Post by PG on May 10, 2019 20:53:10 GMT
As said in the Shogun thread, we've made a change car-wise. I know I should have posted and got everyone's opinions, so my apologies. As per forum rules, I'd just have ignored them all anyway.... And before anybody panics, no I have not sold the XFR. It's still here.
I've been thinking about getting a modern classic for a while. I used to have a 1997 XK8 when I had my X Type estate, but sold it as I was just not using it once I got the first V8 XF. I regret that decision now. So I've been looking at getting another XK for a few months. What I really wanted was a late model (so 2004-2005) XK8 or ideally XKR that would see me on for quite a while. But anything that came up was either an inter-stellar mileage; awful spec (who in their right mind would ever choose the awful brown steering wheel on an XK, I mean FFS?
); "lovely condition, part service history" (no thanks) or bonkeringly expensive (like way more then the XFR is worth). I was starting to think that maybe I'd missed the boat and that like all older cars, prices had become too silly.
Mrs PG and me chatted it through again. I knew she'd never really enjoyed driving my previous XK, but likes the XFR a lot. The XK was to be my toy. But with the costs to change the Shogun being so high and XK choices being disappointing, we though laterally. Let's get a newer car that we can use daily and for longer trips; that's cheaper to run (tax, fuel) than the XFR (which we'll keep and use for longer trips); is fun / good to drive and that we both like. I insisted it had to be an automatic as I hate clutch pumping in traffic - what is the point?
So at this point, had I asked you all, and given a budget of originally £15,000 that rapidly escalated as they do to £20,000-ish, I am sure that suggestions would have included some sort of BMW 1 or 3 series (I think a 135 / 140 would have featured highly); maybe the odd Audi or two; some favourites (Focus / Fiesta ST, Golf GTi / R); or be left field and go electric (Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, i3).
I did seriously consider the electric route. But a Leaf or Zoe can hardly be described as "fun" and I just can't get past the looks of the i3 from the side. And I think the biggest obstacle to electric cars becoming mainstream may well be that not everyone (and I suspect more females are in this group than blokes who find it all a bit technically interesting) thinks that when you get home, the first thing you've got to remember to do is to don a pair of gloves, lug a cable out of the boot / froot (avoiding getting your clothes dirty) and plug the damn thing in, and remember to reverse said procedure before you leave in the car again. This in itself is possibly why hydrogen may win out in the end, as everybody fills up a car now and is used to that. Having said all that, after driving an i-Pace, I still like the idea of an electric car, but just not now.
So, what have we done? Well, none of the above. We've gone and bought a 9 month old 18-reg Mini JCW 3 door automatic. It is the latest model - Union Jack rear lights, DCT gearbox, latest touch screen or rotary controller satnav with Apple car play. In a rather fetching shade of bright red with a black roof, black pack (dechromed), extended sat-nav (a bigger screen) and black lounge leather. Sadly no HK stereo but the standard one is not that bad and voodoo lights on these new Minis are like rocking horse poo, so normal LED's (which we tried at night and were pretty bright). We decided to add some high-beam extra spots at the front as those really lit up the road like daylight when we tried them on the spotlight-equipped Cooper S we borrowed for an evening headlight-test.
Positives: From the test drive, the fun factor is definitely achieved (it corners beautifully and you feel close to the road); it's quick; the new double clutch gearbox changes cleanly and fast plus has good manual control if you want that; the interior feels special (the lounge leather and black headlining giving a lovely ambience); and I have always loved frameless doors. The Cooper S was remarkably frugal too - we did 44 mpg on our overnight borrow over 150 miles of mostly A road driving, so the JCW should show quite a fuel saving over the XFR on daily use.
Negatives: it has run flats on 18's and on poor road surfaces there is quite a lot of tyre noise, but much less on better road surfaces. We both think we can live with that for all the other positives. I do reckon that driven enthusiastically it might eat front tyres, but the tyres are half the price of XFR rear ones! Pus I've swallowed my pride and got a car with rear darkened glass. Still, it's a 3 door so I can pretend it's a van......
We collect it next week. Here's a few shots from the web advert and one of the Cooper S we had on loan.
image upload
I've been thinking about getting a modern classic for a while. I used to have a 1997 XK8 when I had my X Type estate, but sold it as I was just not using it once I got the first V8 XF. I regret that decision now. So I've been looking at getting another XK for a few months. What I really wanted was a late model (so 2004-2005) XK8 or ideally XKR that would see me on for quite a while. But anything that came up was either an inter-stellar mileage; awful spec (who in their right mind would ever choose the awful brown steering wheel on an XK, I mean FFS?
); "lovely condition, part service history" (no thanks) or bonkeringly expensive (like way more then the XFR is worth). I was starting to think that maybe I'd missed the boat and that like all older cars, prices had become too silly. Mrs PG and me chatted it through again. I knew she'd never really enjoyed driving my previous XK, but likes the XFR a lot. The XK was to be my toy. But with the costs to change the Shogun being so high and XK choices being disappointing, we though laterally. Let's get a newer car that we can use daily and for longer trips; that's cheaper to run (tax, fuel) than the XFR (which we'll keep and use for longer trips); is fun / good to drive and that we both like. I insisted it had to be an automatic as I hate clutch pumping in traffic - what is the point?
So at this point, had I asked you all, and given a budget of originally £15,000 that rapidly escalated as they do to £20,000-ish, I am sure that suggestions would have included some sort of BMW 1 or 3 series (I think a 135 / 140 would have featured highly); maybe the odd Audi or two; some favourites (Focus / Fiesta ST, Golf GTi / R); or be left field and go electric (Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, i3).
I did seriously consider the electric route. But a Leaf or Zoe can hardly be described as "fun" and I just can't get past the looks of the i3 from the side. And I think the biggest obstacle to electric cars becoming mainstream may well be that not everyone (and I suspect more females are in this group than blokes who find it all a bit technically interesting) thinks that when you get home, the first thing you've got to remember to do is to don a pair of gloves, lug a cable out of the boot / froot (avoiding getting your clothes dirty) and plug the damn thing in, and remember to reverse said procedure before you leave in the car again. This in itself is possibly why hydrogen may win out in the end, as everybody fills up a car now and is used to that. Having said all that, after driving an i-Pace, I still like the idea of an electric car, but just not now.
So, what have we done? Well, none of the above. We've gone and bought a 9 month old 18-reg Mini JCW 3 door automatic. It is the latest model - Union Jack rear lights, DCT gearbox, latest touch screen or rotary controller satnav with Apple car play. In a rather fetching shade of bright red with a black roof, black pack (dechromed), extended sat-nav (a bigger screen) and black lounge leather. Sadly no HK stereo but the standard one is not that bad and voodoo lights on these new Minis are like rocking horse poo, so normal LED's (which we tried at night and were pretty bright). We decided to add some high-beam extra spots at the front as those really lit up the road like daylight when we tried them on the spotlight-equipped Cooper S we borrowed for an evening headlight-test.
Positives: From the test drive, the fun factor is definitely achieved (it corners beautifully and you feel close to the road); it's quick; the new double clutch gearbox changes cleanly and fast plus has good manual control if you want that; the interior feels special (the lounge leather and black headlining giving a lovely ambience); and I have always loved frameless doors. The Cooper S was remarkably frugal too - we did 44 mpg on our overnight borrow over 150 miles of mostly A road driving, so the JCW should show quite a fuel saving over the XFR on daily use.
Negatives: it has run flats on 18's and on poor road surfaces there is quite a lot of tyre noise, but much less on better road surfaces. We both think we can live with that for all the other positives. I do reckon that driven enthusiastically it might eat front tyres, but the tyres are half the price of XFR rear ones! Pus I've swallowed my pride and got a car with rear darkened glass. Still, it's a 3 door so I can pretend it's a van......
We collect it next week. Here's a few shots from the web advert and one of the Cooper S we had on loan.
image upload
