Today I am mostly wanting......

Yes, but that's 'only' a 3 series....

I'd probably choose an M340i estate for £60k over any 5 series estate (as we can't get an M550i), but that's without driving one.  

Agreed. I only paid about £21k for my Benz, with only 17,000 on the clock. To pay nearly £40k more for this seems bonkers to me.

Eva was the same price as that 530d when new with the discount (and Comfort Plus 😉)

Yeah that paint is about £3.5k. I looked at it at the time but I baulked. The issue with Tech Plus is that it’s based around the self-driving functionality which I just don’t like. The whole “pack” restriction issue is a complete PITA when you want a bit of it but not all of it.

Have a look at what you’d get now for £21k….  I think your car has to be one of the best ‘bang for buck” buys on the forum.

You can't really get much decent stuff for £21k these days, prices have gone a bit crazy. I was contacted by one of the online car "auction" things just over a week ago.... the Polo has apparently increased in value by about £400 over the past month! For some time I have wanted an auto and have been looking around; Polos and other smallish VWs are selling now for very similar money top what they cost new a couple of years ago.

Additionally, when you stand back for a while and think, is it sensible to buy a 6 or 7 year old car for 80% or more of its price when new? It's a calculated gamble on how long used car prices will hold up, and the supply of new cars is still very limited.

The gap between what dealers offer you as trade-in, and what they then display as asking price is growing. Some dealerships must be raking in a small fortune. Currently there is little discount on offer, a far cry from 4 or 5 years ago when many brands could be bought new with healthy discounts of 15 to 20 %

I believe the lime green comes as standard as it’s a hybrid. You then have to spend nearly a grand to change them back to black probably.

I still don’t get why primer grey is popular. I know our Mini is metallic primer grey, but that’s because it was basically that or nothing, and whilst it is a colour neither of us would ever pick, it’s largely inoffensive on a small car. But I can’t imagine looking at a paint chart and thinking “ohh yesss I want my new car painted a shade of pale grey from the duller end of the Farrow & Ball range”. On a big or performance car, I don’t get it at all.

It is not a genuine TWR and probably just a cosmetic conversion. I would run away, in the direction of a more genuine car.

Very nice spec. I fear the years won't have been kind to the 80. I ran around in a 2.6 Avant back in the day for a few weeks and it was rather lumpy back then. 

Nice that, I even like the rear wing as I find the 992 a bit awkward at the back and that distracts nicely. I don't even hate the black wheels for some reason. 

That is nice and about what I’d go for if I had the money as I don’t like the 992 GT3 . Would be a tough choice between that GTS and a 991 GT3 though

I had an example of that particular model about 20 years ago! Mine was gold, and didn't have the spoiler, but it was a lovely., solid old bus that could shift a bit and had that sweet 5-pot engine that sounded marvellous when the loud pedal was mashed into the carpet! 

I had actually forgotten about that til I saw that advert! 

I also 'owned' my dad's V50 T5 (after he died) for about 3-4 months. That was pretty swift too, and very comfortable over some fairly long distances; had to get rid of it though, as it upset my mum too much if she happened to look outside when I visited and she saw it. 

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202302114175678

Obviously being in hospital makes your mind turn to other things. 991 Carrera T. My absolute sweet spot of 911s. Cloth seats. Sports exhaust. Sports suspension. Narrow body. Smallest engine / lowest output. Yum.