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Post by Martin on May 15, 2024 16:45:18 GMT
I’d rather have an M240i than M2.
Part of a longer story, but we’re booked in to test drive an M240i on Saturday as well as a couple of EVs.
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Post by Martin on May 14, 2024 13:03:50 GMT
Looks much like a Michelin A/S tyre than the Verdes.
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Post by Martin on May 13, 2024 11:43:23 GMT
I've refreshed some quotes from last year and can just get it to just over £1,400.
Interesting differences in prices based on the ownership (via Meerkat), not sure why the risk profile is different if you've owned the car for a year? - Original Reg, don't own the car yet = £1,308 - Original Reg, owned car since 06/23 = £1,408 - My Reg, owned car since 06/23 = £1,425
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Post by Martin on May 13, 2024 8:56:47 GMT
It's booked in at my local tyre place tomorrow morning for a set of the new Scorpion SF2s. £250 a corner. Ouch. The much older Scorpion Zeros were only £25 cheaper. Be interesting to hear what you think. I went from Scorpion Verde to Zero and through they were well worth the extra cost, but would probably have chosen the SF2 if it had been available.
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Post by Martin on May 10, 2024 16:03:14 GMT
They have also sneakily upped the excess from £750 to £1050!
After a quick look at one of the comparison sites, I’ll be lucky to get it for under £1,600.
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Post by Martin on May 10, 2024 16:00:49 GMT
I’ve not looked at the E55, but adding the Premium Plus pack usually gives you everything you need. Doesn’t the black pack replace the shiny window surrounds as well? It’s been an essential option on Mercedes for some time as the standard cars have way too much chrome (imo).
Much, much better looking than the new 5 series.
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Post by Martin on May 10, 2024 9:27:58 GMT
Deep joy…..
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Post by Martin on May 9, 2024 19:49:16 GMT
I looked at the one I had a ride in on Autotrader and 2022 models were around £40k!!
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 19:53:09 GMT
I visited one of my sites at the end of last week and they wanted to take me to see another location about 15mins away, so we jumped in the site vehicle. They usually have a Ford Ranger but that’s been off the road for a long time waiting for parts, so the lease company has given them a 22 plate Toyota Hilux double cab. It’s a good spec, an Invincible X with JBL speakers, sat nav, c,I ate control, leather seats (I think!), running boards and lots of plastic cladding. It had a decent amount of space inside, obviously very practical and it was quieter than I expected although I don’t think we went over 50mph. But the ride….I’d had enough after 5mins of bouncing and swaying along the road, but apparently it wasn’t broken as I was told it’s the best work truck they’ve ever had. It reminded me of a MK1 Discovery, the only car I’ve felt carsick when driving. Just had a look on Autotrader and a 2022 model would set you back £40k. Wow. Was there anything in the back? Those things tend to ride better with some load on-board. Good point, the load area was empty, just 4 adults in the cab. Better than awful could still be very bad!
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 18:33:07 GMT
Not really a post about economy, but not worth starting a new one…. As I’m sure I’ll have mentioned before, I hate having to fill up and with a reduced mileage and longer range, it’s thankfully happening a lot less often as it used to. I was so tempted to drive another 8.5 miles to get the number, but didn’t have the time on Friday. Add in the 50 miles petrol and 16 mile electric range and that’s nicely over 1,000 miles. I’ve had a few more trips into head office in the last month which is a 80-90% electric journey, that’s helped the range but there were still a few 150 mile + journeys in the month. I used £29 of electricity in the month, so it works out at 13.9p a mile which is the lowest I’ve seen (average is 16.5p over 13,500miles). At 14p a mile, a normal petrol engined car would have to average 50mpg to cost the same to run. The next tank won’t be as good, having spent the weekend in Norfolk and enjoyed some fairly quiet roads at times. The journey we did on Sunday morning was low 20s mpg (despite having some charge and a number of 30mph zones), but a lot of fun and got a “I love this car” from Lindsay.
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 18:19:28 GMT
I visited one of my sites at the end of last week and they wanted to take me to see another location about 15mins away, so we jumped in the site vehicle. They usually have a Ford Ranger but that’s been off the road for a long time waiting for parts, so the lease company has given them a 22 plate Toyota Hilux double cab. It’s a good spec, an Invincible X with JBL speakers, sat nav, c,I ate control, leather seats (I think!), running boards and lots of plastic cladding.
It had a decent amount of space inside, obviously very practical and it was quieter than I expected although I don’t think we went over 50mph. But the ride….I’d had enough after 5mins of bouncing and swaying along the road, but apparently it wasn’t broken as I was told it’s the best work truck they’ve ever had. It reminded me of a MK1 Discovery, the only car I’ve felt carsick when driving.
Just had a look on Autotrader and a 2022 model would set you back £40k. Wow.
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 18:01:42 GMT
I wouldn’t have a clue where to start! Not the neatest looking engine bay….assume it looked more like this before you started?
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 10:29:26 GMT
It's grown a fair bit over the years, but some of that is due to not offering a narrow body option and the 992 is still only as wide (inc mirrors) as a MK7 Golf. Really? I'm amazed at that. I couldn't go back any further than a 991 on this website, but a 997 Turbo is 1852mm ex mirrors as well.
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 9:45:25 GMT
It's grown a fair bit over the years, but some of that is due to not offering a narrow body option and the 992 is still only as wide (inc mirrors) as a MK7 Golf.
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 8:53:34 GMT
Yes I think they are up to about £8k - if they come up a bit more it could go that way! She insured it 3rd party anyway. The lowest quote I could get was £760, insurers don't seem to like you insuring a car that is not yours. By comparison the Boxster was originally £250 with no no-claims in a similar fashion... Everything worked fine when we took it out - the tyres didn't even need topping up! It reminded me how effortless the 3.0TDi is, but also how the gearbox is more hesitant than the ZF 8 speeder... Is that the estimate they give when you just enter the reg and mileage or have you been through the full process? If not, would be worth doing that and seeing what bids you get. You might get a bit more than the estimate and you'd know the true trade value.
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Post by Martin on May 7, 2024 7:57:33 GMT
I had no idea. But I couldn’t imagine ever not insuring a car that was sat on the drive. Must be a good time to sell the A4 now? She's been trying! Values were imploding when she bought the 330e, and it was the middle of winter, not ideal for a cabrio. Book was over £10k, she was offered 7.It's been up on AT for a while now with barely any interest, at £9999. Its a 2015 and there are 2012 cars up for the same, it feels like the private market is very quiet... Not good. Have you tried Motorway / CarWow or similar?
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Post by Martin on May 3, 2024 17:39:01 GMT
I had no idea. But I couldn’t imagine ever not insuring a car that was sat on the drive.
Must be a good time to sell the A4 now?
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Post by Martin on May 3, 2024 12:58:31 GMT
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Post by Martin on May 2, 2024 12:21:44 GMT
The rear has grown on me as well, but it would still have to be a Sports Design Pack car, as they look great imo. I like the 991 interior, but it looks pretty dated now and would feel it even as the daily is a generation (two for the infotainment) newer.
Prices are coming down, that’s good value vs 12 months ago.
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Post by Martin on May 1, 2024 12:51:13 GMT
Red Bull have confirmed he’s leaving, early next year.
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Post by Martin on Apr 29, 2024 15:58:57 GMT
How much are they charging? Hopefully an excess rather than the full cost of a windscreen?
I've just renewed by Annual Worldwide multi-trip excess insurance, only £48 (£60 less £18 through top cashback) and can be used on courtesy cars as well as hire cars. Bargain.
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Post by Martin on Apr 26, 2024 12:12:31 GMT
I've been wracking my brains on what to get Lindsey for her 50th. An idea popped into my head this morning and I've booked three nights in Vienna at the end of November to coincide with front row tickets to a display at the Spanish Riding School. Very nice. We had our 'minimoon' in Vienna, I had no idea what one of those was until it was suggested to me! It was also at the end of November, so enjoyed the Christmas Markets and Ice Skating as well as plenty of strudel. Have you sorted the hotel? To my original list, we've added a long weekend in a cottage in Norfolk next BH and 4 days at Disneyland Paris in July. We've also booked 9 days in the UAE for February Half Term, so getting started on 2025.....
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Random
Apr 24, 2024 19:02:23 GMT
Post by Martin on Apr 24, 2024 19:02:23 GMT
Surely this must be an error….129k miles in a year?! It’s my old 2009 520d. Good to see it’s still going, whether it’s 214k or 314k miles. .
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Post by Martin on Apr 20, 2024 8:50:44 GMT
The hybrid gets a different grille to the EV with an old AR script that looks at odds with the rest of the car imo
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Post by Martin on Apr 15, 2024 16:58:55 GMT
So, Milano no longer and not Tychy either, but not far off…. The Alfa Romeo Milano was revealed just last week as the Italian marque's very first pure electric vehicle, but it seems the Italian government wasn't too keen on its name. As a result, the new compact SUV has been renamed entirely to 'Junior' before the first cars had a chance to hit the road.
In an official press release, Alfa Romeo confirmed that despite the firm believing the Milano name met all legal requirements, a government official declared the use of the Milano name illegal. The logic behind this ruling is that the new model will be produced in Poland, contravening a law that prohibits the sale of products with Italian-sounding names that aren't produced in Italy.
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Post by Martin on Apr 13, 2024 11:43:25 GMT
Alfa Tychy doesn’t quite work!
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Post by Martin on Apr 11, 2024 17:33:48 GMT
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Post by Martin on Apr 11, 2024 17:11:27 GMT
I don’t like the grille either, but it’s the only way you’d know it was an Alfa Romeo, they’ve even put the number plate in the right place!
It’s a pretty dull thing. If I had to have a small EV, it would be an Alpine A290 or Renault 5 if they stick too many ‘sporty’ bits on the Alpine.
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Post by Martin on Apr 9, 2024 17:04:00 GMT
The air bags are notorious for leaking in the F11. If it is, then you should get an aftermarket replacement as they are better than the originals and will be cheaper to replace as you won’t need to used a main dealer. If it’s sitting down low all the time then it does sound more compressor related.
If you can fix it yourself for £25, that would be a great result!
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Post by Martin on Apr 9, 2024 9:22:36 GMT
The customer service I had from Porsche when we had the Boxster was excellent, it’s a bit too early to comment with this car, but the buying / collecting experience was the best yet. It’s booked in for its first service in a few weeks, which will include a software update (they called it a recall) and I’ve asked them to look at the charge flap as it doesn’t always open first time. The only negative so far is the quoted cost of £845! Cheaper than the family truck for now as that cost £600-650 every 11k miles and Porsche service intervals are 20k miles. I think the next one will be double the cost, so that will be broadly the same £ over 40k miles.
My experience of BMW service is pretty good overall, but far better when I had the 7 series, which the dealer told me was a directive from BMW.
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