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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 12, 2019 16:55:35 GMT
Long (slightly ridiculous) name - I'm not sure I've even put that all in the right order. I mentioned in the M5 thread that I was thinking of buying a 3-Series Touring - I had one of the old models from 2010-2014 and loved it. I've always preferred the 3 and 5 Series Tourings over their saloon counterparts and found the practicality of the estate, especially with the rear glass opening separately, to be ideal for carrying dogs. Anyway, long story short, we have a new pup coming in May so started looking at nearly new Shadow Editions with less than 10k on the clock, looked at a few on Tyneside but then spotted a silver one at Arnold Clark's Motorstore in Portobello, Edinburgh. Despite my long-held opinion that AC were crap for service I contacted them and they quickly sent over a personalised video tour of the car which showed it off in a very good light. I paid £100 deposit and decided to travel up today with the missus, fully expecting to be slightly disappointed and sure I'd be able to find the odd scuff or signs of wear on a 9000 mile car. We got there 10.30 and it had been moved outside, the salesman I'd been dealing with was waiting and I went over it with a fine tooth comb. I couldn't find a single thing wrong - in fact if they had stuck a 19 plate on it and presented it as new I'd have been none the wiser. Anyway, quick test drive and £24900 later we were on the way home. It only took 40 mins and I have to say the guys at AC were great, no complaints whatsoever. The car drove perfectly all the way home, we all know those 320ds are great motorway mile eaters and it averaged 51 mpg. I think the AWD system knocks a couple of mpg off. Further inspections at home uncovered no surprises apart from a very nice set of binoculars stashed in the small compartment to the right of the steering wheel, so the previous driver has either been an ornithologist or a pervert. Whichever hobby I take up I'm now fully equipped. I snapped a couple of pics at AC Edinburgh (bit overcast) and home, where the sun really brought out the sparkle in the paint. I love the lack of chrome, the beautiful grey and silver 19" wheels, set off by the blue M Sport brakes, and the privacy glass - I'm assuming so you can sit in the back with your binoculars out and not be observed.    |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 12, 2019 16:57:30 GMT
The eagle-eyed will spot the crappy Arnold Clark sticker applied to the rear window - the only negative - now removed. The rear plate also suffered from that common fault of not being straight but 30 secs with a screwdriver sorted that.
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Post by ChrisM on Apr 12, 2019 16:59:47 GMT
That does look good. Is it to replace the QashCow or an addition to your fleet?
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 12, 2019 17:08:50 GMT
That does look good. Is it to replace the QashCow or an addition to your fleet? The Qashqai is staying, we like that too much. I decided to buy as the rental company that was supplying my cars couldn't guarantee an estate and they also upped the monthly rental to £470 + VAT. |
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Post by PG on Apr 12, 2019 17:17:09 GMT
"Anyway, quick test drive and £24900 later..."
How much has that lost over its miles then to be £24,900?
I wonder if somebody at BMW was being ironic with the naming? It's Silver. And it's a Shadow. I'll get my coat.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 12, 2019 17:28:18 GMT
"Anyway, quick test drive and £24900 later..."How much has that lost over its miles then to be £24,900? I wonder if somebody at BMW was being ironic with the naming? It's Silver. And it's a Shadow. I'll get my coat. It listed at £41k, but then no-one, or in this case, no company is really paying full price for a BMW. |
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Post by Martin on Apr 12, 2019 17:47:21 GMT
"Anyway, quick test drive and £24900 later..."How much has that lost over its miles then to be £24,900? I wonder if somebody at BMW was being ironic with the naming? It's Silver. And it's a Shadow. I'll get my coat. Not as much as you’d think, discount is circa £9-10k on a Factory order, maybe slightly more on an in stock car. Looks really good, unsurprisingly I like the colour combination and the black trim/wheels. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 18:13:45 GMT
Looks pretty sharp as to be honest, nice deal done.
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Post by cbeaks1 on Apr 12, 2019 18:21:18 GMT
Very nice. Puts a 20k supermini in perspective.
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Post by Martin on Apr 12, 2019 18:23:49 GMT
Very nice. Puts a 20k supermini in perspective. It does indeed |
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Post by Roadrunner on Apr 12, 2019 18:57:54 GMT
That looks great.
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Post by Boxer6 on Apr 12, 2019 19:15:42 GMT
That looks very nice indeed. I may be looking at something similar in a year or two, when I'm properly fed-up with the Skoda, so I might be dropping you a line then Bob .. .. .. ..
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 12, 2019 21:49:07 GMT
Very nice. Puts a 20k supermini in perspective. Actually, that's a good point. I'm of an age where £25k for a car still seems like quite a lot of money and the steady drift upwards of list prices hasn't really registered. |
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Post by Sav on Apr 12, 2019 23:13:18 GMT
That looks really good, Bob. I don’t see many silver F31’s, it’s a shame because silver suits it, especially with the Orbit Grey diamond cut rims.
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Post by franki68 on Apr 13, 2019 8:37:44 GMT
Nice they are great cars .
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Post by ChrisM on Apr 13, 2019 15:48:14 GMT
It listed at £41k, but then no-one, or in this case, no company is really paying full price for a BMW. Whaaaaat ?? £41k for a 3-series estate?? Crazy IMHO (and an extra £310 VED annually for the next 5 years too??) |
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Post by Martin on Apr 13, 2019 17:10:00 GMT
It listed at £41k, but then no-one, or in this case, no company is really paying full price for a BMW. Whaaaaat ?? £41k for a 3-series estate?? Crazy IMHO (and an extra £310 VED annually for the next 5 years too??) That’s the list price Chris, which no one with any sense would pay, not just companies. You can easily get £9-10k off that, which makes it reasonable value for money even with the additional VED. |
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Post by Alex on Apr 13, 2019 19:53:23 GMT
That does look good. My father in law has an F30 touring (admittedly a much earlier 63 plate) and its a very nice car indeed. I know the G20 is imminent, which must have helped in getting you such a good deal, but yours really doesn’t look like a design that’s soon to be superseded. I’m sure you’ll really enjoy it.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 14, 2019 12:14:53 GMT
Great choice and I’ll keep my eye on the NE news to read of your arrest whilst birdwatching. At night. In residential areas.
Yes: estates are better looking and look less dated for longer.
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Post by racingteatray on Apr 14, 2019 18:12:27 GMT
Very naiiice. Congratulations!
Glacier Silver was my second choice for the GC after Carbon Black. It is rarer these days and looks nice - some friends who recently had their first child upgraded from a TT to a very similar-looking nearly-new silver 330d xDrive Touring and are also very pleased with it.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 15, 2019 7:07:47 GMT
It listed at £41k, but then no-one, or in this case, no company is really paying full price for a BMW. Whaaaaat ?? £41k for a 3-series estate?? Crazy IMHO (and an extra £310 VED annually for the next 5 years too??) Whilst the VED is, of course, one factor in deciding on what car to buy I'm not sure I'd want to be locked in a room with someone who considers it to be the major factor.. At the end of the day it's an extra £310 which, in the grand scheme of things, is not enough to stop me buying the car which is right for my needs. Went to fill it up for the first time and was confronted by this:  None of the previous diesels I've had have featured AdBlue. A bit of a read of the manual tells you that the remaining amount can be checked from the iDrive controller under Vehicle Settings and this shows 4500 miles remaining before it needs to be topped up (£1.25 per litre). Apparently, with this stuff, the exhaust removes the NOx and emits nothing but fluffy bunnies and marshmallow cream puffs. |
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Post by johnc on Apr 15, 2019 8:03:00 GMT
Nice car Bob and a great colour (my old 4 series was Glacier silver). I wish you many happy miles and I am sure you will enjoy the 4WD. When you come to replace the tyres, I found the Bridgestone S001 gave great grip, a better ride that any other runflat, lasted 27,000 miles and still had legal tread.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 15, 2019 8:30:34 GMT
Nice car Bob and a great colour (my old 4 series was Glacier silver). I wish you many happy miles and I am sure you will enjoy the 4WD. When you come to replace the tyres, I found the Bridgestone S001 gave great grip, a better ride that any other runflat, lasted 27,000 miles and still had legal tread. It's on Bridgestones at the moment, although I'm not sure what type. It's done 9500 miles and there is loads of tread left on the rears, so hopefully that's positive. I was in two minds over going for the 4WD but we have family in rural Northumberland and I'm up in North East Scotland quite a lot for work so I decided to go with it. |
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Post by johnc on Apr 15, 2019 9:02:17 GMT
Nice car Bob and a great colour (my old 4 series was Glacier silver). I wish you many happy miles and I am sure you will enjoy the 4WD. When you come to replace the tyres, I found the Bridgestone S001 gave great grip, a better ride that any other runflat, lasted 27,000 miles and still had legal tread. It's on Bridgestones at the moment, although I'm not sure what type. It's done 9500 miles and there is loads of tread left on the rears, so hopefully that's positive. I was in two minds over going for the 4WD but we have family in rural Northumberland and I'm up in North East Scotland quite a lot for work so I decided to go with it. The other commonly used Bridgestones are the RE050 which give a poorer ride quality and I don't think are anywhere near as good an all round road tyre especially when half worn onwards. I find the biggest difference with 4WD is the grip out of wet slower corners, junctions and roundabouts as well as increased stability at speed. |
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Post by Martin on Apr 15, 2019 9:07:43 GMT
I've got the S001s on mine and they're a lot better in every area than the Goodyears on the 535d, which is the tyre that cam with and the only option available in the UK in the correct rating so I didn't have a choice. So when the time comes to replace, I'll be going for the S001s again, the extra cost of around £60 per tyre is well worth it. I think the rears will last around 28-30,000 miles and the fronts 50,000+ based on the wear rate over the first 18,000 miles. Lots of long motorway journeys help, but I'm sure the excellent traction helps and it's better than I expected.
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Post by ChrisM on Apr 15, 2019 9:29:06 GMT
Went to fill it up for the first time and was confronted by this: Is this an Australian market version of the car ?? |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 15, 2019 9:33:28 GMT
Went to fill it up for the first time and was confronted by this: Is this an Australian market version of the car ?? It was parked on its roof... |
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Post by Tim on Apr 15, 2019 12:00:29 GMT
Very nice. It'll be much easier to keep clean than my black version (which being a 63 plate doesn't have the adblue thing either).
I've got Goodyear Asymmetrics on mine and if it weren't for the standard BMW outer shoulder wear on the fronts would probably get at least another 10k miles from them to take it to well over 30k miles on this set.
Despite the xDrive the car is still quite noticeably rwd biased - I've had it fairly sideways in the snow and also pulling sharply out of an acute junction on a greasy road.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Apr 16, 2019 14:18:24 GMT
Nice car Bob and a great colour (my old 4 series was Glacier silver). I wish you many happy miles and I am sure you will enjoy the 4WD. When you come to replace the tyres, I found the Bridgestone S001 gave great grip, a better ride that any other runflat, lasted 27,000 miles and still had legal tread. I had a look and they are indeed S001s fitted. |
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Post by chocy on Apr 18, 2019 15:34:29 GMT
That looks a great car, I'm not surprised you like it.
I've always found AC hard to beat when buying cars, due to their buying power they are normally cheaper.
It's the aftersales that let them down.
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