• Advantages of Depreciation 29 Sep 2004 (Forum)
  But, if you buy the right car, it could easliy lose £25k in a short space of time. Go for a classic depreciator - a big loaded 7 series BMW, say, or a Maserati. New, obviously. Bingo - when you depart this earth in 6-12 months time, your estate is now worth less than Gordon's limit so no IHT is payable. And the car can be sold on quickly to a dealer who will be happy to give you a nice low valuation in writing.
• Uglification 12 Sep 2004 (Forum)
  Wait until you see the new GTi in the tin, the face that sank a thousand ships or what? And no, the BMW 5 series has not grown on me, the 1-series is very unpleasant on the eye both in reality and in pictures. I could go on but it is depressing me.
• Bitter Disappointment... 10 Aug 2004 (Forum)
  Test drive went well, part-ex discussions seemed tough, but then I do have a well-used 12-year old BMW 318! Salesman hinted that if my figure was accepted would we have a deal and I said yes. Even though he was a senior salesman he went away to speak to some 'Mr Big' character. Came back a full ten minutes later to say there had been a mistake with the price and it was actually two thousand pounds more!!
• Tailgating - to be bullied or not? 24 Jun 2004 (Forum)
  > If you get a BMW they have a new Speedo and it's >> very easy to read. It simply says "Not fast enough". I don't think that either this or the barking sustem are proprietary technology -- it seems to be fitted to a growing number of VW Passats.
• Extended Services/Tuning Boxes 1 Jun 2004 (Forum)
  Is there any wonder that buyers of ex fleet and many privately owned turbo diesels run into turbo and fuel pump problems at less than 50k miles on the used car market, and then get an adverse opinion of the vehicle as a result of abuse by the previous owner/driver.??? After visiting BMW forums for some years, it is now common practice for most turbo diesels to run 17k to 20k before oil changes, which (Like H.J.) I believe is far too long for the long term durability of the engine and its main components.
• dumped car? 12 Feb 2004 (Forum)
  It may belong to a new resident, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't. Assuming it's dumped, what can we do (as it's private property)? It's an old E-plate BMW 3 series, sorry looking, but with tax til may. Any ideas would be helpful! Many thanks, Alex. -- Dr Alex Mears Seat Leon Cupra If you are in a hole stop digging...unless you are a miner.
• Headlight legislation 27 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  I recently saw a VW Golf which had some sort of headlight modification so that when his sidelights were on, they resembled the angel eyes of a BMW 5 series' lights. I have since seen an old style series with the same. Now I know that we now get bulbs in all colours etc, but is there an actual law which determines the shape of the light, especially on sidelights?
• Diesel or petrol 29 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  Firstly, sorry if this debate has already taken place but I did a search here on diesel etc, but didn't get the kind of info I was after. Basically I'm thinking of replacing my petrol car with say a BMW diesel, 525td or 530d. Almost all my driving is around town, mainly short journeys. I'll average about 10k miles per year. The reason I was looking at diesel is the fear of getting aweful fuel eco from a petrol engine.
• Mercedes in Manchester 9 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  Their son has an X5 which is serviced by Williams who located in the city centre. Their service is exemplary. As a result, they will be switching to BMW’s over time. Mercedes have lost a lot of customer capital and dealer goodwill by his change. You no longer deal with a friendly family business but a faceless company. Shame – the cars are really good.
• The perfect 'average' car 29 Aug 2003 (Forum)
  This post was prompted by my recent attempts to discover which make and model best suited my own needs, by asking a well known motoring website via its Used Car Chooser functionality. It brought back everything from Kia wotsits to BMW blahs. Hmmm, useful, said I. I suspect my ideal car lies somewhere between the two, but how do i define ideal? We all have different priorities when choosing a car, but if we take an 'averaged' weighting of every motorist's requirements, then we must be able to arrive at a formula for building the 'perfect' car for the 'average' motorist, whatever that means.
• new zafira? 9 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  I would appreciate a 'sanity check' from anyone out there on my intent to buy a new zafira. SWMBO hands back her company BMW in a couple of months at the end of her maternity leave. With the twins, we now have 3 kids under 5 and need something practical (it's a real struggle getting 3 child seats into the back of the 320 touring).
• Site Developments 21 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  I quite enjoy browsing through these links so I hope they notice. Sadly, I'm not in the market for a BMW (still waiting for those numbers to come up) so I'm still happy to cough up a tenner every now & then to keep the backroom going but then that's another thread... When I was buying 6 months ago I used all sorts of links to autotrader, glass's guide etc, and I put all these links together in my favourites folder.
• Volvo s60 27 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  I've seen; 2.0T SE 52 reg choice of pre-reg'd for £18k-manual and £19k-auto as above 02 reg 10k £16k again choice (man & auto) both these at Volvo main dealers Also I notice 'on here' 03 Reg for £19k manual. They seem good value compared to A4's and BMW's. The SE spec all get leather interiors and decent spec (180bhp too). I presume the dealers with pre-reg 52 plate ones will be getting pretty keen to move them on - are they a good deal? - I guess depreciation will be greater than BM and Audi - but they cost less and are better equipped in the first place.
• Steering problems 21 Oct 2002 (Forum)
  HAny advice from you techy guys, or anyone that has had thesame problem...BMW 1995 525, 60 -70mph steering wheel judder, I have had New Wheels, New tyres all round, Tracking, and had the wheels balanced by 4 different garages, had the front on the back, back on the front, and still the same, 60 - 70 steering wheel judders.
• For The Driver Who Has Everything II 12 Sep 2002 (Forum)
  But today\'s award goes to the plastic wanger thingie that clips over the hole of your open can of Fanta to stop it spilling when you put it in the cup holder of your BMW motorbike (as previously described), thus providing the rider with the liberating experience of being able to go round corners with his soda unspilled.
• Ferry costs. 4 Aug 2002 (Forum)
  Im importing a BMW 3 Series diesel from Germany soon and will be bring the car back on the Cruxhaven (Hamburg) to Harwich route. The dealer is taking the car by trailer to the dock so I don't need transit plates. I was going to have him put it on the DFDS ferry and me collect it from Harwich, then drive all the way home to Lancashire on no UK registration plates (perfectly legal I can assure you!)
• Any car suggestions?...... 26 Jun 2002 (Forum)
  However the better side of my nature is telling me to buy something cheap (used Vectra), reliable (Honda), image enhancing (BMW, Merc) and diesel. Nothing boring but make sure it does'nt shout 'drug dealer' or 'ram raider'. Also nothing that has been passed through half a dozen previous hands before depreciation brings it into budget (less than 40k miles).
• Zero HC and CO from LPG!!! 6 Jul 2001 (Forum)
  (Guy LOVES Duty Escalator!!!!!) BTW - my HC reading was 1000% less than that coming out of Dave Mahoney's fast as ***k BMW M5 although the Golf has only a third of the power........maybe good old petrol has a use!!!!!! Hang on - - - - project 2001 - M5 with 400bhp on LPG??????? I'll keep u posted (sideways). [Dave Mahoney's hearing has been retarded due to plenum chamber explosion during M5 LPG experimentals - please adhere to HSE Hearing Protection Action Levels and supply necessary protection!]
• Any - Car for the Mrs. 30 Dec 2024 (Forum)
    Im reluctant to put her on my insurance as I think my car is way to big and powerful for her at the minute being a new driver (assuming she passes). Ive got a BMW 530e.Athough the quote Ive had is only £650 to add her as a brand new driver which I thought was pretty cheap considering.  So what you guys and gals reccomend for her. Budget £7k tops as it'll just be a run around for her, engine no bigger than 1.6, preferably smaller but not a deal breaker.